New Jersey Faces Unique Risks From EPA Rollbacks

ByDom Castellano

New Jersey could face disproportionate impacts from the Environmental Protection Agency’s sweeping regulatory rollbacks, with the Garden State’s geographical position making it particularly vulnerable to pollution from neighboring states. Former EPA Administrator and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman warned that the state would be “most adversely affected” by deregulation due to its susceptibility to air pollution transported from coal-producing regions.

“I could have closed down all the manufacturing in New Jersey and still had problems meeting the Clean Air Act because of transport from other states,” Whitman told NJ Spotlight News. “Which is why it’s necessary, much as people hate it, but to have some national standards to protect our health and environment.”

Photo Source: DepositPhotos

Cross-State Air Pollution Concerns

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans Wednesday to roll back 31 environmental regulations in what he called “the largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history.” The package targets rules limiting emissions from vehicles, coal plants, and manufacturing facilities, while also reconsidering the agency’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health.

For New Jersey, located downwind from coal-heavy states like West Virginia and Kentucky, relaxed emissions standards could mean increased air pollution regardless of the state’s own environmental policies. “If they start producing more coal down there … we get it [pollution] here,” Whitman explained, highlighting New Jersey’s vulnerability to cross-state air transport.

New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called the EPA’s actions “a despicable betrayal of the American people,” and vowed to fight the endangerment finding reversal, according to the New Jersey Monitor.

Water Protection Rollbacks

The EPA also announced plans to revise the definition of “waters of the United States,” potentially narrowing federal jurisdiction over many waterways and wetlands. This move follows a 2023 Supreme Court decision that waters must have a “continuous surface connection” to navigable waters to qualify for federal protection.

New Jersey, home to extensive wetlands in areas like the Meadowlands and the Pine Barrens, could see less federal oversight of these crucial ecosystems. While the state has its own wetlands protection laws, environmental advocates warn that reduced federal involvement would shift more responsibility and costs to state agencies already facing resource constraints.

“With the likelihood of a skeletal workforce at EPA, this move will put even more pressure and expense on states and localities to ensure our water is safe,” said Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation. This concern is particularly relevant as the Trump administration pursues staff reductions across federal agencies.

Bipartisan Criticism from Former EPA Leaders

In a rare display of bipartisan agreement, three former EPA administrators—including two Republicans—issued stark warnings about the potential consequences of Zeldin’s deregulatory agenda. Whitman, who served under President George W. Bush, didn’t mince words: “What this administration is doing is endangering all of our lives—ours, our children, our grandchildren.”

William K. Reilly, EPA chief under President George H.W. Bush, characterized the plan as a “catastrophe” that “represents the abandonment of a long history” of environmental protection, The Guardian reported. Reilly expressed concern that the changes could return America to a pre-EPA era “when industry was free to pollute virtually at will.”

Whitman suggested that if there’s an endangerment finding to be made, “it should be found on this administration because they’re endangering all of us in the way they’re dismantling the EPA.”

Photo Source: DepositPhotos

Legal Battles Ahead

Environmental advocates have promised immediate legal challenges to the regulatory rollbacks. The Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute pledged to fight the changes “every step of the way” and predicted they “won’t stand up in court.”

Whitman offered some reassurance that implementation of these changes won’t happen overnight. “It will take time, years even, for the Trump administration to reverse these landmark regulations,” she said. “And it will be left to the courts to ensure the EPA goes through the legal process of making those changes before they can stop regulating.”

Still, environmental experts caution that even temporary regulatory uncertainty could have substantial impacts. “It rolls the ball backward, quite frankly,” Whitman said. “I mean people are dying because of air and water pollution. We’ve seen that. We know it to be true. If we start stopping regulation and controlling some of these emissions, we’re going to be in a much, much worse place.”

As various stakeholders prepare for extended legal battles over these regulatory changes, New Jersey residents and officials are left to consider how the state might protect its environmental interests in an era of reduced federal oversight.

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