News & Analysis
April 11, 2022
The second biggest city in New Jersey has joined 10 other municipalities calling for statewide action to hold fossil fuel corporations accountable for the costs of climate damages caused by their products.
The City Council of Jersey City approved a resolution March 23 asking Governor Phil Murphy to “hold the fossil fuel industry financially accountable for their role in creating and perpetuating the climate crisis to ensure that the cost of adaptation and mitigation does not fall solely on the shoulders of taxpayers.”
Jersey City is now the 11th New Jersey municipality to pass similar resolutions asking the state to take action against fossil fuel polluters, including most recently the commissioners of Hudson and Essex County, and the Asbury Park City Council.
“Despite their knowledge of the dangers associated with their products, fossil fuel companies produced, marketed, promoted and sold fossil fuel over the past 50 years, while failing to warn or otherwise protect their consumers from these dangers and spending millions of dollars on campaigns to deceive consumers of the known causes and consequences of climate change,” reads Jersey City’s resolution.
In its resolution, Jersey City cites a slew of losses the city faces as a result of climate change, including over $10 million in damages to city-owned facilities and over $38 million in lost wages to Jersey City residents after Hurricane Sandy. Other resolutions, like Essex County’s, reference daunting state-wide costs, like the $40 billion New Jersey will need to spend over the next 20 years to upgrade its stormwater, drinking water, and wastewater infrastructure systems, all of which are threatened by the state’s changing climate.
“In order to protect our planet and the environment for future generations, we must come together and do our part to slow the very real effects of climate change while engaging in environmental responsibility,” said Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill. “A key step in this process requires our leaders in government to hold major fossil fuel conglomerates accountable — specifically for their documented efforts to suppress public awareness about the climate change crisis, as well as for their overarching role in contributing to the crisis.”
James Solomon, Jersey City Councilperson for Ward E, said he was “proud Jersey City added its voice to the movement demanding accountability from fossil fuel polluters.”
“Like the tobacco and opioid corporations, fossil fuel polluters profited from products they knew damaged our society,” Solomon said. “Fossil fuel corporations should be held liable to pay for the hundreds of millions of dollars Jersey City faces to mitigate climate change."
