Murphy Budget Raids Environmental Settlements

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton NJ, The proposed FY2020 budget is coming out on Tuesday. Governor Murphy’s budget FY2019, DEP saw a decrease in overall budget while operations went up slightly. The Clean Energy Fund was also raided by $160 million from its previous budget year. NRD money from the Exxon and Volkswagen Settlement were also used for the general budget, however Murphy cannot use NRD money to balance the FY 2020 budget.

“Last year’s budget was balanced on the backs of the environment, we concerned about this year’s proposed budget will do the same. FY2020 is coming out and there may be cuts or money grabbed to plug budget holes. Last year the Murphy Administration took close to $500 million from environmental programs to balance the budget. This year, the Murphy Administration have already committed to taking $140 million form the Clean Energy Fund and given the problems, it could mean more. Now since Murphy cannot grab NRD money anymore, DEP’s budget may be targeted along with other environmental monies,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

Governor Murphy cut DEP funding FY2019. This year the agency is allocated $275 million; down from $321 million from last year’s budget. They are also diverting $80 million dollars from the DEP however increased operational funding.

“DEP budget has been cut every year for almost more than a decade, they don’t have enough money to do their job.  The DEP needs more funding so that we have enough people to do the many jobs of the agency, including re-writing the rules Christie rolled back. DEP is supposed to hire over 110 people and replace those that have retired. If Murphy starts making cuts to DEP, then the agency cannot successfully implement important programs that protect our clean air, water, and open space. We need to start hiring more people to do the core work of the department. Lack of testing and oversight has put New Jersey at risk, especially when it comes to lead in the drinking water,” said Tittel.

The Murphy Administration also took money from environmental settlements to be used for the general budget. $200 million from the Exxon settlement was taken into the DEP from natural resource damages but nothing in the budget allocating it towards environment programs. $69 million was taken out of the VW Fund to the general budget. This year, Chrysler Fiat is paying $5.3 million to New Jersey to settle another case involving the installation of software to cheat on diesel emission tests.

“Last year, the Murphy Administration was able to balance the budget from grabbing settling money. This year, they can’t. Governor Murphy already took $175 million from the Exxon Settlement to balance this year’s budget. The Murphy Administration also took $69 million from the VW settlement to go into the state budget. Now with Fiat’s settlement money coming in, will Murphy use those funds for Electric vehicles, or steal the money again like last year,” said Tittel.