roughly two and a half years after being signed into law the state's environmental justice measure is officially in effect officials say it's the first law in the nation that can deny permits to polluting facilities if an analysis proves their operations will negatively impact what are deemed overburdened communities typically low-income minority neighborhoods that experience a disproportionate amount of environmental harms but the law comes too late to block some of the state's most controversial proposals for power plants for more I'm joined by Melissa miles the executive director of New Jersey environmental justice Alliance so we now officially have this rule in effect what is in it what do these new rules do so the rules fill in for the law so if the law is the intent and the rules are how you execute the law so in having the law we already had the promise of protections the rule is how we actually get that enforcement that we need for communities yeah and do they live up to what the goal of the law was intended to be absolutely um The process by which we got from the law to the rules was a long process um it was difficult for communities that saw the sighting of polluting facilities in their backyards and the time between um the law and the rules being released but it was long because lots of public input was taken um almost 500 people uh individuals around the state weighed in on this law and how it should be enacted so there was really a robust public comment process that basically mirrors what we want to see um happening through the execution of the law I'm thinking though Melissa about these environmental justice communities over these last two and a half years Woodbridge Newark I don't have to name them you know them where there were permits that got approval um and so these projects are moving forward how does this affect those communities and what are they saying about this during the window that these rules were being written the current system of how permits um were approved has been a problem for decades right this was what led to the law EJ Advocates were tired of fighting facilities one at a time without um you know the DP not having the regulatory authority to be able to say no on the basis of cumulative impacts so what happens and what's happening in Newark in Woodbridge with permits that went in before the rules took effect is the same thing that's been happening over decades right this is that was not a new story The the release of the rules is where the story changes did the dep in your opinion do a good job of acting in you know the spirit of the law while they were under the administrative order I mean we would have liked to have seen an executive order we would have loved to have seen a moratorium on permits while we waited for um the law to take effect uh what we got was an administrative order it wasn't the best case scenario but um I think what it did if anything was to get um facilities prepared for the process that they're going to have to go through under the law and it also helped us as advocates to see what kind of community engagement will need to happen around the state as the law takes effect one of the main pieces of the administrative order and the EJ law is that robust public process in order to have a robust public process the public has to be involved so that's where EJ Advocates come in that's why our work actually ramps up now um because you know people need to to know what's happening in their community and be prepared to speak about it at these hearings yeah absolutely most the miles for us Melissa thank you so much for your Insight you're welcome [Music]