- Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program talking about environmental issues with Ed Potosnak, Executive Director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.

Ed, good to have you with us.

- Great to be here, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- We should disclose that we're taping on April 22nd.

What's that day, Ed?

- That's Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day, everyone.

- Happy Earth Day.

The New Jersey League of Conservation Voters is gonna become, what?

What's the acronym?

- New Jersey LCV.

- New Jersey LCV.

But important work to be done.

Hey, 2025 New Jersey and the nation, where are we environmentally?

- Well, it's a real tough time at the federal level, but luckily states can do more and under Governor Murphy's leadership and the legislature as well as great local leaders at the county and local level, Republicans and Democrats, they're doing their best to protect our open spaces in the most dense populated state.

Our safe, you know, our drinking water so we can have reliable, clean drinking water for our businesses and our homes, and also our air to get pollution out of it.

You know, we've got more toxic Superfund sites in New Jersey and we've gotta, you know, clean those up and make sure that legacy of pollution is reduced for our children and grandchildren.

And I think in our state we've got a lot of opportunity.

- Yeah, so let's connect environment to energy.

So when the president and others in the administration and others around the country use the expression Bill, excuse me, drill, baby drill, they're talking fracking.

Without getting into the science and the technology of it that you'd have to be a scientist or someone who understands environmental issues really well, what the heck is fracking?

And should we be drilling more to find more energy?

- Well, first we shouldn't be drilling more to find more energy because it's more expensive.

Right now, clean energy is the cheapest energy.

It's the fastest to get online.

It's also healthier and it helps reduce asthma, cancer and heart disease, because fracking is injecting liquids into the earth to get the gases to bubble up or oil.

And they put unknown chemicals in there and it enters into our environment.

And that's why in New Jersey, our 21 counties, we some see some of the worst air pollution in the country.

All of them are getting barely passing or failing grades on the American Lung Association Healthcare, you know, scorecard.

So I think we could do better.

Pennsylvania is a big fracking state.

We get their air, blows right over our state.

We've gotta move away from that to clean energy, which will protect our health.

- Yeah, but you know, Ed, on the other side of that, the governor talks about 100% clean energy over X number of years.

What's the goal again in the energy master plan in New Jersey?

- Yeah, a hundred percent clean energy by 2035.

- Okay, so does that have to be readjusted?

Again, there'll be a new governor in January, 2026, but the president says, others say in the administration, hey listen, this wind energy thing, forget it.

We're not gonna provide any federal money.

New Jersey has had a terrible track record by any reasonable standard when it comes to wind, if you will.

If wind is dead, wind energy, you tell me what those alternative cleaner energy sources are, Ed.

- Yeah, well right now solar is the cheapest form of energy.

And right behind it, onshore wind is the second cheapest form of energy.

People should know, right now, the oil and gas industry is receiving $22 billion a year in America in subsidies.

And so while they're looking to cut funding at the federal level, they haven't touched that subsidy.

They're making record profits and producing more expensive energy in New Jersey on June 1st, folks are gonna see a big increase in their electricity bill.

And that's because the fossil fuel oil and gas and coal paradigm that's making our current energy is actually more expensive and it's shooting up through the roof.

And there's one more little statistic I want to throw in there by NRDC, which is, - NRDC, you gotta watch the acronyms, Ed NRDC is?

- Yeah, the Natural Resources Defense Council.

And they looked at the last auction for our energy prices.

And if 30% of the clean energy projects waiting to be hooked up were connected, our rates in June that are going about 20% across the state would go, would be 63% cheaper.

And that's real money in people's pockets.

So it actually saves money to have solar and other clean energy technologies.

- Okay, talk about water.

What is the condition of New Jersey's drinking water right now?

And how and what standard or metric are you using to determine that condition?

- Yeah, so drinking water is a really important thing that we have safe, reliable, affordable drinking water.

It's important for our businesses.

You know, the pharmaceutical industry.

Manufacturing is very dependent on that.

And of course, for our own health, for our families, and our children, our water coming out of our tap is highly regulated by the Department of Environmental Protection.

So, you know, we can count on its safety.

But overall, 97% of New Jersey's waterways don't meet federal standards for recreational use.

That means swimming, fishing, that's in New Jersey.

So we've gotta do a better job cleaning up our pavement and concrete.

Get those contaminants from running off into our rivers and streams.

- Ed, let me ask you something.

- Yeah.

- New Jersey does elect, as I said, new governor in January.

Well, new governor will take office in January, 2026.

The Trump administration's policies are very clear as it relates to the things you're talking about.

They would not look kindly, I imagine, on the politics or the policies of New Jersey LCV.

Is that fair to say so far?

- I don't know why that would be the case.

- Hold on a second?

Ed, Ed, Ed, let's be candid with each other.

The Trump administration's policies environmentally do not match up with what you've been espousing for the last six minutes.

I mean, you know that, right?

- Even though there's no doubt that they don't match up.

But the question really is why, why do, as an administration, - Because they have a different view?

Because they think it's too expensive.

Because they think that radical environmentalists on the left are making business unaffordable because the standards are too high for drinking water, for air quality.

And they have a very different approach.

You know that.

- Yeah, I've got family members that have had cancer.

We see higher incidence of that.

You know, if you're in Newark, one in four children have asthma.

Over the course of of New Jersey, our air quality is, is very low.

We're in the most densely populated state.

We've got a responsibility for our children and grandchildren.

So I ask the question, why hand over more toxic air, water, and land to those future generations?

I think it's misguided.

I think it's shortsighted and it's actually more expensive after the pollution's created to clean it up, and we know that.

- Ed, but here's the other part of it.

Businesses, many businesses are arguing that the environmental regulations in the state of New Jersey, in certain cases, make it more expensive and less affordable to do business in the state.

You say what to those business leaders?

- Cleanup is more expensive.

And why are we polluting our environment that we're dependent on?

And like I said, for the pharmaceutical industry, clean drinking water is critical for that manufacturing.

We see flooding all across our states because of the impervious surface, which means what we've built, 17% of the state is covered in concrete pavement or housing or some sort of building, and that runoff goes polluted into our waterways and we have to pay to clean it up.

It costs more to clean it up than prevent it from getting into our waterways in a polluted state.

- Before I let you go Ed, New Jersey, this new governor that comes in, the new election that takes place in November of 2025, the number one environmental issue for the next governor of New Jersey will be?

30 seconds.

- Responsible for ensuring and implementing, you know, savings for families.

That is clean energy, protecting our health by cleaning up our water and safeguarding our clean drinking water supply and preserving land, forest farms, open spaces, and parks in the most densely populated state.

And of course, with the semi quincentennial coming up, celebrating our historic roots in the revolutionary period and beyond.

- Nothing easy about that.

Important stuff.

Ed Potosnak, Executive Director of New Jersey LCV.

This is Earth Day.

Every day should be Earth Day.

- That's right.

- Hey, thank you Ed.

Appreciate you joining us.

- Thanks for having me, have a great day.

- You got it, stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

Wells Fargo.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

NJM Insurance Group.

PSEG Foundation.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

The Fidelco Group.

And by Newark Board of Education.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by NJ.Com.

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