The builders’ playbook: Oppose, delay, weaken

This editorial column, which represents the views of the author, is a response to a Vindicator guest op-ed by the head of the New Jersey Builders Association.

If there is an environmental law, the New Jersey Builders Association (NJBA) has probably fought it. If there is a clean water rule, they have challenged it. If there is a flood protection standard, they want it weakened. If there is a forest, a wetland, a stream, or a farm, they see it as another construction site waiting for a bulldozer.

During my decades working on environmental issues in New Jersey, I cannot think of a single environmental law, regulation, or conservation program that the NJBA has not opposed, sued over, or tried to weaken. They have fought protections for the Highlands, the Pinelands, freshwater wetlands, Category One streams, flood hazard rules, drinking water standards, PFAS regulations, endangered species, environmental justice, Green Acres, open space preservation, climate resilience, and stronger stormwater requirements. If it protects people or the environment, the Builders Association has been on the other side.

The NJBA likes to portray itself as simply advocating for housing. The record tells a very different story. Their agenda mirrors many of the policies promoted by the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, and the environmental rollbacks of the Trump and Christie administrations. They have consistently sought to remove safeguards that stand between environmental destruction and maximum profit. They don’t see forests. They see future subdivisions, data centers, and warehouses. They don’t see floodplains. They see waterfront real estate. They don’t see clean drinking water. They see another permit that gets in the way of construction.

Listening to the New Jersey Builders Association lecture me about environmental stewardship is like listening to Donald Trump lecture the Pope about humility and ethics. It is as believable as Darth Vader giving a seminar on conflict resolution or Chris Christie on beach chairs.

A Record of Fighting Environmental Protection

Their record includes opposition to, or litigation against, the following, where the people prevailed:

• Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act.
• Highlands Act.
• Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan.
• CAFRA coastal protections.
• Category One stream protections.
• Flood Hazard Area Control Act rules.
• Safe Drinking Water standards.
• Sterling Forest preservation.
• Stormwater management improvements.
• Green Acres preservation.
• Open Space funding.
• Farmland preservation funding.
• Environmental justice regulations.
• PFAS drinking water standards.
• Toxic site cleanup requirements.
• Climate regulations.
• Green building standards.
• Building electrification proposals.
• Petty’s Island preservation.
• Stream buffer protections.
• Hudson River Walkway.

That isn’t an occasional disagreement. They are one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in New Jersey, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying, campaign contributions, and litigation.

Even with all of their money and political power, the people often won, and the environment won. Citizens stood together, environmental organizations fought back, laws were passed, regulations were adopted, and funding for open space was secured. Sometimes the battles were incredibly close, but the environment prevailed.

Weakening public oversight and environmental protections

This is a list of proposals and environmental safeguards the NJBA has supported weakening, delaying, or rolling back:

• Fast-track permitting.
• Self-certification by architects and engineers.
• Private inspections replacing municipal inspectors.
• Permit Extension Acts that grandfather outdated approvals from newer environmental rules.
• The Time of Application rule, preventing towns from changing zoning after applications are filed.
• Attempts to limit public comment and local planning authority.
• Blocking a Coastal Commission.
• Opposition to the Green Amendment.
• Weaker DEP enforcement and staffing.
• Weakening bald eagle and endangered species habitat protections.
• Opposition to the REAL climate resilience regulations.
• Expanding the use of consultants hired by developers to approve projects.
• Rolling back portions of flood hazard, stormwater, and wetlands regulations.
• Blocking implementation of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan and Water Quality Management Planning Rules.

Affordable housing as a tool for certain developers

Affordable housing should be about providing homes for working families, not about using litigation as leverage for projects communities do not want.

During a discussion after a planning board meeting, NJBA attorney Henry Hill was asked about his article, “Using Affordable Housing Litigation to Get Projects Approved That Towns Didn’t Want,” which identified target communities. He was asked why Wanaque was not on the list even though it had never been certified.

He candidly explained that Wanaque was giving builders whatever they wanted, so there was “no reason to sue.”

That statement speaks volumes. I support affordable housing, and it can be done in a way that balances housing with environmental protections.

New Jersey is already paying the price

New Jersey is not suffering from a shortage of development. It is suffering from a shortage of restraint.

Every forest cannot become a subdivision. Every wetland cannot become a warehouse. Every stream cannot become a drainage ditch.

We are already paying the price through flooding, polluted water, traffic congestion, higher taxes, disappearing open space, and a declining quality of life.

The New Jersey Builders Association will tell you that every environmental protection is “red tape” as an excuse to get rid of environmental protections.

In reality, those protections are the guardrails that keep people safe.

Without them, we don’t build a stronger New Jersey. We simply pave over the last square inch of it.

Our streams tell the story

The Builders Association likes to claim New Jersey has too many environmental regulations.

Our rivers and streams tell a different story.

Only one of New Jersey’s major stream systems meets the Clean Water Act’s highest “Category One” water quality standards throughout its watershed.

Thousands of miles of streams remain impaired by:

• Stormwater runoff from sprawling development.
• Excess sediment from construction development runoff.
• Excessive nutrient pollution.
• Bacteria contamination.
• Toxic chemicals.
• PFAS “forever chemicals.”
• Loss of streamside forests.
• Excess pavement that rapidly channels polluted runoff into rivers.

And some of our rivers are 90% discharged in the summer.

Every time forests are cleared and wetlands are filled, another natural sponge disappears. Instead of rain soaking into the ground, it races across parking lots, rooftops, and highways, carrying oil, fertilizers, road salt, heavy metals, and other pollutants directly into our waterways.

The Builders Association calls stream buffers “red tape.” Scientists call them one of the cheapest and most effective ways to protect clean drinking water and reduce flooding.

They have opposed every major environmental protection

During my 50-year career, I honestly cannot think of any environmental protection that the NJBA has not opposed in one form or another. There are direct negative impacts to those actions.

When they defeated Governor Tom Kean’s proposed Coastal Commission in 1988, how many homes were later destroyed? How much infrastructure was damaged? How many families were displaced? How many lives were put at greater risk?

When they pushed to weaken toxic cleanup standards and supported privatizing portions of the cleanup process, what were the consequences of reduced oversight? How many people were exposed to contamination? How many illnesses, or even cancers, might have been prevented with stronger protections?

When they fought endangered species habitat protections, how many acres of habitat were bulldozed? How many birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians disappeared?

When you remove the bald eagle from the endangered species list, you don’t just remove a name from a list. You remove important habitat protections. In just two years, New Jersey has seen a 13% decline in breeding pairs and eaglets. Nest failure increased to 29% in 2025, while offspring numbers dropped from 309 in 2023 to 271 in 2025.

Those are consequences, not reasons to weaken protections.

Conclusion

New Jersey doesn’t need less environmental protection.

If you are angry about overdevelopment, sprawl, traffic, polluted water, air pollution, the loss of open space, PFAS in drinking water, contaminated sites, declining quality of life, and rising property taxes, there is one organization that has consistently been at the center of those battles: the New Jersey Builders Association.

They never met a forest they didn’t want to cut down, a wetland they didn’t want to fill, or a farm field they didn’t want to pave over. When it comes to flooding, their attitude is, “Go buy a snorkel.”

The people of New Jersey have stood up and fought for clean air, clean water, open space, and environmental protection for decades. We have overcome powerful special interests, well-funded lobbyists, high-priced lawyers, and their political allies. We have won far more battles than we have lost.

Every time you see a Green Acres sign, remember that someone fought to save that land.

Now it is our turn to continue that fight for clean air, clean water, preserved open space, and a better future for every generation that follows.