New Jersey’s history of moratoriums

As residents, local governments, and advocacy groups push for a moratorium on data centers, Gov. Mikie Sherrill should heed their calls and put one in place.

New Jersey has a long and proud history of using moratoriums when our environmental resources are threatened. Since 1960, 10 governors have used at least 16 moratoriums to give laws and regulations time to catch up with emerging environmental problems. During that period, only one governor — Chris Christie — did not impose an environmental moratorium. A data center moratorium should be Sherrill’s first.

Gov. Robert Meyner supported efforts to stop development in the Great Swamp, helping halt the proposed jetport and paving the way for the creation of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

Gov. Richard Hughes issued the Dune Protection Emergency Order in 1962 to prevent development on sand dunes along the shore. The order was struck down by a court and later replaced by the Coastal Area Facility Review Act, or CAFRA.

Gov. William Cahill imposed a moratorium on development in coastal wetlands until the Coastal Wetlands Protection Act was passed. He also established the state Department of Environmental Protection on the first Earth Day in 1970, ushering in the modern era of environmental protection in New Jersey.

In 1978, Gov. Brendan Byrne imposed a development moratorium in the Pinelands while scientists and planners determined how to protect one of the most ecologically significant regions in the world. That decision led directly to the Pinelands Protection Act and preserved more than 1 million acres.

Byrne also imposed a 25-year moratorium on uranium mining, which Gov. James McGreevey later made permanent through the Highlands Act.

In 1987, Gov. Thomas Kean declared a freshwater wetlands moratorium after years of legislative inaction. The result was the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act, now considered one of the strongest wetlands laws in the country. Kean also signed legislation banning steel-jaw leghold traps because they were cruel and unnecessary. He imposed sewer hookup bans on new development until treatment plants were upgraded to meet Clean Water Act requirements. He also imposed a moratorium on new nuclear power plants until there was a national solution for storing nuclear waste.

Gov. Jim Florio imposed a moratorium on new garbage incinerators as concerns mounted over their cost, air pollution, and public health consequences.

Gov. Christie Whitman supported a ban on horseshoe crab harvesting when red knot populations were on the verge of collapse. When portions of those protections were weakened, McGreevey and Gov. Richard Codey restored them. Gov. Jon Corzine later signed permanent legislation.

Under Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey banned single-use plastics because they were choking waterways and harming marine life.

The state has repeatedly imposed sewer connection bans when treatment plants reached capacity, halting development until infrastructure improvements were completed.

Following the syringe tides of 1987 and 1988 — when medical waste, hypodermic needles, and garbage washed onto New Jersey beaches — state and federal leaders enacted sweeping reforms and bans on ocean dumping. They did not appoint a commission to issue reports every six months while tourists stepped on syringes in the sand.

The lesson is simple: When New Jersey recognizes a serious threat, we act. We use a moratorium.

These moratoriums remained in place until rules or laws were adopted to protect threatened resources by banning, restricting, or regulating the underlying activity. For decades, New Jersey maintained what amounted to a moratorium on new nuclear power plants because there was no permanent solution for radioactive waste. That policy remained in place until Sherrill recently signed legislation lifting the restriction on new nuclear power plants. This is the only moratorium that has ever been repealed. These new nuclear plants will probably be used to power data centers.

Apparently, however, we are willing to protect horseshoe crabs and wetlands and ban plastic bags, but not protect our state from data centers.

These moratoriums happened because the people of New Jersey fought for them. They built grassroots movements and public support through protests, rallies, town meetings, petitions, letters, hearings, lobbying, and political action. The Sierra Club endorsed Gov. Byrne for reelection because of his commitment to protecting the Pinelands.

To address the problems data centers pose, the state must establish enforceable statewide siting standards, hard limits on water and energy use, meaningful clean-energy requirements, protections for environmentally sensitive areas and environmental justice communities, and rules requiring data centers to pay their full infrastructure costs. We cannot do this without a data center moratorium.

This should not be controversial. It is imperative.