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Environmental Issues in New Jersey
Today, more and more environmental issues are being created by human activities. It is happening all over the countries, even right at this moment. New Jersey, the mid-Atlantic corridor to the northeast, is also having some environmental issues. Furthermore, those issues are not only affecting the region, but the whole nation. It is important that we take the responsibility to preserve as much clean air, land and water as possible for future generations. The first step we should take is to figure out what kind of environmental issues are there in New Jersey.
Water pollution is a main concern in New Jersey. Many residents including some of the seven counties within the Highlands and the nine counties that are entirely outside the Highland regions drink the water from the Highlands. With so many people dependent on the water from the Highlands, water pollution is a main concern. In order to try and resolve this issue, The New Jersey Legislature passed the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, which formed the Highlands Council to devise a regional plan to help protect the forest and the water supply. The Act helps preserves 350,000 to 390,000 acres in Sussex and other Northwest countries from development. However, there are still threats from other parties attempting to create an annual Highland Bill or declare it illegal. Thankfully, the Highlands Act is held legal for now, but this doesn't mean that the bill isn't continually threatened. Similar to the water concerns in the Highlands, the Passaic River is threatened by hazardous substances, including mercury, DDT, PCBS, dioxin, heavy metals and pesticides. A Passaic River Restoration Project was planned as an effort for cleaning up the river. Even with the effort of cleaning up, the entire river needs continued preservation and conservation work especially the Bay area.
Another main environmental concern for New Jersey is the global warming issue. If the sea level continues to rise it will cause the state of New Jersey major problems because it could submerge all of their beaches under water and it can cause chronic flooding over more than 9 percent of the land in New Jersey, including Atlantic city, the Delaware Bay Shore, the Meadowlands, and Long Beach Island. In addition, rising sea levels will make residents in New Jersey increasingly vulnerable to storms in the future. Efforts have been made in New Jersey to adopt policies to help reduce global warming. They have continued to try to shift to clean and renewable sources of energy and reduce their energy consumption. New Jersey is one of the ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to be a part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is the first market-based regulatory program in the US to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy is another main concern for New Jersey. The coal-fired power plants, energy that is wasted by not converting to energy efficient technologies and the toxic nuclear waste that is created by the state's nuclear power plants all contribute to the energy problems in New Jersey. In efforts to help the energy problem, the New Jersey's Clean Energy Program was created to help promote energy efficiency and the use of clean, renewable sources of energy which includes geothermal, wind, solar and sustainable biomass. The program has helped lower pollution, lower costs, and reduced the demand for electricity.
Although New Jersey faces problems of water pollution, global warming, and energy problems, they continue to find ways to help resolve these environmental issues. Policies and programs have been placed in order to help these environmental concerns. New Jersey is beginning to see more and more improvements in their environment and they will continue to do so as long as they continue their efforts in preserving their environment.
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