Coastal flood zones where development is restricted will be based on future climate change projections, not past floods
No one paid much attention to paragraph 1C of the executive order New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed on Jan. 27, 2020.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is using projections of how climate change will increase flooding into the next century to develop regulations that would vastly enlarge flood zones where development is restricted and would require new buildings in the zones to be elevated well above current flood levels.
New Jersey’s approach is a tacit repudiation of the federal government’s flood data — its flood maps and rainfall projections — as out of date and inaccurate in an era of climate change. The DEP has blown past the two-year deadline set by Murphy, a Democrat, to adopt new flood regulations and has given no indication when it will publish its proposals. The agency said in May that it would issue emergency regulations in June that would be in place for hurricane season.
Although New Jersey has not sustained the repeated storm damage of states such as Louisiana, Florida and Texas, it has suffered some of the nation’s worst flooding. “We have more concrete and pavement per square mile than anybody else,” said Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters. “These hardened surfaces are causing flooding.”
State officials have incorporated Ida into their narrative about the threat of climate change and the need for action. “We have no choice but to build our resilience,” he added. “We have to be willing to build a little higher.” For many New Jerseyans, the shore is sacrosanct — a 130-mile stretch of beaches and boardwalks made famous by Bruce Springsteen and reality TV star Snooki.