Almost two-thirds of New Jersey’s coastline, including all of the tidally influenced portion of the Raritan River, is at high or very high risk to coastal erosion. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has developed a set of amendments, part of NJ Protecting Against Climate Threats (NJPACT) Resilient Environments and Landscape (REAL), to address these risks.

The LRWP supports NJDEP’s efforts to modernize resource protections to better support New Jersey communities like ours in building resilience to sea-level rise, extreme weather, chronic flooding, and other impacts of our changing climate. We encourage our Lower Raritan communities to support NJPACT. The NJPACT rule proposal, along with additional details regarding the public hearings and public comment, are provided on the Department’s NJREAL website https://dep.nj.gov/njreal/. 

The New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats (NJPACT) Resilient Environments And Landscape (REAL) is part Governor Phil Murphy’s Executive Order 100 (Jan. 2020) that includes amendments to existing land resource protection rules designed to bolster resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.The proposed rules address sea-level rise, coastal storm surge, flooding, and stormwater management concerns while improving water quality, protecting natural resources, and streamlining permitting processes that will expedite resilient investments in New Jersey’s communities and economy. There will be three public hearings concerning the proposal as follows: IN PERSON: September 5, 2024, 6:00 P.M., at Ocean County College, Gateway Lecture Hall #104 (Bldg. #101), College Drive, Toms River, NJ  08754; VIRTUAL: September 12, 2024, 2:00 P.M. September 19, 2024, 10:00 A.M.