2.5 years after signing, NJ environmental justice law begins

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. (AP) — Two and a half years after it was signed into law, New Jersey’s environmental justice law has finally taken effect. It was designed to prevent communities already dealing with sources of pollution from having to accept more. But the law comes too late to block some of New Jersey’s most controversial power plant proposals in minority neighborhoods, where residents had hoped the measure could prevent them from being built. Maria Lopez-Nuñez, a Newark community activist, says the law is not a silver bullet that will immediately end environmental racism. But she says it is a promising start.