I wrote last week that Gov. Murphy did not leave an environmental legacy like other governors. That is true. While past governors left positive legacies, Murphy’s legacy will be negative—defined by New Jersey’s failure to move forward on vital environmental policies and programs.

His administration failed to implement meaningful climate change and clean energy programs, failed to reduce air and water pollution and failed to address overdevelopment, sprawl and chronic flooding. There was no significant environmental legislation, alongside deep cuts to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection staffing and budgets.

Murphy’s legacy includes the warehouse-for-yachts proposal at Liberty State Park, the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline, the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) power plant in Newark, the widening of the Turnpike and other destructive projects.

When Murphy was first elected, there was widespread optimism—especially after eight years of Christie’s anti-environmental agenda. That optimism was quickly dashed by $300 million a year in unnecessary nuclear subsidies paired with cuts to our in-state solar programs. He next broke his promise to end the bear hunt. This was followed by continued raids on the Clean Energy Fund, cuts to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection staff and budgets and a failure to restore environmental rules rolled back under Christie.

Murphy issued executive orders on climate change, clean energy and electric vehicles—but without implementation, legislation or enforcement. There were no real rules to address sprawl, overdevelopment or chronic flooding. He failed to adequately address lead in schools and homes, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in drinking water and failed to upgrade laws and protections to shield New Jersey from Trump’s war on the environment.

“For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’”

— John Greenleaf Whittier

Murphy campaigned on restoring environmental protections. Instead, he institutionalized Christie-era damage and added new failures of his own:

• Appointed a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner who had lobbied for chemical companies and fossil fuel projects.
• Left Christie’s rollbacks largely intact while weakening enforcement and oversight.
• Kept Christie political appointees embedded on the Highlands and Pinelands Commissions and attempted to appoint industry lobbyists to the Pinelands.
• Cut New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection staffing to 15% below Christie levels, eliminating more than 400 positions while doubling upper management.
• Eliminated the independent Division of Enforcement, replacing it with a politicized office reporting directly to the commissioner.
• Became the first New Jersey governor to give polluters a formal regulatory “holiday” through the Grace Period Law.
• Gutted the environmental justice law with exemptions and loopholes so broad that not a single permit has been reviewed under it.
• The governor announced big plans to remove lead in our schools—$100 million—and actually spent $6.6 million, while children are still drinking lead-contaminated water.

This was not reform. It was regulatory retreat.

Murphy failed to develop a real legal and regulatory strategy to fight Trump’s war on the environment. New Jersey passed no laws to restore environmental standards or programs. We should have enacted legislation modeled on Oregon’s response to federal rollbacks:

The Oregon Environmental Protection Act: Codified Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act standards as of January 19, 2017, ensuring protections remain even if federal standards are weakened, while allowing states to adopt stronger rules.

Murphy repeatedly violated the Public Trust Doctrine by opening protected public lands to privatization:

• Supported millionaire golf courses and exclusive development at Liberty State Park instead of restoring public access and natural resources.
• Approved a plan for industrial-scale yacht storage warehouses at Liberty State Park.
• Expanded logging on public lands, including in the Highlands Preservation Area.
• The administration has failed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of Green Acres monies while development is paving over our last remaining open spaces.
• Appointed industry insiders—loggers, hunters and guides—to oversee Parks and Forestry and Fish and Wildlife.

At the same time, deferred maintenance in state parks exploded from $400 million under Christie to $725 million under Murphy. Campgrounds closed, swimming areas became unusable and historic buildings collapsed—taking away places for people to recreate and enjoy—while corporate interests were welcomed to privatize our parks.

This was deliberate divestment followed by privatization.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection now has fewer staff than under Christie. None of Christie’s rollbacks were reversed. Enforcement was dismantled, inspections declined and violations increased—contributing to catastrophic fires in Camden and Passaic that could have been far worse.

By law, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection must publish annual reports detailing inspections, investigations, violations and enforcement actions across areas including solid waste, sewer plants, chemical facilities, clean water and air pollution. Murphy’s administration failed to produce a single one of these reports in eight years—the only administration ever to do so. These reports exist so the public and legislators can understand department activity and its impact on health, safety and the environment.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner previously lobbied for chemical companies and fossil fuel projects and sued to weaken natural resource damage laws. Leadership of Fish and Wildlife by a hunting guide and Parks and Forestry by a logger was riddled with conflicts of interest.

Nowhere is Murphy’s legacy more damaging than toxic site cleanup.

New Jersey has over 20,000 contaminated sites, yet Murphy’s New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection consistently prioritized development timelines and corporate profits over full cleanup:

• Sweetheart natural resource damage settlements at BASF (Ciba-Geigy) and American Cyanamid failed to compensate the public.
• The Exxon natural resource damage (NRD) case—worth up to $8 billion—was settled for $250 million, with half diverted to the state budget instead of restoration.
• Polluters were allowed to cap contamination instead of removing it, shifting long-term risks onto communities.
• Orphan sites remain unfunded while responsible parties escape liability.

Murphy doubled down on the deeply flawed Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) program, where polluters hire and pay their own regulators. Industry writes the cleanup plans, selects the standards, controls the pace and limits public oversight.

That is not environmental protection. It is regulatory relief and more pollution.

Murphy’s inaction compounded public health crises:

• Failure to address or spend funding to remove lead in schools.
• Shameful delays in replacing lead service lines poisoned children statewide.
• Newark’s lead crisis was mishandled and minimized.
• Trenton Water Works collapsed under New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s watch—crumbling infrastructure, flooded electrical systems, falsified test results and management chaos.
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) regulation relied on press releases instead of funding, mandatory treatment or technical assistance.
• Legislation addressing microplastics in drinking water was conditionally vetoed.

The common thread: delay, deflection and denial.

Is the glass half empty or half full? It doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t want to drink what’s in it.

Murphy spoke the language of climate leadership while weakening land-use, flood and coastal protections during a worsening climate crisis.

Despite executive order requirements to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2035, emissions have risen. Proposed power plant rules would cut only 12% by 2035, while allowing new fossil fuel infrastructure under outdated standards.

Gov. Murphy denied a petition to regulate greenhouse gases to meet his own targets. He signed an executive order calling for 100% renewable energy by 2035—the press release without implementation. The governor failed to codify climate or clean energy goals into law, failed to regulate methane or other greenhouse gases (GHGs). He failed to adopt strong standards for carbon dioxide or the 2007 Greenhouse Reduction Act or the 20-year horizon law for greenhouse gases. He failed to implement greenhouse gas reduction plans for transportation or pollution reductions in Title V air permits.

New Jersey now ranks:

• 44th in in-state renewable energy production.
• 20th in solar jobs (down from 2nd).
• 50th in electric vehicle chargers per vehicle.
• New Jersey failed to meet its goal of reducing emissions levels to 1990 by 2020.
• Increase of 3.5 degrees, 2nd in the nation for temperature rise since 1979.

The offshore wind program collapsed because the administration dismissed public concerns about viewsheds, wildlife and environmental impacts instead of addressing them. What was supposed to be Murphy’s legacy became a costly failure driven by arrogance, poor planning and lack of follow-through.

Executive orders without mandates are press releases—not policy. When the governor speaks about climate change, it’s just more hot air.

Transportation remains New Jersey’s largest emissions source, yet Murphy:

• Underfunded and failed to electrify New Jersey Transit buses and rail lines.
• Spent $24 billion widening highways, locking in congestion and pollution.
• Raided $2 billion from the Clean Energy Fund.
• Missed legally mandated electric vehicle targets—200,000 instead of 330,000 by 2025—while eliminating incentives and adding new fees.
• Refused to halt pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure or fossil fuel expansion.
• Enacted a new affordable housing law without environmental standards, resulting in affordable housing being built in flood zones on toxic sites. The law adopted higher housing numbers in the no-growth communities in the Highlands Preservation Area than in many growing cities.
• Failed to strengthen or reverse Christie-era flood hazard, stormwater and Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) rules—leading to more flooding and pollution as post-COVID development pressures surged.
• He further rolled back clean water protections and allowed for even more development in environmentally sensitive and flood-prone areas.
• Murphy also failed to update building codes, residential standards or require green infrastructure for new development. The result: unchecked land use, increased flooding and higher carbon emissions.
• The consequences: New Jersey is number 2 in the nation in building in flood-prone areas and has 4 of the top 10 most flood-prone counties in the nation.

The National Flood Insurance Program ranks New Jersey 3rd in the nation in flood insurance claims. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ranks New Jersey 4th in flood damage in the country.

It will not get better. The state’s land-use rules encouraged sprawl—especially in rural areas, like the Highlands planning area—are fueling flooding, habitat loss and climate vulnerability, while the state is sitting on millions in Green Acres funds.

The silence was the admission

Gov. Murphy’s omission of the environment in his final State of the State address was not a mistake.

It was an acknowledgment that there was no environmental legacy to defend—only weakened protections, privatized public lands, corporate giveaways, delayed cleanups and climate denial by delay.

Murphy’s promises made, promises broken. He has a negative legacy; it’s not what he said, but what he left behind: more sprawl, more overdevelopment, more water pollution, more flooding, more air pollution, more greenhouse gases, more toxic sites and a diminished public trust at a moment that demanded leadership.

Every New Jersey governor in modern history left at least one lasting environmental achievement:

• Meyner created Green Acres.
• Hughes protected the Meadowlands.
• Cahill established the Department of Environmental Protection and the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA).
• Byrne saved the Pinelands and enacted the Spill Act.
• Kean passed the Freshwater Wetlands Act.
• Florio enacted the Pollution Prevention Act and strengthened clean water enforcement.
• Whitman preserved open space.
• McGreevey protected the Highlands and advanced clean car standards.
• Codey joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and expanded solar energy.
• Corzine advanced climate legislation and flood protections.
• Even Christie—despite his terrible record—signed the E-waste Recycling Act and the Fertilizer Ban.

Jeff Tittel

Jeff Tittel is an environmental and political activist and the former director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.