Will Sea Level Rise 5 Feet in a Few Decades? Group Opposes New NJ Land-use Rules

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection could soon announce public hearings for proposed land use standards that are based on a Rutgers University report projecting sea level to rise by 5 feet over the next 80 years.

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association is strongly opposed to the proposed changes.

Ray Cantor, the NJBIA deputy chief government affairs officer, said changing building and redevelopment standards based on a projection of what could possibly happen in the year 2100 doesn’t make sense.

No one else is predicting this, he says

“The study is outdated, no one else in the entire world is making these predictions. The real level of predictions are closer to 2 feet,” he said.

“It’s going to make it more difficult or literally impossible to build or redevelop along our coast, including cities like Asbury Park and Jersey City," he said about the standards.

Cantor said it will also lower property values, causing property tax revenue to sink “and it’s going to prevent our normal shore protection, our beaches and dunes from being replenished every year because you can’t meet the new standards.”

He said recent studies predict a 1-to-2-foot rise in sea level, not 5 feet by the year 2100 and the Rutgers report issued more than two years ago did not use methodologies accepted and used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is part of the United Nations.

'We think the DEP is being extreme'

“We agree we need to look at the science, we agree we need to take steps, we think DEP is just being extreme in their projections," Cantor said.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has stated efforts to protect the state against the climate threats of today and tomorrow will safeguard residents, their property, businesses “and the infrastructure upon which our entire economy relies.”

Cantor said he’s met with the DEP on a number of occasions and “right now we’re waiting to see what they’re going to do.”