New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy at Hudson Yards in January 2023.
File Photo by Paul Frangipane
New Jersey filed a federal lawsuit Friday seeking to block New York’s congestion pricing program, arguing that the Biden administration had made a “decision to rubber-stamp” a plan that officials contend will hammer the Garden State financially and environmentally.
The long-awaited lawsuit, filed against the Federal Highway Administration in New Jersey federal district court, challenges the FHWA’s “finding of no significant impact” issued last month that gave final approval to the program, which would levy tolls on motorists entering Manhattan south of 60th Street in a bid to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions, and generate funds for the MTA’s mass transit infrastructure.
But at a press conference in Fort Lee on Friday announcing the lawsuit, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called the MTA’s plan an “ill-conceived” flim-flam job, and argued it would put unfair environmental burdens on residents of his state. The lawsuit claims the MTA’s 4,000-page environmental assessment, which extensively studied potential environmental impacts in the region and was approved by the feds, had violated federal law that required a longer and more exhaustive environmental impact statement.
What’s more, Murphy said, is that the Garden State will not see any funds from congestion pricing for its financially-beleaguered New Jersey Transit, nor any commitments to mitigate potential environmental impacts like the MTA committed to in the Bronx.
“What’s particularly unfair is that while the MTA is setting aside funds to mitigate these exact kinds of harms when they happen in the Bronx, New Jersey will get nothing. Not one dime under the current proposal,” said Murphy. “So we’ll bear the burdens of congestion pricing while New York City gets the benefits. And that is not fair.”
Some scenarios explored in the environmental assessment would see…
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