N.J. sues over congestion pricing

New Jersey has continued its assault on New York City’s plan to introduce congestion pricing, filing a lawsuit in federal district court against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

The suit alleges violations of environmental laws and expresses frustration that the highway agency granted an environmental finding of no significant impact (FONSI).

The suit also says the agency turned a “blind eye” to some obvious environmental harms before approval. “This federal agency seems to have worked backwards to achieve a predetermined outcome.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told Bloomberg News, “We can’t fix a broken MTA on the back of New Jersey commuters. It’s a huge tax on them, and frankly, it challenges our environment because of all the re-routing of traffic that will take place.”

The suit pits him against fellow Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, who is a huge fan of the pricing plan as a way to curb traffic and pollution in Manhattan.

The suit says Bergen County will experience “increased air pollutants, including increases in known carcinogens, through at least 2045.”

New Jersey says it is concerned that “the FHWA determined that the probable impacts on Bergen County and its residents (and those of other areas in northern New Jersey) do not warrant commitment to enforceable mitigation measures or even further assessment.”

While the tolls collected from congestion pricing are expected to play a role in helping balance the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget for the next five years, commuter rail lines in New Jersey will not get a slice of the pie.

The plaintiffs express ire that the pricing plan will see “fifteen billion dollars for ... the 2020 to 2024 MTA capital program ... but nothing to New Jersey’s transit agencies, even though more than 400,000 New Jersey residents commute in Manhattan every day and will pay million of dollars to the MTA for the congestion pricing scheme.”

The plaintiffs also cite two executive orders by President Joe Biden, which instruct federal agencies, such as the FHWA, to prioritize minimizing “disparate environmental and public health impacts for certain groups of people based on their race, language and income.”

The suit then says New Jersey communities that suffer from “disproportionally high chronic disease” will be adversely affected by the “harms to air quality and noise pollution in those areas” allegedly caused by the pricing plan, again singling out Bergen County as reportedly falling within a high percentile for “air toxins cancer risk.”

New Jersey has asked for “preliminary and permanent injunctions vacating and setting aside (the FWHA’s) FONSI and final (environmental assessment), and compelling the defendants to complete a full and proper (environmental impact statement)” for the congestion pricing plan.

The MTA’s chief of external relations, John McCarthy, responded to the filing, saying, “This lawsuit is baseless.”

“The 4,000-page environmental assessment performed by MTA, New York State DOT and (the) New York City DOT was supervised at every stage and specifically approved by the Biden administration,” he added. “We’re confident the federal approval - and the entire process -will stand up to scrutiny.”

The city has begun erecting toll readers for congestion pricing, which could go live by next spring.