Today, Hudson County Executive Craig Guy, Congressman Rob Menendez (NJ-08), Senator Andy Kim, and Hackensack Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan released the following statements after the Donald Trump Administration cancelled the County’s award from the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) grant program:
“This decision to terminate the County’s Clean Hudson initiative will impede our efforts to reduce water pollution in Hudson County,” said County Executive Craig Guy. “Make no mistake – this is a direct attack on the health and well-being of our most vulnerable communities. As County Executive, I will continue to fight for my community every day. I urge the Trump Administration to rescind this decision.”
“We took an all-hands-on-deck approach to protecting our environment and building a green economy in Hudson County. And I am deeply disappointed that the Trump Administration has chosen to stand in our way,” said Congressman Rob Menendez. “This grant would’ve promoted clean water and improved public health throughout Hudson County, something that we should all be supportive of. But this won’t stop us. We will continue to partner together to ensure that we invest in the resources needed for every resident to have clean water and a healthy environment.”
“Hudson County was taking on pollution at a local level while making communities cleaner and safer for future generations,” said Senator Andy Kim. “For Donald Trump and DOGE to say this was wasteful spending that needed to be cut is absurd. Taking away their Clean Hudson project isn’t helping the government ‘cut waste’ – It’s only making the lives of Hudson County families actively worse.”
“To say I’m disappointed doesn’t even come close,” said Hackensack Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan. “As bad as it is having the Administration kill the grant, much worse is the major disappointment for more than 1,500 county residents. That’s the number of people – from school kids to seniors – who would have received quality environmental education programming from us this year alone.”
In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded funding under the State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement program, now known as the Environmental Justice Government to Government program. It was reopened in 2020. In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act created the Environmental and Climate Justice block grant program and provided $2.8B in grant funding for the program, which supports the EJG2G program. Hudson County was awarded the grant September 2024.
Residents throughout Hudson County face an unfair share of environmental burdens as compared to other communities throughout our Garden State, due in part to the region’s legacy industrial pollution. Announced in December 2024, Hudson County planned to distribute Clean Hudson initiative funds to multiple local partners, including the Hackensack Riverkeeper, Hudson County Improvement Authority, and Hudson County Community College.
Here’s how the loss of grant funding will impact Hudson County’s work and the work of our partners:
The Hudson County Division of Planning’s Clean Hudson initiative no longer has funds to carry out our work or the work of our three partners. Specifically, we will not be able to provide the environmental educational support we promised, including greenway educational signage, outreach events, and environmental educational materials provided in multiple languages.
Hackensack Riverkeeper will have a significant impact on the amount of environmental educational programming they can provide to Hudson County residents. They have had to cancel programming they scheduled for this upcoming season, disappointing many residents who had already signed up. They estimate 1,500 residents this year will no longer be able to participate in their programming (Eco-Cruises, fishing clinics, and cleanup events). Without this funding their capacity is significantly limited, and they will no longer be able to achieve their priorities of expanding programing to many first-time participants or offering programing in languages other than English.
The Hudson County Improvement Authority will significantly scale down their litter education campaign. They will no longer be able to include the rain garden pilot program, or the storm drain design component. Their educational advertising campaign will be significantly smaller than originally designed, which will limit the success of the overall liter education campaign.
Hudson County Community College will likely pause the green infrastructure workforce development program indefinitely. This training would have enabled roughly 90 Hudson County residents to enter the green economy over the grant period.