ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION No. 180
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED DECEMBER 11, 1997
By Assemblymen ROONEY, ROMANO and Garcia
AN Assembly Resolution disapproving the provision of State incentives to subsidize businesses that ignore their environmental responsibilities.
Whereas, The State of New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the nation, has had a long history of environmental degradation based upon its industrial and commercial past; and
Whereas, Despite the number of hazardous waste sites in this State, and the level of pollution entering our waters, the people of the State have made a strong effort to hold those people and businesses responsible accountable for their actions in order to cleanup these dangerous sites and contaminated waterways; and
Whereas, Many of the corporations that do businesses in this State have taken responsibility for their past environmental actions and have committed to cleanup sites that they have contaminated; and
Whereas, The expenditure of taxpayer money and the use of State resources to subsidize the business activities of large corporations should be sparingly used and should not be offered to any business that has a poor record of protecting the people and the natural resources of this State from the discharge of hazardous contaminants that they produce; and
Whereas, The General Electric Company has recently received substantial taxpayer benefits from the sale of $167,500,000 of New Jersey Economic Development Authority taxable bonds to finance the purchase and leasing of equipment and leasehold improvements for MSNBC, located in Secaucus and for CNBC, Inc, located in Fort Lee; and
Whereas, The General Electric Company is also receiving $2.9 million per year in tax credits from the State as part of the Business Employment Incentive Program; and
Whereas, The General Electric Company has been one of the major corporate polluters in the State, significantly contaminating dozens of sites throughout the State with hazardous waste and significantly contributing to the degradation of the water quality by the release of toxic substances into our rivers and streams; and
Whereas, The General Electric Company has also been responsible for the discharge of PCBs into the Hudson River, which contaminants have entered the New York/New Jersey Harbor, contaminating fish and prompting the issuance of fish advisories, and contaminating the harbor bottom thus making the dredging of the harbor environmentally harmful and significantly more expensive;
Whereas, The General Electric Company has been recalcitrant in meeting its environmental obligations by taking responsibility for its actions as, demonstrated by the fact that rather than accept responsibility for the discharge of mercury contamination into a building it once owned and operated, and which is located on Grand Street in Hoboken, the General Electric Company has engaged in a series of legal maneuvers designed to escape responsibility for its actions and instead to place the blame for the contaminated state of the building on the buildings current and innocent residential tenants; and
Whereas, It is poor public policy to assist such corporate polluters such as the General Electric Company through the provision of State supported incentives such as those recently bestowed on the General Electric Company and such incentives should not be given in the future to the General Electric Company or to other similar corporate polluters; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The General Assembly of the State of New Jersey expresses its disapproval of the provision of State supported special incentives for corporations that refuse to take responsibility for the environmental degradation which they caused.
2. A duly authenticated copy of this resolution, signed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and attested to by the Clerk thereof, shall be transmitted to the Governor of the State of New Jersey, the New Jersey Commissioner of Commerce, and to the Chief Executive Officer of the General Electric Company.
STATEMENT
Recently the General Electric Company has benefited from significant State subsidies for its operation of MSNBC in Secaucus and CNBC, Inc. in Fort Lee. These subsidies consisted of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority issuing $167,500,000 in taxable bonds for the purchase and leasing of equipment and leasehold improvements. The General Electric Company is also to receive $2.9 million in State aide under the Business Employment Incentive Program. The General Electric Company has received these benefits despite the fact that they have failed to clean up dozens of hazardous waste sites around the State which they have created and even though they are responsible for the significant degradation of many of the State's waterways.
At the same time the General Electric Company was receiving these benefits, they were in the process of engaging in legal maneuvers designed to deny their liability for contaminating a building on Grand Street in Hoboken with mercury. Instead of taking responsibility for their actions the General Electric Company has instead has sought to place liability on the residential tenants of the building, persons who did not discharge the mercury and had no reason to know it was there when they acquired their properties.
Because of the poor environmental record of the General Electric Company, this resolution expresses the disapproval of the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey in granting State business incentives to irresponsible corporate polluters such as the General Electric Company.
Disapproves the provision of taxpayer-supported incentives to subsidize businesses that ignore their environmental responsibilities.