New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy touts himself as the poster boy of choice for progressive Democrats as he continues to position himself to run for President of the United States eventually, but two topics brewing in New Jersey could cause him to lose favor with his own base on a national level.
Murphy has been at the center of two increasingly sticky environmental situations that put him on the wrong side of being the environmentally friendly green guy his progressive base believes him to be.
First, there are the whales. In his quest to build a massive off-shore wind turbine from off the coast of the Jersey Shore, an already unpopular proposition among those who live there, a recent spate of whale deaths has been linked to that project by environmentalists and local mayors.
In the past two months, eight whales have washed ashore, dead at the Jersey Shore and surrounding areas as survey work done by boats using sonar began operating in the area.
Murphy’s tone-deaf response to the increase in whale deaths hasn’t sat well with those who want the federal government to conduct a larger investigation into the cause of the whale deaths.
Murphy insists that his massive wind farm project has nothing to do with the whales, but unlike his previous dedication to letting science determine the facts, in this case, Murphy is going with his trademark gut instinct and ignoring pleas to temporarily cease activities off the Jersey Shore.
Then there’s the plum deal the Governor, formerly a U.S. Diplomat to Germany gave German-based chemical giant BASF. BASF bought the toxic superfund site, Ciba-Geigy at the Jersey Shore. They reaped the profits of Ciba Geigy’s patents and assets in the purchase, but like any megacorporation, they want more. BASF seems intent to squeeze every last dollar and drop of blood out of Toms River, the town whose water supply was poisoned for decades by the former dye plant.
And Phil Murphy is aiding and abetting BASF.
Last month, Murphy announced the state would take over the BASF land, minus 250 acres to which the governor will allow a massive development to be constructed adjacent to one of the Jersey Shore’s worst environmental disaster sites.
The deal was brokered without any input from local officials or residents who bore the brunt of Ciba Geigy’s dumping of toxic waste into the nearby water supply and decades of deaths related to a cancer cluster around the site.
Last week, the public spoke out against the Murphy plan to turn the site into a public park.
The plan will benefit developers and BASF, leaving Toms River residents with the short end of the deal. Murphy’s deal with BASF goes beyond pulling the scab off an old wound. Many Toms River residents died as a result of the negligent practices of Ciba Geigy over the past 50 years.
The plan does not include any form of compensation for those affected, the township, which has been essentially manhandled by the courts, and more.
Perhaps Phil Murphy sees the Jersey Shore as a Republican stronghold, and the opinions of those who live there, who mostly did not vote for him, have little importance, but he’s treading on thin ice as he’s ignoring the possibility of both of these issues becoming national headlines that could anger progressives and moderate Democrats alike.
On the exterior, Murphy is a died-in-the-wool progressive, but deep inside, he cannot hide the fact that he’s a Wall Street insider putting profits and development ahead of the environment. In a large field of candidates who don’t carry the Goldman Sachs level of baggage, it could prove to be difficult for Murphy to seek higher office in the future.
