Ramos Endorses Obama's Climate Change Plan, Touts History of Environmental Reform

State Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, presenting himself as the "green" candidate in Hoboken's upcoming mayoral election, came out in support of President Barack Obama’s sweeping climate change plan Tuesday at a press conference outside the Hoboken PATH station.

Ramos, who was flanked by Hoboken Councilman Tim Occhipinti and New Jersey Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel, trumpeted his own environmental bona fides as a legislator and said he’d like to implement some of his state level initiatives — like pushing for the use of green and blue roofs on new state government buildings to reduce storm water run-off and incentivizing private developers to do the same — at the local level.

“It’s something we can definitely do,” Ramos said. “It’s doable, it should have been done already. We’ll definitely make that happen once I’m mayor.”

Ramos, Occhipinti and Tittel all echoed their support for the national climate change plan Obama unveiled in late June that would executively enforce regulations on power plant carbon emissions and prepare state and municipal governments to fortify municipal infrastructure against the effects of severe weather.

“We need leadership from our national leaders because we are being hurt right here in New Jersey and we see the impact right here in Hoboken,” said Ramos, standing outside the PATH station where more than five feet of flood water devastated the underground transit system during Sandy and put it out of full service for months.

“Even today, the stores, ticket counters and security booths [at Hoboken Terminal] are closed until further notice,” he said. “And this is all because of damage caused by one storm.”

The frequency of extreme weather events like Sandy are only going to become more common as the planet’s temperature continues to rise, Occhipinti said. 

“Science is clear that climate change is causing these events to increase in both intensity and frequency,” he said. “From hurricanes to heat waves and from droughts to Nor’easters and blizzards, these events take a toll on our families, our communities and our economy. Especially here in Hoboken, where our high-density urban coastal community needs protection from the next Sandy.”

Occhipinti called for immediate action on climate change and said both long-term and short-term solutions were necessary to protect the city from future storms.

“Our community needs leaders to step forward on this issue and take the action that Hoboken requires,” he said. “The Obama solution is a common sense plan to reduce carbon pollution and I will stand with him to directly address climate change.”

Tittel focused his comments on the need for the state, beginning with the governor, to acknowledge that climate change is real and to begin doing something about it.

“New Jersey is at a very critical crossroads, where we can be investing not only in clean energy and reducing pollution, but as we rebuild we can get it right, we can fix the problems of the past," he said. “But we're not. We have this rush to go backwards to nostalgia."

Tittel said positive change was possible in New Jersey, but only if proper planning was undertaken and executed. He applauded Ramos’ work at the state level on environmental issues and encouraged swift passage of the bills he has sponsored, but declined to offer an endorsement in the Hoboken mayoral race.

“[The Sierra Club] is here not because we’re involved in any local races,” Tittel said. “We’re here because of our work with Assemblyman Ramos in the legislature on a lot of environmental issues. He’s been a key supporter of the environment, on the environment committee. [He] has more than a dozen important bills and has self-shepherded two dozen more.”