“We are suing to block New York’s ill-conceived congestion pricing plan,” Gov. Phil Murphy said at a news conference in Fort Lee on Friday. The lawsuit challenges New York’s plans to implement congestion pricing south of 60th Street in Manhattan. The plan would raise $1 billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority but cost New Jersey commuters up to $23 to enter the congestion pricing zone. Murphy is suing the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation.
“We’re not going to allow this poorly designed proposal to be fast-tracked, when the law doesn’t allow it,” Murphy said. “At its heart, this is a matter of New Jerseyans being treated fairly and we will fight tooth and nail to ensure that is the case.”
“We are not the MTA’s ATM — period. And if they don’t know that by now, they’re going to learn it,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9th.) “New York must provide full toll credits for our commuters and they must exempt our buses.”
The lawsuit slams federal officials’ “misguided decision” to let the plan proceed without conducting a complete Environmental Impact Study. And it states that heavy truck traffic will pile up at the George Washington Bridge trying to avoid paying the congestion pricing fees on top of tunnel tolls.
“Trucks will be backed up here in north Jersey as far as the eye can see, billowing cancer-causing pollution into the lungs of children in our communities,” U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th) said. “The MTA chairman should come to Fort Lee and look Mayor Sokolich in the eye and tell him why it’s OK to give cancer to the children in our communities.”
Supporters of congestion pricing — for reducing traffic congestion and vehicle emissions in downtown Manhattan — gathered outside Murphy’s news conference. They called his lawsuit anti-environment and hypocritical for someone who’s a champion for the climate.
