Fossil fuel fines incoming

Good morning!

New Jersey environmentalists are one step closer in their push to get fossil fuel companies to fork over big amounts of cash to the state.

The “Climate Superfund Act,” which would require some companies like Exxon to pay billions for harming the climate, has been redubbed the “Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey Affordable Act” and is now speeding through the Legislature. It advanced the Assembly’s enviro committee Thursday and is headed for a vote by the same committee over in the Senate on Monday.

“Fossil fuel companies have known for decades about the climate consequences of their products, have profited enormously in the process, and it’s only right that they contribute to addressing the damages communities across the state are now facing,” said bill sponsor Assemblywoman Alixon Collazos-Gill (D-Essex).

Republicans are opposed, as are business groups, which say if Exxon, BP, and Shell (the three companies that the bill would affect, per one sponsor) are forced to shell out $50 billion for climate change-related projects in the state, they’re just going to pass those costs onto consumers.

“Every cost finds a citizen in the end because money is like water: It always runs downhill, and here in New Jersey, it runs right into the ratepayers’ basement,” said John Goodnight, a lobbyist for Americans for Prosperity.

Read more from Nikita Biryukov.

Delaney Hall: Quite a twist from the ongoing protests in front of Delaney Hall yesterday, with state prosecutors saying they’ve charged an Essex County sergeant with stealing the camera of a journalist who was at Saturday’s protests (the journalist was at the hospital for an unspecified injury at the time). Turns out the camera bag had an AirTag, so the journalist knew exactly where it was once they found out it was gone. The AP ID’d the photographer as Angelina Katsanis, who was covering the protest for them.

More: Gov. Mikie Sherrill has been getting heat from progressives for sending state troopers to handle crowd control at Delaney Hall last weekend, because once the troopers got there, protesters said, they used excessive force. In a bid to quell that furor, Sherrill yesterday announced she wants to add millions to a state fund that helps provide legal aid to immigrants facing deportation. “Every person deserves to be treated with dignity, and to the rights enshrined in our Constitution – the rights I swore to protect when I served in Navy, the U.S. Attorney’s office, and as an elected official. These include access to due process and a fair hearing under the law, regardless of where you were born,” Sherrill said in a statement that was immediately praised by progressive groups and trashed by Republicans.

Even more: Yet more news out of Delaney Hall: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, whose police force has been handling crowd control since troopers made a mess of things, yesterday said Newark cops are ceding control there and starting today will just provide traffic management and step in to protect public safety, saying the city’s values do not align with Geo Group’s (the owner of the jail). “It is not the responsibility of the Newark Police Division to secure a private facility,” Baraka said in a statement. White House border czar Tom Homan was on Fox News last night and said if protests outside Delaney get bad again, “President Trump has no problem deploying the National Guard up here.” Sherrill definitely doesn’t want that. So what happens now? We’ll find out tonight.

Health: Lilo Stainton writes on a new report that says the state’s youth mental health system leaves parents frustrated because they are unable to navigate the system and hurts children who can’t get the treatment they need. Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Sen. Joe Vitale say they want to help, and are planning a package of bills aimed at connecting struggling children with medical treatment. “If we leave this unaddressed, it will continue to impair their educational achievement, emotional development, and ability to realize their full potential in life,” Scutari said.