Congestion pricing faces New Jersey federal lawsuit; Manhattan car tolls hurt N.J. environment, Garden State pols say

New Jersey sued the Biden administration Friday to stop New York congestion pricing, escalating the battle by Garden State politicians against New York’s plan to toll drivers in Manhattan at 60th St. and below.

The suit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, claims the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration failed to conduct a “comprehensive” and “complete” environmental review of the Empire State’s plan, which New Jersey claims will have “significant” environmental impacts.

“We are suing to block New York’s ill-conceived congestion pricing plan,” N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday at a press conference in Fort Lee, on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge.

“We’re particularly disappointed by the lack of a thorough environmental impact review and the lack of mitigation measures for impacted communities, like Fort Lee, in New Jersey,” Murphy said.

“New York’s proposal will prompt toll shopping, where more drivers seek circuitous routes to avoid paying the highest tolls, resulting in more traffic and more pollution in certain areas.”

The suit seeks to force the feds to conduct a full study of the environmental impact of the MTA’s proposal.

The federal government ruled last month that the MTA’s own analysis was sufficient to demonstrate the project had “no significant impact” on the environment.

Murphy called that finding “an error.”

“This [suit] is very specifically to elicit the federal government to conduct an environmental impact study,” Murphy said. “The feds, in this case the Federal Highway Administration, chose to take a shortcut.”

“This congestion pricing scheme will necessarily have a significant environmental impact, as it is intended to do, by changing commuting patterns in and around New York City,” the suit reads.

“Nothing in [federal environmental law] allows the FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) to turn a blind eye to the significant environmental impacts that congestion pricing in the Manhattan Central Business District ... will have on New Jersey, favoring New York at the expense of its neighbors.”

MTA’s head of external relations, John McCarthy, defended his agency’s environmental assessment Friday.

“The 4,000-page Environmental Assessment performed by MTA, New York State DOT and New York City DOT was supervised at every stage and specifically approved by the Biden Administration,” McCarthy said in a statement.

“Contrary to any claim that there was insufficient study, the [assessment] actually covered every conceivable potential traffic, air quality, social and economic effect, and also reviewed and responded to more than 80,000 comments and submissions.”

“We’re confident the federal approval — and the entire process — will stand up to scrutiny,” he added.

Murphy emphasized allegations of environmental harm Friday.

“Because this plan will create greater traffic and release more chemicals and pollutants in New Jersey — as well as the Bronx, I might add, communities that are already disproportionately suffering from environmental impacts — our residents may expect higher rates of negative health consequences including, among others, asthma,” he said.

Murphy and other Garden State politicos have argued that the plan puts an unfair burden on their constituents and will increase traffic in their state.

The MTA’s own analysis found that the congestion pricing plan will likely increase truck traffic in the surrounding areas, most notably portions of the Bronx and Harlem, as well as the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway corridor.

The study also suggested truck traffic will increase in Fort Lee, as well as the New Jersey cities of Orange, East Orange, and Newark.

While the MTA plan allots some $155 million in funding for programs to mitigate pollution increases in the five boroughs — including air filters for schools, the creation of additional parks, and an asthma center in the Bronx.

While the MTA plan explicitly allocates some of that funding to the Bronx, other mitigation efforts — like funding for roadside vegetation — are ostensibly open to other communities impacted by the plan

According to Murphy, however, none of that funding will make it to New Jersey.

“New Jersey will get nothing — not one dime — under the current proposal,” Murphy said. ”We’ll bear the burdens of congestion pricing while New York City gets the benefits.”

Murphy on Friday characterized the lawsuit as an opening salvo in the state’s fight against the plan, and left the door open to other legal action.

“Part of the reason why we’re not taking action, say, against the MTA today is that they’re still formulating the plan,” Murphy said.

“To be in the proper standing to take legal action, we need to have the concrete elements of the plan. So stay tuned.”

New Jersey politicians have also characterized congestion pricing as a double toll on drivers already paying to come through the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels.

“At a time when prices are rising, this massive increase in tolls would mean hundreds of dollars a month for families that need that money for essentials,” 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.”

Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA and an outspoken congestion pricing backer, said Friday that New Jersey’s politicians were missing the point.

“They should know that 90% of their residents commute to Manhattan using transit, and the $15 billion raised with congestion pricing funds will improve the subways, buses and commuter trains they rely on,” she said in a statement.

“An underfunded MTA capital program would hurt everyone, including New Jersey.”

Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul brushed off the lawsuit Friday, while speaking at an unrelated press conference in Syracuse.

“Congestion pricing is going to happen,” she said.

“It has gone through a long process of review at the federal level — the environmentals have already been studied.”

“The State of New York is committed,” she said.

With Tim Balk