Gov. Murphy commits New Jersey to climate change resiliency plan

On the seventh anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey's governor committed the state to a far-reaching plan to deal with climate change and protect itself from future storms.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Tuesday in Hoboken, a city that was inundated with flooding during Sandy.
The order establishes a statewide climate change resiliency strategy involving 16 state agencies.
Led by an official in the Department of Environmental Protection, the group will write a report on how best to deal with rising sea levels, warming seas and stronger and more frequent storms.
It is to be delivered to the governor by Sept. 1, 2020.
“Over the past several hurricane seasons, we've seen the power of larger, slower-moving storms,” Murphy said.
Hoboken is where some novel storm prevention projects designed shortly after Sandy hit are scheduled to be built soon, including a third resiliency park.
Hoboken currently has two parks that combine community green space with flood control. An underground retention system is able to hold 450,000 gallons of rainwater.
“We're trying to come up with an innovative approach to make sure we can address not just chronic flooding, but also the severe hurricane-type wet weather events as well,” says Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.
The water collected in the retention system is treated and then released into the Hudson River.
Hoboken sustained several million dollars-worth of damage from flooding during the storm.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.