Diesel engines emit a mixture of particles, metals and gasses including over 40 "hazardous air pollutants" as classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act. Diesel pollution can trigger asthma and cause lung cancer, stroke, and heart attack, contributing to 21,000 early deaths a year. Nationally, diesel exhaust poses a cancer risk that is 3 times greater than the combined risk of all air toxics assessed by EPA. Diesel exhaust is particularly dangerous because it is emitted at ground level - just where people breathe it in1 .
![]()
Habitat protection rules would provide the NJ Department of Environmental Protection with a tool to prevent the continued loss of important habitat. Effective rules would regulate any activities that harass threatened and endangered species by altering or destroying their habitat, while standardizing critical habitat protections across permit programs.