New Jersey officials filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to block the MTA’s congestion pricing plan to charge motorists entering Manhattan south of 60th street.
The tolls are expected to go into place as early as next year, after the Federal Highway Administration recently gave its go-ahead. The MTA and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul say it's necessary to reduce traffic, improve air quality and fund improvements to public transit.
The new suit brought by the State of New Jersey argues the federal government gave a "rubber stamp" to a required environmental review for the congestion pricing program, ignoring effects on Garden State residents. The suit alleges the tolls will make traffic surge in New Jersey communities “already overburdened with pollution.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, at a press conference alongside New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and other members of the state’s federal delegation, said the lawsuit was “punching back at a state that decided to use Jersey as their piggy bank to solve their years of criminal mismanagement at the MTA, the worst-run mass transit system in the entire nation.”
The federal review of the plan is detailed in an 868-page analysis released in August 2022, though the suit argues a more comprehensive study with more feedback from New Jersey residents is required under federal law. The review found that pollution in Bergen County from additional traffic will increase under most tolling scenarios under consideration for congestion pricing through at least 2045. A similar expected increase in traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway outraged elected officials representing the borough with notoriously high asthma rates.
The suit, filed in New Jersey federal court, notes the MTA has proposed $130 million in mitigation efforts for any increased congestion in the Bronx, but none for New Jersey.
Gottheimer said backed-up trucks would spew “plumes of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, and even formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, into northern New Jersey.”
“The MTA chairman should come to Fort Lee and look Mayor [Mark] Sokolich in the eye and tell him why it's okay to give cancer to the children in our communities,” he said.
Asked about New Jersey’s lawsuit Friday, Hochul shrugged it off.
“Congesting pricing is going to happen,” she told reporters after an unrelated event in Syracuse. “It has gone through a long process of review at the federal level. The environmentals have already been studied. That’s why it was delayed another year last year. The state of New York is committed.”
Hochul said the congestion pricing plan will ensure New York City’s public transit system will have the funding it needs over the long -term. She said a large percentage of New Jersey residents who commute into Manhattan take public transit.
“This is making sure that it’s there long term, that it’s sustainable, that we’re making sure that we’re making investments to make sure that it endures and is not compromised going forward,” she said.
The Federal Highway Administration, which is named as defendant in the suit, did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
Murphy suggested Friday New Jersey could eventually also sue the MTA, but hadn't yet because the congestion pricing plan isn't finalized.
MTA spokesperson John McCarthy called the suit "baseless," noting the extensive analysis and public outreach that was part of the congestion pricing process.
"We’re confident the federal approval – and the entire process – will stand up to scrutiny," McCarthy said.
Congestion pricing is expected to raise around $1 billion a year to fund improvements to the MTA. The agency has not yet announced the price of the tolls, which could be as high as $23. New Jersey officials at Friday’s press conference estimated the tolls could cost a typical Garden State commuter $5,000 a year.
The lawsuit also says the federal government ignored a serious financial burden imposed on New Jersey residents.
“The Empire State looks across the river, and what they see is not a great state of 9 million souls. They see nine million dollar signs,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, whose district includes large portions of Bergen and Passaic counties, said. “Let me be crystal clear. The Garden State is not New York's piggy bank. We are not the MTA's ATM. Period. And if they don't know that by now, they're gonna learn it.”
The lawsuit notes that while the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will each get 10% of the revenue from congestion pricing, none is slated for New Jersey’s transit agencies, “even though more than 400,000 New Jersey residents commute into Manhattan every day and will pay millions of dollars to the MTA under this congestion pricing scheme.”
“The end result is that New Jersey will bear much of the burden of this congestion pricing scheme in terms of environmental, financial, and human impacts — but receive none of its benefits,” the lawsuit states.
Jon Campbell contributed to this story.
This story has been updated with information from a press conference held by New Jersey officials, as well as comments from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul at an unrelated event.
