The Legislature Must Not Allow Gov. Christie to Undo a Legacy of 40 Years of Progress on Clean Water Laws

Call Assembly Speaker Prieto Today and Ask Him to Post ACR 249

Via abuse of his executive regulatory power, the Christie DEP is proposing to rollback laws that the Gov. can not weaken via the Legislative or Judicial branches.

The Resolution to block the Christie DEP’s rollbacks of clean water protections has passed the Senate and is now before the Assembly.

The Resolution (ACR 249 (Spencer/McKeon) was approved by the Assembly Environment Committee yesterday, so the ball now is in Assembly Speaker Prieto’s Court.

People need to call  – (201) 770-1303 and email Speaker Prieto – asmprieto@njleg.org – and ask him to post ACR 249 for a vote before the end of this legislative session.

Below is a letter I just fired off to urge him to do so:

Dear Speaker Prieto:

For over 40 years, the NJ legislature has passed a series of laws to protect clean water – from the 1960’s Hackensack Meadowlands, to the 1970’s Coastal Zone and Pinelands, the NJ Legislature led the country in establishing regional planning and regulatory frameworks that sought to integrate land use and water resource protections.

The NJ Water Pollution Control Act, the Water Quality Planning Act, and the Water Supply Management Act established a comprehensive planning, standards, monitoring, permitting and enforcement scheme to assure clean and plentiful water for all NJ residents and the ecosystems that rely on clean water.

In 1990, when DEP failed to properly enforce these water pollution laws, the Legislature responded by passage of the Clean Water Enforcement Act, which eliminated DEP enforcement discretion and set mandatory penalties for certain permit violations.

In 1997, recognizing that water resources transcend political boundaries, the Legislature established a new vision, with passage of the Watershed Management Act.

In 2004, when the water resources of the NJ Highlands were threatened by over-development and the uncoordinated planning of many local governments, the legislature again rose to the challenge and passed the Highlands Act, designed to protect existing water quality.

NJ’s clean water laws have continued to evolve and strengthen protections for water resources.

Today, Governor Christie threatens that tremendous progress.

Via abuse of his executive regulatory power, the Christie DEP is proposing to rollback laws that the Gov. can not weaken via the Legislative or Judicial branches.

You must not let that happen.

I strongly urge you to post ACR 249 (Spencer/McKeon) to block DEP’s proposed rollbacks of current flood hazard, storm water management and coastal management regulations. Below is a short note to Chairwoman Spencer who released the Resolution from her Environment Committee yesterday.

The Senate version SCR 180 has passed the Senate – Please post a vote before this legislative session expires.

Respectfully,