Murphy DEP Commissioner McCabe Asked To Re-Open Public Comment Period On Stealth Bear Hunt Secrecy Rule

It is inconceivable that any of this could possibly be the intent of the legislature in passage of OPRA and NJ’s wildlife management laws.

I just submitted the below email request to DEP Commissioner McCabe.

[edit – criticism deleted. I sent to wrong McCabe email address]

I urge others to write similar letters and contact legislators to call out this latest DEP abuse.

Dear Commissioner McCabe:

I am writing to request that you re-open the public comment period on the Department’s proposed rules regarding OPRA exemptions for certain DEP records, including those related to black bear management.

The proposal was published in the December 17, 2018 NJ Register, during the holidays. A public hearing was held on January 31, 2019 and the public comment period closed on February 15, 2019.

As you know, there is no issue before the Department that has been more controversial, been subject to more media attention, public concern, and litigation, including numerous public protests and acts of non-violent civil disobedience than the issue of black bear management.

The people of NJ care deeply about how the bear population is managed by the Department.

Therefore I – and many others involved in the issue of black bear management – were shocked to learn of the proposal just yesterday.

I was not aware of any stakeholder outreach conducted by the Department in developing this proposal.

As you know, such pre-proposal stakeholder review (i.e. “advance notice of rules“) is mandated by Gov. Christie’s Executive Oder #2 – which has not been repealed by Gov. Murphy and therefore still legally applies to executive branch agencies – which provides in pertinent part (emphases mine):

https://nj.gov/infobank/circular/eocc2.pdf

1. […], State agencies shall:

a. Engage in the “advance notice of rules” by soliciting the advice and views of knowledgeable persons from outside of New Jersey State government, including the private sector and academia, in advance of any rulemaking to provide valuable insights on the proposed rules, and to prevent unworkable, overly-proscriptive or ill-advised rules from being adopted.

I was not aware of any press releases issued by the Department regarding this proposal.

I also am questioning the timing of the Department’s posting of the proposal on the DEP’s website – it seems that it was posted after the public comment period closed.

Finally, basic fairness and good government practices would discourage proposal of such a significant, novel, and controversial regulation, with so little public knowledge or involvement prior to the proposal. The Department’s public outreach in proposing this rule was totally deficient and completely undermines public trust and confidence in the Department.

In addition, contrary to the objectives of OPRA to maximize public access to and disclosure of public records, the proposal would create a novel interpretation of OPRA, one that severely limits the public’s access to important information regarding the Department’s policies, programs and practices, while at the same time, providing critical information to private landowners that could be used to assist hunters in locating, tracking, and killing bears and generating economic windfalls (e.g. sale of access privileges to private lands).

It is inconceivable that any of this could possibly be the intent of the legislature in passage of OPRA and NJ’s wildlife management laws.

Accordingly, I strongly urge you to file a public notice that extends the public comment period on the proposal an additional 60 days.

Sincerely,

Bill Wolfe