DEP And NJ Spotlight Blasted (Again!) For Failure To Publicly Disclose Critical Information
Emotions ran high Sept. 21 as Hopewell area residents expressed concern about their health and property values at an information meeting held to discuss cleanup efforts on Somerset and Lafayette streets in the area surrounding the former Rockwell/Kooltronic plant at 57 Hamilton Ave. in Hopewell Borough (HVN; 9/21/06) (See Wolfenotes analysis, over a decade ago)
NJ Spotlight today published a story about “forever chemical” (PFAS) contamination in Hopewell schools and private wells. The story was written as if it were some kind of investigative journalism that discovered and publicly revealed new information.
I gave them the DEP enforcement data on Bear Tavern elementary and Timberlane Middle School contamination back in November 2021 and I published it, see:
I followed that up with a January 2022 post that blasted the failure to publish this data and the DEP to adequately inform the public, see:
Private Well Testing Act Report – 2007 (Source: NJ DEP)
For many years, I’ve been writing about and harshly criticizing DEP’s failure to publicly release Private Well Testing Act data and annual Reports like they used to. DEP has not published Private Well Testing Act data in a public Report for over 15 years!: (this is a May 2012 post):
Had homeowners and parents had this information immediately, then they could have taken steps to protect themselves (and I’m sure some folks would not have purchased homes!)
That DEP failure to publish annual reports with critical data is part of a much larger pattern of abuse by DEP, see:
The current Murphy administration is making longtime DEP problems worse, e.g. see why DEP doesn’t release this kind of data (i.e. because the politically powerful real estate and development community don’t want that data made public):
Perhaps that it because the current DEP Commissioner is a former corporate lawyer, another important issue that the media is not covering, see:
The folks at NJ Spotlight are beginning to provide cover not only for DEP, but for their own failed reporting.
I sent reporter Jon Hurdle and his editor John McAplin this friendly note:
Jon – I gave you the DEP Bear Tavern and Timberlane school data back in November, and then published it. My kids went to these schools and I built a house in Hopewell whose water is likely contaminated, see:
In January, I blasted Spotlight and DEP for failure to adequately inform the public, see:
That data should have been made available when DEP first learned of it (before July 2021). Did Hopewell school officials inform parents and the public when they installed treatment back in 2020?
DEP no longer issues an annual Private Well Testing Act Report so the public can be made aware of this data. Over 6 YEARS ago, I also criticized DEP for, see:
“In fact, the whole issue of private wells tends to be swept under the rug – DEP has not published Private Well Testing Act statewide data in a consolidated Report for over 6 years.”
And when are you going to inform readers and publish the fact that DEP Commissioner LaTourette represented a Dow Chemical subsidiary in a toxic groundwater pollution case against DEP and won, saving the polluter millions of dollars in Natural Resource Damage compensation for polluting public drinking water! Links:
Wake up!
Wolfe