Twilight Zone Quotes of the Day

One Star-Ledger story today contained not one – but two – quotes of the day – straight out of the Twilight Zone:

“Doria: Eco-rules should not block affordable housing DEP seeking limits on developable land”

“There are people in the environmental community who want New Jersey to become one big green acre,” he [Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union)] said, referring to the state’s open space preservation program.”

Earth to Assemblyman Green (no pun intended with that name, eh Jerry?):

One Big Green Acre?

Perhaps Assemblyman Green doesn’t get out often, but New Jersey is becoming one giant housing development, strip mall, parking lot. Roads are gridlocked. Farms and forests are vanishing. Most streams and lakes are too polluted to fish or swim in. Even modest rainfalls cause localized flooding and chaos.

If the visual evidence hasn’t sunk in, maybe some facts will:

New Jersey is the nation’s most densely populated state, one of the most densely populated places in the world (over 1,100 people per square mile). New Jersey has almost 40% of its land area developed and is losing an additional 15,000 – 20,000 acres per year to development (that’s 50 football fields lost every day, for you sports fans out there). New Jersey will be the first state to reach “build out.” New Jersey has more roads, people, cars, pavement, and toxic wastes per square mile than anywhere on earth (and some of the highest cancer rates to match). Congestion in the region is so bad, the Star-Ledger reported that we soon won’t be able to ship Port imports by truck.

Can this landscape be described as a green acre?

Am I an environmental zealot for reporting these facts and expressing disgust at the power of greedy developers to destroy landscapes and communities?

But, not to be outdone in the Twilight Zone quote of the day competition, Elaine Makatura, Press Office spokesperson for DEP, sought to defend DEP from the political onslaught of both Assemblyman Green and new Corzine Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria:

“Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria told the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee that while 1.3 million acres of land in the state remains undeveloped, standards proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection would limit any future housing development to 300,000.
“That’s a serious issue,” Doria said. “Will we have the land to provide housing? We have to look at environmental regulations that impact on housing. This is an inter-departmental responsibility.”

The housing-related DEP regulations include preventing construction within 300 feet of streams that feed reservoirs, upgrading quality standards for the waterway, and prohibiting the construction of sewer lines near pristine waterways or endangered species habitats.”

So how did Makatura respond?

Holy cow, she told a Legislator and a Cabinet member to shut up and stop carrying the developers water!

“Elaine Makatura, a DEP spokeswoman, said Doria and other state officials should bring their concerns to the department before making it a public issue.

“For the DEP to be part of the equation and be part of the decision-making, they must work through the (DEP) commissioner’s office and come in and sit down and discuss it and work with staff to determine what role the DEP will play,” she said. “Developers are not happy with those kind of restrictions. Those restrictions were put in place (proposed) to protect environmental resources like water and habitat.”

The story went on to report that Assembly Speaker Roberts has a 12-bill package that seems to support Assemblyman Green and Commissioner Doria’s pro-developmnent and anti-environmental views.

Looks like a war could be brewing within the Corzine Administration and between the Democrats and environmentalists. Doria is surely not going to take that DEP Press Office rebuke laying down.

More to follow on this one next year as that 12-bill Roberts package is considered.