Controversial DEP Task Force Report Due
Stage Set – Deadline for Industry dominated Report tomorrow
DEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson – (2006 – )Back in March, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson issued an Order creating a “Permit Efficiency Task Force“. The Task force was directed to issue recommendations – within 120 days of their first meeting on April 9 – to streamline DEP permit programs. Task Force members read like a who’s who list of pro-development and anti-regulatory advocates with a long history in NJ environmental politics. (for members, see: http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_25_3_task_force_membership.pdf
The current economic recession and the Task Force players represent a dangerous threat to over 30 years of NJ’s hard won environmental protections.
Jackson’s Order sets the stage for the business community and anti-environmental interests to be given a platform to rollback DEP regulations. For Jackson’s Order, see: http://nj.gov/dep/permittf/docs/ao2008-06.pdf
The Task Force originally was stacked with industry lobbyists, with no environmental, community, or public interest group representatives. On March 25, 2008, we blew the whistle on that:
NEW JERSEY ASKS BUSINESS TO REWRITE ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS — Developers See Slow Economy as Lever to Weaken Anti-Pollution Permit Rules
Trenton — New Jersey has created an industry-dominated task force to recommend revising state anti- pollution permit standards and procedures, according to documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The action is part of a concerted statewide drive by business lobbyists to blame the state’s recent slumping economy on environmental safeguards.
See: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1013
In a March 24, 2008 letter to Jackson, we demanded:
Dear Commissioner Jackson:
I request that all deliberations of the Permit Efficiency Task Force created by your Administrative Order 2008-006 be open to the public; that the process be transparent and participatory; and that the highest ethical standards are adhered to.
Jackson promptly denied those demands in an April 2, 2008 reply. For complete letter and Jackson reply, see: http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_7_4_jackson_e-mail_re_task_force.pdf
We fired back with this:
NEW JERSEY TO CONSULT INDUSTRY ON ECO-REWRITES IN SECRET — “Efficiency” Task Force Members Not Barred from Self-Dealing with DEP
Trenton — An industry-dominated task force to recommend an overhaul of state anti-pollution permits and policies will work in secret, according to an e-mail from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Lisa Jackson to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Commissioner Jackson also rebuffed PEER recommendations that materials submitted to the task force are made a public record and that task force members be barred from lobbying DEP for their clients.: See: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1022
Shortly thereafter, Jackson quietly expanded the membership of the Task Force to include token Sierra Club and NJ Environmental Federation representatives. While excluding the public, DEP did begin to post vague Task Force agenda’s and minutes on the DEP website. See: http://nj.gov/dep/permittf/
Importantly, back in March before the legislation had even been introduced, we predicted a repeat of the controversial “Permit Extension Act” – a bill now on the Governor’s desk. With a strong sense of Deja Vu, we wrote:
Bradley M. Campbell, former DEP Commissioner 2002 – 2006“The focus of the Task Force repeats an historic pattern of business community attacks on DEP going back to the Florio Administration. Those efforts have resulted in a series of flawed anti-environmental initiatives, from Permit Extension Act I and II to Fast Track.”
See: DEP Fast Track is Back – environmental rollbacks underway
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/03/dep_fast_track_is_back_environ.html
So, the stage is set.
What will the Task Force recommend?
How will environmentalists respond?
Will Lisa Jackson replay Brad Campbell’s tenure?
We will provide detailed analysis here of the Task Force’s recommendations and other important issues.
Lisa Jackson is a poor excuse for a Corzine puppet. She does not try to represent all the people of NJ, just those that align with HER AGENDA. She is anti-hunting and anti-fishing and she hasn’t a clue about some of NJ’s rich heritage in both of these areas. She is just another one of the ‘social engineers’ that the litter the liberal NJ government and the Corzine administration’s poor appointments.
She and Corzine should both be recalled and tossed out of office.