The Murphy DEP Just Inadvertently Admitted That DEP Urban CSO Permits Have No Teeth

DEP Confirms Our Criticism Of Toothless Urban CSO Permits

DEP Spinners And DEP Cheerleaders Just Exposed Themselves

DEP issued a self congratulatory press release this week, ironically praising themselves for issuing the “first” Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) permit “with schedules” for “projects”:

The draft New Jersey Pollutant Discharge System (NJPDES) renewal permits issued by the Department of Environmental Protection are the first to be issued that lay out schedules for combined sewer overflow reduction projects under long-term plans to reduce or eliminate combined sewer discharges affecting surface water quality in urban parts of the state. […]

The permittees were required to advise the public when combined sewer overflows occur, which is continued in this renewal. The DEP is moving into the next important phase of this effort by issuing these NJPDES permits that will lay out schedules for a variety of projects to address combined sewer overflows identified in long-term control plans.

The LaTourette DEP was so eager to praise themselves that they didn’t realize that they were admitting that their prior CSO permits were toothless; that DEP intentionally misled the public about those permits; and that DEP’s environmental group cheerleaders also misled the public about those permits.

Specifically, the DEP press release now confirms our criticism at the time, where we explicly critiqued these toothless DEP permits for failure to include enforceable requirements, including implementation schedules and milestones.

Back on January 8, 2015, we wrote:

• New DEP CSO Permits Lack Teeth

The DEP’s new “Combined Sewer Overflow” (CSO) permits are getting lots of media play today, and lots of very basic misconceptions, like this in the Bergen Record story:

“It’s great news – exactly what we’ve been asking for,” said Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper. “It sets New Jersey on course to do real work to fix this problem once and for all. The cities and towns will now actually have to do stuff. And if they don’t, the permits are enforceable.“

Yes, the DEP permits do require that cities “do stuff” – lots of “stuff”.

“Stuff” like numerous studies and plans, the “stuff” they’ve been doing for decades that gets the big engineering and water resource consulting firms huge contracts but does nothing to improve water quality or stop the discharge of raw sewage from CSO’s when it rains.

But no, Captain Bill, the permits are not “enforceable” and they are intentionally written to be not enforceable.

So, just to be clear, below are the actual provisions of the DEP permit regarding implementation of CSO controls, i.e. actually constructing solutions to the problem within a specified and enforceable deadline. […]

You will note several glaring gaps and loopholes that make these permits unenforceable:

1. There are no mandatory deadlines to implement CSO controls. The only actual deadlines pertain to submission of plans and Reports.

2. The construction and financing schedule that must be submitted may be “phased” (an undefined and unbounded term that makes implementation unenforceable) and may consider the “permittee’s financial capability” (that too is an undefined term which will allow poor cities to escape costly CSO controls). […]

3. Note that implementation of the LTCP is to begin after DEP approval, “in accordance with the schedule contained therein”.

The important point to take away is that the DEP regulations and the DEP permits do not have schedules. Schedules are to be developed at some future time in the LTCP process. No mandatory schedule means no teeth.

No money and no mandates means that this round of DEP CSO permits is more of the same status quo study and delay.

Wow! There’s some accountability that needs to happen because:

• The DEP’s own press release this week specifically validates our criticism.

• The DEP’s own press releases exposes prior DEP efforts to spin the press and mislead the public about these toothless CSO permits.

• The DEP’s press release exposes the fact that the NJ press corps uncritically printed the DEP’s spin at the time.

• The DEP’s press release exposes the rank cheerleading by environmental groups, who praised these toothless permits.

Finally, the DEP press release includes praise from a DEP cheerleader, the corporate dominated group NJ Future. They too expose the fact that they have also been misleading the public for years by praising the prior toothless DEP permits:

New Jersey Future appreciates NJDEP’s efforts on this issue and welcomes the release of the first of many CSO permits. Implementing these permits will allow communities to incorporate green infrastructure and climate change preparation to reduce overflows, flooding, and hazards using funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and funding allocated by the Governor and Legislature from the American Rescue Plan Act.”

We are truly in the Twilight Zone when DEP can mislead the public about toothless CSO permits, get praised by so called environmental groups (NJ Future was not lone in praising those prior toothless CSO permits), and then years later openly admit that the prior CSO permits were toothless, and get praise again!

Is there no memory?

Maybe some intrepid reporter will ask DEP some tough questions, like:

1) when will all those other toothless urban CSO permits be modified to include enforceable schedules and milestones?

2) Whether and how urban communities will invoke the current permit provision to consider a “permittee’s financial capability”?

3) Whether and how the urban CSO communities will be eligible to invoke DEP’s new “variance” loophole, which provides relief based on “widespread social and economic impacts”, particularly on low income communities?

For the “variance” loophole story, see:

• Murphy DEP Proposed Huge Loophole In Clean Water Standards

ps – this is only happening because of federal money will pay for it.