Murphy DEP Commissioner Misled The Legislature: He Tried To Cover Up Real Reasons For DEP Illegal Clearcut Logging

LaTourette Claimed Individual DEP Staffer Merely “Made A Mistake”

Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette – a corporate lawyer – takes one for the team during Assembly Budget Committee

Yesterday, Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette testified before the Assembly Budget Committee on the DEP’s FY ’24 budget.

Among other things, LaTourette seriously misled the Committee in response to questions about how and why the DEP illegal clearcut of Glassboro Wildlife Management Area happened.

LaTourette claimed that the logging was simply a “mistake” and that it was made by un-named individual(s): (you can watch the testimony here).

In response to softball questions from Assemblyman McKeon (D), after trying to divert with a straw man focus on DEP’s enforcement response, Latourette said: (time 32:00)

It was a mistake … People are people. Mistakes get made. …

In response to a more specific and harsher line of questioning from Assemblyman Scharfenberger (R-Monmouth), starting around time 1:36:00 Latourette said:

We know where the breakdown was and we are fixing it….

Importantly, LaTourette did not identify where the breakdown was or how he planned to fix it. That is a lie of omission.

That testimony was blatantly false and misleading. Full stop. (As LaTourette himself likes to say).

The testimony was more than just a lame, misleading, and transparent attempt to cover up DEP’s literal crimes. It was a flat out lie.

In contrast, as I’ve written, that illegal logging project was not an anomaly or an individual “mistake”. It was the rule and reflected DEP policy, see:

• The Glassboro DEP Logging Story Is A Diversion From DEP’s Statewide Logging Project

Facts that have not been mentioned thus far demonstrate this.

1) There was a specific detailed DEP plan for the Glassboro WMA clearcut logging project that specifically identified wetlands and specifically noted a forest “clearcut”.

2) The plan was prepared by DEP staff and approved by DEP managers.

3) That plan reflected and was the result of DEP’s wildlife management and forest management plans, policies, and programs .

4) That plan reflected the professional training, views, twisted values, and egregious biases of DEP staff.

5) That plan reflected DEP’s staff interpretation of wildlife and forestry science.

6) That plan exploited numerous loopholes and exemptions in NJ laws and DEP regulations.

In light of Commissioner LaTourette’s failure to specify the cause of the problem and his plans to fix it, and in response to his false and misleading testimony, I repeat my call for legislative oversight, see:

• Internal DEP Documents Show DEP Deliberately “Clearcut” Forested Wetlands In Glassboro Wildlife Management Area

Legislative oversight must focus on DEP policy, including the DEP:

• State Wildlife Action Plan,
• State Forest Action Plan,
• draft Natural And Working Lands Strategy, and
• Senator Smith’s Forestry Task Force Framework Recommendations

All of these plans promote false justifications for the logging that went on at Glassboro (and elsewhere across the state) and to promote hunting.

We can not trust DEP Commissioner LaTourette to “fix” these problems on his own. He has misled the public and can no longer be trusted.

Legislative reforms are required to close loopholes and establish mandatory requirements. DEP discretion can no longer be trusted either.