WolfeNotes.com

Horror grips us as we watch you die

All we can do is echo your anguished cries

Stare as all human feelings die

We are leaving, you don’t need us.

Go, take your sister then by the hand

Lead her away from this foreign land

Far away, where we might laugh again

We are leaving, you don’t need us.

And it’s a fair wind, blowin’ warm

Out of the south over my shoulder

Guess, I’ll set a course and go. ~~~ Wooden Ships – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1969)

This very old tree stump (photo above) is my beach shrine –

I try to get there every day, lean into its solidity, and leave a little decoration – a symbol of my reverence for this awesome place and what it used to be.

Its solidity grounds me.

And at times, I’m so filled with some strange awe, that I talk to it.

Community Shut Out As Dupont Lawsuit And Complete Cleanup of Site Stall

DEP Fails To Respond To Passaic River Violations

Dupont and DEP have been abusing the people of Pompton Lakes for decades.

Despite another typical self serving and highly spun press release on re-opening a prior flawed and dirty “Natural Resource Damage” deal with Dupont, DEP has done virtually nothing to hold Dupont accountable for decades of toxic pollution.

The DEP Dupont dirty deal was so bad, it even got criticized by the mainstream press, see the Bergen Record story: Dupont deal gave state more tainted soil (12/6/10)

“Bill Wolfe of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility’s New Jersey chapter agreed. “DuPont got a sweetheart deal and DEP didn’t do their homework,” Wolfe said. “The deal must be renegotiated and DuPont forced to pay fair compensation, especially to Pompton Lakes residents who have suffered for decades.”

I put DEP Commissioner LaTourette on notice regarding some of the latest abuses, based on a call from a good friend from Pompton Lakes:

———- Original Message ———-

From: Bill WOLFE <>

To: shawn.latourette@dep.nj.gov, Sean.Moriarty@dep.nj.gov

Cc: O’Neill, James, senbsmith <SenBSmith@njleg.org>, sengreenstein <sengreenstein@njleg.org>, asmmckeon <asmmckeon@njleg.org>

Date: 08/02/2023 7:09 AM PDT

Subject: Enforcement – Pompton Lakes

Dear Commissioner LaTourette:

I received a phone call yesterday from a former Pompton Lakes Councilman who expressed his frustration with lack of DEP enforcement and compliance monitoring for violations he had notified the DEP hotline and DEP field enforcement staff about.

You recently consolidated DEP enforcement in the Commissioner’s office, so I reach out to you directly to respond adequately to these apparent violations.

1) Flood Hazard, Stormwater and Wetlands violations

Potential violations were observed and alleged at property on the banks of the Passaic River, 278 Wanaque Avenue, Pompon Lakes.

The Google maps of the site shows large piles of soil and soil processing equipment in the Passaic River buffer and apparent regulated floodplain, see:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/278+Wanaque+Ave,+Pompton+Lakes,+NJ+07442/@41.0031409,-74.2927061,76m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c31cb703a67045:0x64c00140266bbf62!8m2!3d41.003399!4d-74.2918143!16s%2Fg%2F11bw4nc1b1?entry=ttu

2) Dupont Natural Resource Damage (NRD) litigation 

As you know, on March 26, 2019, the Department re-opened the prior flawed Natural Resource Damage Settlement with Dupont by filing a new NRD lawsuit for the Dupont Pompton lakes facility, see:

https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases19/Pompton-Lakes_Filed-Complaint_and_Jury-Demand.pdf

The Department has failed to consult with communities regarding the initiation, prosecution, negotiation, settlement, allocation of funds, and restoration of natural resources involved in NRD lawsuits. That issue drew strong community criticism recently in Toms River BASF NRD deal, and in response, the Department made commitments to reform NRD program practices to provide greater community involvement.

Accordingly, I write to demand that the Department hold a public hearing in Pompton Lakes to brief the community on the status of the NRD lawsuit and to receive public comments on NRD related issues.

3) Failure to Conduct Remediation At Dupont Site

The former Councilman advised me that the long delayed complete remediation of the Dupont Pompton Lakes site has apparently stalled. He noted no activity at the site. As the remediation at this site is managed by a private LSRP, there is little transparency or public participation. Accordingly, I also demand that the Department: 1) hold a public hearing in Pompton Lakes to update the community on the status of the cleanup and solicit public comments; and 2) assume direct oversight of the remediation pursuant to NJSA 58:10C-27. Direct oversight of remediation by department; (the site is also a RCRA/HSWA Corrective Action site, so joint EPA and DEP oversight is triggered).

The people of Pompton Lakes have suffered decades of abuses to their health, environment, community and property values as a result of egregiously irresponsible and illegal toxic pollution from the Dupont site.

The Department has failed the people of Pomtpon Lakes by decades of lax enforcement of NJ’s environmental laws and delegated federal laws.

I became aware of and initially worked on the Dupont site in 1986-87, supervising staff that conducted a RCRA/HSWA preliminary assessment at the site and managing the corrective action programs associated with the EPA RCRA grant.

I was appalled by what I learned.

Since then, I’ve worked for many years trying to help the people of Pompton Lakes and to hold DEP and USEPA accountable for lax permitting and enforcement action.

You are fully aware of these intolerable conditions and therefore must act and do better.

Bill Wolfe

Culture Wars Displace Athletic Integrity

USA! USA! USA! Chants Accompany Militaristic Visuals On Fox Media

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows. ~~~ Leonard Cohen

I love the game of soccer. I played as a youth and was the starting varsity goalie for 3 years in High School. I later played in adult men’s leagues.

My daughter played on elite youth travel teams. In high school, she was a 4 year varsity starter at one of the top High school programs in NJ. She earned Mercer County and All State team recognition and was a D1 recruit.

Sad to say, but my daughter had more “fire in the belly”, integrity, discipline, and emotional maturity than many on this US Women’s 2023 World Cup team.

And I’m not referring to their refusal to sing the national anthem or their protests of police violence or advocacy for equal pay. I support all that.

I’ve watched the US Women’s team compete in Wold Cup and Olympic Games for decades. I was not motivated by patriotism, nationalism, chauvinism, dance routines, “branding” opportunities, individual post goal scoring and post game celebrations, or any form of identity or cultural politics.

I watched because I loved the game and especially the way the US teams played it and competed with “fire in the belly” and integrity.

Luckily, I always watched those games from bars. No sound on the TeeVees! That allowed me to avoid all the commercials, the arrogant and jingoistic USA! USA! USA! chanting, the embarrassing know nothing fan interviews, the vapid player profiles, and the hollow pre-game show that focused on drama, not field tactics.

That absurd TV display was magnified greatly this year in Australia by disgusting visual propaganda by the US Navy.

The Fox TV producers constantly allowed US Navy sailors to form flag waving visual background props and featured Navy sailors in sound bite interviews. This transparent military propaganda comes at a time when the US is waging a losing proxy war in Ukraine and seeking new military alliances with Australia for purposes of, at best, a Cold War with China.

So, the whole world is watching and the whole world sees what the US Empire is doing in the world.

I was disgusted by all this, because this year I was forced to watch the game on my laptop, because the bars in town were not open for the 12 am (PST) start time. I was forced to watch and listen to all the pre-game crap too. It was, to put it mildly, ugly.

Worse, the team’s on field performance was a disgrace.

But that poor performance has been overshadowed by outrage over the dancing and smiling selfies taken after the game. This follows criticism of the national anthem and other prior culture war issues by right wingers and cultural conservatives.

Fox analyst and former teammate and star Carli Lloyd’s critical comments captured the essence and have magnified the outrage. I too was appalled by the dancing, smiling, and selfies after such a disgraceful performance.

From the left, my favorite sports writer Dave Zirin at The Nation defended this garbage, framing the issue as a personal attack by Lloyd and another battle in the culture war. Zirin described the post game display as an attempt at “connecting with fans”.

Give me a fucking break.

This display had very little to do with the fans and everything to do with the self absorbed “culture” that Carli Lloyd critiqued. (And no one has even mentioned the pre-game costumes and dancing on the field, which was almost as bad).

Carli Lloyd is exactly right. And her valid criticisms have nothing to do with patriotic or right wing politics or personal attacks, Mr. Zirin!.

The “cultural” shift she correctly criticizes is how arrogant representatives of declining and decadent empires behave on a world stage – along with their deluded, arrogant, jingoistic and clueless fans: USA! USA! USA!

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows