Sometimes it takes an outsider’s fresh perspective to observe obvious absurdities in how the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) operates.
The King’s courtiers always are blind to the fact that the King has no clothes.
I was just reviewing today’s environmental news clips (thankfully brought to us by Scott Olson, of Byram) and was absolutely floored by two perfect examples of this dynamic. These were so good, I felt the need to share.
Pequest River, Butzville, Warren CountyThe first dealt with a developer’s lawsuit against Independence Township. The developer is challenging a local ordinance designed to protect the environmentally sensitive lands along the Pequest River.
See: Developer sues over river buffer zone –
Builder claims Independence Twp. officials didn’t do research to extend the zone. http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/nj/index.ssf?/base/news-8/121497158393800.xml&coll=2
The Town based the ordinance on the DEP “Category One” (C1) 300 foot buffer for limited portions of the Pequest that flows through the Town. The DEP C1 program protects small portions of streams and rivers (called “stretches”), but not the entire stream or river. The obvious fatal flaw seems to have escaped many, particularly the King’s courtiers, but not the local Planning Board Chairman, a Mr. Frank Arch, who observed:
“Arch said a section of the Pequest River had no buffer despite 300-foot buffers along other sections of the river in the township.
Arch said that didn’t make any sense.”
Bravo, Mr. Arch!
The second case involves the recent discovery that a Dupont toxic waste site is causing chemical vapors to seep into nearby homes. See: Pompton Lakes council wants independent test for toxic vapors http://www.northjersey.com/environment/environmentnews/Pompton_Lakes_council_wants_independent_test_for_toxic_vapors.html
Resident are rightly outraged, and a local Councilman, a Mr. Ed Meakam, just nailed it with this observation:
Dupont Chambersworks – this is NOT the Pompton facility.“Residents have voiced mistrust of the company, noting that this is a second round of contamination. DuPont is involved in an ongoing $130 million effort to clean the area of mercury, lead and solvents. Now the concern is that chemicals tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), used to degrease machinery, have risen in vapors from the ground soil into homes…..
“We as a full council have no work plan to review,” said Councilman Ed Meakem. “There is no dialogue whatsoever on the work plan, and that concerns me.”
Another concern, he said, is that the “borough has a history of relying on the information provided by DuPont.” DEP, he said, is taking findings from the company, too.
“When you have the fox watching the henhouse, which this is, it’s hard to accept,” Meakem said.
Mr. Meakem is absolutely correct in identifying multiple serious flaws in DEP’s toxic site cleanup program – he would be outraged to learn that instead of fixing these problems and limiting the control of powerful polluters like Dupont, that DEP has proposed legislation (S1897 (Simth D/Middlesex) to PRIVATIZE the program and INCREASE the control of the Dupont’s of the world. See:
NEW JERSEY MODEL FOR PRIVATIZED TOXIC CLEAN-UPS FAILS AUDITS — Serious Violations Found in More than Two-Thirds of Audited Massachusetts Sites
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1034
NEW JERSEY TO PRIVATIZE POLLUTION REGULATION TO SAVE MONEY — Outsourcing Clean-Ups Is Recipe for More Toxic Disasters, Legislature Told http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1027