WolfeNotes.com

“There will be no Fast Tracking”
Jon Corzine 4/5/08 – remarks at NJEF Annual Conference.

Bill WolfeDEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson.

[Update #1: at 1:30 pm today, I received a call from Assembly Majority Office to advise that Tuesday’s hearing will be limited to the following issues:
1) licensed professional program; 2) insurance; 3) remedy selection; and 4) repeal of Fast track law]
[Update: #2 – 6:00 pm – Site Remediation White Papers – just posted on DEP website. See: http://www.nj.gov/dep/srp/stakeholders/whitepapers/
Just days before the Legislature will hold joint hearings on April 15 to address much needed reforms to DEP’s broken toxic site cleanup program, DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson was out lobbying for highly controversial measures.
Pre-empting the legislative debate, Jackson supported more privatization and deregulation. Ironically, it is exactly those policies that created the debacles and failed to protect public health – such as Encap, Kiddie Kollege, Ford, – that have outraged citizens across the state, generated enormous bad press, and spurred the legislative reform efforts. (see: LEGISLATURE TO PROBE TOXIC COLLAPSE IN NEW JERSEY — Series of Cleanup Fiascoes Have Communities Feeling Betrayed and Vulnerable http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=694
Let me be specific and quote the reported remarks of Commissioner Jackson:
“We don’t want more regulation, we want less,” Jackson said. “We’re going from five checkpoints down to one — I call that efficiency.”
DEP chief Jackson addresses Urban Land Institute http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080409/REALESTATE/80409013
What is Jackson thinking with such knee jerk anti-regulatory rhetoric?
Perhaps worse, Jackson supported more privatization:
“The commissioner spoke primarily about a proposal to adopt a consultant licensing program that would allow environmental professionals from the private sector — rather than state employees — to facilitate remediation of contaminated sites. The licensing program, which would resemble a program in Massachusetts, would address the problem of delays caused by lack of DEP case managers due to budget cuts.”
Privatization of toxic site cleanups is a fools errand, where consultants and polluters have huge economic incentives to cut costs, violate regulations, and compromise public health and environmental protection.
In NJ, private certifications and lack of DEP oversight have caused major fiasco’s. The people in Hamilton learned the hard way in the WR Grace case. Grace certified the site was clean and DEP rubber stamped that certification without taking any soil samples. Later, high levels of toxic asbestos forced the US EPA to conduct an emergency removal of 15,000 cubic yards of highly contaminated soil. Or ask folks in Edison and central NJ about the Ford plant PCB fiasco. In that case, toxic PCB contaminated soil from that “cleanup” was used as clean fill at more than a dozen housing developments in central NJ. There are dozens of known and unknown similar cases where people and the environment are being poisoned due to failed cleanups.
In the Massachusetts program – held up by Jackson as a model – a State Audit found that three quarters of privatized cleanups were found to be deficient. see: STATE AUDITS FIND THREE-FOURTHS OF TOXIC CLEAN-UPS DEFICIENT — Many Privatized Hazardous Waste Removals Must be Done Over http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=628
For the implications of privatization at DEP, see NEW JERSEY TO PRIVATIZE TOXIC CLEAN-UP SCIENCE — State Environment Department Will Contract Out Geologic Work to Reduce Backlog
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=922
In addition to the controversies over toxic site cleanup, just weeks ago, Jackson was criticized by environmental groups for creating a “Permit Efficiency Task Force” (see:http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1022
Jackson pre-emptively showed her cards in that controversial debate as well. Her remarks sought to justify and lobby for policy changes – before the group has even met – the controvesial mission of the “Permit Efficiency Task Force” Jackson recently created by Administrative Order. The deliberations of that industry dominated Task Force will not be open to the public (see: DEP denies task force on permits is a retreat
Jackson: Faster reviews won’t weaken protections http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1206423377148520.xml&coll=1
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1022
“Jackson also spoke about an initiative that has established a task force to conduct a comprehensive review of the DEP’s land use permitting process. The task force is charged with preparing a report with its recommendations for improvements within 120 days. One goal will be to streamline the land use permitting process while maintaining public healthand protecting the environment, she said. Another goal will be to incentivize sustainable development projects.
“If we do not address how we deal with our permits department, I feel the department will collapse under the weight,” said Jackson. “Folks want predictability of outcomes and times and we are trying to bring that.”
By using the terms “predictability and certainty”, Jackson parrots the tired rhetoric of the Whitman Administration and industry lobbyists seeking to roll back environmental and public health protections.
Where is the NJ press corps?

Clean Air Council Hearing spotlights lack of pollution controls in NJ – State Urged to do more to regulate powerful port interests
Diesel fumes called NJ’s “greatest cancer risk” http://www.northjersey.com/news/northernnj/Diesel_fumes_called_NJ_greatest_cancer_risk.html
[See our Jan 18 post: In Harm’s way http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/01/what_they_dont_want_you_to_see.html

Bill WolfeJohn Maxwell, a well known Trenton oil industry lobbyist, is a “public” member of the Council. His introductory quip: “I’m a lobbyist for the oil companies doing god’s work on the environment” prompted laughter

The little known Clean Air Council held their annual public hearing today at DEP’s Trenton Headquarters. The topic was “Improving Air Quality at our Ports and Airports.” The Council, formed by the Legislature to provide recommendations to DEP, holds an annual public hearing and meets monthly.
The hearing was well attended by business interests and lobbyists, with a few environmental group representatives and citizens. Tellingly, the Hearing Officer was Michael Engeton, chief lobbyist for the Chamber of Commerce. For the Council’s membership and issue agenda, see: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/cleanair/

Bill WolfeMichael Engeton, lobbyist for the Chamber of Commerce, was Hearing Officer at today’s Clean Air Council Annual Public Hearing.

Bill WolfeIrwin Zonis, an original public member of the Council since 1968 – traced the Council’s history.

Refreshingly, one Council member had the courage to mention the conflicts between business interests and the Council’s mission. Original member Irwin Zonis remarked that the legislature, in forming the Council, wisely realized that it would “not be a good idea to have regulated industries craft [air quality] regulations”[Side Note: we urge Mr. Zonis to look into the powers of the Fish and Game Council – which include exactly such powers plus veto power over DEP regulations.]
Expert testimony to the Council spotlighted significant adverse air quality and severe human health impacts caused by unregulated emissions from diesel powered ships, port equipment, and trucks plying NJ’s ports.

Bill WolfePeter Greenwald, California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (Los Angeles region)

The Council heard stunning testimony from Peter Greenwald of California’s South Coast Air Quality management District. Greenwald emphasized that proximity to residential neighborhoods was critically important. His data showed that air pollution levels caused by unregulated diesel powered ships and trucks using Los Angeles ports caused dramatic loss of lung function in young children, increased morbidity and mortality rates, and posed cancer risks thousands of times above regulatory levels. Greenwald urged NJ regulators to aggressively use existing state and local laws to ratchet down on port pollution. He also urged NJ policy makers and Congressional delegation to supoort US Senate bill # S1499 (Boxer) to regulate emissions from ships
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:s1499is.txt.pdf.
The work being done by in California FAR surpasses the meagre efforts of NJ DEP – NJ lacks California’s community outreach, air monitoring, staff and financial resources, and aggressive regulatory controls. Because similar pollution problems and health risks are posed by NJ’s ports, Greenwald’s testimony posed a major challenge to DEP and the pro-business Corzine Administration. For California’s air toxics work, including emission inventories, cancer maps, and control strategies: http://www.aqmd.gov/prdas/matesIII/matesIII.html
Compare that effort to NJDEP’s: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/airmon/airtoxics/

Bill WolfeDr. Monica Mazurek, Rutgers University, testifies to NJ Clean Air Council

Rutgers professor Dr. Monica Mazurek, presented her work on fine particulate pollution, a serious health threat caused by diesel motor emissions (ironically, more work done in NY State than NJ). Dr. Mazurek stressed the need for additional air monitoring, emissions measurements, and modeling. http://www.engineeringplanet.rutgers.edu/mazurek.php

Bill WolfeAmy Goldsmith, NJ Environmental Federation, testifies to Council

Environmental justice and community groups testified to the Council. Valorie Caffee (NJ Work Environment Council) Amy Goldsmith (NJ Environmental Federation) and Christina Montorio (Change to Win) emphasized cumulative pollution levels from multiple pollution sources.

Bill WolfeValorie Caffee, NJ Work Environment Council, testifies to Council

Their data showed gross disparities in adverse health impacts to NJ’s urban minority residents versus suburban communities, largely caused by diesel pollution. Data from Newark’s Ironbound community – nearby Ports Newark and Elizabeth and where ball fields are located nearby heavily truck trafficked highways – showed that predominately black children suffered far higher pollution levels and more than double the asthma rates, hospital emergency admissions, and lost school days than their counterparts in suburban NJ. http://www.cleanwateraction.org/njef/campaigns-cleanair.html

Bill WolfeChristina Montorio (Change to Win Coaltion) testifies to Council

For WEC website, see: http://www.njwec.org/
For Change to Win, see: http://www.changetowin.org/

Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“…There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor — both black and white — through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated, as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.
Delivered 4 April 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
*Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be here tonight, and how very delighted I am to see you expressing your concern about the issues that will be discussed tonight by turning out in such large numbers. I also want to say that I consider it a great honor to share this program with Dr. Bennett, Dr. Commager, and Rabbi Heschel, some of the distinguished leaders and personalities of our nation. And of course it’s always good to come back to Riverside Church. Over the last eight years, I have had the privilege of preaching here almost every year in that period, and it is always a rich and rewarding experience to come to this great church and this great pulpit. I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statements of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart, and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.
The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.
And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation’s history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.
Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: “Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King?” “Why are you joining the voices of dissent?” “Peace and civil rights don’t mix,” they say. “Aren’t you hurting the cause of your people,” they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

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“Long ago it was said that “one half of the world does not know how the other half lives.” That was true then. It did not know because it did not care.” Jacob Riis [1890]

*** Apologies – NJ.Com took down the photos, which were originally published on my “NJ Voices” column at NJ.Com. I was able to save the text, but not the photos. What assholes.
Jacob Riis’ 1890 classic book – a landmark in photojournalism – “How the Other Half Lives” illustrated the outrageous conditions in the lower east side slums of New York – his expose had an immediate impact, inspiring reforms that changed New York. I often wonder: where has that same sense of outrage at injustice gone? Lets take a look.
Street Scenes in Passaic City, NJ
In the tradition and spirit of Riis (I don’t remotely pretend to the competence or quality of Riis’ work), I went to North Jersey yesterday to document conditions at some urban schools located on toxic waste sites. What I found both appalled and pleased me.
I was overwhelmed by this scene – the people of Passaic City have created beauty on the streets of their neighborhoods.

Bill Wolfe

It is outrageous that City and State officials have not been nearly as creative or committed as the people who live there, and instead have abandoned them – abandoned industrial sites and signs of neglect and disinvestment were everywhere.

Bill Wolfetoxic industrial rubble strewn site – owned by City – is directly across the street from religious shrine and in front of Public School #9

Bill Wolfetoxic site across street – 100 feet – from PS #9. Owned by City

Bill WolfeToxic site next door to PS #9

Bill Wolfe

The SCC sign says “Health and Safety Project for School #9″ – the cruel irony is that this did not include a cleanup of the abandoned toxic site across the street, literally just feet from school doors.

Bill Wolfe

Pre-schoolers – our most sensitive and special ones – were similarly at risk. These pre-school trailers were located at the perimeter of a brownfields project. Take a look and ask if you would want to send your young child here.

Bill WolfePre-school trailers can be seen in background. This brownfield site is a SDA construction site known as the “Dr. Robert Holster Education Complex”. A school was supposed to have been built there over 4 years ago but the site still sits vacant. A community hospital was torn down by SCA to build the school.

Bill Wolfe

Bill Wolfe

Bill WolfeIn foreground, a discarded tire (at edge of brownfield site) is used as planter – lets hope that the soil kids plant and play in has been tested and is safe.

Discarded shipping crates are used for storage – when I was a kid going to school in an upscale suburban town in Westchester County, my favorite reading was a series titled “The Box Car Kids”. This scene added new meaning to that phrase from my youth.

Bill Wolfe

Problems also included over-crowding. Lack of funding and delays in school construction forced kids to learn in trailers for an unacceptable extended period of time

Bill Wolfe

We can do better than this
(Note: while taking these pictures, I was confronted by school and day care officials. I explained my purposes and had very good conversations with them. But shame of Passaic City officials for sending police to my home tonight to investigate me for shooting these photo’s).

Bill Wolfe