WolfeNotes.com

*** 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.

I had a press pass for the Obama rally in Harrisburg on Saturday night and was able to take these excellent photographs – click on this link to view the pictures:
http://128.2.8.237/bw/photos/obama/selects/
This is my favorite:
http://128.2.8.237/bw/photos/obama/selects/IMG_4226.jpg
The 12+ MB original RAW files have been reduced for posting. Originals are far higher quality and suitable for copying, up to poster size. Shoot me an email if you are interested in making copies:
bill_wolfe@comcast.net

Bill WolfeDEP Hearing Officer Jeff Reading summarizes clean water proposal

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing today on a proposal designed to protect NJ’s rivers, streams, bays and oceans from pollution discharged by hundreds of industrial and sewage treatment plants. DEP administers a permit program under the federal Clean Water Act to “restore, maintain, and enhance” water quality and ensure that NJ’s waters are “fishable and swimmable”.

Bill Wolfe14 DEP staffers observe public hearing – one person showed up to testify

While NJ has made great progress since the days when rivers caught fire and raw sewage was discharged, the fundamental goals of the Clean Water Act remain unmet in almost 70% of NJ waterways. As a result of excessive levels of pollution, it is unsafe to fish or swim in most waters in NJ, and drinking water supplies are increasingly threatened. (see:NEW JERSEY ADMITS 970 RIVERS AND LAKES POLLUTED — State Tries to Bury Report http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=684
New scientific evidence suggests that unregulated chemicals – like prescription drugs and endocrine disruptors – and under-regulated pollution sources continue to threaten water supplies and ecosystems. Due to an aging wastewater infrastructure, DEP has estimated that over $16 BILLION in new pollution controls is required to meet Clean Water Act standards. (See: HUGE NEW JERSEY WATER INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS NOT BEING MET — State’s Economic Future Threatened by Not Investing in Environmental Quality http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=764
Thus, the need to do more and to tighten regulations to protect water quality grows stronger.

But despite this growing need and extremely high levels of public concern with water quality in NJ, no one showed up to testify.

Bill Wolfesewage treatment process at Middlesex County Utilities Authority plant.

Historically, the Clean Water Act permit program regulations have been a high priority of NJ’s environmental community. Environmental groups have sued DEP, harshly criticized DEP for lax oversight, and called for far tougher regulations. Just weeks ago, environmental groups expressed concerns about the proposal, particularly a controversial program to promote reuse of industrial wastewater and sewage treatment plant effluent – See Environmentalists cool to state’s new initiative http://www.northjersey.com/environment/Recycling_wastewater.html

Bill WolfeRaritan River, near MCUA discharge pipe.
The Raritan River and Bay receive millions of gallons per day of wastewater discharges from industrial and sewage treatment plants.

Full disclosure: I was the only one who showed up to testify.

Bill Wolfe

For the folks out there who care about clean water, I urge you to get involved. Here is a link to the proposal and additional information – (see: FEDS SAY NEW JERSEY WATER STANDARDS DO NOT PROTECT WILDLIFE — Bald Eagles, Falcons, Mussels and Others at Risk from Mercury, DDT and PCBs http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=927
The final hearing is May 8 in Bordentown.
http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/proposals/031708b.pdf
NJ DEPARTMENT of ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Environmental Regulation
Division of Water Quality
Notice of Rule Proposal
New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System – N.J.A.C. 7:14A
Public Notice
Take notice that the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is proposing to readopt with amendments the New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) rules at N.J.A.C. 7:14A. The Department also proposes related amendments to the Standards for Individual Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems rules, N.J.A.C. 7:9A, the Water Pollution Control Act rules, N.J.A.C. 7:14, the Ninety-Day Construction Permit rules, N.J.A.C. 7:1C, and the Department Organization rules at N.J.A.C. 7:1. The most extensive amendments to the rules pertain to reclaimed water for beneficial reuse (RWBR); the method for calculating the fee for dischargers to ground water; the fee for authorizations under the stormwater construction general permit; residuals management; the effluent standard for acute whole effluent toxicity; and the industrial pretreatment program.
Public hearings concerning the proposal are scheduled as follows:

Bill WolfeMiddlesex County Utilities Authority regional sewage treatment plant.

Monday, April 21, 2008 at 10:00am to 1:00pm or the close of testimony
Rutgers Labor Education Center
50 Labor Center Way
New Brunswick, NJ 08903

Bill WolfeMCUA regional treatment plant undergoing upgrades.

Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 1:00pm to 4:00pm and 5:30pm to 7:30 pm or the close of testimony
Rutgers EcoComplex
Environmental Research and Extension Center
1200 Florence-Columbus Rd.
Bordentown, NJ 08505
Written comments may be submitted until May 16, 2008 to:
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Alice A. Previte, Esq.
ATTN: DEP Docket No. 01-08-01/555
Office of Legal Affairs
PO Box 402
401 East State Street – 4th Floor
Trenton, New Jersey 08625

“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/