Bill WolfeBelow is an extraordinary debate between a DEP toxic site cleanup professional and an industry consultant about the implications of the toxic site cleanup privatization bill now on Governor Corzine’s desk.
The debate takes place in comments on this Bergen Record story:
Contractors to oversee waste cleanups
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/Contractors_to_oversee_waste_cleanups.html
This is the kind of honest expert perspective you don’t read in the newspapers and never hear in DEP testimony to the Legislature. Please read and contact the Governor to urge him to VETO THIS BILL:
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NJ bill would increase medical waste fines – but lacks funding
Atlantic Highlands, NJ – Bill Wolfe talks about medical waste beach washups and the need to increase resources for enforcement of environmental laws, including the Medical Waste Management Act. Last summer, in the wake of disgusting medical waste washups on the shore – I wrote this post:
Making the environment a priority – where is the leadership?
Posted by Bill Wolfe August 26, 2008 7:17AM
More signs of erosion of environmental protection
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/08/making_the_environment_a_prior.html
“As the summer winds down and we head into the Labor Day weekend, the recent closure of Delaware Bay shellfisheries, proliferation of jellyfish, and wash-up of medical waste that closed Cape May beaches highlight the critical importance of protecting our environment (see:
Avalon’s beaches shut again over waste
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/237553.html
State hunts dumpers of medical waste off Avalon

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1219725396143840.xml&coll=1
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Why is it so hard for the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to acknowledge environmental problems and communicate risks?
Bill WolfeDEP Headquarters – 401 East State Street, Trenton, NJ. This massive building houses over 3,000 DEP employees.
But where is their VOICE? And what happened to their MISSION?Sometimes I read an environmental story that cries out for interpretation or comment. Typically, it is something technical, in the fine print, or otherwise buried in the news story that illustrates a much larger problem that the public or guy in the street does not understand, or that completely contradicts the general public understanding or assumptions about how things work.
Often, due to complexity, news reporters themselves either: 1) do not fully understand the issue; 2) dismiss it as “inside baseball”, “red tape”, or “bureaucracy”; or 3) just fail to communicate the significance – something in need of an insider’s explanation.
Today’s story about DEP’s views of the drinking water in Pequannock really fits the bill:
Pequannock water to get $4M fix
Monday, March 16, 2009
BY ANDREA ALEXANDER
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/environmentnews/Pequannock_water_to_get_4M_fix.html
(continued)
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Bill WolfeDupont Logo from Deepwater facility -
Better living through chemistry?On a night like this
So glad you came around,
Hold on to me so tight
And heat up some coffee grounds.
We got much to talk about
And much to reminisce,
It sure is right
On a night like this.
“`Bob Dylan
[Update #6 – The Dupont Pompton Lakes toxic contamination story isn’t going away – check out the latest:
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/State_will_check_rate_of_cancer_in_plume.html
State will check rate of cancer in plume
Thursday, March 12, 2009
BY ELAINE D’AURIZIO
POMPTON LAKES — Mayor Katie Cole has requested the results of a state health study to see if cancer clusters exist among residents living above a plume of contamination in the borough’s northeastern section.
The state Department of Health and Senior Services says it will respond to her by early April with the results.
Cole said she asked for the study of the entire plume — some 437 homes — but especially for Barbara Drive and Orchard Street, because residents “kept coming up at meetings to say there were numerous cases of cancer at those locations.”
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist explores life of Raritan Bay with the next generation of stewards
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