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NEW JERSEY ENVIRONMENTAL BOOK GETS ATTENTION
Tom Belton remembers playing with his pals in the chromium waste that puddle the factory yards of his Jersey City neighborhood. “My Keds would turn sickly yellow…with a whiff of brimstone and burnt rubber on them,” he writes in his new book, Protecting New Jersey’s Environment (Rivergate Books). “We were just kids out for adventure,” the author writes. “What did we know?” Who knew that 31 years as a scientist for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection would be something of an adventure as well? Or that writing the book would help him come to terms with the deaths of his father, at 67, and his younger brother, at 21. His brother had leukemia; his father, lymphoma. “I wanted to tell my own story and tell about them,” Belton says. “And I wanted to be honest with myself about why I became a scientist.
I really was very angry at the industrial milieu we lived in,” he continues. “But I began to realize it wasn’t that simple. There was no one chemical or one exposure that causes a person to get cancer. “Rather than trying to find someone to blame, it’s just fate. We were all exposed to carcinogens, and some of us were unlucky enough to succumb to cancer. But others survived.” Now 62 and still with the DEP, Belton lives in Haddonfield with his wife, Bernadette Duncan, an attorney. They have two grown children.
Part memoir, part history, and partly a statement of green principles, his book is as straightforward as its soft-spoken, Irish Catholic author, a self-described city kid who loves protecting the environment of urban and rural New Jersey alike. “I’m lucky I have a job that enables me to do both,” he says. After writing occasional freelance opinion pieces for newspapers, including this one, he decided about three years ago to write the book. Despite sometimes stunning tales of how profoundly New Jersey has mistreated its environment, Belton’s book is written by a man who clearly loves his work – and the state he calls home. It’s an essentially upbeat story of a hard-fought public consensus and bipartisan political will.
But, the real heroes of the tale are the anonymous civil servants he calls “eco-warriors,” who among other accomplishments, have nursed a decimated bald eagle population back to vitality in the Garden State. These and other stories have won Protecting New Jersey’s Environment praise from the state Council for the Humanities, which it named one of its Honor Books of the year.
“He made a book that seems on its face to be all about science into a human story,” says May Rizzo, the Council’s interim Executive Director.
Says Belton: “I did a double take when I heard about the award. But I really did want to make the story accessible.” He did.
(By Kevin Riordan, Philadelphia Enquirer - 11/27/2011)
BILL TO DELAY TOUGH SEWER
EXTENSION RULES ANGER
ENVIRONMENTALISTS
The New Jersey Supreme Court will not hear a developer's challenge to the state's rules limiting sewer extensions, but a Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill to delay their implementation by three years. The high court refused to hear Bi-County Development's appeal alleging the state overstepped when it approved rules in 2008 to prohibit sewer line extensions into environmentally sensitive areas.
A state appeals court said in June the Department of Environmental Protection has the authority to regulate the extensions, which are key to lucrative new housing and business development. Environmentalists said the decision upheld one of the most important protections for open space. Under the rules, counties must draw up plans that more tightly restrict development.
A new threat has emerged, they say: Assemblyman Albert Coutinho introduced a bill Monday to delay the implementation of those plans by three years and allow building under old, less-restrictive regulations. "I've been singularly focused on doing whatever we can to create jobs and get development moving forward," said Coutinho (D-Essex). "To the extent that people are ready and willing to build, we shouldn't get in the way."
Coutinho said he has discussed the bill with the Christie administration and hopes to see it passed during the Legislature's lame-duck session. Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the governor's office has not taken an official
position on the bill, but will review it.
Counties were supposed to implement their plans in 2009. But the deadline for the plans has been twice delayed, most recently under an administrative order that expired April 7. None of the county plans have since been approved by state officials, said Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the DEP.
(By Christopher Baxter, The Star-Ledger – 11/25/2011)
NEW JERSEY SITE REMEDIATION AND REFORM ACT – HOW IS IT WORKING?
The New Jersey Site Remediation Reform Act, put the Department of Environmental Protection on the road to privatization, and the use of Licensed Site Remediation Professionals to provide site environmental investigation, due diligence, and remediation services, in most instances, without NJDEP oversight. After several years into the program, the consensus seems to be that cleanup work is moving more quickly, and in many instances, more cost-effectively.
DEP has been very serious and thorough when it comes to flexible technical assistance and training. The DEP staff have also been very helpful through the transition period, although many Licensed Site Remediation Professionals are overloaded with work, as many cleanup projects move faster. A recent pickup in the real estate market, is also causing a need to speed up projects, to meet real estate transaction timeframes.
The above are obvious advances; but some disadvantages to the program are:
- There is some controversy between LSRPs and the DEP, as to whether “guidance” requires a variance, or only “regulations” do. DEP is moving to correct this. Variances will only be required for regulations.
- Guidance regarding “clean fill”, does not appear to be workable. LSRPs are raised a series of questions on clean fill in a fall training session, which DEP promised to answer, but no responses have been forthcoming so far. DEP has proposed to use a statistical testing method which does not appear appropriate or workable in the field. There is no proper, credible distinction from a “bright line” standpoint, as to “how clean is clean” for materials such as historic fill, which is widespread in New Jersey.
- The standards for impact to groundwater, and use of the SPLP leachability procedure are technically well founded, but they are
apparently only “guidance”. New Jersey needs to have firm, fully promulgated direct contact and impact to groundwater standards, without delay. Without this, LSRP Response Action Outcomes can be challenged or key issues can be avoided, which is a significant gap in the
program.
In conclusion, the program is working, but a few aspects of guidance regulations need to be promulgated and finalized without delay, for a fully privatized cleanup program to work. Let’s hope that the gaps related to clean fill and impact to groundwater can be addressed by DEP early 2012. The program is off to a good start, so let’s keep the ball rolling.
For more information on the LSRP program, you can contact Gary R. Brown, P.E. a t610-265-1510 ext. 234 or by email at :
gbrown@rtenv.com.