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Hold NJ Legislators Accountable for
DIRTY WATER BILL On Monday January 9, the legislature passed legislation that could double the amount of polluted runoff to waters across the state, from Barnegat Bay to the Delaware River. This dirty water bill will allow developers to consume thousands of acres of the most valuable open space left in New Jersey -- places we need to buffer these waters from pollution. HOW DID YOUR LEGISLATORS VOTE? To find out, click here (The green highlight is a vote to protect the environment) If they voted YES, e-mail, write or call them to express your opposition to their vote--hold them accountable for saying Yes to more pollution, dirty, water, and loss of even more habitat. (See sample letter below) If they voted NO, e-mail, write or call to thank them for standing up for clean water and our environment. To learn who your legislators are go to http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp SAMPLE LETTER Dear Legislator: I’m disappointed that you supported the Dirty Water Bill, A4335 and S3156. Your vote for this bill is a vote to add a staggering amount of new pollution to our waters. New Jersey’s waters are already in bad shape. We should not be making it worse. Your vote to delay and dramatically weaken the Water Quality Management Planning Rule (WQMP) clears the way to more than double pollution flowing into many of our state’s most important waters, adding more than 339 million pounds of pollution -- every year. Now, more than ever, we need to be supporting New Jersey’s clean water protections-not gutting them. In the future, I hope that we can count on you to stand up for New Jersey’s coast and clean water by voting to oppose any attack on our clean water protections. Sincerely, INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS
The Delaware River Basin supplies nearly 15.6 million people with fresh drinking water. This is roughly 5% of the U.S. population. Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking, is a risky way of drilling for natural gas. It involves the use of fracking liquid that is blasted into the ground. This liquid contains a mixture of 596 different chemicals including benzene, toluene, ethelbenzyne and xylene. Because hydraulic fracturing was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act in 2001, fracking has been allowed to continue and contaminate the nation’s natural resources, denying people of their right to clean air and water. Revised Draft Natural Gas Development Regulations that would authorize gas drilling and fracking are being considered for adoption by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) within the next few weeks. DRBC is represented by governors of the four basin states and the Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: PA Governor Tom Corbett, NJ Governor Chris Christie, NY Governor Cuomo, DE Governor Jack Markell and Colonel Christopher J. Larsen. Governors Markell and Cuomo have both publicly announced they will vote against these new rules. We need to keep the pressure on! Tell DRBC members to vote “NO” to these new rules that could potentially result in 20,000 new hydraulic fracture wells along the Delaware River Basin as close as 300 feet from the river. You can send a letter to your governor and/or Pamela Bush, Commission Secretary, P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628; by fax to Commission Secretary, DRBC at 609-883-9522 or by email to pamela.bush@drbc.state.nj.us.
Or click here to sign a petition that will be sent to President Obama and local governors The Society and 23 other groups sent a letter urging Governor Christie to ban hydrofracking in NJ. Click here to view letter.
Proposed Rules will Roll Back Years of Progress on Public Access to the Shore in NJ In April, the Christie Administration announced new rules that would dramatically reduce New Jerseyan’s rights to view, use and enjoy the state’s rivers, bays and coast for fishing, swimming, surfing, kayaking, or simply enjoying a walk in the surf or along an urban waterfront. If implemented, these rules will roll back years of hard-won progress by the American Littoral Society and other coastal advocates by placing much of the control and authority over public access squarely in the hands of local towns—a practice that has proved disastrous for decades, as our more than forty years of litigation in local beach access issues demonstrates. Add to this the fact that what little protection these rules provide is totally unenforceable and negotiable, renders what the NJDEP has termed a “common sense” solution a “non-sense” solution. The American Littoral Society strongly opposes the proposed rules and urges anyone who wants to protect their right to enjoy New Jersey’s coastal waterways (including Delaware Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay , and the Hudson/Raritan estuary) to make your voice heard at one of the public hearings listed below. We also urge you to contact NJDEP Commissioner Robert Martin and demand that a 4th hearing be held outside of working hours (either on a weeknight or Saturday) so that the working people who will be most severely impacted by the proposed rules will actually be able to be part of the public discussion. Check here for updates. We will post fact sheets on the rules early next week. What You Can Do: Attend a Public Hearing and Voice Your Opposition to these Rules Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 11:00 A.M.
Liberty State Park Central Railroad Terminal Building
Blue Comet Auditorium, 1 Audrey Zapp Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305
Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 11:00 A.M.
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Townsend Residential Life Center Multi-Purpose Room
Jimmie Leeds Road, Pomona, NJ 08240
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 1:00 P.M.
Seaside Heights Municipal Court
2nd Floor Court Room
116 Sherman Road, Seaside Heights NJ 08751 Contact NJDEP Commissioner Martin and Demand a Hearing on a Weeknight or Saturday Bob Martin, Commissioner, NJDEP Email: Robert.Martin@dep.state.nj.us
Write: P.O. Box 402, Trenton, NJ 08625-0402
Phone: (609) 292-2885
Fax: (609) 292-7695 RESOURCES: Official DEP Announcement of Rule, and link to rule text: http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices/040411a.html Links to this issue in the news: http://njnnewspublictv.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/beachaccess/
http://wall.patch.com/articles/dep-proposes-changes-to-public-access-rules
http://surfcastersjournal.com/blog/?p=4092
Though, bill A2486 is currently put on hold, your action is needed now!
Though, bill A2486 is currently put on hold, your action is needed now! Though, bill A2486 is currently put on hold, your action is needed now! An identical bill (S1986) has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Van Drew and Oroho indicating that this effort still has champions and the bill is not dead yet. click here to TAKE ACTION! Click here to view NJ Work Environment Council"s action alert and a list of 77 organizations opposed to A2486/S1986 Click here to see examples of NJ safeguards threatened by this bill Click here to read the Society"s letter to the editor in The News of Cumberland County, Environmental safeguards under attack in NJ As always, we thank you for your support.
Help Save Barnegat Bay from the Destructive Impact of Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant Every day, Oyster Creek Nuclear power plant strains the marine life from hundreds of millions of gallons of Barnegat Bay′s waters. The plant uses outdated technology to cool the nuclear generators which rely on "once through" use of Barnegat Bay. The Clean Water Act now requires power plants to avoid the use of bay and ocean waters, and avoid the impacts to fish, crabs, sea turtles and other marine and estuarine life. Because of its age, the Oyster Creek plant has avoided compliance with requirements of the Clean Water Act that would make plant use or upgrade to a closed cooling system - one which did not utilize the waters of Barnegat Bay. The New Jersey DEP has issued a draft permit that would require Oyster Creek′s parent company, Exelon, to bring the cooling systems up to modern standards and install cooling towers in place of the once through system. The company opposes this requirement. Earlier this spring, two public hearings were held on the issue. The American Littoral Society and many others who care for Barnegat Bay and its natural life spoke out and supported the NJDEP′s proposed solution to protect the Bay. We have been extensively involved in the effort to require the plant to stop its destruction of the Bay. Important documents and copies of our testimony follow. Copies of the proposed permit can be found at http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dwq/pdf/draft_permit100107.pdf Testimony - 12.14.09 Fact Sheet - 12.10.09 Comments - 03.23.07 Comments - 11.21.05 Testimony - 12.03.04
REPORT ALL SITINGS OF INVASIVE CHINESE MITTEN CRABS The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) and east coast state environmental agencies have issued alerts for the Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir sinensis), a highly invasive species from China that has recently been spotted in teh Chesapeake in Maryland, in the Delaware Bay, and in the Hudson River. The crab is so invasive that it is listed under the Federal Lacey Act which makes it illegal to possess, import, export, transport, sell, received, acquire or purchase this species in the United States. To learn how to identify this crab and what to do if you find one, download the SERC Fact Sheet. Please pass it on to others who are active in, on, near east coast waters. Download Fact Sheet
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