Open Space, DEP Efficiency, State Plan, Protecting Water Resources, Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites, Investing in Science, Research and Development

Since the first Earth Day 40 years ago, New Jersey has led the nation in efforts to safeguard our land, air and water, to preserve open space, and to clean up contaminated industrial sites. We have made a lot of progress over the years, but there is more to do. It is now well understood that a strong economy goes hand in hand with a healthy environment. However, we need to use science better in establishing our environmental laws and policies, we need to streamline our environmental regulations, and we must be more efficient in operating the Department of Environmental Protection.

PROBLEM: Open space continues to be lost to rural and suburban sprawl at too rapid a pace.
SOLUTION: Establish a constitutionally dedicated permanent funding source for open space preservation.

Read the Indepth Policy on OPEN SPACE

PROBLEM:The regulatory process at the Department of Environmental Protection takes too long and is too unpredictable, which hurts New Jersey’s economic competitiveness.
SOLUTION: Fully implement the recommendations of the broad-based DEP Permit Efficiency Review Task Force chaired by Chris Daggett, which would streamline the regulatory process without sacrificing environmental protection.

Read the Indepth Policy on DEP EFFICIENCY

PROBLEM:Land use planning remains too uncoordinated across municipal and county lines, and there is too much new housing and office park construction in suburban and rural areas, and not enough in the cities where the housing and jobs are needed most.
SOLUTION: Update and implement the State Plan, and revamp affordable housing mandates that have contributed so heavily to suburban sprawl.

Read the Indepth Policy on the STATE PLAN

PROBLEM:Development in the Pineland and Highlands and in critical watersheds threatens New Jersey’s water supply, which could have significant consequences for the environment and for the state’s economy.
SOLUTION: Continue to protect the Pinelands, Highlands and key watersheds to keep New Jersey from facing the water supply crisis that has forced difficult economic and environmental choices in California and western states.

Read the Indepth Policy on PROTECTING WATER RESOURCES

PROBLEM:New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the nation, with numerous toxic waste sites and brownfields to clean up.
SOLUTION: Work with the private and non-profit sectors and municipal and county officials to clean up brownfields and other contaminated sites, particularly in our cities.

Read the Indepth Policy on CLEANING UP TOXIC WASTE SITES

PROBLEM:Cuts to the DEP budget over the past 15 years have reduced the efficiency of the department and eroded the stature and ability of its science and research programs.
SOLUTION: Establish collaborative agreements between the DEP and the university community to improve the science and research capability of the department, and invest in green technology research and development so that New Jersey can take full advantage of the growth in that sector in the years ahead.

Read the Indepth Policy on RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Open Space

My commitment to the preservation of open space is demonstrated through my former chairmanship – twice – of the Garden State Preservation Trust, my long time chairmanship of the Somerset County Open Space Advisory Committee, my role in establishing the Bernards Township Open Space Advisory Committee, my service as co-chair of the New Jersey Committee of The Trust for Public Land, and my professional work in brownfields redevelopment. In total over the past twenty years, I have been involved in saving thousands of acres of open space.

For decades, New Jerseyans have demonstrated a willingness – in good times and bad – to vote to tax themselves at the municipal, county and state levels to preserve open space throughout the state. We should give voters the opportunity to put in place a dedicated source of funding for open space preservation at the state level, which not only will save open space, but also will enable the state to honor its promise to property owners in the Highlands region to compensate them for lost land value that resulted from the passage of the Highlands Act.

I will work hard to establish a dedicated source of funding that will cover open space acquisition, farmland preservation, and the stewardship of our state parks and historic sites. Creating a constitutionally dedicated funding source has the advantage of stretching our open space dollars by allowing us to commit to acquisition now, but to pay for it over a period of years. The unfortunate decline in property values means that money spent on open space preservation over the next few years will be more cost effective than it has been in the recent past.

The open space bonds approved by voters in November 2007 were not issued until this summer. If voters approve a constitutionally dedicated pay-as-you-go funding source, that source would replace the funding that would be provided by the $400 million open space bond issue should it be approved by voters in November. It was Governor Corzine’s failure to follow through on his promise to seek a dedicated funding source for open space preservation that led to the unfortunate battle over the bond issue this spring that split the environmental community.

Furthermore, Governor Corzine’s effort to take away funding from the tourism, history and arts sector and from shore protection funding despite clear legislative intent underscores the need for constitutional dedication by the voters if such funds are to be protected from raids by future administrations.

Open Space, DEP Efficiency, State Plan, Protecting Water Resources, Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites, Investing in Science, Research and Development

DEP Efficiency

Last year, I served as chairman of the DEP Permit Efficiency Review Task Force, which was charged with improving the permitting efficiency of the DEP. Within a period of four months, he managed to convince the group, comprised of some of the state’s most ardent environmentalists and most active developers, to unanimously agree on more than 90 recommendations to streamline permitting for businesses and homeowners alike. (Final Report DEP Task Force PDF) These improvements came without one new DEP staff person and without sacrificing any environmental protections. The only resources we requested were $25 million over 5 years ($5 million each year) to upgrade the information technology capability of the department so that staff could move toward electronic permitting and other more efficient means of processing permit applications and other requests from the regulated community.

The success of this task force is important not only for its recommendations to streamline DEP permitting, but as a model of what we can accomplish when a broad range of stakeholders comes together committed to finding solutions that satisfy the needs of the entire state and not just of the interest groups or businesses they represent.

We also need to review and overhaul the rules and regulations of the DEP to reduce redundancy, overlap and conflict, without sacrificing the environment, public health or workplace safety. It is a challenging task, but when completed will go a long way toward improving the efficiency of the Department and providing the regulated community with a clearer set of rules governing interactions with the Department.

Open Space, DEP Efficiency, State Plan, Protecting Water Resources, Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites, Investing in Science, Research and Development

The State Plan

Implementation of an updated State Plan is the most important tool we have not only to control sprawl, but to drive redevelopment into our cities where it is most urgently needed. The tenets of the State Plan that were so carefully hammered out over a decade through a comprehensive planning process that included state and local government officials, builders, environmentalists, business leaders and housing advocates are in direct conflict with the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel decisions. The principal legacy of Mount Laurel has been to force the construction of thousands of unwanted housing units in the suburbs, driving up property taxes to pay for new schools and expanded municipal services through “builder’s remedy” lawsuits that allowed the construction of four or more market value homes for every affordable housing unit built.

We should scrap the latest round of Council on Affordable Housing regulations and convene an affordable housing task force, led by the governor and including legislative representatives, housing advocates, builders and any other appropriate interest groups, over a specified timeframe, to work through the various issues and reach an agreement that will solve the issue and get the Supreme Court out of the housing business. Without the active leadership of a governor committed to finding a solution, the problem will not be resolved.

We should modify the Municipal Land Use law to give towns better tools to preserve open space and to control traffic.

Open Space, DEP Efficiency, State Plan, Protecting Water Resources, Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites, Investing in Science, Research and Development

Protecting Water Resources

My commitment to the protection of vital watersheds is clear. As DEP commissioner, I denied a permit that would have allowed the expansion of the Chatham Township sewage treatment plant and resulted in an adverse impact on the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. At the same time, recognizing that the denial did not solve the problem, I established the Great Swamp Watershed Advisory Committee, the predecessor entity to the 10-town committee that ultimately developed a resolution to the issue. This model committee for fifteen years or so has helped to protect that vital watershed and open space gem straddling Morris and Somerset counties.

I am a staunch supporter of the continued protection and preservation of the Pinelands and the Highlands, which are critical sources of drinking water for New Jersey. A clean and adequate water supply is vital not only from an environmental perspective, but also from an economic one, as we have seen in California and other states. Recent studies have noted that unless we protect these sources, more and more of New Jersey will be in a “water deficit” status within the next decade as users consume more water than is available.

We must step up our efforts to control stormwater runoff and improve sewage treatment in order to protect our streams, rivers and ocean water that are so important to our quality of life and to our tourism industry.

Open Space, DEP Efficiency, State Plan, Protecting Water Resources, Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites, Investing in Science, Research and Development

Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites

New Jersey must aggressively clean up contaminated sites across the state, turning contaminated brownfields into productive redevelopment sites, a goal I have pursued in the private sector since leaving government. Redeveloping cities also will help slow suburban sprawl. Too many sites in our urban areas are laying fallow because of pollution concerns. Working in conjunction with the private sector, we must and we will turn these sites into valuable ratables to help revitalize our urban areas.

Open Space, DEP Efficiency, State Plan, Protecting Water Resources, Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites, Investing in Science, Research and Development

Investing in Science, Research and Development

We need to establish a strong scientific partnership between the DEP and our university sector to make up for the impact of past budget cuts, and we need to invest more in our university research and development sector. Because of years of neglect, New Jersey ranks only 19th in the nation in university-based research and development.

I support strengthening DEP’s science and research capabilities. As an environmental administrator, I have always based my decisions on the best science and sound public policy. To that end, we need to retain and attract the best scientists to drive environmental and public health policy in New Jersey. As part of that effort, we need to develop partnerships with New Jersey universities and research institutions to spur innovative research on environmental and public health issues.

No area is more important to invest in – both from an economic and from an environmental standpoint – than green technology. It is important that we develop new ways to store energy created by alternative energy sources, whose generation capacity often varies from day to day. Our inability to do so is perhaps the biggest barrier to increasing reliance on those energy sources and thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Slowing the release of chemicals that increase global warming – which we first warned about and started to address through an executive order issued when I was the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection 20 years ago – is important to everyone in New Jersey. The states that create the research capacity to provide innovative solutions to our environmental and energy needs will be viewed as national leaders, helping us to grow out of the recession by providing good jobs. Those states should include New Jersey.
Open Space, DEP Efficiency, State Plan, Protecting Water Resources, Cleaning Up Toxic Waste Sites, Investing in Science, Research and Development