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GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS 020325

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Mar 26, 2002, 1:21:15 AM3/26/02

020325

GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{*} DROUGHT FEEDS GROWTH CONCERNS
{*} NEW RULES TO HELP RECHARGE AQUIFERS
{*} WELLS GOING EVER DEEPER TO GET TO THE WATER
{*} PASSAIC - THE INVISIBLE RIVER
{*} AMERICORPS WATERSHED AMBASSADORS
{*} HIGHLANDS COALITION CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT CRITICAL TREASURES
{*} TEXT OF BERGEN EXECUTIVE'S SPEECH ON THE HIGHLANDS
{*} KEEP HANDS OFF SPLITROCK RESERVOIR
{*} ZONING CURBS GAIN POPULARITY
{*} RECYCLED WASTE PROPOSED AS SOURCE FOR POWER GENERATION
{*} ENVIRONMENTALISTS LOSE ON ENERGY BILL
{*} NUCLEAR PLANT PLANS TO PUT WASTE IN CONCRETE VAULTS
{*} RINGWOOD PESTICIDE NOTIFICATION INFORMATION
{*} MOBILIZING THE REGION #358
{*} LOWER RARITAN WMA - OUTREACH EVENT - APR 27

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DROUGHT FEEDS GROWTH CONCERNS

Date: 24 Mar 2002
From: "roh...@skyclean.org" {roh...@skyclean.org}

ENVIRONMENTALISTS SEEK RESTRICTIONS ON BUILDING

By Steve Chambers, Star-Ledger Staff, March 24, 2002

In the late 1990s, when rural Hopewell Township began to groan under
the weight of increased development, a maverick coalition of newly
elected officials did something unusual by local standards.

They hired a hydrologist.

Matt Mulhall confirmed the official's suspicions that the town -
which had sprouted 1,800 houses in the 1990s, approved a Merrill Lynch
facility for 6,500 workers and had plans for much more - might be
running out of water.

The Mercer County township responded with radical zoning changes,
ending all suburban tract development in favor of clustering to
preserve more land. And the township is debating a new master plan
designed to put the brakes on development and protect the water
supply.

All this sounds awfully prescient given the current drought, and
similar actions may become commonplace if dry conditions persist.

Environmentalists have seized on public concern to attack development
policies. And Bradley Campbell, the new commissioner of the Department
of Environmental Protection, has talked of a "day of reckoning" that
may be approaching in regard to water supply.

The environmentalists say the system has been pushed to the brink by
overdevelopment - arguing that rising population is taxing the water
supply and acres of asphalt are preventing the system from
replenishing itself.

There is salt-water intrusion in the aquifers that serve towns along
the Atlantic coast and on the lower Delaware River, which becomes
brackish in times of drought. Record-low stream flows are being linked
by some to the impacts of development. And more wells are going dry
than ever before.

The DEP, stinging from criticism that it allowed things to get out of
hand and increasingly concerned about the coming summer, has embarked
on a wholesale review of its policies. It has placed a moratorium on
water-allocation permits - required for users of 100,000 gallons a day
or more, from large developments to golf courses - and has even warned
some rural towns to halt all development approvals.

"We need to understand that we can't simply pump and drill our way to
new water supplies," Campbell said. "We need to manage development and
plan our water resources in a way that recognizes water scarcity."

The state may well look to Florida, where massive public drainage
projects 50 years ago dried up wetlands. As development and
agricultural pressures rose, the state found itself running out of
water.

The response has been an aggressive system of reusing treated sewage
and even pumping excess rainfall directly into aquifers. New
development is analyzed for how much water it will return to the
ground below.

"We were the classic example of failing to protect the water supply,
and it came back to haunt us," said Janet Llewellyn, a Florida DEP
official.

Some New Jersey environmentalists argue it may be time to ban
development in some parts of the state, such as around reservoirs or
in places where water recharges easily into major aquifers.

Campbell is not considering that drastic an option, but preservation
efforts could be better coordinated to protect such lands, he said. He
also believes new development should be designed to get more rainwater
back into the ground.

Developers say a building ban would be unnecessarily harsh, could
drive up housing costs and hurt the economy.

"New Jersey is blessed with a great water supply, but this winter was
a big exception," said David Fisher, a member of the state Planning
Commission who works for a major residential builder. "We shouldn't
make ill-informed regulatory changes just in response to this winter.
Blaming new development is not the right response."

As a building boom began in the late 1990s, development claimed
18,000 acres of land a year, according to state estimates, and pressed
farther and farther into rural areas. Established suburban counties
like Monmouth, Ocean, Gloucester and Somerset also saw their
populations climb.

Fisher said new development amounts to "a drop in the bucket" when it
comes to the water supply. He pointed instead to historic development
patterns and the massive shipment of treated wastewater out to sea - a
figure the DEP estimates at a billion gallons a day.

Critics agree more could be done to capture that wastewater, but they
say politicians and regulators are failing to act as wisely as their
predecessors.

A century ago, city fathers in places like Newark, Paterson and
Jersey City bought up large swaths of the North Jersey Highlands and
built reservoirs there. But Jeff Tittel, director of the state's
Sierra Club chapter, said development is now threatening the resource.

"Parts of North Jersey are water exporters, so when you develop there
you are taking away that ability to export," Tittel said. "Those new
houses take water out of the supply, and with all that pavement, the
landscape loses the ability to recharge."

The underground aquifers that are the recipients of seeping rainfall
supply drinking water to half the people in the state through wells.
But they also keep streams flowing. Those streams feed rivers that
fill reservoirs, which supply the other half of the state.

The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded record-low stream flows and
aquifer levels as the current dearth of rain has edged into drought.
While the agency has stopped short of blaming that on development,
others are sure there is a connection.

"We're so used to having enough water to do whatever we want, that
we've been marching forward blindly," said Sally Dudley of the
Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions. "No one is
looking at how much water we are taking from these aquifers or how
they interact with each other."

Dennis Hart, DEP's drought coordinator, concedes that regulators have
failed to take water quantity into account when considering
development permits. He said 108 water-allocation permits are on hold,
and the state is assessing the system by which permits are issued.

"As we move out of the drought, it is clear that water supply, as
well as water quality, will become key in our decision-making," he
said.

One lost opportunity, according to Tittel, has been the state
Development and Redevelopment Plan. While the blueprint for growth
cites the importance of protecting the water supply in its policies,
it often designates areas for growth near reservoirs or in areas
important toward recharging the supply.

Joseph Maraziti, chairman of the state Planning Commission, agreed
the statewide map may need to be redrawn, but he insisted the plan may
provide some answers.

"The map certainly should be improved with regard to water supply,"
he said. "But that is not an insurmountable problem or flaw."

As scientists, regulators and politicians grapple for solutions,
there is growing awareness of the system's complexity. The sandy soil
of southern New Jersey soaks up water like a sponge, but in the
northern part of the state, bedrock close to the surface is more
likely to repel it.

Hopewell is a headwater area where streams originate, but that
doesn't necessarily mean an abundance of water.

The town depends completely on rainfall, as opposed to other places
that benefit from streams picking up water from much broader areas.
About 80 percent of the residents depend on wells.

"We need to do a better job of identifying the important recharge
areas in this state," said Mulhall, the hydrologist. "I don't know if
we can reverse some of the long-term trends, but hopefully we can
start to stabilize them. We need to identify critical resources we
have and preserve them."

* * *

Steve Chambers covers land-use issues. He may be reached at
scha...@starledger.com or (973) 392- 1674.
Copyright 2002 The Star-Ledger

# # #

Robin O'Hearn
Membership & Outreach Coordinator
Skylands CLEAN, Inc.
Phone: 973-616-1006
Fax: 973-616-8838
roh...@skyclean.org

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NEW RULES TO HELP RECHARGE AQUIFERS

Date: 020324
From: http://www.nj.com/

BUILDERS MUST REDUCE LOSS OF STORM WATER

By Steve Chambers, Star-Ledger Staff, March 24, 2002

As aquifer and stream levels have hit record lows in recent months,
experts have begun to focus on one troubling reason - one that is
man-made.

Rules governing the handling of storm water have long required
developers to drain rainwater off roads, parking lots and driveways.
The water then races down streams and rivers, headed for the sea.

No one knows exactly how much water this intricate system may be
preventing from reaching underground aquifers. But regulators,
environmentalists, even developers, agree it is water that is
desperately needed in times of drought.

"We treat water as if it's a nuisance," said George Hawkins, chairman
of the New Jersey Council of Watershed Associations. "We just want to
collect it and get it off site."

The state Department of Environmental Protection, one of several
state agencies that regulate storm-water management, has been drafting
new regulations for years and hopes to finally announce them in June.

For the first time, those regulations will require new development to
"recharge" storm water into the ground at levels near what was seeping
in when the land was in a natural state, said Leslie McGeorge, an
assistant DEP commissioner overseeing the process.

"It will be a significant modification from traditional practices,"
said Liz Semple, another DEP official who has met with the engineering
community about the rule changes. "We'll be looking to minimize the
impact of development, first."

DEP is still studying how far to go in encouraging alternative
technologies, such as "porous" parking lots. Some engineers argue
these technologies require greater maintenance and may not work
everywhere in the state.

But people who have been installing them for decades say the
foot-dragging is absurd.

"The proof is in the construction," said Tom Cahill, whose
water-resources firm has built about 75 permeable parking lots over
the past three decades from Delaware to New Jersey. "There are a lot
of naysayers who have never built porous pavement."

Cahill said water virtually disappears through the surface of his
asphalt into a 2-foot layer of stone foundation, and then seeps into
the ground. He has tested the parking lots in "hurricanes, real gully
washers," and they have yet to fail.

In Ocean County, Stafford Township officials have required since 1987
that any new development have a minimal impact on groundwater
recharge.

Stafford Councilman John Spodosora said perforated drainage pipes
buried below parking lots release storm water back to the aquifers. He
said the pipes have worked surprisingly well and include a filter
system that has reduced runoff pollution in local lakes.

"You have to look at groundwater as a bank," he said. "When you put
it back in the ground, it can't evaporate."

DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell has praised such technologies since
the drought began, but experts say they don't work everywhere and must
be carefully installed.

What works in Stafford Township, for example, with its sandy soil
might not work in northern New Jersey, where bedrock lies near the
surface.

"Storm water must be looked at on a case-by-case basis," said Tony
DiLodovico, who heads the regulatory compliance department for Schoor
DePalma, one of the state's leading engineering firms. "There cannot
be a cookbook approach."

The DEP's McGeorge agreed and said the agency is trying to unite all
the varied regulations coming from state government on storm-water
management - a situation DiLodovico termed a maze.

"The development community wants engineers to design facilities that
can win approval, regardless of which technology is recommended,"
DiLodovico said.

* * *

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WELLS GOING EVER DEEPER TO GET TO THE WATER

Date: 25 Mar 2002
From: "Avril, Tom" {tav...@phillynews.com}

WITH WELLS WITHERING, DRILLERS ARE DIGGING IN

By Tom Avril, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer, Mar. 24, 2002

The art of drilling a well has come a long way since the late 1800s,
when

John W. Buehler Jr.'s great-grandfather was using a wooden rig and a
steam engine.

Good thing.

These days, even with Buehler's rotary jackhammer delivering 2,000
blows a minute to the hardy bedrock of Southeastern Pennsylvania,
Buehler tells customers they have to wait six weeks to get a new well.

"It gets crazy," he said after drilling a 280-footer in Buckingham,
Bucks County.

Buehler's booming business is just another symptom of the drought
that has plagued the Eastern United States for more than a year.

Though urban residents may feel the effects of drought only in the
form of restrictions on lawn watering, homeowners in the suburbs of
Philadelphia often face a more immediate impact: Their wells run dry.

About 14 percent of people in the eight-county Philadelphia region
get their water from private wells, according to data from the U.S.
Geological Survey. The percentage is highest in Chester County, at 47
percent, followed by Bucks County, 30 percent, and Gloucester County,
23 percent.

"You find out who your friends are when you call up and say 'By the
way, can I use your shower?'" said Norm Allison, whose well ran dry
last month in the Marlton Lakes section of Evesham, Burlington County.

Even before wells run dry, the lessened flow of water through the
system can have a higher concentration of metals or other contaminants
if there are any in the groundwater.

Figures on the number of dry wells are not readily available for
Pennsylvania because it is one of a handful of states that does not
require a permit to drill a well.

In New Jersey, which does require permits, 501 private replacement
wells were drilled in January and February. That's about twice as many
as were drilled during the same period last year and in 2000. In
Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties, 143 wells were drilled in
January and February this year, compared to 68 in the same period last
year.

Below-average rainfall has left the levels in some geological survey
monitoring wells at the lowest they've been in decades.

But it isn't just the lack of rain causing the problem, said Bryan
Swistock, a water-resources specialist at Pennsylvania State
University's College of Agricultural Sciences. A contributing factor
is the widespread construction of housing, he said.

That means more roads and parking lots, which prevent rainfall from
filtering through the soil into aquifers. Also, more homeowners mean
more demand, which means more wells, which mean less available water.

"Now a drought that wasn't so bad 20 years ago all of a sudden could
be a lot worse because you have more straws in the ground," Swistock
said.

The solution? Go deeper.

The wells that peter out are generally those that were drilled many
decades ago, when digging deeper than 60 or 100 feet was uncommon,
Buehler said. These days drillers often go as deep as 400 feet,
depending on the geology of the area. Drillers charge from $6 to $9
per foot.

Buehler, who co-owns his Warrington business with his brother,
Russell, does the job with two trucks. One carries 1,800 gallons of
water, used to wash debris out of the hole during drilling.

The other is fitted with the jackhammer, the air compressor that
drives it, and a series of 20-foot steel rods that are fastened on,
one by one, to extend the drill bit deeper.

The bit is not pointed; it is a flat, nubby, 10-inch carbide bit that
slams into the ground repeatedly, making it vibrate with a steady hum.

At the job in Buckingham last week, Buehler was digging a well to
take the place of a spring that had run low. He drilled through 31
feet of clay and sand before hitting sandstone. Muddy water began to
trickle out, but not enough for a good water supply.

The first good supply was at 110 feet, 2 gallons per minute. Buehler
hit fractures of water three more times on the way down to 280 feet,
producing a total of 20 gallons per minute.

Before their wells run entirely dry, some homeowners can put off
having to drill new ones by changing their habits. That includes using
less water and using it at different times, said Swistock, the Penn
State water expert.

"Have half the family take showers the night before," Swistock said,
instead of having everyone bathe in the morning, when demand is high.

But eventually, Buehler knows, many people end up turning to people
like him. He started working every day of the week in September to
keep up with demand, and even worked on Thanksgiving. He stopped
working Sundays at the end of December, not because demand was down,
but because he was worn out.

Not as worn out as his great-grandfather might have been with the old
steam-engine rig 100 years ago.

On Thursday, Buehler did the 280 feet in about four hours. His
great-grandfather, he said, could have drilled only about 20 feet
during that time.

* * *

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PASSAIC - THE INVISIBLE RIVER

Date: 19 Mar 2002
From: "Info Desk" {in...@waterwire.net}

[Excerpt: Full text at http://www.gsenet.org/newsstnd/wtw.htm]

Waterwire, March 19, 2002
http://www.waterwire.net

- - -

THE INVISIBLE RIVER

In the 1950s, poet William Carlos Williams called the Passaic River
"The vilest swillhole in Christendom." It's no wonder: Factories
dotting the shoreline dumped dyes and other waste products for
decades, leaving it contaminated with factory effluvia like dioxins,
PCB's, lead, mercury, as well as sewage treatment byproducts.

Today it's still a sick river to many, better placed firmly out of
mind. But to Leigh Hermey, president of the Nereid Boat Club in
Rutherford, the Passaic, which flows from the pristine New Jersey
Highlands to Newark's industrial heart, is a little piece of heaven.
"The rowing on the Passaic River is fantastic," says Hermey, citing
long stretches of calm water and virtually zero motorized boat
traffic.

Visit http://www.waterwire.net/current.cfm#invisible

* * *

This is W A T E R W I R E, a publication of the Metropolitan
Waterfront Alliance. WATERWIRE connects communities from the Highlands
to the ocean, and it's FREE, like water used to be. Please consider
becoming a financial supporter of Waterwire. Your support will help
ensure our continued work to provide an advertising-free, high
quality, flow of valuable news and resources. To find out about
contributing, email et...@waterwire.net. Please send all announcements
to list...@waterwire.net. To hop aboard or bail out email
subs...@waterwire.net.

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AMERICORPS WATERSHED AMBASSADORS

Date: 020325
From: http://www.philly.com/

INFORMING ABOUT WATER: AMBASSADORS AND BUGS AMERICORPS PROGRAM USES
BOTH TO TEACH ABOUT WATERSHED QUALITY.

By Wendy Ginsberg, Inquirer Suburban Staff, Mar. 25, 2002

The sign: A tiny sow bug creeping along researcher Andy Duddleston's
muddy fingertip.

The meaning: Suburban sprawl and the runoff from fertilizers are
affecting South Jersey's watersheds and water supply.

Finding a sow bug in a Burlington County stream last week at Laurel
Acres Park in Mount Laurel revealed that the water has a lot of room
for improvement, Duddleston's colleague Chris Trainor said.

With water levels dropping because of drought, many environmental
groups are seizing the opportunity to inform residents about
protecting what remains of the resource.

Trainor, 25, and Duddleston, 22, are employees of the
Washington-based AmeriCorps program, a domestic version of the Peace
Corps, who have been appointed "watershed ambassadors" in South
Jersey. Their job is to bridge the communication gap between the state
Department of Environmental Protection and residents by helping them
understand that their actions affect stream quality and, eventually,
the region's drinking water.

Since their arrival in September, they have visited several
elementary and middle schools and held talks at local environmental
clubs.

"The average student would know more about the rainforest than about
the local environment and how it's impacted," said Carolyn Grasso, a
science teacher at Logan Elementary School in Logan Township,
Gloucester County.

More than 120 of her seventh graders have worked with the watershed
ambassadors and learned about the science in their surroundings.

"We want to get them out in the stream or river and get them to do
some hands-on fieldwork," said Trainor, who grew up in Moorestown.

If they want to get more involved, residents can attend a three-hour
training class with Trainor, Duddleston or Jason Stanwood, another
AmeriCorps employee. Afterward, participants are certified to be river
assessors or biological assessors who compile information about the
quality of nearby rivers and the organisms in them. Their data are
sent to the state to allow a more thorough analysis of the region's
quality and supply of water.

One of the easiest methods of analysis is to search for
macro-invertebrates - or bugs - which offer a "short, cheap, dirty
test" that lets the amateur scientists examine their surroundings,
Trainor said.

Student groups who join the ambassadors often scoop out nets filled
with material from a stream's bed. They then search the gobs of leaves
and mud for insects, and put their findings in water-filled ice-cube
trays for identification and further examination.

Insects thrive in water of varying qualities, and the presence of a
sow bug lets the assessor know that the water quality is perfect for
that creature. But the water quality of a river containing sow bugs is
only average for a human.

"The bugs respond to physical and biological stressors before people
or larger animals," said Stanwood, 24. "It can indicate the presence
of pesticides, too much erosion along the stream's banks, or just the
overall physical health of the river."

The Lower Delaware Watershed, where Trainor works, suffers "moderate
impairment," he said.

* * *

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HIGHLANDS COALITION CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT CRITICAL TREASURES

Date: 020325
From: http://www.enn.com/

HIGHLANDS COALITION LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT CRITICAL TREASURES

>From Appalachian Mountain Club, March 25, 2002

Titusville, NJ - The Highlands Coalition has launched of a regional
campaign to protect a network of wildlands in one of the most densely
populated regions of the country.

Building upon recent preservation successes, a new regional board of
the Highlands Coalition has been created to spearhead a coordinated
conservation campaign to increase awareness of the national
significance of the Highlands and to develop a state and federal
partnership to protect priority conservation lands in the region. The
board will also work to support state and local initiatives to foster
sustainable land use and communities through better planning and
growth management, such as the implementation of the "Special Resource
Area" designation of the Highlands in the New Jersey State Plan, and
the development of a Highlands Greenway Corridor as part of the NYS
Open Space Plan.

The Highlands include nearly 2 million acres of land in four states
(New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut) and form a
forested greenbelt bordering the New York, Philadelphia, and Hartford
metropolitan areas. Approximately 12 million people rely on the many
Highlands reservoirs for drinking water.

Less than 20 percent of the Highlands landscape is protected, and
poorly planned sprawl and industrial development are threatening the
critical drinking water, wildlife and recreational resources of this
nationally significant region.

The regional board of the Highlands Coalition will provide a forum
for individuals and organizations from the four-state region to work
together to protect priority lands in the Highlands, using the
successful preservation of Sterling Forest in the New York Highlands
as a model.

Last year, Rep. Freylinghuysen (R-NJ) and New Jersey's Congressional
delegation worked to secure more than $7 million in federal funding to
protect priority lands in the New Jersey Highlands. The coalition has
identified 40 land conservation priorities totaling over 20,000 acres
for 2002, and estimates that approximately $50 million in federal
funding is needed from programs such as Forest Legacy to assist the
states in protecting them. The USDA Forest Service will be identifying
additional land conservation priorities and strategies for protecting
them. The coalition estimates that over $750 million in funding is
needed to protect the Critical Treasures of the New York and New
Jersey Highlands alone.

The coalition recently secured grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge
Foundation and the H20 Fund to support and staff this campaign. Tom
Gilbert, regional conservation director with AMC is serving as chair
of the new board, and AMC has also become the new fiscal agent for the
Highlands Coalition. The New Jersey Conservation Foundation will
continue to provide leadership and staff support to the New Jersey
State Committee of the coalition. State committees are also meeting
regularly in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

"The Highlands are the backyard of the metropolitan area, but they
are changing fast," said Gilbert. "We must act quickly to protect
priority lands in the Highlands in order to safeguard the drinking
water and quality of life for millions of Americans."

- - -

More information is available online at
http://www.highlandscoalition.org.

Contact:
Tom Gilbert, Chair of the Highlands Coalition
Appalachian Mountain Club
(609) 818-1776
http://www.outdoors.org

* * *

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TEXT OF BERGEN EXECUTIVE'S SPEECH ON THE HIGHLANDS

Date: 25 Mar 2002
From: "Wilma Frey" {wi...@njconservation.org}

Here is the complete text of the wonderful speech made by Bergen
County Executive Willam 'Pat' Schuber on Wednesday, March 20 at Camp
Glen Gray in the Ramapo Mountains of the NJ Highlands. The joint
Bergen County/Highlands Coalition press conference was reported by the
New York Times, Star Ledger, Bergen Record and Channel 12.

Wilma Frey
Project Director
Highlands Coalition
908-234-1225

# # #

The Office Of Bergen County Executive
William 'Pat' Schuber
201-336-7311

HIGHLAND COALITION REMARKS

Ladies and Gentlemen I am very proud to be here today where just a
little over a month ago, we dedicated this wonderful 750-acre camp to
the people of Bergen County.

Working with the Trust for Public Lands, the County of Bergen
purchased this property to keep it from development. We preserved a
sanctuary for wildlife and haven for people seeking solace.

It was nearly three years ago that the county purchased another camp
- Camp Tamarack in Oakland - and with that purchase we protected
another 180 forested acres kept it out the hands of developers.

We have our sights set on yet another camp - Camp Yaw Paw - and we
hope to have ownership of that too before long.

These purchases I noted represent our county's small contribution to
the far larger task of protecting what remains of the forested regions
of North Jersey - the region we refer to as the Highlands

When we made these purchases our primary objective was to stop
overdevelopment.

But while we have battled to reduce development, we have also been
protecting our areas' watershed. We are protecting our lakes and
streams that feed our reservoirs and our aquifers that provide potable
water to millions of people in this region.

Our densely populated metropolitan area is dependent on these
mountains, these streams, these lakes in the highlands to provide
water for homes, office and industry...

And right now...the Highlands region is threatened -

It is threatened by development in and around the Highlands...it is
threatened by industrial runoff...and it is threatened by haphazard
land use patterns, that must be codified into a coherent expression of
the importance of the region to the rest of New Jersey Pg.3

The evidence is undeniable that unless there is a master plan for
preserving and protecting this great watershed area - we will be
unable to sustain life in our suburban and urban communities in North
Jersey.

We are now in the midst of another drought emergency - similar to the
one two years ago....and a few years before that...and so on....

Drought has become almost a yearly occurrence in our area...and it
threatens our way of life and our economy.

It is not just a lack of rain that causes drought - it is the
never-ending demand for more and more water, caused by more and more
development...which eats up more forests.

Bergen County is doing its part to stop over development. We have
raised the funds from our citizens and from the state to buy land that
developers would love to have.

But we can't protect the Highlands alone... And not every county is
as fortunate as we are to have the resources necessary to protect and
preserve watershed areas.

We need federal help. We need a plan that looks at this region as a
whole...not as individual communities and counties. We need a plan
that treats this last great expanse of forested land as the vitally
important water basket that it is.

And because this area is so important to this region...which
encompasses one of the most vital economic areas in the nation...it is
incumbent upon the United States Government work with us here locally,
to develop a management plan to protect our watershed.

And it is important that the federal government free up the financial
resources so streams, lakes and forested hillsides - such as we see
around us today - can be protected forever.

The Highlands is as important as any ecosystem in the nation...and
deserving of every effort to protect its unique qualities and its
environmental significance.

The time for debating the importance o the highlands is over. The
time for studying the Highlands is nearing its end. It's time for
creating and implementing a plan that starts locking away acres of
watershed the same way we have locked away these 750-acres here.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

KEEP HANDS OFF SPLITROCK RESERVOIR

Date: 020325
From: "Dennis W. Schvejda" {dsch...@igc.org}

Letter to the Editor, Star-Ledger, 3/24/2002

Gov. James E. McGreevey and Department of Environmental Protection
Commissioner Bradley Campbell can take a single, simple action that
will:

Cost nothing;

Immediately save state taxpayers and the DEP hundreds of thousands of
dollars in engineering and construction costs;

Save taxpayers and the DEP thousands of dollars in future management
and maintenance expenses;

Diminish exposure of a dam and pure water supply to potential
terrorist activity;

Prevent pollution of a Class 1 water source;

Ensure that this spring-fed resource will continue to supply hundreds
of thousands of urban residents in time of drought, as it is doing
now;

Diminish exposure of historic and archaeological sites to vandalism
and exploitation;

Avoid alienating host and neighboring municipalities which oppose the
DEP Project;

Acknowledge the objections of over 3,300 state residents and numerous
highly respected environmental organizations that also oppose the DEP
plan.

That action is the immediate cancellation of the Division of Fish &
Wildlife plan to construct a parking lot and boat ramp and open
Splitrock Reservoir, Rockaway Township, for recreation.

In this time of fiscal uncertainty and national peril, permanent
abandonment of the Splitrock project is not only logical, but
imperative.

- - -

Mary Lee Fulcher, Corresponding Secretary
Save Our Splitrock Reservoir
Boonton Township

# # #

Dennis W. Schvejda, Co-Conservation Chair
New Jersey Chapter Sierra Club
Web: http://sierraactivist.org
Join our Action Network & receive alerts:
http://www.actionnetwork.org/add.tcl?domain=SierraClubNJ

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ZONING CURBS GAIN POPULARITY

Date: 020325
From: http://www.injersey.com/

OLD BRIDGE MAY FOLLOW SAYREVILLE'S CODE CHANGE

By Jennifer Micale, Staff Writer, Home News Tribune, 3/25/02

Bolstered by a recent court victory, Sayreville officials want to
step up efforts to curtail home development and approve more zoning
changes that call for larger residential lot sizes.

And officials in neighboring Old Bridge want to do the same. Last
week, Township Councilman Lawrence Redmond called for a study that
would identify areas suitable for this so-called "down-zoning," to
preserve Old Bridge's rural character.

"Elected officials have the duty and the right to protect
municipalities against unwanted development," said Sayreville Borough
Councilman Vincent Zarcaro Jr., who plans to introduce a resolution
directing the Planning Board to create a list of areas to be down-
zoned. "Developers need to understand that they must respect the
municipality where their property exists."

Recent court decisions have encouraged municipalities to use zoning
as a tool to preserve their dwindling open space. In October, East
Brunswick was finally allowed to enforce its controversial
rural-preservation zoning, after a Superior Court judged lifted an
injunction that was in place for nearly two years.

In 1999, the Township Council had changed the zoning on 4,300 acres
in southwestern East Brunswick, requiring 6 acres for every new home.
The previous zoning allowed homes to be built on 1- and 2-acre lots. A
group of property owners, including long-time township farmers, filed
suit soon after, saying that the new zoning would cause their property
values to decline.

While that suit is still pending, Judge Douglas K. Wolfson has ruled
that the new zoning can be enforced.

Sayreville, property owner Lorraine Mocco filed suit in 1999 after
the borough created a planned development zone to control residential
development. The new zoning was applied to eight of the largest
undeveloped parcels of land in the borough, including 157 acres just
south of Main Street owned by Mocco.

The number of homes allowed per acre was reduced from 4 to 2.1, and
40 percent of the land had to be set aside as open space. Mocco argued
that the zoning change made it harder for her to develop her land.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Richard Plechner, sitting in
New Brunswick, upheld the new zoning after a five-day trial.

"This victory is very important as it allows us to reduce density in
Sayreville," Borough Council President Frank Makransky said.
"Developers constantly challenge our ability to control development."

While municipalities can use large-lot zoning as a way to keep new
development in check, it's still relatively uncommon in Middlesex
County. County Planning Director George Ververides said such zoning
changes usually lead to litigation because developers tend to have
grander plans than town officials. In court, the zoning change is
reviewed to see whether it is consistent with the town's master plan,
its blueprint for development, he said.

Old Bridge Mayor Barbara Cannon acknowledged that a municipality must
be able to justify such a zoning change. She noted that in East
Brunswick the land that was rezoned is environmentally sensitive and
without sewer lines.

Old Bridge is in the midst of compiling a list of properties that
could be down-zoned. With the aid of a planning consultant, township
staff are exploring the issue, Cannon said.

* * *

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RECYCLED WASTE PROPOSED AS SOURCE FOR POWER GENERATION

Date: 020325
From: http://www.epa.gov/

EPA PROPOSES RECYCLED WASTE AS ENERGY SOURCE FOR GAS PRODUCTION AND
POWER GENERATION

03/25/2002

As part of an EPA initiative to promote flexible, innovative ways to
recycle more wastes while reducing the nation's reliance on fossil
fuels, the Agency has proposed an action signaling a shift in
manufacturing from waste management to productive recycling and
resource conservation. The proposal would conserve natural resources
by supplementing crude oil sources in electricity production,
petroleum refining and chemical manufacturing.

"Today's action is a step forward for the environment and energy
self-sufficiency," said Marianne Lamont Horinko, EPA Assistant
Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "The Agency's
objective is to increase recycling and energy recovery. This proposal
encourages recycling of waste materials by lessening the regulatory
burden on industry, while protecting public health and the
environment. Today's announcement is the first in a series of Agency
initiatives on this issue, with more to be announced later this
spring."

Specifically, EPA is proposing to allow certain hazardous byproduct
materials to be processed with gasification technology, in order to
produce a clean, safe source of power generation. This promotes
increased energy efficiency while reducing the volume of hazardous
waste that would otherwise be treated and disposed of on land.

Gasification is a technology that puts coal and other carbon-
containing materials under high temperature and pressure to convert
them into synthetic gas. This gas is then used as a fuel to generate
electricity or steam, or as a basic chemical building block for many
uses in the petrochemical and refining industries. When used as a
fuel, the synthetic gas, or "syngas,"is cleaner than almost any fuel
in use today and is comparable to natural gas. In the petroleum
refining industry alone, up to seven to 10 million tons of hazardous
byproducts currently managed under the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) could be transferred to gasification systems.

EPA's proposal would exclude from hazardous waste regulations
petroleum refining byproducts and possibly other industry byproducts
provided certain conditions are met. These materials would be
processed, along with fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, coke, and
possibly municipal solid waste and sewage sludge, to produce a
synthetic gas. Processors would have to meet certain conditions to
make sure the byproduct materials are handled carefully and that the
syngas meets stringent purity standards.

Other related activities to be announced this spring include waste
minimization strategies, additional energy recovery projects and a
retail initiative targeted towards consumers.

- - -

For further information go to:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/index.htm.

For additional information or to order documents, call the RCRA Call
Center at 1-800-424-9346 or 703-412- 9810.

* * *

Dave Ryan, 202-564-7827/ryan...@epa.gov
Environmental Protection Agency
Headquarters Press Release
Washington, DC

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ENVIRONMENTALISTS LOSE ON ENERGY BILL

Date: 020325
From: http://www.newsday.com/

By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press, March 25, 2002

Washington - The Senate was where environmentalists hoped to make
their stand on energy policy. But after two weeks of votes and horse-
trading, an emerging Democratic energy bill appears to be anything but
green.

Environmentalists lost in their bid to boost automobile fuel economy
and on a string of lesser issues - from provisions helping the nuclear
industry to one that would allow small trees in national forests to be
processed as biomass for electricity generation.

However, the big fight over oil drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is yet to come, and environmentalists are
likely to prevail on it. The Senate will take that up when lawmakers
return after a two- week Easter recess and try to wrap up the bill.

Whatever the Senate finally approves will have to be merged with an
energy bill from the Republican-run House that is far friendlier to
industry and anathema to environmentalists. It focuses heavily on
increasing development of fossil fuels and would open to oil companies
the Arctic refuge - a place environmentalists have vowed to protect.

"The environmentalists are very unhappy to the point of despairing,"
said David Nemtzow, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, an
advocacy group for the promotion of energy efficiency and
conservation. "They see House and Senate bills with nothing on fuel
economy ... nothing to save oil to speak of."

Anna Aurilio, legislative director of the U.S. Public Interest
Research Group, said the Senate legislation "started as a promising
bill. But it's getting hijacked ... by the polluters."

On issues large and small, some of the most powerful business
interest groups roaming the halls of Congress - automakers, the oil
industry, electric utilities and farm groups - have scored significant
victories, often turning back initiatives pushed by environmentalists.

Farmers won a government mandate for tripling ethanol production.
Large utilities headed off attempts at new federal regulation of power
grids and won a scaled- back renewable-fuels requirement. The nuclear
industry is getting government help to develop its next generation of
power plants and continued limits on accident liability.

And the oil industry no longer has to contend with a federal
requirement for oxygen in gasoline, or whether an oil-exploration
method known as "hydraulic fracturing" might run afoul of clean-water
laws.

All of those victories pale next to the coup by the auto industry,
which now has the certainty it will not face tougher federal auto fuel
economy requirements anytime soon.

Ignoring pleas from environmentalists, the Senate rejected a proposal
to boost the federal fleet requirement to 35 miles per gallon, an
increase of 50 percent, and barred any increase in fuel economy
requirements for pickup trucks, one-fifth of the vehicles sold.

They "handed our nation's energy security over to the auto industry,"
fumed Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. Automakers and
auto unions lobbied vigorously against the fuel economy increases and
supported a measure that instead would require the Transportation
Department to address the issue down the road.

When the House passed its energy bill, environmental leaders
denounced it as a sop to industry with too much emphasis on
traditional energy sources - oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear - and
far too little on promoting efficiency or renewables like solar and
wind power.

"We thought the Senate was a tremendous opportunity to focus more on
demand, look more closely at conservation and efficiency ... instead
of (industry) subsidies," said Sierra Club lobbyist Melinda Pierce.
"In all counts we have failed to make gains; in fact, we have gone
backwards."

Among the other setbacks cited by environmentalists is what they view
as the erosion of a once-ambitious attempt to make utilities generate
more electricity from renewable fuels such as solar, wind and biomass
from wood and agricultural scraps.

A proposal by Sen. James Jeffords, a Vermont independent, to require
that 20 percent of the nation's electricity come from these energy
sources was rejected outright. To broaden support, Democrats pushed
for a 10 percent renewable-fuels requirement but exempted municipal
and federally owned utilities and electric cooperatives.

The result, environmentalists maintain, is that only about 5 percent
of the nation's electricity is likely to come from these renewable
sources by 2020.

Environmentalists also were surprised by the Senate's vote to add a
provision to treat some salvage timber in federal forests, including
trees as large as 12 inches in diameter, as a biomass energy source.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said it would help thin the forests of
diseased and scrap wood and keep some Western biomass plants in
business. U.S. PIRG's Aurilio countered that it amounts to "cutting
down our national forests in the name of renewable energy."

- - -

The bill is S.517.
On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov

* * *

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NUCLEAR PLANT PLANS TO PUT WASTE IN CONCRETE VAULTS

Date: 020325
From: http://www.newsday.com/

NUCLEAR PLANT PLANS TO PUT RADIOACTIVE WASTE IN CONCRETE VAULTS

Associated Press, March 24, 2002

Lacey Township - Some of the oldest radioactive fuel from the Oyster
Creek nuclear power plant will move next month from a cooling pond to
on-site concrete vaults.

As the moving date approaches, officials from the power plant and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission are trying to allay fears that have
existed since the plan first came up about a decade ago.

Both agencies held public hearings on the storage plans, and intend
to schedule more. At the hearings, they explain a method of storing
radioactive waste that is becoming increasingly common nationwide.

When Oyster Creek was built in 1969, nuclear plant operators expected
to store spent nuclear fuel in cooling ponds only until it could be
reprocessed and used to produce more electricity.

But federal officials decided against recycling fuel in the 1970s.

Oyster Creek got by for a while by redesigning racks in cooling ponds
to hold three times as many fuel assemblies. But plant operators
predict those racks will be filled by 2003.

They began considering a "dry-cask" system of concrete vaults more
than a decade ago, and walked away from contentious hearings in 1994
and 1995 with permission to build 20 vaults.

Permission came from the Lacey Township Board of Adjustment, which
had to grant a zoning variance for the plan. The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission also has issued a certificate of compliance.

"We do inspections and such to ensure that it's in compliance, but it
doesn't need formal approval from the NRC," commission spokeswoman
Diane Screnci told the Asbury Park Press.

The vaults are designed to withstand natural disasters including
tornadoes, hurricanes and floods.

Oyster Creek conducted a dry run of the transfer process several
weeks ago, and will start storing nuclear waste in the vaults next
month. An exact date has not been released for security reasons.

The estimated price tag presented to the Board of Adjustment was $15
million. Plant operator Exelon has not decided whether that will
affect customers' rates, company spokesman David Simon said.

The first dry-cask storage system was approved at the Surry Nuclear
Power Plant in Virginia. Since then, 18 of 65 nuclear sites nationwide
have started using the vaults.

* * *

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RINGWOOD PESTICIDE NOTIFICATION INFORMATION

Date: 25 Mar 2002
From: "Robin O'Hearn" {roh...@earthlink.net}

PLAY BY PESTICIDE RULES

Herald News, 3-21-02

Ringwood - Residents are advised that they must comply with a state-
approved Board of Health ordinance governing the application of
pesticides in the borough. Anyone who wishes to be notified of
pesticide application because of special concerns or health problems
should register with the Ringwood Health Department.

The owner of the property to be sprayed must notify their immediate
neighbors or people with contiguous property at least 48 hours before
the application. The pesticide applicator must also notify in person
or by mail all persons on the pesticide registry who live within 300
feet of the property to be sprayed.

The notice must contain the following information: a general
statement of the purpose of the notification; the proposed application
date; the location of the application, the name, address and
registration number of the application business, or the responsible
pesticide applicator associated with the application; the brand name
and active ingredients of the pesticides to be used; and the name,
address, and telephone number of the applicator, who may be contacted
and is responsible for supplying updated information on the proposed
pesticide applications to those people requesting it.

To register, call the Ringwood Health Department between 9 am and 4
pm Monday to Friday at 973-962-7079.

* * *

Robin O'Hearn
Membership & Outreach Coordinator
Skylands CLEAN, Inc.
Phone: 973-616-1006
Fax: 973-616-8838
roh...@skyclean.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

MOBILIZING THE REGION #358

Date: 25 Mar 2002
From: Tri-State Transportation Campaign {ts...@tstc.org}

[Excerpt: Full text at http://www.gsenet.org/newsstnd/mtr.htm]

March 25, 2002

- - -

THIS WEEK'S NEWS

. . .

NJ SHOULD CONSULT EZ-PASS SUCCESS STORIES

Last week's State Assembly hearing on New Jersey's E-ZPass debacle
seemed to only scratch the surface of the problems troubling
electronic toll collection on the NJ Turnpike and Garden State
Parkway.

http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20020325/mtr35806.htm

. . .

CAR SHARING, NY STYLE

Zipcar, a car-sharing company that fills the gap between owning and
renting vehicles, arrived in New York City last month. The company
rents cars, on an hourly or daily basis, to individuals who join the
program as members.

http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20020325/mtr35810.htm

- - -

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

April 11, 11:45am, Transportation Research Forum, "The Rise and Fall
of Local Suburban Transportation in Northern New Jersey" - William
Fahey, Esq. New York School Bus Contractors Association. 212-435-4226
or pges...@panynj.gov {mailto:pges...@panynj.gov}

April 19, Earth Day, Trenton Bike to Work Day sponsored by the Trenton
Cycling Revolution. 609-394-8018

April 26, 8am-noon, Regional Plan Association Assembly, "Rebuilding
Downtown New York" New York Marriot Marquis 1535 Broadway at 46th
Street, Manhattan. Featuring luncheon address by NJ Governor James
McGreevey. 212-253-2727

. . .

UPCOMING CONFERENCE

TransAction 2002
26th Annual NJ State Transportation Conference and Expo
April 15, 16 & 17
Tropicana Resort Hotel, Casino and Conference Center - Atlantic City
For information: 908-903-1077- Morris County DOT

* * *

MTR#358

Contributing: Lisa Schreibman
Editors: Jon Orcutt, Lisa Peterson
Executive Director: Janine Bauer

Tri-State Transportation Campaign
240 West 35th Street #801
New York NY 10001
tel. 212-268-7474
fax 212-268-7333
ts...@tstc.org
http://www.tstc.org

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LOWER RARITAN WMA - OUTREACH EVENT - APR 27

Date: 25 Mar 2002
From: Kathy Hale {kh...@raritanbasin.org}

Hi everyone,

The Lower Raritan WMA Committee will have a table at Cook College's
Ag Field Day on April 27, 2002. For anyone not familiar with this
event, it's relatively large and attracts a wide variety of people.
We'll have the Lower Raritan display, our watershed ambassador - Beth
Sawickie - will have the Enviroscape model, and we may have an aquifer
model on loan from Monroe Township MUA.

We need volunteers to set up, staff and break down the display,
starting at approximately 8 am and lasting until late afternoon. Any
time you can volunteer would be greatly appreciated. If you're willing
and able, please send me an email stating the time period you can work
(from X:00 to Y:00).

Thanks in advance for all your help on this - I think it will be a
great opportunity for outreach in the WMA.

* * *

Kathy Hale
Watershed Protection Specialist
NJ Water Supply Authority
POB 287
S. Bound Brook, NJ 08880
(732) 356-9344 x28 (Phone)
(732) 356-9461 (Fax)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Complete Calendar Listings at: http://www.gsenet.org/calendar.htm

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Back issues of the Garden State EnviroNews are available at
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/11gsn.htm

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Garden State EnviroNet, Inc.
19 Boonton Ave, Boonton NJ 07005
Tel: 973-394-1313 - Fax: 973-394-9513
mai...@gsenet.org - http://www.gsenet.org

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