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GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS 040426

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Apr 26, 2004, 12:29:30 AM4/26/04

040426

GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{*} EARTH DAY POLL REFLECTS CONCERN FOR NJ
{*} EPA WILL REVIEW NERVE GAS DISPOSAL PLAN
{*} A FIGHT FOR FARMLAND IN SOUTH JERSEY
{*} LEGISLATORS AID GORMLEY IN PINELAND RELIEF FIGHT
{*} CHANGES TO HIGHLANDS BILL TAKE THE BITE FROM CRITICS
{*} OP/ED: FOG OF FEAR, DELAY CLOUDS HIGHLANDS
{*} HIGHLANDS: BATTLING OVER THIS DRAWING BOARD
{*} HOPATCONG HOUSING FIGHT: 'CON JOB' VS. RATABLE GODSEND
{*} RARITAN GETS A RIVER OF SUPPORT
{*} RAMAPO RIVER VIEWS
{*} MORRIS GOLF COURSE REPLACES POLLUTION
{*} THIRSTY GOLF COURSES DRIVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTS
{*} SHARP SOLAR SUNVISTA TRAINING - APR 28-29
{*} BARNEGAT TWP: ECOTOURISM ROAD SHOW - MAY 6, 7
{*} MILLSTONE RIVER SOJOURN - MAY 8
{*} SUSTAINABILITY FRONTIERS - MAY 20
{*} ALLIANCE FOR A LIVING OCEAN UNITHON FUND-RAISER - JUN 5

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THE DODGE $5,000 CHALLENGE GRANT

To date we have received $3,790.
We need $1,210 to meet our goal.
Deadline is May 31, 2004!
For more information, please visit:
http://www.gsenet.org/support/donate.php

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EARTH DAY POLL REFLECTS CONCERN FOR NJ

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: Scott Olson {sc...@scottolson.us}

By Alexander Lane, Star-Ledger Staff, April 23, 2004

New Jersey residents have a grim view of the state's environment and
would like the government to do more to protect it, according to a
Rutgers University poll released yesterday to mark Earth Day.

Eighty-two percent of the state's residents consider environmental
problems either "very serious" or "somewhat serious." Fifty-one
percent believe it will be worse for the next generation, while just
24 percent believe it will be better.

Nearly 70 percent believe the U.S. government is doing too little to
protect the environment, and more than 50 percent think the state
government is doing too little, according to the poll, which was
conducted by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public
Policy and the Eagleton Institute of Politics, both at Rutgers.

Many of the concerns increased in intensity after dipping in the last
couple of years as the aftermath of 9/11 and the war on terrorism
apparently trumped environmental concerns, according to the poll's
authors.

"I was very, very concerned, does anybody care about the environment
anymore?" said Michael Greenberg, an associate dean at the Bloustein
School. "People care."

In a potentially positive signal to Gov. James E. McGreevey, who is
trying to ban development in much of the water-rich Highlands region,
77 percent of respondents said preserving the areas around major water
sources was "very important."

That's not surprising - New Jerseyans' have long been uncomfortable
with their tap water, opting for bottled water much more frequently
than the nation as a whole, Greenberg said.

The survey of 800 adults revealed subtle shifts in the nature of New
Jerseyans' concerns about the environment, though. The problem that
trumped all others in the percentage of respondents who considered it
"very serious" was traffic, at 65 percent. Loss of open space was
second at 54 percent, followed by toxic waste at 53 percent, disposal
of solid waste at 45 percent and air pollution at 42 percent.

Deborah Cory-Slechta, director of the Environmental and Occupational
Health Sciences Institute, a Rutgers-related institute that helped
with the poll, described the traffic and open-space concerns as a "new
generation of environmental problems."

Just 40 percent considered terrorism a very serious problem.

In the never-ending tug of war between the environment and the
economy, New Jerseyans sided with the environment. When asked to
choose between "maintaining the current anti-pollution laws" or
"relaxing those laws to create more jobs in New Jersey," 71 percent
chose to maintain strict laws.

A Gallup poll released this week that included a similar question
found a closer contest on the national level, where 49 percent said
protection of the environment should be given priority while 44
percent chose economic growth.

The Gallup organization said the question was a key indicator of
public sympathy toward the environmental movement. For most of the
1990s, the public chose the environment over the economy by a more
than 2-to-1 margin.

* * *

Alexander Lane covers the environment. He can be reached at
al...@starledger.com or (973) 392-1790.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger.

# # #

North Byram Concerned Citizens (NBCC)
http://www.NorthByram.org

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EPA WILL REVIEW NERVE GAS DISPOSAL PLAN

Date: 25 Apr 2004
From: "Peter Montague" {Pe...@rachel.org}

CDC REQUESTED AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

By Jeff Montgomery
Wilmington (DE) News Journal Staff Reporter, Apr. 25, 2004

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it will review a
DuPont Co. proposal to treat chemical weapon disposal wastes at a
plant near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Centers for Disease Control officials requested the EPA assessment
this week, after the public health agency reported that it lacked the
expertise needed to study ecological risks posed by DuPont's project.

DuPont wants an Army contract to treat up to 4 million gallons of the
caustic byproducts at its Chambers Works commercial wastewater plant
in Deepwater, NJ. The plant - described as the nation's largest
commercial treatment facility - would treat waste from neutralized VX
nerve agents, one of the nation's deadliest chemical weapons.

In a letter delivered to several members of Congress this week, CDC
officials said a comprehensive assessment of the project "must
include" an accounting for potential ecological hazards posed by the
proposed new discharge to the Delaware River.

The governors of Delaware and New Jersey have urged the Army to treat
the wastes closer to a VX nerve agent stockpile in Newport, Ind. Gov.
Ruth Ann Minner and New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey cited state
agency warnings that some chemical byproducts would pass untreated to
the river, creating a pollution risk. The scant treatment, officials
said, failed to justify risks during transportation.

"We're glad that the EPA is involved. We will provide them with
whatever information we can to assist in their joint review with the
CDC," said Kevin C. Donnelly, water resources director for Delaware's
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. "I would
hope they would come to the same conclusion" as state and regional
regulators.

Mary Mears, spokeswoman for the EPA's regional office in New York,
said her agency planned to review existing reports on the project.

"To my knowledge, we aren't doing any of our own assessments," Mears
said. "We are reviewing an assessment that's been done."

CDC Director Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding said her agency still would
assess human health risks associated with handling, transportation and
treatment of the wastes.

The Army on Monday closed out public comment on a proposed finding of
"no significant impact" from its plan to truck the VX wastewater to
the DuPont plant. Col. Jesse L. Barber, the project's manager, said
the Army believes that DuPont already has all approvals needed to
treat the material.

State regulators and environmental critics have described DuPont's
studies as incomplete, and said that little information is available
on some breakdown products from the neutralization process. They also
warned that DuPont may lack approvals needed to treat the wastes.

DuPont reported April 8 that it would await the CDC report before
accepting any waste treatment agreement with the Army. Officials said
in a prepared statement that DuPont supports the EPA's involvement.
The company already had endorsed a third-party environmental review.

Several environmental groups in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania
have called for a more elaborate review.

Delaware and New Jersey regulatory agencies "need to require a full
environmental impact study and develop a full understanding of what
the health impacts are," said Deborah Heaton, conservation director
for the Sierra Club Delaware Chapter. "I think the CDC has a role, but
they're probably very correct in saying they don't have the expertise.
Just because they don't doesn't mean it shouldn't happen."

* * *

# # #

Rachel's Environment & Health News
Environmental Research Foundation
POB 160
New Brunswick NJ 08903-0160
T: 732-828-9995
F: 732-791-4603
E: e...@rachel.org
W: http://www.rachel.org

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A FIGHT FOR FARMLAND IN SOUTH JERSEY

Date: 040425
From: http://www.philly.com/

THE STATE WANTS TO SAVE 20,000 ACRES A YEAR

MONEY AND ZONING ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS IN THE BATTLE

By Cynthia Burton, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer, Apr. 25, 2004

Not since glaciers scraped, piled and flattened the Earth thousands
of years ago has New Jersey's landscape been so transformed by a
single force.

This time, ice is not changing the five million-acre state. It is
warm-blooded humans who have been fleeing cities and furiously
building suburbs since the 1950s. In 40 years, they could be finished,
making New Jersey the first state to be built out in the once
seemingly endless frontier of the New World.

About 28 square miles a year are being transformed into homes, strip
malls and offices, according to geographers John Hasse of Rowan
University and Richard Lathrop of Rutgers.

Most of the development happens on farmland that comes in big chunks,
has few owners, and is already cleared and, most often, flat. It is
this very same land that preservationists are fighting for.

The conflict is particularly intense in Burlington and Gloucester
Counties, where more land-consuming development is happening than
anywhere else in the state, according to Hasse.

"The biggest problem in New Jersey is land is being eaten up faster
and faster," observed Gloucester County farmer Tom Sorbello, who as a
Harrison Township committeeman had wrestled with the frequently
competing issues of property rights and sprawl control for 15 years.

Pressure will only intensify in those two counties.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission predicts that,
without proper planning, market forces could drive a 29 percent
increase in developed land in Burlington County and a 39 percent
increase in Gloucester County by 2025.

Within five years, every one of the 160,000 acres of farmland in
Burlington and Gloucester Counties combined will be claimed for future
development through sales agreements and zoning or preserved as
farmland, according to officials in each county.

The counties seem to have two possible options for the future. They
can preserve farmland and use cutting-edge methods to carve their new
communities and leave plenty of open space. Or, they can look to
densely populated Camden County, where the talk is more about
redevelopment than new development, and the government is spending a
fortune to preserve what little open space is left.

- - -

The battle between preservationists and builders is fully engaged in
Burlington and Gloucester Counties, where the weapons are money and
zoning.

Last year, Gov. McGreevey ordered the Department of Agriculture to
save 20,000 acres of farmland a year until 2009, when the state money
will run out. New Jersey met its 2003 goal and is planning to preserve
another 20,000 acres this year.

Much of that preservation effort is in this region, where prices are
lower than in more developed parts of the state.

The government spends an average $4,435 an acre in Burlington County
and $3,911 an acre in Gloucester County for preservation, according to
the state.

When state, county and local governments preserve farmland, they buy
a "preservation easement" that gives owners the difference between a
farm's lower value as a farm and its higher value as a potential
development property. In return, owners agree to a deed restriction
that keeps the farm a farm.

New Jersey's farmland preservation movement has some of its roots in
Burlington County, where freeholders in the late 1970s began paying to
preserve farmland and took a lion's share of available state money. It
has preserved more farmland than any other county.

Last summer, it rolled out a new tactic: national security.
Burlington was the only county to get a $200,000 federal grant to
preserve farms around Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base as security
buffers.

In contrast, Gloucester County got a late start, losing thousands of
acres to development before its program began in earnest in the late
1990s. Now it is desperately trying to catch up.

For their part, home builders generally oppose aggressive
preservation and restrictive zoning. Citing population projections and
dwindling buildable lots, they say there will not be sufficient land
to accommodate new residents or even the growing children of existing
ones.

- - -

At 524,000 acres, Burlington County is the largest of the state's 21
counties. It holds the most farmland at 103,000 acres, according to
the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With state and local money, it has
spent $79 million to preserve almost 18,000 acres of farms - the most
in the state.

Burlington County began preserving farmland in 1977, when county
freeholders first asked voters to spend $1 million for conservation
easements. The county hopes to preserve 40,000 acres altogether,
mostly concentrated in its farm belt around Route 206, which cuts
roughly through the county's center.

About 30 years ago, Burlington County leaders began to worry about
losing farmland. Former Freeholder Robert C. Shinn, from rural
Hainesport, found a model for a conservation easement in Jackson Hole,
Wyo.

The county quickly took advantage of a new state farmland
preservation fund in the 1980s and acquired so much of the money - $15
million - that the Legislature set limits on how much one county could
use.

"It blew the doors open on a program that had been based on a sleepy
little statute," said Susan Craft, director of the county's farmland
preservation program. "Everybody else around the state noticed."

Knowing that money alone won't be enough to preserve farmland, the
county also actively opposes the issuing of new water and sewer
permits in its farm belt, encourages townships to adopt restrictive
zoning, and has fostered a system in which developers pay farmers to
preserve their land but in return are permitted to build high-density
housing in a specially designated area.

"Unless the economy tanks, we have to lock down everything we want to
lock down in five years, or it will be spoken for," said Craft.

That effort hasn't always gone smoothly.

The county's aggressive approach is one element of a lawsuit brought
by a developer who had an eye on Mansfield Township. Calton Homes of
Manalapan, Monmouth County, accuses the county of deliberately
breaking up a parcel on which it wanted to build 414 homes. The county
bought the easement on one of the three farms that Calton wanted for
its project in Mansfield Township. William Haines also is named; he is
accused of using his position as freeholder director to influence the
state's denial of water and sewer permits.

- - -

Smaller, 215,000-acre Gloucester County holds 58,000 acres of
farmland and has preserved 7,420 of those acres at a cost of $29
million in state and local funds, according to state and local
figures.

It has not designated the number of acres it wants to preserve but
has created a farm belt on its southern end, where it is targeting
most of its preservation efforts.

With its late start, Gloucester County is similar to most farming
communities in the state, observed Peter Furey, executive director of
the New Jersey Farm Bureau.

Although farmland preservation has long been popular, it is only in
the last decade that taxpayers began to realize that sprawl often
brought tax hikes to pay for more services for those additional
people.

By November 1993, when the Gloucester County freeholders first asked
voters to create a preservation tax, Burlington County had already
preserved 4,900 acres. Gloucester County had deals on three farms
spanning 500 acres.

Gloucester County did not begin collecting the tax until 1997. By
then it had saved 700 more acres, while Burlington was up to 6,400
acres.

Fed up with the slow pace, Gloucester County freeholders in September
2002 agreed to spend $10 million to acquire farmland, open space and
land for playing fields.

Freeholder Director Stephen Sweeney, also the area's state senator,
gave this reason for taking that leap: "We are losing the war on
development, without question, because we can't compete financially
with what developers can offer."

Although not a believer in zero growth, Sweeney, a Democratic, said
he thought the county had lost its balance.

Three years ago, the county enraged builders when it used $4 million
in state and county funds to purchase easements on 1,000 acres in Elk
Township, a farming community sliced by the busy Route 55.

Mount Laurel-based builder Thomas Paparone accused the county of
"buying lands in wrong places at sometimes inflated prices at
taxpayers' expense."

Sweeney makes no apologies.

"Half of that town is going to grow by leaps and bounds," he said.
"Why do we have to develop every square inch of land?"

The next battleground is just south of Gloucester County, in Salem
County. Preservation easements on farms there cost about $1,800 an
acre - a bargain considering that, in more urbanized Bergen and Morris
Counties, preservation costs an average of $19,568 and $13,339 an
acre, respectively.

Salem County, with its 222,100 total acres, has preserved 16,890 of
its 92,000 acres of farmland. Former Freeholder Director Jack Kugler
said the county stepped up its preservation efforts by dedicating
$800,000 for acquisitions this year. Voters last year approved a 2
percent property tax increase that could be used for preservation, if
necessary, Kugler said.

"Salem County is at risk to be the next frontier for development, if
local municipalities don't move forward and protect their land," said
Kugler.

- - -

And, that is the rub.

There isn't enough money to preserve enough farmland to serve as a
buffer to overdevelopment, according to recent studies by New Jersey
Future, a nonprofit land-use policy group. It concluded that the state
could afford to preserve only 65 percent of its 500,000-acre goal by
2009.

"We can't buy our way out of sprawl," said Samuel M. Hamill and Chris
Sturm, the report's authors.

So, preservationists argue that restrictive zoning could go a long
way toward saving farms.

With few exceptions, local zoning - controlled by the state's 566
municipalities - encourages sprawl. Not a single acre of farmland is
zoned for agriculture, according to New Jersey Future. Almost all
farmland is zoned for development.

Under most municipal zoning codes, it's all right for development to
hopscotch around the countryside with clusters of new homes built far
away from hospitals, schools or even supermarkets. Eventually, those
communities have to raise property taxes to pay for expanded services.

That's what happened to the state's two fastest-growing communities -
Woolwich in Gloucester County, and Mansfield in Burlington County -
which now are fiddling with their zoning codes to put the brakes on
development.

Mansfield welcomed developers until the 1990s, when residents began
to complain about paying higher taxes for more services. But last
year, it tossed out a project that had been approved in its pro-
development years. Officials now face a $40 million lawsuit from the
developer.

And Woolwich is now trying to undo the very zoning laws that helped
make it the state's fastest-growing community.

- - -

Of all the bursting rural New Jersey townships, Woolwich has,
perhaps, the most intriguing development history.

In 1972, W.R. Grace & Co. wanted to build a suburban utopia out of
isolated Woolwich and Logan Townships with 29,000 homes and 80,000
residents. It bought up thousands of acres and then went broke.

But before Grace pulled out, Woolwich's leaders passed a 176-page
zoning code that offered developers high-density housing with little
consideration for the impact that rapid development could have on the
town of 1,200.

After taking a beating from the mid-1970s oil crisis, high interest
rates, a failing economy, and, finally, bankruptcy, a Grace subsidiary
sold its interests in the land to Summit Ventures, which in 1998 won
township approval to build 4,500 homes. By 2000, the township's
population had soared to 3,032, and in 2003, taxes rose 20 percent,
according to government figures.

With Summit's developments destined for completion, residents fear
that there will be even more development and higher taxes.

In 2002, voters threw out three of the five Township Committee
members in an anti-sprawl vote. In December, they passed the first
phase of a new master plan that forces lower housing densities. They
are not considering a radical maneuver such as agricultural zoning.
Oregon does this, with 16 million acres zoned for farming only.

"We would really restrict landowners' rights," said Woolwich Mayor
Joe Chila, explaining the township's rejection of such zoning.

The township's plans to reduce density to one or two houses an acre
angered some farmers, who argue that restrictive zoning strips
property owners of their rights. The fewer houses that can be built,
the less money a farmer can get when he sells to a developer.

At a public meeting last year in Woolwich Township about reducing the
housing densities, farmer Mike DiBella asked the ultimate question.

"I planned for this land to be my retirement," he said. "When I go to
the bank in the spring for an operating loan, they're going to tell me
my land is not worth as much as it was. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor,
what am I going to do?"

* * *

Contact staff writer Cynthia Burton at 856-779-3858 or
cbu...@phillynews.com.
Copyright 1996-2004 Knight Ridder. All Rights Reserved.

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LEGISLATORS AID GORMLEY IN PINELAND RELIEF FIGHT

Date: 040425
From: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/

By Pete Mcaleer, Statehouse Bureau, (609) 292-4935
Press of Atlantic City, April 21, 2004

Trenton - State Sen. Bill Gormley, R-Atlantic, has picked up key
allies in his effort to get the state to provide relief for fast-
growing communities in the Pinelands.

Gormley and fellow state Sens. Stephen Sweeney, D-Cumberland,
Gloucester, Salem, and John Adler, D-Camden, will introduce plans this
week to make compensation for growth areas in the Pinelands part of
the effort to preserve drinking water at the other end of the state,
in the Highlands of northwestern New Jersey.

Gormley and Sweeney declined to discuss specifics regarding the
amendments, but they are expected to ask for more school aid and more
Green Acres money for mandated growth districts. Other plans include a
reappraisal of land values in the Pinelands regional growth district
and allowing the Department of Environmental Protection to usurp some
of the power granted to the Pinelands Commission.

The argument goes like this: In the late 1970s, when the state moved
to preserve 1.1 million acres in the Pinelands by mandating growth
areas, it created a building boom that left certain towns unable to
keep pace with the demands on schools, infrastructure and property-tax
rates.

Last month, the state announced a plan to ban development in about
half of the 800,000-acre Highlands area.

The blueprint avoided the mistakes made in the Pinelands decades
earlier by leaving out mandated growth zones and providing for
additional school aid and protection against declining real estate
values.

Legislators who had railed for years for changes in the Pinelands
took note of the plan and saw an opportunity.

"The administration, rightfully so, recognizes the mistakes made in
the Pinelands," said Sweeney, who represents Pinelands growth
communities such as Woolwich and Harrison townships in Gloucester
County. "How do you move forward when you have the problems that are
left behind?"

Pinelands supporters are not the only group seeking to change the
Highlands bill. A planned Earth Day vote on the legislation has been
postponed until next month, so the Senate Environment Committee can
wade through the 80 pages of proposed amendments.

Gormley wrote Gov. James E. McGreevey last month and asked him to
remember the three Pinelands growth communities in his district - Egg
Harbor, Galloway and Hamilton townships - when making plans to protect
the Highlands.

With Sweeney and Adler sponsoring the Pinelands amendments, Gormley
now has two key Democrats to work with him in his fight to "make the
Pinelands whole." Sweeney and Adler both sit on the Environment
Committee and both wield considerable clout in their caucus.

In the end, the three senators - unlikely allies brought together by
a common interest - will need to sell McGreevey.

"This is really an opportunity for the governor to fix problems that
have existed for 30 years," Gormley said. "You can't lay this problem
on Jim McGreevey. When Gov. Byrne signed the (Pinelands) bill, Gov.
McGreevey was 19. We're working to draft amendments, and hopefully
they will be well received."

McGreevey has expressed support for plans to ease the burden for
Pinelands growth communities but reservations about combining those
efforts with plans to preserve the Pinelands. The governor's press
secretary, Micah Rasmussen, noted there is a thick pile of amendments
to the Highlands legislation.

"Our goal is to build a consensus," Rasmussen said. "The state has
invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Pinelands and we'll
continue to do that."

In recent weeks, the Senate Environment Committee held a series of
public hearings on the Highlands plan. Gormley led a busload of
Atlantic County officials and residents who traveled to the first
hearing in Ringwood.

"This is not about any one senator or any one person," Gormley said
Tuesday. "It's about 55 or 60 residents who took the time to go on a
bus to Ringwood, New Jersey. They're the people who I think are making
a difference in this debate."

The Environment Committee will take testimony on amendments to the
Highlands legislation on Thursday. A vote on the bill is postponed
until May 10.

* * *

To email Pete McAleer at The Press: PMcA...@pressofac.com

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

CHANGES TO HIGHLANDS BILL TAKE THE BITE FROM CRITICS

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: Tom Gilbert {tgil...@igc.org}

CHANGES TO HIGHLANDS BILL SEEM TO TAKE THE BITE FROM CRITICS

By Steve Chambers, Star-Ledger Staff, April 23, 2004

When the sponsors of a sweeping Highlands protection bill met stiff
resistance at public hearings in recent weeks, they began huddling
with mayors, farmers and businessmen.

The result was a ream of amendments aimed at clarifying the bill and
deflating many opposition arguments, spelling out in detail that the
act wasn't aimed at small landowners, residents, farmers, quarry
owners and others who raised a ruckus.

If a well-attended hearing in Trenton yesterday was any indication,
the work paid off.

While the hearing attracted hundreds of builders and
environmentalists, testimony was pretty much limited to their
polarized views on the subject.

Bill supporters set the tone by taking testimony first from
Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperus, who explained how careful
amendments had pretty much allayed the concerns of the farm community.

William Layton, executive director of the New Jersey Concrete and
Aggregate Association, testified that the bill was about "providing
clean water to the state" not hurting quarry owners.

Another key bone to mayors within core preservation areas - where
development will be sharply curtailed - would expand from five to 10
years the amount of time those towns could receive aid to help offset
losses in property taxes.

There were even critics yesterday, such as Assemblywoman Connie Myers
(R-Hunterdon), who said the bill didn't go far enough. She argued that
by excluding much of the Highlands' farm acreage from stark new
protections, the state might encourage more sprawl outside the core
watershed lands.

To be sure, there were plenty of angry builders on hand, many wearing
shirts that read, "Where will the families live?" Builders have long
been a formidable lobbying force, and state records show their
political action committee has roughly $1 million to spend.

But supporters of the bill said the amendments had clearly had an
impact.

"I think they've stolen a little of their thunder," said Tom Gilbert,
director of the Highlands Coalition and a member of Gov. James E.
McGreevey's Highlands Task Force. "The amendments clarified some of
the misinformation. When you take away their ability to stir up mass
hysteria, their arguments are pretty flimsy."

Gilbert pointed specifically to a full-page advertisement that ran
Wednesday in The Star-Ledger and other newspapers paid for by Metland
Properties Group, an affiliate of Weichert Realty. It warned Highlands
residents that the bill could prevent them from adding a deck, pool or
garden shed if they lived in the preservation zone.

Although bill sponsors argued that had never been the intention, one
of the new amendments specifically exempts small landowners who want
to build a house and residents who want to build an "addition, shed,
driveway, porch, deck, patio, swimming pool or septic system."

Some builders seemed to concede in their testimony that the bill's
sponsors had been effective.

"These amendments address the farming needs and the residential
needs," said Lloyd Tubman, a member of the board of trustees of the
state chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office
Properties. "But we need employment in New Jersey as well."

Builders argued that the bill, which threatens to close down
development on 145,000 acres of privately owned watershed lands in the
core, would throw small builders out of work and have a ripple effect
that would damage the economy.

"These guys out here are going to lose their jobs," said John Ament,
who builds about five houses a year in the Highlands. "They pay taxes.
And it's going to have a devastating impact on the economy."

Others argued, however, that the water supply for half the state was
being threatened by overdevelopment.

"For all the concern about rushing, the time is now," said Michelle
Byers of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, noting that the vital
role the Highlands plays in the water supply has been studied and
documented for 15 years.

While yesterday's hearing marked the end of public debate, arguments
over the bill will rage on in Trenton.

Environment Committee chairmen Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) and
Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) have scheduled a vote for May 10,
when, if the bill passes, the full Legislature would take it up.

McGreevey, whose task force started the legislative initiative,
predicted this week that the bill would pass by July 1.

But he's not taking any chances. On Friday, he enlisted the aid of
his mentor, John Lynch, a former Democratic senator from Middlesex
County. The former Senate president, renowned for his ability to make
the wheels of the Legislature work, huddled with the governor and
members of his Cabinet to talk strategy.

"Senator Lynch was one of the architect's of the state's wetlands
act, and his suggestions on legislative strategy only demonstrate how
important passage of the Highlands bill is for this administration,"
said McGreevey spokesman Micah Rasmussen.

* * *

Staff writers Josh Margolin and Joe Donohue contributed to this story.
Steve Chambers covers land-use issues. He can be reached at
scha...@starledger.com or (973) 392-1674.
Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.

# # #

Thomas A. Gilbert, Executive Director
The Highlands Coalition
POB 118
Titusville NJ 08560
T: 609-818-1776
F: 609-737-7264
E: tgil...@igc.org
W: http://www.highlandscoalition.org/

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

OP/ED: FOG OF FEAR, DELAY CLOUDS HIGHLANDS

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: jockey hollow {jockey...@mac.com}

Bernardsville News, 04/22/2004

It seems the first resort of the development lobby in opposing the
legislative initiative to preserve the Highlands is to employ scare
tactics.

Developers sought to pack state hearings on the proposed Highlands
Preservation Act this month, and to panic homeowners, farmers and all
property owners with alarming slogans, to the effect that the bill
would trample on home rule and property rights, and a special state
permit would be needed just to add a backyard deck to a house if the
Highlands regulations became law.

It was all reminiscent, on a regional scale, of the fear-mongering
heard in Chatham Township a decade ago when environmentalists pressed
for tighter state regulations to protect the Great Swamp watershed
from development made possible by sewer expansion. In an attempt to
drown the issues in an uproar, foes of the protections sought to
stampede ordinary homeowners into thinking the restrictions aimed at
major developers would apply to them, too.

Well, the state saw through the scare tactics; regulations were
tightened, and 10 years or so later, the sky has not fallen in Chatham
Township. And the same will prove true in the Highlands, if state
legislators act in the interests of New Jersey's future, instead of
playing partisan politics.

It so happens the governor who is championing the Highlands
initiative is a Democrat, while Morris County's representatives in the
state Assembly and Senate are Republicans. The Highlands - 750,000
acres across northern New Jersey that supply more than half the
state's residents with reliable drinking water and encompass the
region's last intact forests - have been studied for decades to little
effect while 5,000 acres were developed each year, until last month,
when Gov. James E. McGreevey's task force recommended a set of
initiatives to restrict development in a "core" preservation area of
390,000 acres, and create a regional planning council with local
representation.

The initiatives depend on action by the Legislature, and much of the
reaction from Morris County legislators has been predictably partisan.

Assemblymen Alex DeCroce, Joseph Pennacchio, Guy Gregg and Rick
Merkt, and state Senator Anthony Bucco, all R-Morris, seem to care
more about the Democratic governor's fingerprints on the bill than the
long-recognized need to save the Highlands. Or perhaps they live in a
different New Jersey than the one we live in - a New Jersey that is
not being strangled by sprawl and traffic congestion, where water
supplies and open space are not threatened, and where the public
interest is best served by more luxury condos on more hilltops.

A refreshing exception has been state Senator Robert J. Martin, a
Republican whose 26th District includes Chatham and Florham Park. Ever
a maverick, Martin not only supports the Highlands Preservation Act -
he's a co-sponsor. Also heartening is that on April 8, when mayors
from Highlands towns gathered in Morristown to demonstrate support for
the bill, three Republicans - John Murray of Harding Township, Robert
Pierson of Mendham Township, and Benjamin Spinelli of Chester Township
- had the courage to be counted among them. The mayors said the bill
would give their communities more, not less, control over their
destinies. "This is not new to us," Mayor Spinelli said of the issues
underlying the Highlands initiative. "We've been fighting for a means
to control growth in our towns for a long time."

Now, at last, a plan to save the Highlands has momentum - and we do
not want to see that momentum lost in a fog of misinformation,
procedural questions and "alternative" proposals which amount chiefly
to last-minute stall tactics, aimed at derailing effective
preservation.

The development lobby, one of the state's more considerable
contributors to political campaigns, isn't shy about picking up the
phone and telling state legislators what it thinks.

We hope residents in Morris County and the region will do the same,
now, before this opportunity to act in the interests of future New
Jerseyans is lost to partisan gamesmanship and self-interest.

* * *

(c)Recorder Newspapers 2004

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

HIGHLANDS: BATTLING OVER THIS DRAWING BOARD

Date: 25 Apr 2004
From: Scott Olson {sc...@scottolson.us}

TRENTON SHOWDOWN LOOMS FOR PROPOSAL

By Lawrence Ragonese, Star-Ledger Staff, April 25, 2004

Thousands of homes are being built on or planned for key watershed
lands in the northern Highlands, the focus of a hotly debated
preservation effort being pitched by the state.

An evaluation by The Star-Ledger of projects planned or ongoing
reveals precisely what is at stake - for builders, environmentalists
and others - in a legislative battle that has begun to heat up in
recent weeks.

Gov. James E. McGreevey and supporters in the Legislature have
proposed a comprehensive environmental protection bill that would
virtually eliminate major development in half the Highlands region,
which cuts across seven northwestern counties and includes the water
supply for half the state.

Some 5,500 housing units in 16 major developments are under
construction or on the drawing board in that core preservation zone, a
vast spread of forest and grassland that buffers key streams and
reservoirs. Roughly 395,000 acres are in the core, about half of which
are already preserved and one-fifth of which are developed.

The projects are located on some of the 145,000 acres of privately
owned land. Many dozens of smaller subdivisions may also be in the
works, but no one has tabulated those numbers.

Outside the core but still in the Highlands - where a proposed
regional council could only recommend changes - an even greater number
of housing units, roughly 24,500, are under construction or being
considered by planning boards.

The Highlands, with its large supply of undeveloped land, quiet
streams and scenic vistas, has become a favorite of the building
industry in recent years. A 2002 report by the U.S. Forest Service
showed land was being developed more rapidly there than elsewhere in
the state.

The study, which focused on the New Jersey and New York Highlands,
reported that 5,000 acres a year were being lost to development in the
region.

McGreevey, environmentalists and officials who control the reservoir
systems argue that increasing development is threatening the quality
of the water supply and introducing a steady stream of low-level
pollutants, from lawn fertilizer to pet waste to motor oil.

"The amount of development going on is painfully evident," said Tom
Gilbert, executive director of the nonprofit Highlands Coalition. "All
you have to do is travel the transportation corridors in the
Highlands, see what's springing up along the highways to understand
what's going on."

McGreevey and others have referred to it as the death by a thousand
cuts.

But builders argue the state, using dubious science and scare
tactics, is trying to choke off development, which could undermine the
economy.

"Obviously, natural resources are important. But there needs to be a
balance," said Howard Wolfe, whose Community Builders Association of
New Jersey represents 500 builders, including many who work in the
region. "You can't just say, 'People can't build here,' and throw a
blanket over the entire area."

The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act (S1/A2635) would
create a regional council with veto power over major development in
the region. While single-family homes would be allowed, even the
smallest subdivision would come under scrutiny.

New environmental regulations included in the bill could give the
Department of Environmental Protection power to halt development on
steep slopes, within 300 feet of streams, on forested land and any
other number of cases. The plan also will stress land purchases as a
means of preserving the land.

The Assembly and Senate environment committees have scheduled a vote
for May 10, and McGreevey has vowed that the bill will pass by July 1.
It would have an immediate impact on development.

Fierce, behind-the-scenes negotiations are ongoing, however, on the
issue of "grandfathering." The bill currently would exempt only those
projects that have won all approvals.

Builders complain that environmental standards are already so tough
that it can take years to win approvals. Some are lobbying for a more
flexible standard, which would allow projects with some level of
approval to move forward.

Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), a prime sponsor of the bill, said
a grandfathering amendment is being crafted to deal with pending
projects.

"That's a tough issue, one that is going to take a bit of work to get
done," McKeon said.

The map of the core preservation areas also could change - much to
the chagrin of builders, who accuse the state of using sloppy science
to draw the line.

The administration has had ongoing discussions with mayors, some of
whom argue that mistakes were made.

The current map of the preservation area, released April 16, showed
more than two dozen major development projects sitting at the edge of
the preservation area. Some could move inside the core in coming
weeks, if lines are redrawn.

"Until the bill is finally passed, there can be adjustments to what
is in the core, and I expect that's just what will happen," said Jeff
Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey branch of the Sierra
Club.

In some cases, developments that were inside the core in the state's
preliminary map, such as the Villages, a 177-unit complex in Roxbury,
are now on the outside, just over the line. There also are several
that are so close to the core border - such as the 820-unit Village
Grande in Hopatcong - that officials are not sure of the projects'
status.

In other cases, such as in Bloomingdale, officials said the state put
the wrong areas in the core and left the right ones out.

Mayor Craig Ollenschleger was livid to learn Spring Brook Acres, the
site of a former horse farm and an integral part of his small Passaic
County borough's economic future, was placed in the core. Meanwhile,
three parcels targeted for preservation by the town were outside the
line.

"How absurd is that?" Ollenschleger said. "The state got it
backwards. They went against our planning. We are going to do
everything we can to ensure the property we need to make our plan
remains open to development."

Rockaway Township Mayor Louis Sceusi also is puzzled by the state's
decision to leave out of the core Pond View Estates, a long-planned
1,050-unit complex at Routes 80 and 15.

"It's 1,000 homes, a major urban-type development. I thought that was
the type of thing they were trying to prevent," said Sceusi, who was
pleased, however, that the state kept the portion of his town near the
Rockaway Townsquare mall as a growth area.

Regardless of what happens with the bill, large-scale development has
already come to the Highlands.

Massive new developments, with scenic names such as Indian Fields,
Warren Heights and Waters Edge, jut from the landscape throughout
Highlands counties - Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Warren and a
few towns in Bergen and Somerset.

While such changes have fueled strong anti-growth sentiment, many
divisive issues remain. Critics say the bill usurps home rule and
stomps on property rights.

"This has nothing to do with water. This is nothing more than a land
grab by the state," said Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-
Morris), whose home and real estate business are in Parsippany, a
noncore Highlands town whose mayor supports McGreevey's plan.

The preservation effort in recent weeks has pitted builders against
environmentalists; worried farmers with life savings invested in their
land; given hope to residents who lament losing more woodlands to
bulldozers; and created strange political bedfellows in Republican
North Jersey, where some legislators, freeholders and mayors have
found themselves on opposite sides of the issue.

While battle lines are drawn and strategies considered, building goes
on and plans for major new subdivisions are being considered.

The Villages at Musconetcong would add nearly 1,000 residential units
and retail space off Route 78 in Bethlehem and Bloomsbury. It is
entirely in the Highlands core, however, which could spell its doom.

"Very likely, this legislation would work against the development,"
said Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck, who noted the Villages project, if
approved, would more than double the population of his borough of less
than 1,000 people. "But the jury is still out on the legislation and
the final form it will take."

Two other huge developments already making dramatic changes in Sussex
and Morris county towns escaped core designation, pleasing local
officials. Crystal Springs is a half-completed golf course development
with 1,530 housing units in Hardyston, and Cedar Crest is a retirement
community in Pequannock.

"It seems like we'll be okay," said Pequannock Township Manager Kevin
Boyle, adding that Cedar Crest has been in the works since 1996 and
would be a financial benefit to the town. "But I've been in this
business for 20 years. The winds of politics can change pretty
quickly. We'll breathe easier when the legislation is passed and the
map finalized.

* * *

Lawrence Ragonese works in the Morris County bureau. He can be reached
at lrag...@starledger.com or (973) 539-7910.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger.

# # #

North Byram Concerned Citizens (NBCC)
http://www.NorthByram.org

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

HOPATCONG HOUSING FIGHT: 'CON JOB' VS. RATABLE GODSEND

Date: 22 Apr 2004
From: Scott Olson {sc...@scottolson.us}

By Rod Allee, Record Staff Writer, April 19, 2004

To Jeff Tittel, head of the Sierra Club in New Jersey, a huge housing
development in the hills of Hopatcong would be a "con job" blessed by
borough officials.

To Mayor Richard Hodson, the project would bring a blessed gift of
property tax revenue without much of an increase in service costs.

The tussle is illustrative of the larger fight over the future of the
Highlands region.

A developer has brought conceptual plans to Hopatcong for 820 units,
named "Village Grande" and restricted to people 55 and older. The
development would be along Brooklyn/Stanhope Road on the western edge
of Hopatcong, just outside that borough's designated Town Center.

The property is sloped and rocky, and Hodson said he doesn't know if
the developer will be able to persuade the various town boards that it
would be environmentally safe. "No, we don't know that yet," said
Hodson last week in his office in Borough Hall.

"But I say this - they should have the chance to make their case. If
they do, it will be good for Hopatcong. They project adding to our
ratables $3.3 million for our schools, $1 million for the county, and
a net of less than $1 million for the borough. The main number is $3.3
million for our schools, all without adding a single student."

Tax ratables, in short, are what Hodson and lots of other town
officials in the Highlands crave. For the most part, their towns are
without industry and malls, meaning the property tax burden is carried
mostly by homeowners.

Tittel and lots of other conservationists, however, see such
developments as degrading the only semi-wild belt left in North
Jersey, the craggy hills and marshy bottoms and swift streams that
make up the Highlands. That area supplies the runoff that fills
reservoirs serving millions of state residents.

A Town Center designation from the state is meant to condense
development into small areas of the Highlands, leaving alone the
countryside. Such a designation has benefits to the towns, enabling
them to shepherd developments through with fewer paperwork
bottlenecks, and putting them on the list for state aid to put down an
infrastructure, including sewer and water pipes.

The fact that Village Grande would be outside Hopatcong's Town Center
incenses Tittel. "When Hopatcong came to the state for a Town Center
designation, they made a contract," Tittle said last week. "The
contract was not to allow high-density development outside the center.
That is the whole idea, a growth boundary.

"This undermines the State Plan. It is OK to make an agreement, then
change?"

Hodson was victorious Friday when it was announced that Governor
McGreevey's "Highlands Preservation Area" - inside of which
construction is to be severely limited - skirted the 294 acres on
which Village Grande would be built.

The developer, Hopatcong Adult LLC, is to formally present
preliminary plans Tuesday night to the borough planning board.

However, Tittel is far from finished.

He said that if Hopatcong gets serious about allowing the Village
Grande development, he would direct the Sierra Club's lawyers to file
an appeal with the state seeking to decertify Hopatcong's Town Center
designation.

"If it is a fight, I'll try to pull their Town Center designation,"
Tittel said. "We've got four such appeals already, in Vernon, Sparta,
Sandyston, and Montague. These towns are playing a con game, and they
are not going to get away with it."

Tittel pointed out that the Village Grande land is close to Lubbers
Run, which the state has given its highest designation as a wild trout
stream. He said the Village Grande developer would not be allowed to
build a small sewage plant and then discharge into Lubbers Run.

"If the town approves the zoning change," Tittel said, "the developer
has reasonable expectation he will get sewer and water hookups. It is
a con game - since there won't be any discharge into Lubbers Run,
they'll get into the Musconetcong Sewerage Authority plant. What does
that do? It takes away capacity from others in town.

"They can't have smart growth with dumb centers."

Hodson is just as angry as Tittel: "I hear friends from outside say
that north of Route 80 and west of Route 15 is New Jersey's Outback
for their use, without any thought to the people who live here," he
said. "This is why I get incensed. For Tittel, it is either 'my way or
the highway.'

"That's an environmental bully. He forgets I was the mayor when this
borough started an environmental commission."

* * *

# # #

North Byram Concerned Citizens (NBCC)
http://www.NorthByram.org

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

RARITAN GETS A RIVER OF SUPPORT

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: Scott Olson {sc...@scottolson.us}

9 TOWNS TEAM UP TO HELP PROTECT THE KEY WATERWAY

By Lawrence Ragonese, Star-Ledger Staff, April 23, 2004

It was a crisp spring day. The waters of the North Branch of the
Raritan River raced southward over rocks in the riverbed. Mendham
Township Mayor Bob Pierson gazed at the view as his grandson tossed
rocks into the river.

"It's a beautiful site, isn't it?" said Pierson, his deep voice
cutting through the noise of the water. "It's something you want to
preserve, to keep clean and beautiful. We want to send nothing but
clean water downstream."

To back up his words, Pierson is heading an effort to create the
Raritan Highlands Compact, a coalition of Morris County towns situated
along the North and South branches of the Raritan, where the
headwaters form and the river begins its journey south to Somerset and
Hunterdon counties, providing an important water source.

Pierson is modeling the new group, to be formally created next week,
on previous watershed entities initiated by Morris Tomorrow, a
nonprofit planning organization. Among them are the Rockaway River
Cabinet, the Whippany River Watershed Action Committee and the Ten
Towns Great Swamp Watershed Management Committee.

"There is a simple premise to this," said Pierson. "If you keep the
water that goes into the river clean and keep the aquifer clean, then
your drinking water will be clean. And since so many towns in
southwest Morris County and beyond depend on groundwater, it is
imperative to keep it clean."

Member towns, whose lands drain into the North or South branches,
include the Chesters, Mendhams, Mount Olive, Mount Arlington,
Randolph, Roxbury and Washington Township.

The goal is for the nine towns to jointly develop methods of
protecting the water, which could include developing model ordinances
on issues such as steep slopes and stream setbacks. Participating
towns would be encouraged - not mandated - to adopt them. The towns
also could work together to comply with state storm water rules,
possibly sharing costs of consultants and equipment.

In addition, towns could act with one strong environmental voice to
influence the actions of a proposed Highlands Council, which would
have strong powers over development in the most environmentally
sensitive portions of the North Jersey Highlands, said proponents.

"This allows you to get out in front on environmental issues," said
Nicholas Cameron, a former chairman of Morris Tomorrow and current
member of the Morris County Park Commission. "You can work together to
manage overall watershed problems, deal with issues of runoff and
recharge."

Unlike some rivers that begin in distant, pristine settings, the
Raritan gets its start in more heavily developed places, said Dave
Peifer, executive director of the nonprofit Upper Raritan Watershed
Association. The South Branch, for example, cuts through Mine Hill and
the Ledgewood section of Roxbury, and crosses Routes 80, 46 and 10.

"It's sure not like starting in the Adirondacks," said Peifer. "What
saves this river is that further down the line development is less
intense and the river gets a chance to recover."

Peifer contended the Raritan gets overlooked as an important water
resource, with more attention paid to vast Newark and Jersey City
watersheds in North Jersey. He said the Raritan's water is pumped into
the Round Valley reservoir in Hunterdon County and is tapped by the
Elizabethtown Water Co., making it a key water source, and one being
tapped more frequently to deal with new development.

There is a surplus of water in the Raritan watershed. But based on
the current rate of development, it will be fully allocated by 2040,
said Peifer, who noted recharge in the river basin aquifers has
decreased since 1985.

Pierson's group doesn't have a magic plan to increase water quantity
but is aiming at quality. No one town can do that alone, he said,
stressing the need for a regional approach that conflicts, to a
degree, with New Jersey's love of home rule.

"But in this concept we all only give up just an itsy-bitsy bit of
home rule for the benefit of all," he said.

This has worked well for the towns surrounding the Great Swamp, said
Harry Gerken, executive director of the Ten Towns Committee, which
celebrates its ninth anniversary in June. That group has worked on
public education and developed model ordinances on steep slopes,
wetlands protection, and tree preservation, while closely monitoring
streams that feed the Great Swamp, in southern Morris and northern
Somerset counties.

Most importantly, they have improved water quality, a goal Pierson
thinks is paramount.

"We have to work to keep the rivers clean as they run through our
towns," said Pierson. "Just look at what we've got here," he said,
pointing to the pristine North Branch in his town. "Isn't this worth
it?"

* * *

Lawrence Ragonese works in the Morris County bureau. He can be reached
at lrag...@starledger.com or (973) 539-7910.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger.

# # #

North Byram Concerned Citizens (NBCC)
http://www.NorthByram.org

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

RAMAPO RIVER VIEWS

Date: 24 Apr 2004
From: Geoff Welch {gwe...@optonline.net}

By Laura Incalcaterra, Journal News (NY), April 24, 2004)

Mahwah - Speakers at an annual conference focusing on the Ramapo
River stressed the need to protect the source of drinking water and
the watershed through which it flows.

The Ramapo winds its way through Rockland and Orange counties in New
York and through Bergen and Passaic counties in New Jersey, areas
facing significant development and pollution challenges.

But advocates for preserving and protecting the river and surrounding
areas said yesterday that steps could be taken to safeguard the
waterway, which is a major source of drinking water.

One way to do that is to push for the reclassification of the river
to a Category 1 waterway, said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey
Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Such a classification is typically bestowed on waterways flowing
through parks, where the quality of the water is expected to be high
for fishing and other recreational activities, Tittel said.

Oddly, a waterway may not have the designation before entering a park
or after exiting. In both of those cases, it may have a far lower
rating.

But by insisting on a Category 1 listing for entire stretches of
waterways, including that of the Ramapo River, the quality of the
water can be protected or, in cases of polluted water, improved.

This type of classification is just one tool that can be used to
safeguard waterways, Tittel said.

New Jersey has already designated 6,000 miles of waterways as
Category 1, and a push must now be made to get the same designation
for the Ramapo, he said. If New Jersey issues the designation, that
could put pressure on New York state to do the same, he said, and
ultimately lead to the improved protection of the entire Ramapo.

Tittel was one of about a dozen speakers who led information sessions
during the Ramapo River Watershed Conference at Ramapo College of New
Jersey. Teachers, students, environmentalists and members of the
public attended.

The Ramapo provides about a third of Rockland's drinking water, but
wells that draw from it cannot be tapped during times of low flow.
Drought and increased demand during warmer months are the reasons for
low flow.

The river also faces pollution challenges, in the form of sewage and
other sources.

Rob Raczko, an engineer with United Water New York, explained some of
the possible solutions to ensuring an adequate draw from the river, as
well as ways to reduce the stress on the wells and by extension, the
river itself. United Water supplies most of the water used by Rockland
homes and businesses.

Raczko spoke of the possibility of storing excess water from the
Mahwah River in an abandoned quarry in Suffern, something Rockland
County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has supported exploring. The
Mahwah is a tributary of the Ramapo. The water from the quarry could
be pumped to areas in need of water when the Ramapo is at a low-flow
stage.

Also yesterday, Tom Gilbert of the Highlands Coalition spoke about
the effort to preserve the stretch of land and water that runs from
Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York and into Connecticut. The
Highlands area is the back yard to about 25 million people, he said.

But it's a back yard threatened by overdevelopment. The area provides
clean water, a home to endangered wildlife and serves as a major
recreational area. The effort to protect the Highlands has strong
support, he said, and could lead to new legislation to curb
overdevelopment.

Tittel encouraged people to get involved with the efforts to protect
water and wildlife habitat, as well as the move to curb sprawl.
Citizen activists, he said, and not legislatures or politicians, were
the ones who got things done.

"We're the ones that make it happen," Tittel said.

* * *

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

MORRIS GOLF COURSE REPLACES POLLUTION

Date: 040425
From: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/morris/

AFTER YEARS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, BERKSHIRE VALLEY COURSE WILL OPEN

By Lawrence Ragonese, Star-Ledger Staff, April 25, 2004

It was like a scene from a science fiction movie, one where
astronauts land on a bleak, unknown planet. Nothing in sight but dirt
and rocks, a couple of polluted-looking ponds and some signs of a
former civilization - rusted vehicles and metal drums strewn over the
moonscape.

"I thought, oh my God, this is a mess. What did we do here buying
this land?" recalled former Morris County Freeholder and current
County Clerk Joan Bramhall, referring to an abandoned Jefferson
quarry, off Berkshire Valley Road.

Seven years and $19 million later, that property and some adjacent
forested land that was later purchased has been turned into a
championship 18-hole golf course. It will get a ceremonial visit by
dignitaries on Thursday and a test run on Friday. It opens to the
public Saturday, sans a clubhouse that is still under construction.

Irrigation sprinklers were going full force last week, as work crews
combed the course in bright sunlight, raking, mowing, repairing a
hillside damaged by runoff, and doing other chores. Course
Superintendent Mark Jaretsky stood on a hillside and surveyed the
scene, enjoying a look at course that has consumed his efforts for the
past three years.

"I just can't wait until this place is open. I'm champin' at the bit
to see play start," said Jaretsky, a 15-year veteran of the county
park system who is in charge of the Park Commission's fourth, largest
and most expensive golf course.

Golfers will find a challenging 185-acre track on a 600 acre-property
that includes wetlands and forest, and even has the Rockaway River
running along the course. Designed by the Golf Group Inc., whose
principal officer is golf course architect Roger Rulewich, Berkshire
Valley will offer a variety of challenges.

The 10th hole is over water, requiring a 216-yard carry from the
farthest tee to avoid the pond. The sixth hole is a par 3 on a hill
overlooking the river. The 11th hole features remnants of the elephant
house of the Ringling Brothers circus, which decades ago used the
site.

Berkshire Valley is by far the biggest of the county's courses, the
others being Pinch Brook in Florham Park, Sunset Valley in Pequannock
and Kinnelon, and Flanders Valley in Mount Olive and Roxbury. Getting
from the first tee to the fifth hole will be a 1.5-mile trek along a
forested ridge cut into Bowling Green Mountain.

"It will provide a challenge to all caliber golfers," said Rene
Klose, the county's golf superintendent. "But I don't want anyone to
be put off, to think they can't play here. As long as golfers play the
appropriate tee, even if they are junior golfers or new players, I
think they will have and enjoyable day at a really pleasant place."

It wasn't always so pleasant, said Jefferson Mayor Russ Felter. The
Berkshire Valley Sand and Gravel Co. went bankrupt, leaving the town
with an abandoned eyesore that became a haven for off-road bikers. The
company had been subject to many environmental fines from the state
Department of Environmental Protection and the Soil Conservation
Service.

"The county took over a filthy place that was polluting the river,
filling it with dirt and silt," said Felter, who also works for the
Park Commission.

After the county bought the site in late 1997, work crews hauled
petroleum storage tanks, contaminated soils and rusted drums
containing industrial fluids out of wetlands. It also removed 1,000
tons of commercial, industrial and residential waste from buffer
areas.

The concept of restoring a devastated area was likely to get strong
environmental support, figured county officials, who early on met with
groups such as the Rockaway River Coalition and New Jersey
Conservation Foundation to gauge that support.

"We're going to take an abandoned, polluted site, and restore it,
make it a gem for the county," then-Park Commission Director Quentin
Schlieder said at the time.

However, the project bogged down in a host of unexpected
environmental problems that caused delays, pitted the county against
federal and state environmental officials, and dramatically increased
the pricetag from original estimates of from $7 million to $8 million.

For example, water-filled pits created for the old quarry operation
were designated as federally protected waters that could not be
disturbed. There were environmental protests over tree clearing,
especially in an area that might be a habitat for the endangered
Indiana bat. The county also fought the state over septic permits and
a watershed management plan.

These problems required costly environmental remediation work, land
acquisition, additional architectural and engineering fees, and more
state and federal permits, which more than doubled the total estimated
cost, said current Park Commission Director David Helmer. But those
woes are now history, said Helmer, who thinks county residents will
like the end product.

"The image of what this place looked like when we took it over is one
I will never forget," said Helmer. "When I go up there now, I see the
land, see nature. There's the Rockaway River on one side and mountains
on the other."

* * *

Lawrence Ragonese works in the Morris County bureau. He can be reached
at lrag...@starledger.com or (973) 539-7910.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger.

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THIRSTY GOLF COURSES DRIVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTS

Date: 040425
From: http://www.shns.com/

By Joan Lowy, Scripps Howard News Service, 22-APR-04

After a seven-year battle, residents in the upscale suburb of Mount
Kisco, N.Y., recently forced billionaire Donald Trump to back off a
proposed golf course development that they said would pollute the
town's only water supply with pesticides and fertilizers.

In drought-plagued Nevada, just south of Reno, a new range war is
threatening to begin between local property owners and a pricey golf
club that has purchased senior water rights and is sucking up the
available supply to keep its course in tournament condition.

And in Wyoming, environmentalists lost a fight last year to halt a
golf course development on the banks of the Snake River 17 miles south
of Jackson Hole that they said would drives bald eagles from three
nearby nests.

This spring, as some wildlife biologists had predicted, all three
nests are empty, including a nest that produced more eaglets during
the past 26 years than any other nest in the greater Yellowstone
region, an area roughly the size of West Virginia.

"I don't like being right in this case," said Tim Preso, an attorney
with Earthjustice, which represented environmental groups in the case.
"Just because eagles have rebounded doesn't mean we ought to be wiping
out their most productive habitat in our nation's premier ecological
region for the sake of yet another golf course in Jackson Hole."

Despite nearly a decade of effort by the golf industry to mitigate
the sport's environmental impacts, golf courses remain as
controversial as ever and the sport's soaring popularity has enlarged,
not shrunk, its ecological footprint.

Golf is big business, contributing more than $49 billion a year to
the economy, according to the National Golf Foundation.

During the past decade, there has been an explosion in new golf
courses. The United States is now home to nearly 18,000 golf courses,
more than half the world's 35,000 golf courses, according to the
Worldwatch Institute, a think tank that monitors global environmental
trends.

In the United States, golf courses cover more than 1.7 million acres
and soak up nearly 4 billion gallons of water daily, the institute
estimates. They also use pesticides and fertilizers that contribute to
water pollution.

A 1994 review of death certificates for 618 golf course
superintendents by researchers at the University of Iowa's College of
Medicine found an unusually high numbers of deaths from certain
cancers, including brain cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The results were similar to other studies that have found an elevated
risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among farm workers and pesticide
applicators.

"Many environmentalists feel that Tiger Woods was one of the worst
things to happen to the environment because of the enthusiasm he
created for the game of golf and the growth that has ensued," said
Neil Lewis, executive director of the Long Island Neighborhood Network
in New York, an environmental group trying to reduce the use of
pesticides and fertilizers.

The network won two recent lawsuits forcing towns that want to build
golf courses to consider alternative designs that reduce chemical
usage. The group also is working with a sympathetic developer in South
Hampton to build what Lewis said he believes will be the nation's
first "100 percent organic" golf course.

As an industry, golf has come a long way in trying to mitigate its
environmental impact, said Jim Snow, director of the green section of
U.S. Golf Association. New courses are often built with more advanced
irrigation systems that prevent overwatering, he said.

In the South, most courses use varieties of grass that require half
the water than cool climate grasses need, Snow said. And in the arid
West, golf courses are increasingly using treated liquid waste to
water grass rather than drinking water.

Many of the older pesticides that linger in the environment have been
replaced with a new generation of pesticides that breakdown more
quickly and thus are safer, Snow said.

Nevertheless, the gains by individual courses have been more than
offset by sport's rapid growth, Snow acknowledged.

"Any big industry uses a lot of resources if it generates a lot of
income and recreation for people," Snow said.

Current practices also remain controversial. It's not clear that
newer pesticides are safer since it often takes years of use before a
chemical's health effects become apparent, Lewis said.

In the West, where many communities are coping with a drought of
historic proportions, golf courses have been scrambling to secure
senior water rights. In dry conditions, that means junior downstream
water users make do with less water.

After a new golf club acquired senior water rights, the water levels
in the stream that runs by Steve Gildesgard's home near Reno dropped
so low that fish disappeared. Groundwater tables also have declined;
filters Gildesgard has installed on his well and water heater no
longer keep out sediment, rust and salt.

"I turned off the ice maker because I don't like orange ice cubes,"
said Gildesgard, a construction engineer. "We're all going to go
thirsty while the rich people up there are playing golf."

- - -

On the Net:
http://www.usga.org
http://www.longislandnn.org

* * *

Email Joan Lowy at Lo...@shns.com or visit http://www.shns.com.

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

SHARP SOLAR SUNVISTA TRAINING - APR 28-29

Date: 24 Apr 2004
From: Webmaster {webm...@njcep.com}

Fellow Photovoltaic (PV) Enthusiasts,

Sharp Solar is training and certifying contractors to become part of
the elite installation network. The attendees, who complete the
course, pass the exam, and meet their specific local requirements for
licensure with liability insurance will receive the formal Sharp
Sunvista certification.

The 2-day course will be offered in Mahwah, NJ on the following
dates:

-April 28-29
-May 27-28
-June 23-24

To download the registration form, go to the following site:

http://www.njcep.com/special/2004_04_SharpPV_WS_Reg013.pdf

Major Extra Credit on the Exam if you register via email! Simply
download the Excel form from the link below, and email the completed
form to John Hardwick at Hard...@sharpsec.com:

http://www.njcep.com/special/Sharp_Blank_Student.xls

- - -

For more information about the New Jersey Clean Energy Program,
please visit http://www.njcep.com.

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

BARNEGAT TWP: ECOTOURISM ROAD SHOW - MAY 6, 7

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: Mikeh...@aol.com

What: Ecotourism Road Show

Where: Mariner's Masonic Lodge, 692 East Bay Avenue, Barnegat Twp.

When: Thursday, May 6, 7 - 9pm

Sponsored by the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions
(ANJEC) and the Barnegat Township Environmental Commission

Topics to be presented will include:

* Overview of Ecotourism: Resources and Funding Sources
* Ecotourism Opportunities in Barnegat Bay
* Ecotourism Opportunities along the Barnegat Branch Rail Trail

Contact: Phone 609-278-5088 or in...@anjec.org for more information.

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

MILLSTONE RIVER SOJOURN - MAY 8

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: Rick Lear {rl...@thewatershed.org}

Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association
In partner with the Bunbury Foundation and
Griggstown Canoe and Kayak Rental

FIRST ANNUAL MILLSTONE RIVER SOJOURN
Plainsboro Aqueduct to Griggstown
Saturday, May 8, 2004

May is Watershed Awareness Month, and what better way to learn about
your watershed than to get out and canoe it! The purpose of the
Sojourn is to heighten awareness of and appreciation for the
environmental, recreational and historical significance of the
Millstone River by paddling its inviting waters. Called "Mattawong" by
the Lenni Lenape, the Millstone River is an oasis of solitude in our
rapidly suburbanizing region. The river is teeming with life. Basking
Painted Turtles, Muskrats, day-roosting Great Horned Owls, Wood Ducks
and Great Blue Herons silently fishing the river's edge are just a few
of the many creatures that make the Millstone their home. Box elders
and majestic Sycamores line the shores, punctuating the solemn
quietness broken only by the sweet song of a Northern Oriole. Join us
for a personal encounter with this magnificent waterway as we learn
about the natural history of the river and the human activities that
impact it.

WHEN: Saturday May 8, 2004

WHERE: Begin at Plainsboro Aqueduct at 8:30am
Ends in Griggstown approximately 5pm

COST: $20; Does not include canoe/kayak rental
Lunch and snacks are provided from Wild Oats Market in Princeton

DEADLINE: Registration must be received by May 3, 2004

Canoe and kayak rentals are available through Griggstown Canoe and
Kayak Rental. For more information or registration materials, call the
Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association (609) 737-7592.

* * *

Rick Lear
Watershed Naturalist
Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association
31 Titus Mill Road
Pennington, NJ 08534
Phone: (609) 737-7592 x31
Fax: (609) 737-3075
Email: rl...@thewatershed.org
http://www.thewatershed.org

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

SUSTAINABILITY FRONTIERS - MAY 20

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: "Sharrief, Andre" {Shar...@ADM.NJIT.EDU}

EXPLORE NEW SUSTAINABILITY FRONTIERS

May 20th, 9 AM - 3:30 PM
Stevens Institute of Technology
Fielding Room, Howe Center (3rd floor)

Please join NJHEPS on Wednesday, May 20th (9 AM - 3:30 PM). The day
will offer presentations on some new opportunities for New Jersey
college and university faculty and educators interested in infusing
sustainability into their curricula, including some new locally-based
sustainability modules, a new local climate-change modeling tool,
involvement with New Jersey's Sustainable State Project Report, and
models for realizing teaching objectives through involvement in
community development and through service learning.

Participants will also be invited to explore new areas in which the
NJHEPS network can advance sustainability. A recent 5-year planning
process has defined NJHEPS' strategies, activities, goals and
objectives (see article
http://www.njheps.org/newsletters/2March2004.htm), but we seek input
from the larger New Jersey higher education community for future
project ideas. Should we focus on sustainability issues in health?
food systems? assessments of progress and well-being? climate change
education? community development? service learning? sustainable
careers? We invite anyone with an idea and a plan to come and help us
improve and expand beyond our current successful efforts in energy,
green design, and sustainable materials use. There will be substantial
time, during the day, for small like-minded groups to develop funding
ideas, outreach strategies, and project implementation plans for new
NJHEPS projects that relate to their passions and areas of expertise.

Please RSVP to Andre Sharrief, shar...@njit.edu, 973/596-2938, if
you plan to attend. Further information (parking, map, agenda) will be
forthcoming.

* * *

Carmela M. Federico, Program Manager
New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability (NJHEPS)
York Center, NJIT
138 Warren Street
Newark NJ 07102
cfed...@njheps.org
973-596-2938 (v)
973-642-7170 (f)
http://www.njheps.org

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

ALLIANCE FOR A LIVING OCEAN UNITHON FUND-RAISER - JUN 5

Date: 23 Apr 2004
From: "Alliance for a Living Ocean" {livingo...@comcast.net}

WHO: Alliance for a Living Ocean
WHAT: Unithon 2004 Fundraiser
WHEN: June 5, 2004
WHERE: Long Beach Island, Ocean County, New Jersey
(Barnegat Light, Beach Haven, Harvey Cedars, Long Beach Twp., Ship
Bottom, Surf City)

On June 5, 2004 at 10am, Alliance for a Living Ocean, a grass roots
non-profit organization based in North Beach Haven, NJ, which promotes
clean coastal waters through educational programs, legislation, and
outreach, will be holding the sixth annual Long Beach Island Unithon.

The Unithon is an annual 18.5-mile unicycle ride from Holgate at the
southern tip of LBI to the Barnegat Lighthouse at the northern end.
This event has drawn riders from as far away as Germany in past years.

The event, begun by whose Bridget Sprouls in 1999 at the age of 13
and is coordinated by the Sprouls family of Sweetwater, NJ raises
funds for the Alliance's educational outreach programs.

* * *

Contact:
Rosemary Sprouls, (609) 965-4795
Jason Koralja, (609) 492-0222

Alliance for a Living Ocean is a grass roots non-profit (501-c-3)
organization based in North Beach Haven, NJ with members throughout
the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania tri state area. ALO promotes
clean coastal waters through educational programs, legislation, and
outreach. The Alliance can be reached at (609) 492-0222, or visit the
ALO Environmental Center at 2007 Long Beach Boulevard, North Beach
Haven, NJ.

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

Many thanks to our Volunteers:
Tricia Aspinwall, Michele Cooklin, Jerry Cullins, Peter
Montague, Paul Neuman, Scott Olson, Mary Paist, Penny
Pollock-Barnes, Phil Reynolds, Pat Rolston, and to all
you folks out there who contribute in so many ways.
If you have a couple hours a week, and would like to
help out, please email us at: mai...@gsenet.org

George-Therese Dickenson - Editor - dick...@gsenet.org
Ivan Kossak - Executive Director - kos...@gsenet.org

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

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

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

Garden State EnviroNet, Inc.
19 Boonton Ave, Boonton NJ 07005
Tel: 973-394-1313 - Fax: 973-394-9513
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