[CPEO-BIF] New Jersey privatization bill

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Cleanup bill draws fire

By EILEEN STILWELL
Cherry Hill Courier-Post (NJ)
March 21, 2009


A bill that could dramatically change how New Jersey copes with cleaning 
up some 20,000 contaminated sites that have long been barriers to 
development received Senate and Assembly approval this week.
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Called the Site Remediation Reform Act, the bill shifts oversight 
responsibility for cleaning up most contaminated sites from the 
Department of Environmental Protection to private engineers in an effort 
to speed up the approval process.

Environmentalists view it as privatizing a serious government function 
that could lead to collusion between developers and engineers who have 
the authority to review, modify, monitor and sign off on cleanup plans.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, said 
he participated in a number of stakeholder meetings in Trenton, but 
opposes the outcome.

"The DEP is outsourcing or handing over the state's authority to private 
contractors who work for developers and polluters. It's worse than the 
fox guarding the henhouse. It's the fox also certifying that the 
henhouse is safe," he said.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20090321/NEWS01/903210325/1006

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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