Act Now to Protect Water Supplies and Public Health

Our State Legislature is set to vote on bills S2985/A4345 and S3137/A4347 that, if passed, will seriously delay implementation of important rules that URWA and others worked hard to establish to protect water supplies and public health.

S2985/A4345 delays the implementation of the NJDEP's Water Quality Management Planning rules until April 7, 2012 - three years after the original deadline. These rules require that appropriate environmental analysis and planning, through updated wastewater management plans, be done prior to granting a sewer extension. The rules require counties and municipalities to direct development and redevelopment to areas that will not damage our water sources or precious habitat. Most counties have received between $100,000 and $200,000 in state and/or federal stimulus funding to develop plans to comply with the rules, and many have nearly completed this work. Bill # S2985 / A4257 will postpone the deadline until 2012. The work that counties and municipalities have done will be out of date by then, so the planning work will need to be redone -- all that funding will have been wasted and our water and environment will be worse off. The Water Quality Management Planning rules are a critical measure for protecting the state's water supplies and must not be delayed.

S3137/A4347 extends the "Permit Extension Act of 2008" until December 31, 2012, rather than July 1, 2010, as provided by current law. This bill would automatically extend many permit approvals at the state, county or municipal level without regard to environmental impacts or subsequent changes in rules or zoning. Extending permits beyond their original intention threatens public health and natural reources across the State. Continuation of the Permit Extension Act will grandfather many bad projects in urban areas, undermining the revitalization of our cities and suburbs and impeding economic recovery in New Jersey.

URWA has joined with many organizations to call upon our State Legislators to vote "NO" on these two bills. We encourage all of our members and friends to do the same.

To read the text of these two bills, please visit the New Jersey Legislature web site at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/ and type in the Bill Number (for example, S2985) in the Bill Search area on the main page of the site.

Our Watershed is Represented by the Following State Legislators:

District 16 (parts of Morris and Somerset Counties)
Senator Christopher Bateman (908) 526-3600
Assemblyman Peter J. Biondi (908) 252-0800
Assemblywoman Denise M. Coyle (908) 218-4059

District 23 (parts of Hunterdon County)
Senator Michael J. Doherty (908) 835-0552
Assemblyman John DiMaio (908) 684-9550
Assemblyman Erik Peterson will be seated in January. No phone number is available at this time.

District 24 (parts of Hunterdon and Morris Counties)
Senator Steven V. Oroho (973) 584-4670
Assemblyman Gary R. Chiusano (973) 584-4670
Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (973) 584-4670

District 25 (parts of Morris County)
Senator Anthony R. Bucco (973) 627-9700
Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (973) 539-8113
Assemblyman Richard A. Merkt (973) 895-9100

If you would prefer to email your Legislators rather than call them, please visit http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/SelectMun.asp and follow the instructions.