Help Repeal the NJ Waiver Rule (05.28.13)

Help Protect New Jersey's Water, Wildlife, Habitat and Quality of Life
                  Help Repeal the NJDEP Waiver Rule

The NJ Waiver Rule signed by Governor Christie in 2012 allows the NJDEP to waive important environmental protections for wildlife, habitat, and clean water based on loosely worded criteria provided by the NJ Builders Lobby--criteria such as "undue hardship."  This rule has the potential to give the go ahead to countless development projects that will harm already stressed watersheds like Barnegat Bay and Delaware Bay.

The American Littoral Society fought against passage of this rule from the very beginning and still believes it is not only very bad policy, but also illegal.  Last year, due to our advocacy, the Assembly passed a resolution to repeal the waiver rule but it was never allowed to come up for a vote in the Senate.  

On May 20th over 2,000 petition signatures were delivered to Senate President Stephen Sweeney by the NJ Work Environment Council, asking him to repeal the Waiver Rule and post SCR 59 for a vote.   

WHAT YOU CAN DO  

Call Senate President Sweeney today at (856) 251-9801 and urge him to post SCR 59 for its first vote. Tell him the DEP's waiver rule:

• Weakens important protections for workers and the public.
• Allows political appointees to grant waivers to any company, which may lead to corruption and "pay" to "play" politics.
• Is an overreach of a Governor's constitutional authority, and weakens our democracy and the balance of government.
• Doesn't provide for public input.
• Doesn't have statutory authority.

We need to stop this policy in its tracks, and the state legislature can make it happen.   The DEP is supposed to make rules to meet its statutory obligations and to satisfy its core missions of protecting the air, waters, land, and natural and historic resources of the State for the public good.

The waiver rule is in direct conflict with these Department requirements.  

Please take action by May 30th!

As always, I thank you for your support.

Tim Dillingham, Executive Director

You Can Be a Waiver Watchdog

You can track who is seeking to waive the environmental standards that protect us, for what reason, and what the NJ DEP response is. NJ DEP has set up its own "Waiver Tracker" site. You can search activity by county, municipality, status and a host of other criteria. Right now, with only one application in the system, the easiest way to see activity is to check Waiver Request Report by Current Status and search on Applications Accepted for Review.

Go to the NJ DEP Waiver Tracker