[CPEO-BIF] Accountability of New Jersey's Brownfields fund

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

N.J. needs greater accountability in management of brownfield fund


By Editorial Board
Newark Star-Ledger  (NJ)
August 7, 2011


As crime scene getaways go, this one is too easy. Polluters are  
leaving their messes behind in barren, toxic lots too dangerous to  
redevelop, and the state’s not chasing after them.

Sometimes, it can’t be avoided. The unlawful dumpers are long gone  
and taxpayers must fund these cleanups or the sites would stay empty  
forever, scarring our struggling cities and towns with blight.

But in other cases, the state is barely trying. It is stepping in  
with taxpayer money and allowing the polluters to get away without a  
determined chase, according to a recent story by Star-Ledger reporter  
Christopher Baxter. That’s just wrong. And it’s one reason this  
useful program is nearly out of money.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is right to focus  
first on getting these lots cleaned up. Developers need the urban  
land for businesses and homes, and the cities need development for  
jobs and tax revenue. The cleanups can’t wait while these cases are  
tangled up in litigation for years to determine who was at fault.

...

For the entire editorial, see
http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2011/08/ 
nj_needs_greater_accountabilit.html

--

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

_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/brownfields-cpeo.org