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Community comes together to protect the Toms River
On Jan. 18, over 50 concerned citizens gathered at at a town hall meeting in Ocean County hosted by Environment New Jersey. They came to hear a panel of scientists and policy experts on the threat that pollution from development holds for the Toms River and New Jersey’s coastal waters.
Dr. Michael Kennish, a noted expert on estuarine science from Rutgers University, highlighted the huge threat that runoff pollution from the Toms River holds for the state’s coastal waters, such as Barnegat Bay. As pollution from upstream clogs the Bay, its unique ecosystem rapidly declines, he warned. “It’s a chain reaction—the science is there.”
The meeting ended with panelists calling on attendees to put pressure on Gov. Corzine to protect the important coastal river.
Protect our parks and open spaces: strengthen New Jersey refuges
Environment New Jersey is partnering with New Jersey Audubon and other state environmental groups to urge increased funding to expand New Jersey’s national wildlife refuges.
The refuges include some of the most beautiful places in the state, including Cape May, Great Swamp, Walkill River and Forsythe National Wildlife Refuges. We are asking Congress to increase funding by over $12 million to acquire over 840 acres surrounding the refuges, which provide critical habitat for migratory birds, bald eagles and raptors.
“These refuges are some of New Jersey’s most precious treasures, and we should be doing everything we can to protect and expand them,” said Doug O’Malley, Environment New Jersey’s field director.
Protect aquatic life: stop the fish kill
Many of New Jersey’s power plants are degrading local waterways. They kill fish, larvae other aquatic life like sea turtles in their cooling process. One of the worst offenders is the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant on the Jersey Shore.
Environment New Jersey is partnering with state and local environmental groups and the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic to highlight the plant’s continuous ecological destruction and to demand state-level action.
“For over 38 years, Oyster Creek has been a silent predator, killing millions of fish,” said O’Malley, “It’s time that it follows the Clean Water Act and stops its ecological destruction.”
The groups are urging Gov. Corzine and the DEP to issue a new permit for the plant to require a closed-cycle cooling system that will reduce intake by over 95 percent.
Petitioning to protect the Toms River
Environment New Jersey led the charge last year to submit a formal 70-page scientific petition to the state calling for increased buffer protections for the Toms River. Working with the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic as well as local and state groups, including New Jersey Audubon and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Environment New Jersey submitted the petition on November 1, 2006. A decision is expected by late spring.
The petition highlighted the characteristics that merit the strongest protections New Jersey has for its waterways, including its recreational value and its role as a sanctuary for threatened and endangered species like the Bald Eagle and osprey.
Working with activists and municipal officials in the Toms River watershed, Environment New Jersey followed up its petition by submitting hundreds of petition signatures and five official town resolutions to the State in support of limiting development around this pristine coastal waterway
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