By ALEX NUSSBAUM, Staff Writer
Northern New Jersey, Nov 14, 2000 (The Record)—The Whitman administration struggled with environmental controversy on two fronts Monday, unveiling a major rewrite of water- quality rules even as state lawmakers rejected the governor's proposal to limit suburban sprawl.
In the morning, a state Senate committee moved to block Governor Whitman's plans to control development by limiting where new sewer and septic systems can go, after the rules were blasted by environmentalists and industry alike.
Hours later, the administration issued its long-awaited rules on how much pollution can be dumped into state rivers and streams, culminating four years of debate over how to protect drinking water from the Highlands to Cape May.
"These standards will protect threatened species and all fresh waters in New Jersey as potential sources of public drinking waters for now and the future," state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Robert Shinn said in a statement.
Both sets of regulations could be critical in North Jersey, environmentalists say. They cite problems such as algae that clogged the Passaic River during last summer's drought, as well as potential carcinogens found in North Haledon drinking water recently. Both, they say, are proof that overdevelopment is adding to poor water quality in the state.
Nevertheless, conservation groups challenged the new water- quality standards Monday. They charged that the DEP had released the regulations suddenly to divert attention from the setback in the state Senate earlier in the day.
Environmental groups said the rules would actually allow more pollutants such as arsenic, phosphorus, and ammonia into state waters.
"When you have 85 percent of the state's water systems violating standards, you're talking a major amount of work, you're talking a major amount of pointing fingers at polluters, and you're talking about a major amount of capital expenditures to fix that," said David Pringle, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Environmental Federation. "This administration doesn't seem to be willing to spend that capital financial or political."
Pringle cited a provision he said would weaken ammonia standards by allowing different levels based on water temperature, acidity, and the time of year.
Similarly, the DEP would allow different standards for phosphorus in different parts of the state, depending on what local officials consider the best path to cleaner water.
Phosphorus can cause algae outbreaks in water, while ammonia can discolor drinking supplies and cause odors. High levels of either require utilities to add more chlorine to their supplies, which in turn can produce cancerous byproducts such as the ones that turned up in North Haledon schools.
State officials defended the proposed rules as tough yet flexible.
They said the regulations would make it more difficult for factories or sewage treatment plants to increase discharges into clean waters, while recognizing that different waterways require different prescriptions to reduce pollution.
The DEP statement cited an "independent review" by the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, which concluded that the rules would improve enforcement of water standards, protect human health and aquatic species, and "have a positive impact on the quality of the state's watersheds."
The proposal, known as the Surface Water Quality Standards, will be officially unveiled Dec. 18, beginning a 90-day public comment period, after which the DEP could adopt the rules. They must also pass a review by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
State officials said there was no connection between the release of the water-quality rules and the state Senate committee's earlier vote on the sewer plan.
In that vote, the Senate's Legislative Oversight Committee urged the DEP to revamp its proposed rules on where new sewers and septics and thus development can go. The proposal violates the intent of existing clean-water laws, lawmakers said.
"I don't think it goes as far towards doing something about clean water as we'd all like," said state Senate majority leader John O. Bennett, R-Monmouth, who sponsored the resolution. "If I had my druthers, we would be stronger." The resolution mirrors one adopted unanimously by the state Assembly last month. If the full Senate adopts it in December, as expected, the DEP commissioner would have 30 days to respond.
If the Legislature doesn't like the answer, it could veto the sewer rules.
Environmentalists, who say the rules are full of loopholes that would actually encourage building, welcomed the vote.
"This really strengthens the governor's hand to strengthen the water rule, as she claims she wants to do," Pringle said. "On the off- chance she doesn't, this holds her accountable." Staff Writer Alex Nussbaum's e-mail address is nussbaum(at)NorthJersey.com
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