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Bus Bust Polluter evades capture, later apprehended
By Hugh M. Carola
Here's how it happened: On Monday, July 21, Capt. Bill and I had the privilege of taking Journal reporter Matt Porrio and a photographer out into the Mill Creek Marsh in search of threatened and endangered species. While underway we located four of them (Least tern, Black-crowned night heron, Black skimmer and Osprey) which provided the basis for a front-page story that ran two days later about new state efforts to protect such species. It was a successful Eco-Cruise and one that was destined to have a very unusual ending. While Capt. Bill was saying his good-byes to our media friends and I was securing the Edward Abbey to the dock, I noticed a strong and unmistakable odor of sewage coming from the vicinity of a tour bus parked conveniently over a storm drain at the Red Roof Inn. The bus driver picked the wrong time and the wrong place to illegally dump his onboard sewage tank into the Hackensack River. The driver had positioned the bus in such a manner that all he had to do was open a valve over the storm drain to release many gallons of raw sewage and chemicals directly into the River. It stank horribly. Needless to say, he expected a quick, easy and free solution to his sanitation needs. What the driver did not expect were Capt. Bill, two reporters from The Jersey Journal, and myself to be there when he did his dirty deed. Immediately I ran on board the bus in an attempt to keep the driver from fleeing the scene while Capt. Bill placed the Riverkeeper Jeep in such a way as to block an escape. After taking the driver to task for what he admitted was "flushing his tanks," he ordered me off the bus after I began dialing the Secaucus Police Department. It was apparent from what happened next that nothing was going to keep this polluter from leaving. With apparent disregard for his safety, our safety and the safety of anyone on the premises, the driver gunned the full-sized bus around the Jeep, around a sharp turn and out of the driveway onto Meadowlands Parkway. But not before I got his license number and the Journal photographer got pictures. Capt. Bill then contacted the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and the Secaucus Police to file a formal complaint. Within a very short time, DEP transferred jurisdiction of the case to the Division of Criminal Justice and two state investigators were at the scene. After interviewing the both of us, the hotel manager (who provided the driver's identification) and taking samples and photographs, the detectives staked out the hotel and waited for the bus to return. At about 11:00 PM their patience was rewarded when the bus pulled back into the parking lot. I'm sure its driver not expecting an "official" welcome and the lengthy interrogation that followed.
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