Throughout the long history of New Jersey, few things have commanded as much statewide attention as has the situation involving Governor McGreevey. Other than the Hindenburg disaster or the Lindbergh kidnapping, what else has dominated the news in such an all-encompassing way? Unexpected as it was, the Governor's revelation and its subsequent fallout still has many of us shaking our heads in disbelief. As you know, despite the many calls for him to leave office early, Gov. McGreevey chose to stay long enough to hand the reins of government over to Senator (and soon-to-be Acting Governor) Richard Codey. Needless to say, everyone has an opinion about it but that's not the subject of this column. What I want to share with you is what the past three years have meant to the future of the Hackensack River, its watershed and the people who live within it. An organization like ours must always remain focused on its goals and objectives and not get sidetracked if it is to remain effective. The goals and objectives of Hackensack Riverkeeper are simple: to protect, preserve and restore the Hackensack River watershed. Our main concerns have always been clean water, wetlands protection, open space preservation and public access to those resources. It is with all this in mind that I write to you about how the McGreevey administration has impacted this river. For comparison, let me remind you what things were like during the previous administration. New Jersey was “Open for Business.” The Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission (HMDC) was more than happy to mind the store. Perhaps worst of all was the way that administration neglected to release the results of an eight-year study on the toxicity of blue crabs in the Newark Bay Complex. Because of that neglect, the health and safety of hundreds–if not thousands–of New Jersey residents, many of them the urban underprivileged, was placed in jeopardy. Things began to change during the transitional DiFrancesco administration and continued to improve under Governor McGreevey. The first big change took place at the HMDC: in name and in mission. By putting people like Bob Ceberio and Susan Bass Levin in charge of the Commission, Gov. McGreevey ensured that it would transform from a development-driven agency into a conservation-driven one. As you may know, on January 8 of this year, the re-named New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) passed a sweeping new Master Plan that protects all 8,400 acres of the region's wetlands. As for the upper part of our watershed, Category One (C-1) protections are now in place for this resource that provides 1.5 million people with their drinking water. Yes, the implementation was delayed for several months (due to the incredible amount of political wrangling over the Highlands bill) but we have them now–forever. In addition to considering the Meadowlands Master Plan and the C-1 protections, we also should remember that the McGreevey administration was the one that implemented the Phase Two Stormwater Regulations. Because of these new statewide rules, the Hackensack River and all of New Jersey's waterways are continuing to recover from decades of pollution. Taken together, the Phase Two rules and the C-1 protections are going to take the river to its next level of recovery–something I doubt we could have expected under a different administration. I could write another whole column on how the Department of Environmental Protection has been revitalized and re-activated under Gov. McGreevey's watch but our editor won't give me the space. Suffice it to say that the DEP, which was rendered nearly toothless by the Whitman administration, is now putting a righteous fear into the hearts of polluters and others who would sacrifice our public trust resources for private gain. In short, they're doing their job–something I seriously doubt they would be doing with any fervor under a different administration. I'm not trying to bash any political candidate, past, present or future; I'm just trying to illustrate that this river and this watershed–especially the Meadowlands–could have done a lot worse (and had a lot worse done to it) over the past three years. So when the jokes are going around the office or the shop and your e-mail is full of funny stories about our soon-to-be ex-Governor, take a moment to consider where the River (and all of us who care about it) would be if we'd had a different governor. I could be writing yet another battle cry against yet another attack on our river, but I believe credit should be given where credit is due. Without a doubt, what Jim McGreevey did as Governor ranks as one of the top political disasters of all time and it’s certainly one for the history books. In the long run though, the jokes will wear thin, and the locker-room humor will get old as other snafus take their turn on the front pages of our newspapers and the subject lines of our e-mails. When that happens, our drinking water, our Meadowlands and our Highlands will still be protected thanks to the choices Jim McGreevey made. Despite all that's gone on or will go on, our river still flows but today it does so a bit cleaner, freer and more protected than it did three years ago. I look forward to inviting Acting Governor Codey to see it for himself and to add his contribution to its legacy. |
