The “New Regionalism” and Local Muscle Assures That the Passaic Will Be Usable Again

Andrew Willner

Executive Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper, 52 West Front Street, Keyport, NJ 07735, (732) 888-9870

(732) 888 9873, andy@nynjbaykeeper.org, www.nynjbaykeeper.org

Under the present national administration, we’ve seen an alarming erosion of the mission of most federal agencies tasked with protecting the environment. If weak, compromised federal agencies will not protect human health, species, and habitat across America and on the Passaic, then who will?

Our answer on the Passaic is what we call “New Regionalism”: a partnership of NJ Department of Environmental Protection, (their attorneys and scientists), communities, non-governmental organizations, and private citizens – to  protect human health and the environment against recalcitrant polluters, federal agencies, and their  apologists.

After all, only public outrage and local action against Occidental’s egregious dioxin pollution has so far resulted in decisive action. Only when Baykeeper, Hackensack Riverkeeper, and NRDC gave notice to Occidental of our intent to sue for "imminent and substantial endangerment" of human health and the environment did USEPA require Occidental/Tierra to agree to pay for and expand the Superfund study area to include Newark Bay. We proved decisively in that moment that local muscle does work.

That’s why we agree wholeheartedly with New Jersey’s decision to bring legal action against Occidental, and to insist the company pay for a study to determine whether or not dredging the River is the appropriate interim remedy. Some put their trust in a federal fix. We put our trust in the law and in the people of New Jersey.

What we do know with absolute certainty is this: The Passaic River belongs to the people, and we will not surrender it to polluters nor to recalcitrant and exploitable federal agencies without a fight – a fight, allied with local and state partners, we intend to win.