Why do New Jersey officials want to take northern Barnegat Bay off their list of troubled waters?
That’s the question raised by science advisers to the bay restoration effort. Moves to drop part of Barnegat Bay and its tributaries from a list of New Jersey polluted waters has raised alarms from the group, warning the state is using inadequate water test results to justify the change.
Gov. Chris Christie and the state Department of Environmental Protection say Barnegat Bay is a priority and are committing in excess of $100 million toward fixing the bay’s environmental problems and helping towns clean up stormwater pollution that is the bay’s No. 1 threat.
Now the DEP proposes to drop 12 square miles of the northern bay off its pollution priority list, citing 2011 water samples that showed the area had good levels of dissolved oxygen that fish need to breath.
“We’re following EPA rules, we’re doing it the way we’re supposed to,” said Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the DEP. “We’re not crowing about improved water quality.”
http://www.app.com/article/20120727...sey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage&nclick_check=1
That’s the question raised by science advisers to the bay restoration effort. Moves to drop part of Barnegat Bay and its tributaries from a list of New Jersey polluted waters has raised alarms from the group, warning the state is using inadequate water test results to justify the change.
Gov. Chris Christie and the state Department of Environmental Protection say Barnegat Bay is a priority and are committing in excess of $100 million toward fixing the bay’s environmental problems and helping towns clean up stormwater pollution that is the bay’s No. 1 threat.
Now the DEP proposes to drop 12 square miles of the northern bay off its pollution priority list, citing 2011 water samples that showed the area had good levels of dissolved oxygen that fish need to breath.
“We’re following EPA rules, we’re doing it the way we’re supposed to,” said Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the DEP. “We’re not crowing about improved water quality.”
http://www.app.com/article/20120727...sey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage&nclick_check=1