DEP says proposal will reduce bureaucracy, while preserving protections for the natural landscape and public health; Environmentalists say the so-called "waiver rule" would result in a serious erosion of environmental protections
TRENTON — The state Department of Environmental Protection would be able to bypass its own rules and regulations to approve development projects, under a proposal announced today.
The agency says the proposal is a way to reduce bureaucracy, while preserving fundamental protections for the natural landscape and public health. Environmentalists, however, said the so-called "waiver rule" would result in a serious erosion of environmental protections.
The rule would allow land owners — from individual homeowners to developers — to ask for exemptions from DEP rules based on Gov. Chris Christie’s "Common Sense Principles" for state agencies outlined last year in his Executive Order No. 2. An exemption could be granted if there are conflicting rules between state agencies, or "unduly burdensome" regulations.
Under the proposal, for example, a home could be built in the state’s Highlands region within a protected stream buffer near an endangered species — if the developer agrees to install a detention basin which would produce cleaner water than would be discharged naturally, said Larry Ragonese, a DEP spokesman. Currently, construction would not be allowed on that land.
Another example would be to allow the implementation of stormwater basins near Barnegat Bay requested by the Department of Transportation that DEP rules absolutely prohibit now, the spokesman said.
The effort is to analyze each request on a site-by-site, case-by-case basis — and not in a "black-and-white" regulatory way, Ragonese said. "Unduly burdensome" — as written in the proposed rule — is a subjective term, but it would be up to the department to decide what would work best in complex situations, he said.
"We need to have some flexibility to decide what makes more sense," Ragonese said. "The goal is to make government work. We’re trying to be more than a bunch of bureaucrats."
Environmentalists, however, see the "waiver rule" as a way to turn over decision-making power to the DEP to circumvent environmental rules.
"The whole idea of a standard is it’s supposed to apply to everybody," said Dena Mottola Jaborska, executive director of Environment New Jersey. The proposal could be the first of the many that could "streamline" government and would erode environmental protections, she added.
"It’s very broad and very vague," she said. "Gov. Christie said he wouldn’t roll back environmental rules and regulations. I think this is a tool to do exactly that."
"It’s so vaguely defined, they could grant almost anything," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, calling it "one of the most extremist attacks" on the environment he’s seen in the state.
The DEP said the "waiver rule" could also apply to designated, protected areas which have autonomous bodies to provide oversight, including the Highlands and Pinelands.
However, all state and federal environmental regulations written specifically into law would be unaffected by the DEP proposal — notably, those protecting health and safety, such as air and water quality, Ragonese said.
A public hearing on the proposed regulation will be held on April 14. The department will field public comments until May 6, Ragonese said.