Controversial measure could allow 300,000 acres of protected land to be developed

Without any fanfare, Gov. Chris Christie yesterday signed a bill that conservationists and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned could lead to increased pollution into the state's already degraded waterways.

The bill was one of several from the lame-duck legislature signed by the governor before noon yesterday -- the deadline to act on legislation that had been approved in the prior legislative session, which ended a week ago yesterday.

His office did not announce the signing until early in the evening, burying the action on a busy day in Trenton when the governor's State of the State message overshadowed all other events in the Statehouse.

The bill (S-3136) essentially delays adoption of new sewer service areas for two years, a postponement proponents of the measure argue will afford the state Department of Environmental Protection time to rewrite the rules that the agency has called "unworkable."

Rushed through the lame-duck session, the bill was bitterly opposed by virtually all of the state's major environmental groups who view the law as a major rollback of water protections afforded by adoption of new water quality management rules in 2008. Those rules essentially blocked 300,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land from being included in sewer service areas, which would make their development difficult.

Environmentalists had banded together to finance several studies that sought to document the effect of the bill if it was enacted. If the 300,000 acres were developed, it could lead to more than 1 million pounds of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other pollutants emptying into New Jersey's waterways, according to environmentalists.

"The biological science is as clear as the political science and the result is dirty water and dirty politics," said David Pringle, campaign director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation. "Until the politicians become statesmen or the citizens demand it, the state of the state's waters will be just like our politics, too dirty."