Friday, July 31, 2009STAR-LEDGER STAFF It's choked by invasive aquatic weeds, infested with jellyfish and devoid of clams and oysters that used to support an entire shellfish industry.The Barnegat Bay, which separates mainland Ocean County from a barrier island of seashore towns, has been the subject of numerous studies, all pointing to the slow death of a fragile ecosystem over the last two decades.Yesterday, the bay -- a playground for Shore residents and tourists -- was the focus of a joint hearing in Lacey Township of the state Senate Environment Committee and the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste committees in an attempt to restore its health."We've actually reached a critical threshold where action is required to protect the bay," said Michael DeLuca, the senior associate director of Rutgers University's Institute of Marine and Coastal Science. "Now it is clearly time to act."Representatives from many environmental groups said state officials have been aware of the bay's problems for years but have taken no significant steps to correct them.They worry yesterday's meeting -- like others in the past -- will end up being nothing more than lip service from legislators who lack the interest or the political will to save the bay.The nearly two dozen people who testified yesterday identified four main issues threatening the life of the bay: nitrogen loading from lawn fertilizers; water intake and discharge from the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Forked River; outdated storm water systems; and overdevelopment.As commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection last year, Lisa Jackson publicly stressed the need to restrict the levels of nitrogen in lawn fertilizers that wash into the bay after rainstorms. Nitrogen promotes the excessive growth of algae and other plants, and deprives water of oxygen for native marine life, a condition known as eutrophication.Bill Wolfe, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said neither Jackson -- who now heads the federal Environmental Protection Agency -- nor her interim replacement, acting Commissioner Mark Mauriello, has addressed the nitrogen issue.But yesterday, state Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, said he has a bill pending that would allow county or local governments to regulate nitrogen levels.Shocking many of the committee members with his statistics, Willie deCamp Jr., chairman of the nonprofit group Save Barnegat Bay, said the Oyster Creek nuclear plant pulls 1.7��94;??lion gallons of water daily from the bay for cooling.Before it is used, the water is screened of nearly all aquatic life and then returned, heated, to the Oyster Creek and eventually to Barnegat Bay.By the end of one year, the plant has strained 10 times the volume of the bay's 60 billion gallons, he said.Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) said she and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) plan to introduce legislation requiring Oyster Creek, a 40-year-old power plant that was relicensed earlier this year for another 20 years, to install closed-cycle cooling towers to make the plant less dependent on water from the bay.Her proposal drew applause from the crowd, but outside the meeting, Smith and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), chairman of the Environment Committee, said such legislation may be out of the jurisdiction of state legislators because Oyster Creek is federally regulated.On the issue of development, McKeon said voter approval this November of a $400 million bond issue for the purchase of open space would alleviate some of the development pressures around the bay."Preservation is the best way of assuring the health of that bay," he said. "It would be foolhardy for us not to take advantage of these historic lows" in real estate prices.Several speakers, including Carleton Montgomery, executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, said that the state needs to protect not only the bay, but also the watershed that feeds it.He said any further development of the watershed region, already at maximum capacity, would cause irreversible damage to the bay.MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@starledger.com.
...four main issues threatening the life of the bay: nitrogen loading from lawn fertilizers; water intake and discharge from the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Forked River; outdated storm water systems;and overdevelopment.
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