Former Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson, now the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said at a state legislative committee hearing in April that "doing something fast doesn't mean you do worse."
"Doing something fast and carefully, with the appropriate amount of checks and balances - which I feel sure this committee could help ensure - means that work will happen and that a cleanup actually takes place, because this is about enabling cleanups. And that, in and of itself, I think, is a very good thing," Jackson said.
The Senate Environment Committee is scheduled to discuss a bill today sponsored by Sen. Bob Smith (D., Middlesex) that would establish a licensing program for site-remediation professionals, among other steps.
Critics of the proposal argue that the consultants would amount to privatization, with the state outsourcing responsibilities that should remain the domain of government. Environmental advocates say the consultants pose an inherent conflict of interest because the parties responsible for cleaning up contamination would get to hire their own consultants to oversee remediations.
"Everyone agrees the cleanup program is broken, but rather than addressing the root of the problem, a poorly funded and staffed program, the Corzine administration would let the fox watch the henhouse," said David Pringle of the New Jersey Environmental Federation. "Toxic sites like Xanadu, Encap and Kiddie Kollege show the need for better, not smaller, government, and when it comes to toxic waste, the polluters can and should pay for it."
