Colleagues, who had spent months coming up with creative ways to celebrate the DEP’s 50th birthday, welcomed 2020 enthusiastically. Events were planned, promotions were created, commemorative projects were started – and the department’s big birthday bash was scheduled for April 22, also Earth Day, at the Trenton War Memorial.

Then, Americans across the nation began falling ill. In New Jersey, the first person diagnosed with COVID-19 occurred on March 4; the first death from the coronavirus would come just six days later, on March 10.

Schools began closing; Rutgers announced that it was moving to online classes temporarily; and two of the state’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day parades – in Morristown and Bergenfield – were postponed. Businesses eventually were required to close and New Jerseyans were asked to stay home.

Governor Phil Murphy set a March 18 deadline for work-at-home plans to be developed for all state departments. The DEP’s more than 2,800 employees quickly moved to remote work options as much as possible.

The DEP’s birthday – on April 22 – passed somewhat quietly. No balloons, no cake, no big gathering, but there were huge kudos from the governor, who shared them with his 222.7K Twitter followers. During her weekly broadcast, Commissioner Catherine McCabe offered her many thanks for all that DEP employees did to adjust to a new working world – assuring employees that their efforts were being seen and recognized.

Eventually, the state would see the curve begin to flatten and many parts of the state would reopen. Wearing a mask when venturing out has become a way of life. And though we’ve lost more than 16,800 New Jerseyans to COVID-19, we hold out hope for the day we can return to some semblance of normalcy.

This year certainly did not turn out as anyone planned – or as anyone could have imagined.

The DEP scuttled many plans centered around its half-century celebration. However, one of its most highly visible projects was completed: Each week, since Jan. 9, the DEP Snapshot has looked at a single year in the history of the department.

From its beginnings in 1970, when then-Gov. William T. Cahill signed legislation creating the department, which he declared “was a giant step forward in our fight to preserve, protect and enhance the environment,” to this year, when Gov. Murphy signed the nation’s strongest environmental justice law to send “a clear message that we will longer allow black and brown communities in our state to be dumping grounds, where access to clean air and clean water are overlooked,” the DEP Snapshot has documented this agency’s efforts to enrich and protect New Jersey’s environment and the public health.

The weekly presentation was the brainchild of several DEP employees who made up the education/awareness group in the DEP50 volunteer ranks, including Tonia Wu, Jennifer Van Istendal, Amber Perlmutter, Heidi O’Neill, Nicole Budzek, Christine Wang, Myla Ramirez and Claire Yeager. The project would not have been possible without the devoted efforts of DEP librarian Tonia Wu and Communications content strategist Debra La Quaglia. The department is beyond grateful for their passion and dedication to this project.

And now, a look at 2020 …

With the approach of Earth Day’s 50th anniversary on top of a looming presidential election, 2020 was bound to be another consequential year for the planet. Yet few could have imagined the extraordinary confluence of events that engulfed the world this year. From a devastating global pandemic and economic crisis to political and social upheaval, 2020 drew comparisons to other pivotal moments in modern history, particularly the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic and the Great Depression. 　

The start of the new year saw promising steps on climate change as New Jersey officially rejoined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Governor Phil Murphy unveiled an updated Energy Master Plan, outlining the state’s strategy for reaching 100 percent clean energy by 2050. On Jan. 27, the governor also signed Executive Order 100, directing the DEP to pursue sweeping regulatory reforms to cut greenhouse gas emissions and help New Jersey adapt to the warming already being felt in the state. This initiative is known as New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats, or NJ PACT.　

By early March, however, a cluster of deadly infections from the novel coronavirus had morphed into an unprecedented, full-blown global pandemic. Major cities around the world essentially shut down, profoundly transforming daily life for tens of millions of people. As state offices locked down in March, DEP staff pivoted en masse to working remotely to help “flatten the curve” and prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed.　　

With the arrival of spring, homebound New Jerseyans gained a new appreciation 

for their neighborhood green spaces, flocking to state and local parks for fresh air and outdoor recreation. The DEP deployed a “Mask Up!” safety campaign, with posters created by Communications’ graphic designers Erin Brodel and Maria Scimone. The State Park Service and Park Police labored tirelessly to keep parks open while enforcing public health guidelines that kept staff and visitors safe.

Meanwhile, the DEP continued to tackle important environmental issues. In April, the department upgraded protections for 600 miles of New Jersey rivers and streams, granting them Category One status through an amendment to the Surface Water Quality Standards – the first such upgrade in more than a decade.　

Further progress was made in confronting the climate crisis, which, despite being overshadowed by the acute emergency of COVID-19, had not paused its relentless march. In June, the DEP released New Jersey’s first Scientific Report on Climate Change, which gathered the latest and most reliable scientific information on current and predicted future impacts of climate change on the state. In the fall, as haze from record-breaking Western wildfires blanketed the country, the state released New Jersey’s Global Warming Response Act 80×50 Report, presenting a sector-by-sector road map for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050.

Among the most significant environmental developments in this crowded year was the landmark environmental justice law signed by Governor Murphy on Sept. 18. Heralded as the strongest EJ law in the country, it　requires the DEP to evaluate the health and environmental impacts of new polluting sources on overburdened communities – too often communities of color – and gives regulators the power to block projects based on cumulative impacts.　

The law’s enactment occurred in the midst of a national reckoning over systemic racism, ignited during the summer by mass protests against inequities in policing, economics, and health – long-standing problems that were dramatically exposed and intensified this year by the pandemic.　

Despite the turbulence of this moment, it is fitting to recognize the progress made in the Garden State in the half-century since the DEP’s founding on the first Earth Day in 1970: Forests have been preserved, extinctions averted and harmful pollutants have been taken out of our air, soil and water. As our understanding of the natural world deepened, so too did our consciousness of its fragility and our shared responsibility to preserve the precious web of life on which we all depend.

The next chapter in this story is still being written, but there is no doubt that the DEP’s mission is as critical now as it was 50 years ago – to protect the environment and create vibrant, healthy and sustainable communities in which all New Jerseyans can thrive.

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• About two-thirds of U.S. adults (67%) say the federal government is doing too little to reduce the effects of climate change, and similar shares say the same about government efforts to protect air (67%) and water quality(68%),
  

  

  while majorities say the same when it comes to protecting animals and their habitats (62%) and protecting open lands in the national parks (55%).

• Overall, about three-quarters of Americans (77%) agree that the more important energy priority should be developing alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power and hydrogen technology, rather than increasing U.S. production of fossil fuels.
• Most Americans today (62%) say that climate change is affecting their local community either a great deal or some.
• Overall, about half of Americans (49%) say human activity contributes a great deal to climate change, and another 30% say human actions have some role in climate change. Two-in-ten (20%) believe human activity plays not too much or no role at all in climate change.
• Eight-in-ten Americans (80%) report that they reduce their food waste for environmental reasons. Large shares of the public (72%) say they use fewer plastics that cannot be reused, such as plastic bags, straws, cups or reduce their water consumption (68%) to help the environment.

Pew concluded that the survey results indicated “partisanship is a stronger factor in people’s beliefs about climate change than is their level of knowledge and understanding about science.”

In other climate news: On Nov. 4, the United States formally began the process to leave the Paris Agreement on climate change. The next day – Nov. 5 – 11,000 scientists from around the world published a study in the journal BioScience, warning “clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.”

And now, a look at 2019 …

By the end of the decade, the destructive impacts of climate change fueled by greenhouse gas emissions had become evident in every part of the globe. No longer framed as a problem for the future, it is now recognized by many to be a clear and present danger.

In 2019, major floods swamped the Midwest as the contiguous United States experienced its second wettest year since record-keeping began. From the Amazon rainforest to Siberia and Australia, wildfires raged, burning millions of acres and displacing thousands of people and countless animals.

Across an increasingly connected world, a groundswell of protest movements led by young people demanded action commensurate to the scale of the challenges facing humanity.

In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy marked the seventh anniversary of Superstorm Sandy by signing Executive Order 89 to create and implement a Statewide Climate Change Resilience Strategy. Among its directives, the order established the Climate and Flood Resilience Program at DEP to be overseen by New Jersey’s new Chief Resilience Officer, David Rosenblatt.

The order also established an Interagency Council on Climate Resilience, initially comprising representatives from 16 state agencies to coordinate decisions and policies across state government.

“As a coastal state, New Jersey is on the front lines of climate change,” said DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe at the October signing of Executive Order 89. “The impacts of climate change are far-ranging and already touch on everyone’s life in one way or another.”

At the Council’s first meeting in December, the DEP presented a new study by leading coastal experts and researchers from across the region that examined sea-level rise and storms exacerbated by climate change. The report, titled “New Jersey’s Rising Seas and Changing Coastal Storms,” projected sea-level rise in New Jersey of up to 1.1 feet by 2030 and 2.1 feet by 2050, and warned that if global greenhouse gas emissions remained on their current path, New Jersey could see as much as 6.3 feet of sea-level rise by 2100 along its 130-mile coastline.

“New Jersey is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and we must work together to be more resilient against a rising sea and future storms,” said Governor Murphy. “The data presented in this report will not only guide the Interagency Council’s decisions, but will also advise future generations of leaders on how best to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.”

The following month, January 2020, the state announced its intent to require builders to take into account the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels, when seeking approval for projects – which, when implemented, would make New Jersey the first state to do so.What were they thinking?

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In January 2018, Phil Murphy was sworn in as New Jersey’s 56th governor and among his Cabinet appointees was Catherine R. McCabe. Chosen to oversee the state Department of Environmental Protection, she was charged with safeguarding New Jerseyans and the environment around them.

The following year, the Commissioner would have the opportunity to tout the DEP’s leadership on setting strict standards for the PFAS family of chemicals in the halls of Congress.

“In the absence of any national regulatory standard, in 2018, New Jersey became the first state to establish a Safe Drinking Water Act maximum contaminant level (MCL) for a PFAS chemical,” she told members of the Committee on Oversight and Reform in Washington during a July 2019 congressional hearing about PFAS.

PFAS – poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances – have been used in industrial processes in the United States since the 1940s because they repel oil and water and are highly resistant to high temperatures and chemical reactions.

New Jersey’s extensive and science-based research into the prevalence of these chemicals across the state found that PFAS compounds are pervasive in ground water, surface water, sediment samples, fish tissue samples, public water systems and private wells. Armed with that research, and with recommendations of the New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute, the DEP took action to set levels for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS).

New Jersey stipulated an MCL of 13 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFNA in 2018, and later established MCLs of 13 ppt for PFOS and 14 ppt for PFOA.

On the Theory of Everything: One of science’s brightest lights was lost when Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018. The renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist, 76, had lived with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) for more than five decades.

And now, a look at 2018 …

In 2018, the new administration of Governor Phil Murphy vowed to reassert the state’s position as a leader in tackling difficult environmental problems.

“A stronger and fairer New Jersey accepts the reality of climate change, invests aggressively in renewable energy and upholds the goals of the Paris Climate Accord,” the governor declared in his Jan. 16 inaugural address, recognizing New Jersey’s long history as “a national model for protecting the environment and growing an economy fueled by innovation and ideas.”

In August, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe jointly signaled a newly aggressive stance on environmental enforcement in the state by filing six major lawsuits over contaminated properties – the largest single-day environmental enforcement action in the state in a decade.

Additionally, in 2018, New Jersey became the first state in the nation to establish a regulatory limit for PFAS – a large class of synthetic chemicals linked to cancer and other adverse effects – setting a Maximum Contaminant Level for PFNA at 13 parts per trillion in drinking water. The action drew national attention and put New Jersey at the forefront of research and regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

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The 1991 nor’easter lashed the East Coast. According to a National Park Service report, “coastal areas from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico experienced flooding and high winds, and beach erosion was severe and widespread. Hundreds of homes and businesses were knocked from their foundations. Sea walls, boardwalks, bulkheads and piers were reduced to rubble. Numerous small boats were sunk at their berths and thousands of lobster traps were destroyed. The Hudson, Hackensack, and Passaic rivers all experienced tidal flooding, and high winds brought down utility poles, power lines, tree limbs and signs.”

At top right, the USCGC Tamaroa is pictured in calm waters. The Coast Guard cutter, bottom photo, braves the elements during “The Perfect Storm” in 1991.

The storm, which raged from Oct. 28 to Nov. 2, also claimed 13 lives. Among those who died were the six crew members of the Andrea Gail, a fishing vessel that had been working in the North Atlantic Ocean, out of Gloucester, Mass. The story of the Andrea Gail and her crew was the basis of Sebastian Junger’s book, “The Perfect Storm,” and film adaptation of the same name.

The U.S. Coast Guard would rescue 25 people at sea during the height of the storm, including four of five members of a New York Air National Guard helicopter from the 106th Air Rescue Wing. The crew was forced to ditch its helicopter near Montauk, N.Y., after it ran out of fuel during a rescue effort.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa, which already had aided in the rescue of three people from a sailboat about 75 miles off Massachusetts’ Nantucket Island during the storm, then was dispatched to help the guardsmen. After four hours of slugging through roiling seas and battered by unrelenting wind and waves, the Tamaroa arrived near the downed airmen. The cutter’s 84-member crew labored for two hours to save the National Guardsmen, who already had spent six hours in the freezing waters. Four of the helicopter crew members were saved; a fifth, the crew’s pararescue jumper, was never found.

The National Park Service’s report quoted Weather Channel senior meteorologist Stu Ostro, who observed that “a non-tropical system absorbing a tropical one is not unprecedented, nor is a tropical cyclone developing from a non-tropical system. But for both processes to occur with the same system, not to mention one of this magnitude, is what made the cyclone so amazing. To me, this was the ultimate ‘hybrid’ storm.”

It was the perfect storm.

And now, a look at 2017 …

In 2017, the USCGC Tamaroa – a 205-foot Coast Guard cutter famously featured in Sebastian Junger’s 1997 book, “The Perfect Storm” – was scuttled off the coast of Cape May to become part of an artificial reef.

Started in 1984, New Jersey’s Artificial Reef Program provides marine habitat for many species of fish, shellfish and organisms that require hard substrate such as barnacles, sponges and soft corals. More than 100 defunct vessels have been sunk by the state for this purpose, though other objects also have been used, including New York subway cars, a giant horseshoe crab sculpture, military tanks and concrete “reef balls.” The Tamaroa, pictured at right above during its sinking, was one of the more well-known vessels to be repurposed in this way.

Originally commissioned as the USS Zuni in 1943, the ship served as a fleet ocean/salvage tug for the U.S. Navy and saw action in the Pacific Theatre, including at Iwo Jima, earning four battle stars for service during World War II. In 1946, the ship was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard and renamed the Tamaroa, after a Native American tribe indigenous to the central Mississippi River Valley.

Between 1946 and 1994, the Tamaroa embarked on many law enforcement and fisheries protection operations, and performed oceanography, weather and international ice patrols. Over the years, the ship also participated in numerous search-and-rescue operations, including the 1991 rescue of four crewmen from a downed New York Air National Guard HH-60 helicopter immortalized in “The Perfect Storm” – a feat that earned the cutter and crew the Coast Guard Unit Commendation and the prestigious Coast Guard Foundation Award.

After a half-century of distinguished service, the Zuni/Tamaroa was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1994 and, on May 10, 2017, became part of the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Reef – an artificial reef created with old military vessels, which also includes the 563-foot Navy Spruance-class destroyer, the USS Arthur W. Radford, the longest ship ever deployed to a reef in the Atlantic.

The Del-Jersey-Land reef is jointly managed by New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, and is one of 17 artificial reef sites maintained by the DEP’s Bureau of Marine Fisheries to enhance recreational fishing and diving along the New Jersey Coast.

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The newest Passaic County park is home to a multipurpose athletic field, a river walk, a playground, a spray park, community gardens, a concession stand and a field house. (At right is a rendering of the park from MKW Associates.) There also are six rain gardens, designed to filter water and return it to the Passaic River.

Dundee is the first phase of Passaic’s riverfront restoration. The second phase is planned as an expansion of the river walk.

The transformation from “a patch of ground that a little more than a year ago was a shantytown filled with homeless people and vagrants,” according to northjersey.com, was partially funded by dollars from a Natural Resource Damage settlement.

And now, a look at 2016 …

In 2016, the state awarded $53 million in grants to communities in the Lower Passaic River watershed to improve public access and help restore wetland ecosystems in the historically industrialized Passaic River corridor.

The funds came from Natural Resource Damage settlements reached in 2013 and 2014 with Occidental Chemical Corp. – successor to the Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Company – and other companies deemed responsible for decades of sediment contamination of the Passaic River and Newark Bay with pollutants such as dioxin, pesticides, metals and PCBs. The lawsuits were originally filed by the DEP and the N.J. Attorney General’s Office in late 2005.

New Jersey defines natural resources as all land, fish, shellfish, wildlife, biota, air, waters and other such resources owned, managed, held in trust or controlled by the state for the benefit of all its citizens. As the designated trustee for the state’s natural resources, the DEP is committed to ensuring not only the restoration of damaged natural resources, but also to seeking compensation for their loss.

Projects funded by the Passaic River settlements included wetland restoration, expansions of riverfront parks with new walking trails, riparian habitats and gardens, and launch points for kayaks and boats. That same year, in partnership with the DEP, the federal Environmental Protection Agency also finalized its $1.4 billion plan to remediate the most heavily polluted stretch of the lower Passaic River.

At a press conference in Newark, the state acknowledged its commitment to “taking the necessary steps to ensure the remediation of the Passaic River, making sure that those responsible for the pollution pay for the cleanup, and reconnecting people to this resource.”

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Goals as global as climate change initiatives and as local as sewer overflow issues all are part of the DEP’s work.

Nearly five years ago – on Dec. 12, 2015 – a global climate change pact was reached on reducing carbon emissions.

The accord, the first ever of its kind, was named the Paris Agreement. It was negotiated during the 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

However, it would take almost another year before the pact would become effective, on Nov. 4, 2016, because the threshold for adoption would not be reached until October of that year. More than 55 countries, representing at least 55 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, ratified the agreement.

The aim of the agreement is to decrease global warming by:

• Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;
• Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production;
• Making finance flows consistent with a pathway toward low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.

Although the United States announced in 2017 that it would withdraw from the Paris Agreement and finalized that move on Nov. 4, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the accord when he takes office in January.

In New Jersey, the Murphy administration has vowed to reach 100 percent clean energy by 2050, as well as fulfilling the Global Warming Response Act mandate of reducing state greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2006 levels.

As the DEP is working on efforts to achieve these goals, other areas that are part of our climate change strategy deal with water issues, including sewer systems. The department knows that storm sewers and sanitary sewers are two systems that work best when they work separately.

However, there are municipalities in New Jersey that have combined sewers systems and 2015 brought an effort to deal with overflow issues that can foul the state’s waterways.

And now, a look at 2015 …

The DEP took steps in 2015 to address the long-standing problem of combined sewer overflows by issuing 25 new permits that required operators to develop long-term control strategies and enhance public notification practices.

st modern sewer systems separate stormwater from sanitary  wastewater. However, many older municipalities in New Jersey – mainly in the New York-New Jersey Harbor region of the urban Northeast – have combined systems in which stormwater is transported with household, commercial and industrial wastewater through the same pipe network.

Typically, combined wastewater is transported to a central treatment plant before being discharged into the environment. But during heavy rainfall or snowmelt events, older combined systems have a tendency to overflow, causing untreated sanitary sewage and stormwater to discharge directly into rivers and streams.

In 2015, there were 217 outfall pipes in 25 communities in the state, discharging billions of gallons of sewage a year into New Jersey rivers and bays.

The new state permits required towns to meet tougher standards and to develop plans to control discharges – by incorporating, for example, “green” infrastructure such as rain gardens or green roofs to capture stormwater.

“Combined sewer overflows are a very serious public health and environmental problem in a number of New Jersey’s communities,” said Joan Leary Matthews, then-Director of EPA Region 2’s Clean Water Division. “These new permits … help lead the way to improved water quality.”

on the taxpayer.”

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“It’s probably the most famous tear in American history,” the Chicago Tribune wrote in 2017. It noted: “For many Americans, the Crying Indian became the quintessential symbol of environmental idealism.”

Interestingly, the force behind Keep America Beautiful was a group of leading beverage and packaging corporations. Their strategy, it was later revealed, was to shift the burden for increasing litter away from their disposable products and onto individuals, making it personal responsibility.

The prize-winning ad would continue to show on television during the ’70s, on billboards and in print ads. It remains ranked as one of the best commercials of all time.

And now, a look at 2014 …

In March 2014, the DEP launched the “Don’t Waste Our Open Space” anti-dumping initiative, a coordinated campaign to crack down on illegal dumping in New Jersey’s state parks and natural lands.

Thirty cubic yards of illegally dumped materials were removed from Bass River State Forest in March 2014.

Illegal dumping – everything from old TVs and computers to construction debris, furniture, tires, car parts, even complete cars and boats – had been a growing problem in New Jersey for years, impacting nearly all of the state’s more than 170 publicly owned tracts.

The campaign incorporated strict enforcement against illegal dumping practices while raising awareness through outreach and education efforts, including on-site warning signs, a “Stop Illegal Dumping” website, and a new smartphone app that allowed the public to document and report illegal dumping to the DEP.

Motion-sensing cameras were strategically deployed in state parks and wildlife management areas to help identify violators, who faced criminal fines of up to $5,000 per violation and civil penalties of up to $1,500 per violation. The state also sought stiffer penalties for major violations through the Solid Waste Management Act.

Within the first six months of its launch, the campaign yielded enforcement actions against 20 individuals, netting nearly $30,000 in court-ordered fines and more than $450,000 in pending fines. The crackdown included charges for the first illegal dumping event caught on hidden camera – at the Duck Island section of D&R Canal State Park – and for large dumping violations at Liberty State Park and Wharton State Forest.

“Debris that is left behind by illegal dumpers is not only unsightly, but it pollutes these properties we cherish,” said then-State Park Director Mark Texel at the launch, which was kicked off by press conferences and cleanup events at D&R Canal State Park and Brendan Byrne State Forest. “It is potentially harmful to public health, wildlife and ecosystems. It also wastes the previous cleanup efforts of volunteers and puts the costs of cleanups on the taxpayer.”

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A lighthouse is a beacon – a signal to ships that guides them safely near the shoreline.

These towers, each with a bright light at the top, are located at an important or dangerous place for navigation over water, according to the National Park Service. The main purpose of a lighthouse is twofold: to serve as a navigational aid, and to warn boats about dangerous areas.

There are 11 lighthouses in New Jersey:

• Cape May Lighthouse in Cape May Point
• Barnegat Lighthouse in Barnegat Light
• Twin Lights in Highlands
• Sandy Hook Lighthouse in Highlands
• Sea Girt Lighthouse in Sea Girt
• Tucker’s Island Light in Tuckerton
• Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City
• Hereford Inlet Lighthouse in North Wildwood
• East Point Lighthouse in Heislerville
• Finn’s Point Rear Range Light in Pennsville
• Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse in Paulsboro

New Jerseyans love these towering guideposts. Many have climbed the 199 steps of the Cape May Lighthouse, the 217 steps of Old Barney and the 228 steps of Absecon – the Garden State’s tallest lighthouse at 171 feet. The Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019, invites participants to visit (and hopefully, climb) all of New Jersey’s maintained lighthouses.

Here, some facts about New Jersey lighthouses:

• Built in 1859, the Cape May Lighthouse is still an aid to navigation.
• Barnegat Lighthouse, on the northern tip of Long Beach Island, was regarded as one of the most crucial “change of course” points for coastal vessels.
• Sandy Hook Lighthouse is the oldest operating lighthouse in the United States.
• The Sea Girt Lighthouse – housed in an L-shaped Victorian building – first shown its light in 1896; it was decommissioned in 1945.
• The Tucker’s Island Light, built in 1848, guided traffic into Little Egg Harbor. Its use was discontinued in 1859 and it toppled into the water in 1927. Six decades later, a re-creation of the lighthouse was built at Tuckerton Seaport.
• Absecon Lighthouse is the third tallest mason lighthouse in the United States and is more than 160 years old, having been built in 1857.
• The East Point Lighthouse has a distinctive Cape Cod style – the two-story brick structure is whitewashed, with a bright red roof and has a black lantern.
• Finn’s Point was constructed in 1876 in Buffalo, N.Y., and moved to New Jersey by train and mule wagon. It is a wrought iron, open-frame lighthouse and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

And now, a look at 2006 …

In 2006, the Navesink Light Station in Highlands was designated a National Historic Landmark, joining the ranks of Mount Vernon, the Apollo Mission Control Center and other sites considered to be of exceptional value and national significance to all Americans. 

“National Landmark status is the highest level of distinction. It’s a great honor for a site to be given that,” said Amy Cradic, then-DEP Assistant Commissioner of Natural and Historic Resources, in an article appearing in The Star-Ledger. 

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The fortress-like brownstone structure was built in 1862, replacing earlier buildings that had fallen into disrepair.

In addition to presiding over ship traffic into one of the busiest ports in the country, the station was a proving ground for important technologies, such as the use of mineral oil for lamps and the revolutionary Fresnel lens.  

In 1899, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi placed an antenna at the lighthouse for a demonstration of his “wireless telegraph,” and Twin Lights became the nation’s first wireless telegraph station capable of sending and receiving messages on a regular commercial basis. The station also was the site of early radar experiments conducted by the U.S military.

In her announcement of the National Landmark designation, then-DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson stated, “Twin Lights stands today as a reminder of the important role lighthouses played in the maritime history of this country. Sites like this inspire us to protect and preserve our precious historic resources.” 

Decommissioned in 1949, the Twin Lights was acquired by the state in 1962 and today is owned and operated by the DEP’s Division of Parks and Forestry.

 

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New Jersey is determined to smoke out pollution.

The Garden State is a national leader in the fight against climate change – and one of its most potent efforts is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is aimed at cleaning up carbon dioxide being spewed into the air in order to reduce global warming.

RGGI – New Jersey was one of its founding members – is part of Governor Murphy’s goal to achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2050.  Though New Jersey stepped away from the program for several years, the state rejoined RGGI in 2019.

The state has participated in three RGGI auctions now, which have brought in almost $68 million. On Sept. 4, the DEP announced proceeds from the latest auction: New Jersey received $25 million – $5 million more than estimated.

How will these dollars help New Jersey communities? The result is more investments in the ideas proposed in the RGGI strategic funding plan. The DEP and partners, the BPU and the NJEDA, created this investment plan to ensure that RGGI proceeds will be funneled to programs and projects that not only will achieve our electrification goals, but also will benefit the state’s environmental justice communities.

And now, a look at 2005 …

In 2005, New Jersey was one of the seven founding members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the first mandatory cap-and-trade program in the United States to limit carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector.

The agreement that launched RGGI came after more than two-and-a-half years of negotiations and was signed by New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. The original Memorandum of Understanding outlined a plan to cap regional CO2 emissions at 121.3 million tons per year, beginning in 2009, and to reduce emissions by 10 percent below that level by 2018.

Fossil fuel power plants, with capacity greater than 25 megawatts, would be required to obtain allowances for each ton of CO2 emitted annually by purchasing such allowances at quarterly auctions, from other generators in the region or from offset projects. Generators that reduced their emissions could sell unused allowances to other companies.

“This regional, market-based bipartisan program will demonstrate to other states and to the world that carbon dioxide pollution can be reduced in a way that expands markets and economic opportunities,” said then-DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell.  “Ultimately, the success of this model will lead the way to a national program to cut greenhouse gas pollution and reduce the threat of global climate change.”

Also in 2005, New Jersey became one of the first states to classify carbon dioxide as an air contaminant, and the first state to place diesel emission controls on all public and privately owned transit buses and garbage trucks.

Despite its role in launching the initiative, New Jersey withdrew from RGGI in 2012. However, the state officially re-entered the compact on Jan. 1, 2020.

 

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A family lives in a Jersey City apartment that has lead paint on the walls.

A child in Newark drinks water from a tap that might have lead contamination.

A teen with asthma attends a Camden school not far from an incinerator spewing pollution into the air.

These realities are coupled with the fact that the same communities also have fewer of the good things in life, such as high-quality parks, open spaces, tree cover and green infrastructure.

This is the challenge of environmental injustice: Overburdened communities are bearing a disproportionate amount of pollution and contamination. They lack access to environmental benefits. And real people’s lives are affected.

The effort to create environmental change and to strengthen the public’s opportunity to participate in decisions about issues that may affect their environment and/or health is at the heart of New Jersey’s Environmental Justice program.

Just last week, the New Jersey Legislature passed an environmental justice bill that empowers the DEP to evaluate the environmental and public health impacts of certain pollution-causing facilities when they are proposed for an overburdened community or when the expansion of an existing facility is sought. The bill also will give residents of such communities greater notice about plans for these facilities, as well as opportunities to be heard.

And now, a look at 2003 …

In 2003, the Environmental Justice program was formalized at the DEP. Previously located in the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, the program was moved to the Office of Policy, Planning and Science in the Commissioner’s Office to enable it to engage all levels of staff in implementing environmental justice initiatives.

The principles of environmental justice came out of a recognition that low-income populations and communities of color often disproportionately bear the brunt of negative impacts from facilities such as waste dumps, incinerators and other potentially high-polluting activities – which tended to cluster in communities that had little economic or political power to resist them.

DEP’s first official attempts to address these disparities came in 1998, when then-Governor Christie Whitman directed Commissioner Bob Shinn to create the Environmental Equity Task Force to help formulate a pollution permit process that expanded public participation for identified EJ communities. Though the resulting regulations were withdrawn a few years later, efforts to address EJ issues ramped up considerably under Shinn’s successor, Bradley Campbell.

In 2003, the newly reorganized Environmental Justice program, headed by Director Michelle DePass, identified key EJ advocates throughout the state and co-sponsored two roundtables in Newark and Camden with the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions. Staff from the EJ program also was also instrumental in drafting the landmark 2004 Environmental Justice Executive Order.

Executive Order No. 96, signed by former Governor James McGreevey on Feb. 18, 2004, was the first statewide executive order to address environmental justice in New Jersey. The executive order compelled all state agencies to consider the health and environmental impacts of their decisions on overburdened communities and provide meaningful opportunities for community involvement in decision-making, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, religion, income or education. The order also directed the DEP to convene a multiagency Environmental Justice Task Force and to formally reconstitute the agency’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

 

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Abandoned buildings, piles of trash and weeds growing wild are what remain on many properties that once housed industrial powerhouses in New Jersey. These spaces, often fouled with contaminants, are known as “brownfields.”

The state, under the DEP’s Site Remediation Program, has cleaned up many of these areas – eliminating eyesores that contribute to neighborhood deterioration, lower property values and limit economic growth.

In Camden, a brownfield project on the site of a former hardware company not only involved fixing a hazardous situation, but also feeding the hungry.

For several years, the site of the former Antrim Hardware sat empty. Testing had uncovered volatile organic compounds and lead in the ground water, as well as semi-volatile organic compounds, lead and arsenic in soil of the Federal Street property.

The city, which eventually took over the site, applied for financial support for the remediation work through the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund, according to the state’s Site Remediation and Waste Management Program.

The DEP was a partner in remediation funding through its Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund (HDSRF), allocating approximately $39,500 of the total $335,665 cost to fully remediate the site. Funds also were provided through a Community Development Block Grant and the other sources.

The Cathedral Kitchen, whose mission is to provide nutritious meals to the poor and hungry of Camden, moved into a new $3.5 million facility on the land in 2008, following the completion of the cleanup. The new facility not only bolsters Cathedral Kitchen’s mission, but also models sustainability as a LEED certified building.

As work like this continues all over New Jersey today, we look back at when New Jersey jump-started its brownfield rehabilitation efforts by establishing an Office of Brownfield Reuse.

And now, a look at 2002 …

In 2002, the DEP created the Office of Brownfield Reuse to implement new policies and programs aimed at accelerating the rehabilitation of contaminated sites in New Jersey.

The term “brownfields” – as defined by a 2002 DEP policy directive – refers to abandoned, idled  or underutilized industrial or commercial sites on which redevelopment is complicated by actual or perceived environmental contamination, including sites where cleanup has been completed but redevelopment has not yet begun.

By 2002, the state had identified more than 12,000 such sites – a legacy of New Jersey’s long industrial history.

The DEP’s new brownfield policies would focus on reducing regulatory uncertainty and inefficiencies in existing site remediation regulations, expanding potential reuses of brownfield sites and promoting zero tolerance of the “warehousing” of sites by owners to avoid or delay remediation.

In a 2002 press release, new DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell stated: “A strong brownfield reuse program is a vital component of Governor (James) McGreevey’s smart growth efforts to stem the tide of sprawl, channel new development to cities and towns, and create a broader range of choices and more livable communities for businesses and families in New Jersey.”

In his 2002 Executive Order No. 4, then-Governor McGreevey promoted “smart growth” policies aimed at revitalizing existing urban centers and encouraging walkable, mixed-use, transit-centered development of the kind favored by the burgeoning New Urbanism movement.

 

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Pristine wetlands. Abundant wildlife. Island location.

Bet you’re thinking such a place only exists on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef or in the Florida Keys. But you’d be wrong.

There is such a place right here in New Jersey.

Deep in Ocean County’s Island Beach State Park is a section known as the Sedge Islands.  It is the home of the Sedge Island Conservation Zone – acres and acres of tidal marshes, creeks, ponds and open water that make up a salt marsh ecosystem in which wildlife thrives, including New Jersey’s largest osprey colony.

Kayakers can paddle through the waters on a tour led by a state park naturalist. Visitors to the area also can fish, go clamming and crabbing, and go birding. And the Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center offers environmental educational programs.

And now, a look at 2001 …

In 2001, the DEP established the state’s first Marine Conservation Zone around the Sedge Islands of Barnegat Bay, at the southern corner of Island Beach State Park.

“It’s no secret that there are competing uses for water space in Barnegat Bay and throughout our coastal waterways and inland lakes,” said then-DEP Commissioner Bob Shinn. “The idea of marine zoning offers a solution that would reduce watercraft conflicts in critical areas of the Sedge Islands, while not restricting watercraft activities in other areas of the bay.”

 

A key provision of the new zone would prohibit the use of high-speed personal watercraft and jet skis in the shallow waters of the Sedge Islands and within 300 feet of the Bayshore shoreline in the Southern Natural Area, while still allowing traditional boating, kayaking, fishing and clamming activities.

In a DEP press release, Bill Vibbert – then-superintendent of Island Beach State Park – cited the successful use of marine conservation zoning to protect sensitive marine habitats around the world, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Cayman Islands and the Marine Life Conservation Districts in Hawaii.

“Marine zoning also will be useful for the protection of nesting bird colonies, endangered species such as osprey and peregrine falcon, and preserving historic uses of Barnegat Bay because many threatened and endangered wildlife in the Sedge Islands depend on the estuary for survival,” Vibbert said.

Today, the Sedge Island Marine Conservation Zone protects approximately 1,900 acres of maritime forest, thicket and sensitive tidal marsh ecosystems, among the state’s most productive wildlife habitats. The Sedge Islands are also home to New Jersey’s largest osprey colony and its earliest peregrine falcon “hacking” tower.

 

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Among Governor Murphy’s ambitious plans to combat climate change is the goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2050. And one of the components of that plan is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

In the Garden State, the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions are transportation, electricity generation, commercial and industrial fossil fuel use and residential fossil fuel use, according to the DEP’s Air Quality, Energy and Sustainability program.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which the state rejoined in 2019, is working to drop the levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

New Jersey has had a long history with RGGI – as far back as 2005, when the Garden State was one of the initiative’s founding members. Though the state dropped out of the program in 2011, Governor Murphy announced a decision to return in 2018 and New Jersey formally rejoined RGGI on June 17, 2019.

And now, a look at 2000 …

At a news conference in April 2000, the DEP released an action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.5 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2005, making New Jersey the first state in the country to commit to a specific target for cutting these emissions.

“With many New Jerseyans concerned about a recurrence of the severe flooding we experienced last fall, I want to commend those who are committed to taking steps to assure the sustainability of our coastal and flood-prone areas, and make this state a better place to live, work and raise a family,” said then-Governor Christie Whitman.

At that time, New Jersey produced about 2 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases, or approximately 130 million tons a year. The New Jersey Sustainability Greenhouse Gas Action Plan called for reducing emissions by about 20 million tons through initiatives in five areas: energy efficiency and conservation, pollution prevention, innovative technologies, recycling and solid waste management, and natural resource protection.

That plan intended to put New Jersey on a path to achieve levels similar to those set by the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty adopted in 1997 in which the United States committed to a 7 percent emissions reduction below 1990 levels by 2012. Nationally, however, the issue of climate change was becoming increasingly contentious politically. Though the United States signed the Protocol during President Bill Clinton’s term, the treaty was never ratified by Congress.

 

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The Garden State has 151 watersheds, 20 watershed management areas and five water regions.

What is a watershed?

The DEP defines a watershed as “… the area of land that drains into a body of water such as a river, lake, stream or bay. It is separated from other watersheds by high points in the area such as hills or slopes.

“It includes not only the waterway itself, but also the entire land area that drains to it. For example, the watershed of a lake would include not only the streams entering that lake, but also the land area that drains into those streams and, eventually, the lake.”  

Why is watershed management so important in the Garden State?

Water is an essential part of our lives. And watersheds serve as more than just drainage areas in and around communities. They support habitat for plants and animals, and provide drinking water for humans and wildlife. They also offer recreational opportunities.

The DEP uses a “watershed management approach” to maintain the physical, chemical and biological integrity of New Jersey’s waters. Managing watershed areas is done by defining the physical geographic boundaries of the watersheds, basing water policy on sound science and developing partnerships with the public.

And for the past 20 years, the department has been hosting the New Jersey Watershed Ambassadors program, which raises awareness about water issues in the Garden State. The ambassadors, part of the community-oriented AmeriCorps program, serve in 20 WMAs from Sussex to Cape May counties and conduct community-based environmental activities.

And now, a look at 1997 …

The DEP created the Division of Watershed Management in 1997. It also began implementing newly adopted rules that, for the first time, would allow the department to manage nonpoint-source pollution – such as excess fertilizer or polluted urban runoff – using a comprehensive “watershed approach.”

The department traditionally issued project permits on a narrow, site-specific basis – an approach that tended to overlook the cumulative, downstream impacts of numerous small, seemingly separate human activities. The new management approach acknowledged the connectivity of the entire watershed – from the smallest headwater streams to the larger rivers, lakes and estuaries into which they inevitably flow, as well as all lands in-between.

 

Additionally, in 1997, the department, after 25 years, opened more than 600 acres for unrestricted clamming in the Navesink River in Monmouth County – a development that was attributed to the success of nonpoint-source management in achieving water quality improvements.

 

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Consider the small victories.

In 2019, there were 114 pairs of piping plovers nesting in New Jersey. That number represented a 19 percent increase from 2018 (just 96 pairs) and a 7 percent increase from 2017 (105 pairs), according to a beach-nesting management report from the DEP’s Division of Fish & Wildlife and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

This plover, as well as the least tern and the black skimmer, are the state’s endangered beach nesting birds. Each year, they make their home on the Garden State’s sandy barrier islands, nesting on open beaches and in sparsely vegetated dunes.

More findings about piping plovers from the report:

• Pairs nested at 27 sites statewide.
• There were 165 nests, with 98 hatching (60 percent), 65 failing (39 percent) and two with unknown outcomes (1 percent).
• The statewide productivity rate was 1.24 fledglings/pair, a decrease from 2018 (1.51 fledglings/pair), but above the long-term average of 1.03 fledglings/pair.
• The majority of plovers (71 percent) nested in just two federal areas (Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook and the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Galloway).
• It was the sixth year that plovers were banded in New Jersey – 131 birds were banded, bringing the total since 2012 to 647. The banding helps to track trends and population dynamics.

The beach-nesting report says the 2019 numbers represent “one of the biggest single year jumps since records began and quelled concerns stemming from two years of declines.”

Indeed, a small but significant victory.

How can humans help beach-nesting birds? They require only a very small portion of our beaches to survive, according to Fish & Wildlife, which offers these tips for sharing the Shore’s sand:

• Respect all areas fenced or posted for the protection of wildlife.
• Do not approach or linger near birds or their nesting areas.
• Control dogs. Dogs are not permitted on most beaches during the nesting season. If dogs are allowed on the beach, keep them leashed and well away from nesting areas.
• Do not leave or bury trash or food scraps on the beach. Garbage attracts predators, such as gulls, crows, raccoons, foxes, skunks and feral cats, which may prey upon eggs or chicks.

And now, a look at 1996 …

In this year, endangered piping plovers returned to North Brigantine Natural Area in Atlantic County, following several years’ absence.

To protect these vulnerable birds in an area frequented by off-road vehicles, the DEP worked with the City of Brigantine and the N.J. Beach Buggy Association to introduce an “escort” program along a 200-yard section of the beach. Gates were installed near the five-nest nursery and manned by employees, who slowed vehicles to 5 mph to avoid hitting the tiny, beach-nesting birds.

Piping plovers are present at the Jersey Shore from mid-March through late summer.

They are small, with sandy-brown upper parts that provide camouflage in their favored beach environments, white underparts, a black “eyebrow” across the forehead and a black band across the chest. They have a black-tipped orange bill and orange legs.

Nests are often built in flat, open areas of sand, with shell fragments and little vegetation that might provide cover for predators. The nest usually holds four eggs that are cream or sand-colored, with small brown speckles or spots. The small end of the eggs all point toward the center of the nest.

Once common, piping plovers were nearly wiped out locally by egg collecting and hunting in the 1800s and 1900s. They also were often used as fashion accessories or hat ornaments. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 helped the population recover somewhat through the 1930s. However, coastal development and recreation continued to cause declines.

In 1984, the piping plover was listed as an endangered species in New Jersey. Today, they remain among the most endangered species in the state, with nesting pair populations averaging near 100 in recent years.

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And, according to pickyourown.org, Jersey tomatoes will be available on July 5 – just five days from now.

What makes Jersey tomatoes so good?

Many Garden State growers point to the ideal weather and soil conditions: New Jersey has an abundance of loam and sandy loam soils, which are best for tomato production.

We also produce an assortment of tomatoes rich in flavor, tenderness and juiciness, including two leading varieties: ‘Rutgers’ and ‘Ramapo,’ developed by Rutgers plant breeders in 1934 and 1968, respectively. FYI: For the record, tomatoes are considered a fruit and a vegetable.

Jersey tomatoes are so popular that, each year, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and Rutgers Cooperative Extension hold the Great Tomato Tasting Event and Snyder Farm Open House in Pittstown. Visitors can sample more than 80 heirloom and hybrid varieties of beefsteak, plum, cherry and grape tomatoes. (Unfortunately, the public health crisis has forced the cancellation of the 2020 event, but tomato lovers can stop by local farm stands to pick up tomatoes and other Jersey Fresh produce.)

Because they are delicate, these homegrown beauties must be handled carefully.

However, in 1994, a California company thought it could build a better tomato. Researchers at Calgene, in Davis, had discovered a way to inhibit a gene that produces a protein that makes a tomato become squishy.

That very same year, Calgene brought its slow-ripening Flavr Savr tomato – the first genetically engineered crop – to market. The Flavr Savr would become the first genetically engineered food product to earn FDA approval.

Yay! No more squishy tomatoes. But the Flavr Savr lasted only a few short years – by 1997, production was stopped.

The Jersey tomato, in all its delicious glory, lives on.

And now, a look at 1994 …

This year brought major changes to the Department of Environmental Protection. The incoming administration of Gov. Christine Whitman – the first woman to hold the governorship in New Jersey – declared the state “open for business” and promised regulatory reform. In the 1994 DEP Annual Report, agency leaders emphasized a shift away from a “command-and-control” philosophy of previous decades toward a partnership approach with the regulated community. 

At the same time, progress on certain environmental issues continued. In July 1994, following a state-commissioned study that found elevated levels of toxic mercury accumulating in some species of popular freshwater sport fish, the DEP and the Department of Health issued consumption advisories for two species of freshwater fish.

In October, the DEP convened an Environmental Mercury Regional Workshop, with representatives from five other states and the federal government, to address the mercury issue and foster a regional approach for the establishment of fish advisories.

That same month, the department also adopted stringent mercury emission regulations for municipal solid waste incinerators – measures that reduced mercury emissions from local incinerators by more than 90 percent.  

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Who could have imagined, just six months ago, that working remotely would become the norm?

For most DEP employees, work meant traveling to the office five days a week and meetings in rooms filled with co-workers. But we’ve adapted as the world deals with a public health crisis – our workspaces carved out of living rooms, dining rooms and kitchens, and our meetings held virtually, with friendly faces peering at us from our computer screens via Microsoft Teams.

This ability to change with the needs of the times also was apparent 27 years ago when the Department of Environmental Protection and Energy, as it was then called, implemented the Alternative Workweek Plan. An excerpt from the 1993 annual report, titled “The Alternative Workweek at DEPE: Non-Traditional Work Schedules for a Changing World,” explained:

“With more than 700 staff members participating, nearly one in five DEPE employees is now working under the department’s Alternative Workweek Plan (AWP), the first alternative work schedule program in New Jersey state government. The program, which was developed with the cooperation of employee unions and went into effect in July 1993, was conceived to respond to the changing demographics in the workplace – including an increase in the number of working parents with children, dual-career couples and employees with aged dependents. … The alternative workweek also will make a significant contribution to meeting the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act reduce the number of single-occupancy automobile trips to the workplace.”   

Embracing change also would be reflected in environmental cleanup laws.

And now, a look at 1993 …

The Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) was signed into law on June 16, 1993, by then-Governor James Florio. The law significantly revised the Environmental Cleanup and Recovery Act (ECRA) of 1983, which required that polluted industrial and commercial sites be remediated before they were sold, transferred or closed, in keeping with the “polluter pays” principle.

ECRA was considered among the country’s strictest environmental cleanup laws at the time of its enactment, but, in practice, it was not without controversy. It was criticized for tangling real estate transactions in red tape, leading to unintended consequences – abandonment of contaminated sites, in some cases – and hindering both remediation and economic development of sites.

ISRA was designed to address these perceived ECRA flaws by streamlining the cleanup process; providing flexibility to permit alternate cleanup standards, depending on a property’s use; and distributing financial assistance, such as grants and loans, to conduct cleanups.

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On March 24, the Space Shuttle Atlantis took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral carrying instruments designed to study global warming. The flight included the first Atmospheric Laboratory for Application and Science (ATLAS-1) experiments, which involved studies in atmospheric chemistry, solar radiation, space plasma physics and ultraviolet astronomy.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted on May 9 in New York. The objective of the international environmental treaty was “to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference (human impact) with the climate system.” It also set nonbinding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries.

The first World Oceans Day was celebrated on June 8 and coincided with the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro. The day, according to https://unworldoceansday.org, is “an opportunity to raise global awareness of the benefits humankind derives from the ocean, and our individual and collective duty to use its resources sustainably.”

And on Nov. 13, a report by the World Meteorological Organization reported an unprecedented level of ozone depletion in both the Arctic and Antarctic. Ozone layer depletion causes increased UV radiation levels at the Earth’s surface, which can lead to a rise in certain skin cancers, cataracts and immune deficiency disorders.

There were a couple of unrelated bright spots that year, too.

On April 20, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was held in London’s Wembley Stadium. It was the first major rock event to draw attention to AIDS awareness. More than 1 billion people saw the live televised event, which raised millions for AIDS research. The performers included Queen’s Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, as well as George Michael, Elton John, David Bowie, Metallica, Elizabeth Taylor and Liza Minnelli.

On Oct. 1, the Turner Broadcasting System launched Cartoon Network, the first all-animation television channel. Original programming included “Dexter’s Laboratory,” “Cow and Chicken,” “Johnny Bravo” and “The Powerpuff Girls.” Today, the network broadcasts children’s shows from morning through evening, and then switches over to Adult Swim offerings – aimed at young adults – for the rest of the hours.

And now, a look at 1992 …

By 1992, New Jersey was recognized as a national leader in environmental programs.

An August 1992 article in the New York Times proclaimed: “New Jersey is the Garbage State No More; Once Known for Its Pollution, It is Now Known for Getting Tough on the Polluters.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing an analysis published by City & State magazine, reported in July 1992, “Refineries, crowded highways and hundreds of toxic-waste sites may rank New Jersey among the most polluted states in the country, but a new survey finds the Garden State is number one in dealing with environmental problems.”

According to the analysis, “New Jersey excels in recycling, hazardous-waste management, air and water pollution controls, and wetland and open space preservation.”

Additionally, a state law requiring polluted properties to be cleaned up before they could be sold was considered “the best in the country.”

Furthermore, New Jersey ranked “among the top ten states in environmental spending per capita.”

Within the Department of Environmental Protection and Energy (DEPE), rules were adopted to implement the Pollution Prevention Act, signed into law the previous year, which represented a new approach to environmental regulation. This plan concentrated on decreasing the amount of pollution being released into the environment, rather than simply regulating it after release. The focus on prevention was among a number of innovations the DEPE undertook as it sought to advance environmental protection in a more comprehensive and holistic way.

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For Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it was a surname that forbade their young love.

For jeansmaker Calvin Klein, whose famous spokeswoman uttered the unforgettable phrase “… what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing,” it was soaring sales.

For Twiggy, Kreskin, Madonna, Shaq and many others known simply by mononymous monikers (or one-word names), it is fame.

The DEP has seen its name change three times:

• When the department was created on April 22, 1970, it was christened the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
• Twenty-one years later, when it was merged with the Board of Public Utilities in 1991, the name would expand to the Department of Environmental Protection and Energy. It was a change that would last three scant years.
• A reorganization plan in 1994 reversed the merger, sending the BPU back to its former position in Treasury, and, like a divorcée dropping her ex’s last name, the department would shed “and Energy” to once again simply be known as the DEP.

And now, a look at 1991 …

In 1991, the Department merged with the Board of Public Utilities and became the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy (NJDEPE). An Office of Energy was created to assist with the state’s adoption of a new Energy Master Plan.

The plan directed the state to commit to safe, secure and reliable energy sources and supplies, to protect natural resources through wise and efficient energy use, and to promote the reduction of energy use. Collaborators on the 1991 Energy Master Plan included seven state departments, state planners and regulators, utilities, alternative power producers, energy equipment vendors and service providers, public interest groups and energy users.

Public hearings were held and more than 500 people attended, with more than 80 groups and individuals providing written comments. The Governor’s Advisory Council on energy planning and conservation also was reinstated. Additionally, the new Office of Energy oversaw 165 ongoing grants for energy conservation projects, totaling about $15 million, and awarded 40 new grants of $2.9 million.

Then-Gov. James Florio had spoken about the need for an Energy Master Plan in October 1990, several months after Iraq invaded Kuwait. During a press conference, he said:

“Recent events in the Persian Gulf have made it clear that we need to do some serious thinking about how to keep New Jersey’s energy supply secure and affordable … Already higher prices are making people concerned. A barrel of oil costs twice what it did at the beginning of the summer.

“These are not abstract issues. We’re talking about senior citizens worried about whether they can afford heating oil prices on a fixed income in a cold winter. About working couples having their carefully planned weekly budgets blown apart by higher prices at the gas pump. It’s about people having to be at the mercy of events far, far away. And about what we can do to stand up for ourselves.”

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At a wildlife care center, an oil-soaked bird gets a gentle sudsing as it is cleaned up.And when it spills into waterways, crude oil and petroleum products refined from it coat everything within reach. Hapless birds and other sea animals become covered in the blackish muck, often a life-ending situation.

Oil, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, destroys the water repellency of a bird’s feathers and the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals such as sea otters exposing these creatures to the harsh elements. Unable to repel water and insulate from cold water, birds and mammals can die from hypothermia, NOAA indicates. In addition, exposure to oil’s poisonous chemicals can cause harm internally if they are ingested or inhaled, and externally with skin and eye irritation.

The Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 and the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010 proved catastrophic to sea life: Exxon Valdez killed an estimated 250,000 seabirds, 3,000 otters, 300 seals, 250 bald eagles and 22 killer whales; Deepwater Horizon was estimated to have harmed or killed 82,000 birds of 102 species, more than 6,100 sea turtles and up to 25,900 marine mammals, including bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales.

A 1990 spill much closer to home, which spewed home heating oil into the Arthur Kill, never reached such harrowing numbers but claimed more than 700 birds and caused major damage to an urban wilderness area vital to avian creatures.

The impact of the spill, as described by NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program: The oil blanketed more than two thousand acres of fish and wildlife habitats, including open water, tidal marshes and backwater creeks, and over 200 acres of tidal salt marsh on Staten Island and in New Jersey. The oiling smothered fish, crabs and clams, and caused massive losses of salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) in some wetlands. The oil also directly killed an estimated 700 waterbirds.

A New York Times article published on Jan. 10, 1990, indicated that officials from both New York and New Jersey, have said that Prall’s Island, along Arthur Kill, a 13-mile reach of water, is a vital feeding and nesting area for rare birds on the East Coast…

Environmentalists who have inspected the area have said that the water-proofing ability of black ducks, cormorants and many other bird species which enables them to stay warm has been severely impaired. Birds returning after the winter, they said, would likely find much of their food supply, worms and crabs, wiped out.

And now, a look at 1990 …

On the night of Jan. 1, 1990, an underwater Exxon pipeline ruptured, spilling an estimated 567,000 gallons of home heating oil into the Arthur Kill waterway, which separates New Jersey from Staten Island. It was the largest oil spill in the New York/New Jersey area at the time.

First responders set out oil absorbent pads and a containment boom on Prall’s Island in the days following the 1990 spill.Representatives from the DEP, along with the U.S. Coast Guard and other local and federal agencies, oversaw the cleanup efforts. The following year, DEP researchers also undertook studies to assess the ecological effects of the spill research that helped build a case for a $15 million settlement.

The Exxon Bayway refinery incident was only the first and largest in a spate of spills that occurred in 1990 in the area and came at a time when the country was still reeling from the Exxon Valdez disaster, a mere 10 months earlier. In March 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground off the coast of Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into pristine Prince William Sound.

Exxon Valdez would become known as the worst spill in U.S. history until the Deepwater Horizon Spill in 2010 and would change the way the scientific community viewed and responded to oil spills. In its wake, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, increasing penalties for companies responsible and addressing a wide range of problems associated with preventing and responding to oil pollution incidents.

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The red knot is a 9- to 10-inch sandpiper, with a short black bill, dark brown to black legs during breeding season, and a russet color breast and belly.Along the way, it spends some time in New Jersey. The Garden State is a coastal stopover for the red knot during spring (mid-May through early June) and fall (late July through November) migration periods.

This sandpiper breeds in the tundra of the central Canadian Arctic and winters on the southern tip of South American, as well as northern Brazil, the Caribbean and the southeastern and Gulf coasts of the United States.

“Delaware Bay is one of the most important bird stopovers in the world, and a critical stopover …” for migrating red knots, who converge on the bay to rest and refuel, the DEP says.

The stop, according to the DEP, is critical because shorebirds need to pack on weight – and energy. When knots arrive at Delaware Bay, they are mostly skin, feathers and bone. The bay area provides the only food suitable to pack on the calories they need: soft, easily digestible horseshoe crab eggs – and lots of them.

However, this intrepid traveler is considered endangered in New Jersey and is federally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Among the threats to the red knot are sea level rise, coastal development, disturbance by vehicles and people, and climate change.

And now, a look at 1989 …

In 1989, the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge was established, preserving thousands of acres of critical habitat for a wide variety of migratory birds and other wildlife, including red knots, ruddy turnstones, sanderlings, semipalmated sandpipers and horseshoe crabs.

At the May 13, 1989, dedication ceremony in Middle Township, then-U.S. Rep. William J. Hughes said in his keynote speech: “The Cape May Peninsula is one of southern New Jersey’s greatest natural treasures. It’s important for all of us to work together to preserve the rural character of this region and protect its natural resources now, before it’s too late.”

As far back as 1972, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had proposed the creation of a national wildlife refuge at the lower end of the Jersey Cape, but the idea never came to fruition. Throughout the intervening years, more and more land in Cape May County was lost to development. In 1987, the DEP’s Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife stepped in with a proposal to protect one of the last large blocks of undeveloped habitat in this key area for migratory birds along the Atlantic Flyway.  

Today, the 11,500-acre refuge supports 317 bird species, 42 mammal species, 55 reptile and amphibian species, and a wealth of fish, shellfish and other invertebrates.

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Thirty-two years ago, some items that washed up on the sands of the Jersey Shore were not so lovely. The ocean waves churned up trash and medical debris, including needles and vials of blood.

Vacationers fled in droves, officials were forced to close beaches and tourism revenue plummeted.

Legislative bodies from the national to the local levels would be required to deal with the issue.

And now, a look at 1988 …
In 1988, the U.S. Congress passed the Ocean Dumping Ban Act, prohibiting all municipal sewage sludge and industrial waste dumping into the ocean after Dec. 31, 1991.

Introduced in the Senate by then-Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and, in the House, by then-Rep. William Hughes (D-2^nd Dist.), the legislation came in the wake of the infamous “syringe tide” of 1987-1988, which saw alarming amounts of garbage and medical waste – including hypodermic syringes and vials of blood – wash up on beaches along the East Coast. 

The pollution prompted a record number of summer beach closings along the Jersey Shore and caused an estimated $1 billion in lost tourism revenue.

The DEP convened a blue-ribbon panel of 16 experts to investigate coastal pollution problems in New Jersey and report recommendations.

The state Legislature also produced a suite of bills in 1988 called the Clean Ocean Package, which included efforts to address stormwater runoff and sewage discharge, and to establish a manifest system to track the disposal of medical waste.

Memorialized in music

The “syringe tide” was one of more than 100 headline events – occurring between 1949 and 1989 – that became the rapid-fire lyrics of Billy Joel’s 1989 hit song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”:

“Wheel of Fortune”, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China’s under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can’t take it anymore …”

The tune, which appeared on the album “Storm Front,” chronicled events between the year of Joel’s birth and the year of its release. The Grammy-nominated song became a No. 1 hit in late 1989. 

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Governor Tom Kean, after signing the New Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act on April 20, 1987, hands the pen he used to state Sen. Paul Contillo, one of the bill’s sponsors.In the Garden State, about 44 percent of municipal waste collected at curbside is recycled. And, as the recycling industry grows more specific – what is recyclable, what must be tossed, what will be rejected – New Jersey continues its efforts to help residents discern what can and cannot go in the recycling bin.

Newspapers? Yes. Glass containers? Yes. Empty pizza box? No. Disposable diapers? No.

The “no” items (and there are many more than mentioned here) are considered contaminants, which adversely affect the recycling stream because they can jam up processing equipment at recycling centers, and because they can pose health and safety threats to recycling center workers.

Consider this, too: Recycling is a sector that employs 27,000 people and adds nearly $6 billion to New Jersey’s economy.

So, be sure to separate your recyclables from your trash carefully. If you need information about local recycling program requirements, turn to Recycle Coach. The free app is available from the App Store or Google Play, and is accessible through participating municipal and county websites, the DEP website at www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/recycling and through digital assistants.

To learn more about Recycle Coach, visit https://solutions.recyclecoach.com.

And now, a look at 1987 …

On April 20, 1987, New Jersey became the first state to institute comprehensive statewide mandatory recycling, with the passage of the New Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act. This was a milestone in the state’s solid waste management history and established New Jersey as a national leader in the field.

The law set forth an ambitious program that reshaped the way New Jersey residents, businesses and institutions would manage waste. Among its provisions, the Recycling Act required New Jersey’s 21 counties to develop plans that mandated the recycling of at least three designated recyclable materials – in addition to leaves, which were to be composted or mulched on-site or at a leaf-composting facility. County recycling plans also were required to designate strategies for the collecting, marketing and disposal of recyclable materials. And municipalities were expected to designate a municipal recycling coordinator and provide for a collection system for materials to be recycled based on county recycling plans.

* Gratitude to the DEP’s recycling titan, Steve Rinaldi, of the Bureau of Sustainability, who submitted this item and the great throwback photo. Steve had been hired by the DEP just one month prior to the signing of the recycling bill.  

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Who could that be? Perhaps a baseball player who just scored a run from third base. Or someone trying to stay healthy amid a worldwide health crisis.

Home always has been considered a safe place, a place free from worry and fear – where we go to leave our troubles behind. But in 1986, it became apparent in New Jersey the very place that was a sanctuary also could harbor a silent, unseen danger – radon gas.

In New Jersey, there is a uranium-rich geological formation called the Reading Prong, an area that stretches from Pennsylvania through northwest New Jersey and into southern New York state, according to the DEP’s radon information page. Testing has shown that homes in the area have high indoor levels of radon. Additional checking in other areas of New Jersey led the DEP to conclude that radon is a statewide health issue.

The DEP page indicates that radon can move easily through soil and tiny cracks in rock. Outdoors, it disperses and is diluted to very low levels, but when it moves upward through soil beneath a home, it can enter the house through cracks or other openings in the foundation and build to unacceptable levels. Inhaled radon can damage lung tissue and increase the risk for lung cancer.

And now, a look at 1986 …

In October 1986, the DEP’s Radiation Protection Element was established to consolidate radiation oversight responsibilities of several state agencies and commissions.

The world had just witnessed the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history: the explosion and subsequent meltdown at Chernobyl in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, just six months earlier on April 26. Public concern about radiation safety had been building for years, following a nuclear incident at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island in 1979, and growing awareness of the dangers of radioactive industrial waste.

However, in 1986, a different kind of radiation threat was becoming apparent – naturally occurring radon gas, quietly seeping from soil into basements, homes and other indoor spaces.

New Jersey first became aware of the danger of indoor radon gas in December 1984, when a nuclear plant worker in neighboring Pennsylvania set off the radiation monitors at his workplace and was discovered to have been contaminated – not at the nuclear plant, which was still under construction – but from radon gas emanating from beneath his own home. The house was located on the Reading Prong.

In 1986, the state Legislature passed bills appropriating $2.6 million for the DEP to assess the hazards of radon across seven central and northern New Jersey counties. Funding also was established for the DEP to develop a licensing program for consultants who conducted radon testing and mitigation.

The year was especially notable for the DEP because it also moved into new headquarters at 401 E. State St.

The department also was undergoing a number of internal changes and developments, particularly in technology: a new DEP Data Center, with its own mainframe computer (an IBM 4381), marked its first full year of operation; and DEP employees had been attending in-house training sessions – more than 100 staffers were being offered an “Introduction to the Microcomputer.” 

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Credit: batstovillage.orgThe area would become known as Batsto Village, where bog ore was mined and refined to produce household items such as cooking pots and kettles – and bog iron cannonballs for the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

And now, a look at 1985 …

In South Jersey’s Wharton State Forest lies the historic site of Batsto Village, which reflects agricultural and commercial enterprises that existed during the late 19th century. In 1985, the DEP’s Division of Parks and Forestry opened a new interpretive area of the Visitor Center at Batsto.

Founded in 1766 by Charles Read, Batsto Village was home to a bog iron and industrial glassmaking center that operated into the late 1800s. Batsto became the center of the bog iron industry because the area’s natural resources provided the perfect supplies, including plentiful bog ore harvested from the banks of local streams and rivers.

The village became so well-known, it supplied products to the Continental Army during the American Revolution. After changing hands several times, the village was purchased in 1780s by William Richards, who made Batsto into a self-sufficient village. When iron production declined, Batsto began glass production in the mid-1800s.

Joseph Wharton purchased Batsto in 1876, as well as areas surrounding the village. The state of New Jersey bought Batsto, other Wharton property and surrounding land in the mid-1950s. It became Wharton State Forest and – at 122,880 acres – it is the state park system’s largest single tract of land.

Today, the village consists of historic buildings and structures, with re-enactors portraying life in the 1800s. In addition to historic artifacts, the Visitor Center contains displays of wildlife and plant life native to the Pine Barrens eco-region.

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Streams, ponds and lakes in New Jersey have been stocked with rainbow trout for the spring fishing season. Photo: New Jersey Division of Fish & WildlifeIt’s spring trout season in New Jersey and have we got a fish story for you. Really, it is a fish story – and a successful one, at that.

First, we’ve reeled in some details about angling for trout these days in the Garden State:

• About 570,000 rainbow trout, raised at the Pequest Trout Hatchery in Warren County, have been stocked into the state’s streams, ponds and lakes. (Fun fact: The brook trout – also called speckled trout, brookies or speckles – was designated as the official state fish in 1992.)
• Though state parks and forests have been closed since April 7, anglers can drop their lines at the state’s 122 Wildlife Management Areas.
• Social distancing is critical. A minimum six-foot social distance between anglers must be maintained at all times.
• A fishing license and trout stamp are required for anglers ages 16 and older; children 15 and younger, and N.J. residents aged 70 and older can fish without a license. Find licensing and stamp information here.
• Get updates on trout fishing on the N.J. Division of Fish & Wildlife page.

And now, a look at 1984 …

In the spring of 1984, the first fish reared at the Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education Center in Warren County were released into streams, ponds and lakes across New Jersey.

The new $11.8 million hatchery, completed in 1982, had taken over the trout program from the Charles O. Hayford Hatchery in Hackettstown, which had been built in 1912. Development of the land surrounding the older Hackettstown hatchery had degraded the facility’s spring-fed water supply over the years, endangering the more sensitive cold-water trout. In contrast, the new pathogen-free hatchery, situated in the Pequest Valley, drew its source water from a pristine aquifer surrounded by 4,000 acres of protected land purchased in the 1950s to preserve the aquifer’s water quality.

In early April, then-superintendent Kurt Powers told a reporter from the Millville Daily: “The new hatchery is much more efficient. We are not limited by water quality and quantity, or by temperature. The trout stop growing when the water is frozen or too hot. Here, we always have 50-degree water.”

By the end of the 1984 spring trout season, more than 600,000 brook, brown and rainbow trout – averaging almost 10½ inches – had been stocked from the Pequest Hatchery.

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If your face is famous because you’ve starred in a popular movie or topped the Forbes list of wealthiest people on the planet, you’re probably considered a member of the A-list. (P.S. Just about everybody dreams of being on this list.)

Conversely, if your face is famous because you’ve committed a particularly heinous crime, you’re probably a candidate for the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. (P.S. Just about everybody would consider it a nightmare to be on this list.)

Then, there’s the National Priorities List of Superfund sites. This list, compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, catalogs “sites of national priority among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories,” according to the EPA.

The former Kil-Tone Company in Vineland was the most recent New Jersey site to be added to the list; its designation came on April 7, 2016. The NPL describes the FKT site as “manufacturing arsenic-based pesticides” from the late 1910s through the late 1930s. And though it is now the location of a commercial sign maker, the NPL describes the site as having “soil contaminated with arsenic and lead above health-based benchmark concentrations.”

Right now, there are 1,335 sites on this Superfund list, including 114 in New Jersey – some of them dating back 37 years, including the Diamond-Alkali Co. in Newark.

And now, a look at 1983 …

In the summer of 1983, DEP investigators conducting soil tests discovered extremely high levels of dioxin at the Diamond-Alkali Company’s pesticide plant in the Ironbound section of Newark, prompting then-Governor Thomas H. Kean to declare a state of emergency and authorize the DEP to take immediate measures to protect human health and safety.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins, commonly referred to simply as “dioxin,” is a class of chemicals that includes 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) – among the most toxic synthetic chemicals ever developed and a major byproduct in the manufacture of Agent Orange.

Following the discovery, DEP scientists immediately undertook aquatic studies of sediment and biota in the nearby Passaic River to uncover the full extent of the contamination. The next year (1984), Diamond-Alkali was added to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites.

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There’s a growing family at Duke Farms. The Somerset County nature preserve is home to a pair of bald eagles and, right now, there are two chicks in the nest.

The eggs containing the tiny birds of prey were discovered four days apart – Jan. 20 and 24 – and hatched separately as well. The first egg hatched on Feb. 26 and the second on March 1.

The chicks will remain in the nest until July, when they are expected to fledge, or take their first flight from the nest.

How do we know this? It’s all thanks to the Duke Farms Eagle Cam. In 2008, Duke Farms installed a web cam on a tree adjacent to the bald eagle nest on its property. The Eagle Cam has since provided a live look at the daily lives of the eagles, with more than 10 million viewers.

The Eagle Cam is managed by Duke Farms, in collaboration with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

Check out this report on the nest, posted at conservewildlifenj.org:

March 31, 2020

The oldest chick will be 5 weeks of age tomorrow and the youngest about 4.5 weeks of age. They are both getting plenty of food and getting big. You can see that the oldest chick is now developing pin feathers on his/her back and wings. The pin feathers are dark compared to the lighter colored down. The youngest chick is just starting to get a few pin feathers. Pin feathers are new feathers that have a blood supply flowing through them and are encased by a keratin coating or feather sheath. The feathers take several weeks to fully develop.

To get a live bird’s-eye view of the nest and the new chicks through the Eagle Cam, click here.

And now, a look at 1982 …

In the 1960s and ’70s, it was widely recognized that the bald eagle – the national emblem of the United States since 1782 – was in trouble. Decades of hunting and pesticide use had brought the bird’s population to the verge of extinction. In particular, widespread DDT contamination had seriously impacted the reproductive health of bald eagles, causing eggshell thinning and rendering their eggs unable to withstand normal incubation, a phenomenon famously documented in Rachel Carson’s 1962 book “Silent Spring.”

By the early ’80s, there was only one nesting pair of bald eagles left in New Jersey. In the spring of 1982, DEP biologists from the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program removed an egg for artificial incubation and successfully reintroduced the young chick back into its nest. It was the first time such an effort had been effective.

Over the next decade, strategies such as this fostering technique – combined with a release program that introduced 60 young eagles into New Jersey over an eight-year period — began to bear steady fruit. The state gained its second nest in 1988 and, by 2002, there were 34 known breeding pairs. In 2019, there were 190 known active pairs, producing a total of 249 young bald eagles.

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That doesn’t mean a quick splash of water on your fingertips. What it does mean is 20 seconds of soaping up, washing your fingers, palms and backs of hands, rinsing and then drying your hands thoroughly. Oh, and do it often!

How do you know that you’ve done a thorough job? It’s suggested that you sing “Happy Birthday” twice to be sure you’ve spent the proper amount of time scrubbing up.

Need a refresher on how to properly wash hands? Check out this graphic from the World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/gpsc/clean_hands_protection/en/.

Today, during Governor Murphy’s daily press conference on COVID-19, Commissioner Catherine McCabe announced that all water providers in New Jersey have agreed to suspend water shut-offs during the public health emergency. There will be no water shut-offs, the Commissioner said, offering her thanks to the utilities for the willingness to comply with a March 23 request from the state.

The Governor himself declared that New Jersey now has “100 percent compliance statewide.”

According to a joint statement issued March 23 from Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, Commissioner McCabe and Board of Public Utilities President Joseph L. Fiordaliso: “… the provision of water is an essential public service, especially now. Critical for both our health and personal hygiene, consistent access to safe water is especially vital to New Jersey’s response to the unprecedented public health emergency created by the spread by COVID-19.

“Frequent and vigorous handwashing is critical in limiting the spread of COVID-19 and all New Jerseyans should have confidence that water will be available when they open the tap to wash their hands. … At a time where many services that we may take for granted are temporarily unavailable, New Jerseyans deserve the comfort and continuity of uninterrupted water service.”

That clean water flowing from our taps are something we expect, and New Jersey made sure it could take care of the state’s water resources 39 years ago, with the Water Supply Management Act.

And now, a look at 1981 …

In 1981, New Jersey enacted the Water Supply Management Act, overhauling the system for allocating water resources in New Jersey and empowering the DEP to issue water allocation permits for nearly all uses of water.

Through the Act, the state Legislature declared that the water resources of New Jersey “are public assets of the State held in trust for its citizens and are essential to the health, safety, economic welfare, recreational and aesthetic enjoyment, and general welfare, of the people of New Jersey.”

The Legislature further found that the state’s water resources “must be planned for and managed as a common resource” and that “it is necessary that the State, through its Department of Environmental Protection, have the power to manage the water supply by adopting a uniform water diversion permit system.”

That same year, the Water Supply Bond Act of 1981 also was passed, authorizing the state and the DEP to issue bonds for the rehabilitation and repair of antiquated, damaged or inadequately operating water supply facilities, as recommended by the New Jersey Statewide Water Supply Plan. Years later, the Act would be amended to allow the DEP and the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust to use bond money to provide loans and loan guarantees to local governments to plan, design and construct water supply facilities. This was an important step in protecting water quality and ensuring compliance with state and federal safe drinking water standards. 

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The Garden State boasts 126 miles of Atlantic coastline, offering plenty of opportunity for living, working, playing and simply sitting in a beach chair, taking in the pristine view.

According to a 2018 report by Monmouth University’s Urban Coastal Institute, “… New Jersey’s coast has served as the ‘Summer Capital’ for seven presidents, hosts a large portion of the state’s 87.5 million annual visitors and is home to nearly 7 million year-round residents. It is a major contributor to the state’s economy, responsible for $38 billion in tourism dollars annually, as well as a thriving billion-dollar commercial and recreational fishing industry. The contributions that the coast makes to the well-being and peace of mind of residents and visitors are immeasurable.”

The report, titled “New Jersey’s Coastal Management Program: 40 Years of Coastal Protection, Policy and Progress 1978 – 2018,” goes on to say that rampant development had threatened the coast in the 1970s. But federal legislation passed in 1972 encouraged states to develop comprehensive Coastal Management Programs and New Jersey established its program in 1978.

Since then, New Jersey has continued to refine and improve its coastal management plans, with some significant steps occurring in 1980.

And now, a look at 1980 …

In 1980, Governor Brendan Byrne joined with President Jimmy Carter to proclaim its 365 days as the “Year of the Coast.”

Those 12 months saw a series of celebrations and meetings, including a conference on the future of the New Jersey Shore in September; a beach walk on Sandy Hook; and the first illumination of the Absecon Lighthouse, built in 1857, since 1964. These initiatives highlighted the achievement of one of the department’s major goals – a federally approved Coastal Management Program, which, under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, would significantly expand the state’s eligibility to receive federal grants for coastal protection and development.

According to a DEP annual report, in Fiscal Year 1980 alone, the DEP awarded 11 coastal grants totaling $196,000 to municipal and county governments for planning projects to enhance their waterfronts. Among the projects were waterfront parks, bikeways and commercial revitalization, including a plan for a series of 10 waterfront parks linked by a 20-mile bikeway along the Delaware River in Burlington County.

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Just about everyone knows the alter egos of Superman and Batman.

Never heard of Melvin? The unlikely fictional superhero is a skinny nerd who works as a janitor at a health club in the fictional New Jersey municipality of Tromaville, a town terrorized by criminals. Club members continually bully Melvin and one day, as he is being tormented, he falls out a second-story window – right into a drum of toxic waste.

The chemicals transform him into a hideously deformed creature, but one who is gifted with superhuman strength. Melvin becomes the Toxic Avenger – “doer of good and brutal mauler of evil,” according to Troma Entertainment, which produced the 1984 spoof film, “The Toxic Avenger.”

Kind of an appropriate superhero for New Jersey, when you reach back 41 years in the DEP’s history.

And now, a look at 1979 …

It was “The Year of Hazardous Waste.” Yes, that is how 1979 was described in the 1980 DEP Annual Report.

In August 1979, then-Governor Brendan Byrne appointed a Hazardous Waste Advisory Commission composed of representatives from government, industry, academia and the general public. The move was a major component of a broader suite of hazardous waste initiatives that followed a series of high-profile environmental disasters, the most notorious being the 1978 Love Canal disaster in neighboring New York state.

Other initiatives included the organization of a strike force to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of illegal dumping; an increase in criminal penalties for such activities; increased inspections of hazardous waste facilities; and legislation such as amendments to the state’s Spill Compensation and Control Act, which expanded the DEP’s regulatory authority over legacy toxic waste sites and abandoned landfills.

By 1981, the Hazardous Waste Strike Force had handled 170 investigations, resulting in 47 individuals and 24 corporations indicted or convicted. On the federal level, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, better known as “Superfund.” This law was authored by then-U.S. Representative James J. Florio, who would go on to serve as New Jersey’s governor from 1990 to 1994.

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According to an April 2018 report from radio station New Jersey 101.5, St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison counted pet households in the state – and discovered that the cat population at the time totaled nearly 1.5 million. There’s a lot of meowing going on!

However, wild cats such as the bobcat have not faired as well in the modern-day Garden State.

The medium-sized bobcat once was plentiful in New Jersey, but has been considered an endangered species here since 1991. Deforestation and a growing population, as well as greater numbers of roads and development, all contributed to the population decline.

But the dedicated efforts of the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife have begun turning that around.

And now, a look at 1978 …

Bobcats were historically widespread in New Jersey, but hunting and deforestation in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, followed by increasing fragmentation of their dwindling woodland habitat, led to steep declines in their population. By the early 1970s, they were thought to be extinct locally.

In March 1978, the DEP’s Division of Fish, Game and Shellfisheries relocated two bobcats from Maine into northern New Jersey in an effort to reintroduce the species into their former home ranges. Between 1978 and 1982, a total of 24 bobcats would be released into northern New Jersey, the seeds of a larger program of recovery and preservation that continues today.

In recent years, there have been consistent sightings of bobcats in northern New Jersey and as far south as Mercer County, which had its first confirmed observation in 2017.

However, roads and fragmented habitat continue to be an issue. The Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey program, administered by the Endangered and Nongame Species program within the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife, is working to help secure and restore habitat connectivity across the state.

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In the third season of “The Sopranos,” the groundbreaking HBO show about a New Jersey mob family, an episode centers on two of the characters who think they’ve killed a Russian mobster and decide to bury him in the woods.

Where do they go? Here’s a hint: The name of the episode is “Pine Barrens.”

As in, New Jersey’s Pine Barrens – more than 1 million acres of land that stretch across seven counties in southern New Jersey.

The tree-covered region’s star turn came on May 6, 2001, when the bumbling “Sopranos” henchmen spend most of the episode lost in the snow-covered woods. (They do survive, eventually rescued by boss Tony Soprano and his trusted capo Bobby Baccala, a surprisingly adept outdoorsman.)

And now, a look at 1977 …

In 1977, protection of the unique ecological, aesthetic and historic values of New Jersey’s Pine Barrens emerged as a major environmental issue. On May 28 of that year, then-Governor Brendan Byrne signed Executive Order 56, establishing the Pinelands Review Committee. The committee – which included among its members the commissioners of the DEP and Department of Community Affairs, and the Secretary of Agriculture – was tasked with reviewing all state plans and activities significantly affecting the Pinelands.

Following the executive order, the DEP set aside $10 million in Green Acres funds for acquisition of land, and proposed groundwater and non-degradation standards for a 760-square-mile region of the central Pine Barrens. A year later, Congress would pass the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978, establishing the Pinelands National Reserve – the first national reserve in the country – encompassing more than a million acres of farms, forests and wetlands.

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And though the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center indicates an estimated 53,350 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2020 in New Jersey, the DEP continues working toward a cleaner, healthier state.

Forty-four years ago, cancer-causing toxins already were on the department’s radar.

And now, a look at 1976 …

On May 26, 1976 – five years after President Nixon’s 1971 State of the Union address declaring “War on Cancer” – then-Gov. Brendan Byrne signed Executive Order 40, creating the Cabinet Committee on Cancer Control.

In support of the committee, DEP created the Program on Environmental Cancer and Toxic Substances (PECTS) to identify cancer-causing toxic chemicals and other agents in the state’s air, water, sediment and fish. The program initiated a number of projects to locate communities exposed to high levels of potential carcinogens, investigate the state’s elevated cancer incidence – among the highest in the nation at the time, according to the National Cancer Institute – and propose recommendations for limiting the exposure of residents to hazardous emissions.

In addition, the program published a list of 80 known or suspected carcinogens compiled from the scientific literature and designed a survey to provide insight into industrial practices that might be releasing toxins.

The program later became the Office of Cancer and Toxic Substances Research, and today, it is the DEP’s Division of Science and Research.

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So you tighten the belt on your robe and exchange your slippers for your sneakers, and head out the door to drag your trash can to the curb.

You already separated the glass and plastics, the paper and cardboard – and put them aside for recycling day. And that half-empty paint can has been safely stored until you can get rid of the paint in it.

You don’t think twice about what you’ve put in the garbage can or what you haven’t – it’s just a habit.

But it always hasn’t been that way. Not so long ago, when folks were finished with something, no matter what it was, they simply tossed it in the trash.

Then, New Jersey decided to define exactly what solid waste is – and isn’t. Solid waste, according to New Jersey Administrative Code, is defined as any garbage, refuse, sludge, processed or unprocessed mixed construction and demolition debris, such as wallboard, plastic, wood or metal.

There are, of course, exceptions – including some recyclables; dredged materials from New Jersey’s coastal or tidal waters; and non-decomposable, inert solid such as rock, soil, gravel and more.

So how does New Jersey get rid of its solid waste?

Fifty years ago, the state Legislature commissioned the then-Department of Environmental Protection and Energy to regulate solid waste disposal. Five years later, in 1975, the legislature took additional steps to figure out who would be responsible for planning solid waste management.

And now, a look at 1975 …

 The state Legislature in 1975 establishes a solid waste management system that gives counties the primary responsibility for planning of solid waste management, in accordance with DEP environmental regulations.

 The counties were responsible for developing and implementing detailed plans to meet recycling and disposal goals. Municipalities were responsible for local recycling and regular waste collection. The then-DEPE was responsible for certifying the county plans, as well as making permit decisions for solid waste facilities, and registering and licensing waste haulers and facility operators.  

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Well, the national average for a gallon of gas at the time was about 53 cents, and filling your tank likely would have cost just under $8 – leaving plenty of money for a ticket to see “Blazing Saddles” (it debuted on Feb. 7, 1974, and would become the top grossing movie of the year), popcorn and even a late-night bite at the local diner.

You didn’t think twice about jumping in the car when you wanted to go out. Nor did you think much about the fumes being produced by the (likely) leaded gas that fueled your trip – but if you lived in New Jersey, some folks did.

And now, a look at 1974 …

In 1974, New Jersey began the mandatory phase of implementation of the Motor Vehicle Law of 1966 by requiring that automobiles be tested for excessive emission of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and visible smoke during the required annual vehicle inspection. The standards varied, based on the year of automobile, and were slated to become progressively more stringent over the following couple of years.

The emission testing program previously operated on a voluntary basis — starting in 1972 – as the DEP attempted to educate the public about the benefits of regular vehicle maintenance. Mandatory testing went into effect Feb. 1, 1974, despite pressure to delay the date over concerns about the potential impacts on motorists already squeezed by high fuel prices from the 1973 OPEC embargo.

By the end of Fiscal Year 1974, 150,079 (or just over 12 percent) of the 1,241,249 vehicles tested were rejected for excessive emissions. In the first five months during which repairs were mandatory, it was estimated that emission equivalency of approximately 1,500 tons per year of hydrocarbons and 13,890 tons per year of carbon monoxide were prevented from entering the atmosphere. And more than 1.89 million gallons of gasoline per year was estimated to have been saved as a result of the program, according to the DEP’s Annual Report for 1974.

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Yep, here in the Garden State, we have an entire vocabulary built around those 126 miles of oceanfront coastline. For instance, we go down the Shore (note the uppercase “S”) and to the beach. Those who live (mostly) in northern counties – and are lucky enough – have Shore houses to which family, friends and friends of friends have been known to seek an invitation on summer days.

Who wouldn’t want a home with a sand-filled backyard and view of the ocean? That desire to live – and work and vacation – right at the water’s edge is why the Coastal Area Facility Review Act became so important in helping to keep the Jersey Shore intact.

And now, a look at 1973 …

In 1973, significant legislation was enacted to enhance DEP’s authority to protect New Jersey’s environment, including the Endangered and Non-Game Species Conservation Act, which provided for a comprehensive program to protect wildlife resources, and the Coastal Area Facility Review Act.

CAFRA afforded protection for a 1,300-square-mile area stretching from Raritan Bay southward along the Atlantic Coast, around Cape May to the Delaware Bay in Salem County, encompassing the entire region typically known as the Jersey Shore. The Office of Environmental Analysis was established to develop the coastal area management program; prepare wetlands and tidelands maps; interim flood plain mapping; and environmental inventories.

Since the passage of CAFRA, New Jersey has amplified coastline protection in a variety of ways, including coastal management plans, wetlands guidelines and the Blue Acres program.

In October, Governor Murphy signed Executive Order 89, which requires the establishment of a Statewide Climate Change Resiliency Strategy to make New Jersey more resilient to climate change. As part of that strategy, the DEP has been directed to develop a Coastal Resilience Plan to address issues specific to New Jersey’s coastal zone.

Last week, Governor Murphy, the president of the Board of Public Utilities and DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe announced a major leap forward in addressing climate change in New Jersey. In addition to unveiling the BPU’s Energy Master Plan, the Governor and Commissioner announced NJ PACT, a targeted regulatory reform effort that will modernize many of New Jersey’s environmental regulations.

Short for New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats, NJ PACT will usher in necessary changes to our air emissions and environmental land use regulations to enable New Jersey and the DEP to effectively respond to current climate threats and reduce future climate damages.

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Just as clearly, you can be assured that the pop singer’s reggae-flavored tune wasn’t about New Jersey – where the state’s daily air quality index had measured air pollution for the months of June, July and August 1972 and found it to be less than acceptable in Trenton, and not much better in places like Toms River and Somerville.

And now, a look at 1972 …

In January 1972, the DEP’s Bureau of Air Pollution Control submitted New Jersey’s State Implementation Plan to achieve National Ambient Air Quality Standards set by the EPA, as directed by the Clean Air Act of 1970. On May 15, the Bureau initiated a daily statewide air pollution index and forecast, using data collected from 19 monitoring sites that tracked smoke and particles, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and photo-chemical oxidants. The program rated air quality based on health and secondary effects, and was the first statewide daily index in the nation.

That fall, the summertime air quality was the subject of a story in the Evening Times of Trenton. The article, published on Sept. 28, 1972, began with these words: “Air pollution in downtown Trenton fell below the acceptable level more often than not last summer …”

According to the story, headlined “You Can’t Breathe Easy Here,” a monitor on Trenton’s East State Street indicated that pollution levels were “… unhealthful on two of the 92 days and unsatisfactory on 53. … There were no days rated as good.”

The story also indicated that four of New Jersey’s six largest cities weren’t faring any better: the air quality index recorded 32 unhealthful days in Jersey City, 23 in Newark, 14 in Elizabeth and four in Paterson. Surprise! Camden had the best record among the big cities – 87 satisfactory days versus two unhealthful days.

But give New Jersey a little credit: In mid-May of that year, state officials  already were clearly concerned about the air that residents were breathing and had embarked on what today is a full-fledged effort to take better care of the environment – simply by keeping track of daily air pollution through  data collected from 19 monitoring sites around the Garden State.

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An article about the phone line appeared in the Trenton Evening Times on April 23, 1971, with this headline: “Phone Calls Can Help Clean Up This Planet.”

According to the Times, the line was created “… so that abuses of the environment can be reported to the state Department of Environmental Protection.”

The paper reported that “99 percent of all calls have been from private citizens in the North Jersey area” and that the line “receives about 50 phone calls each week.”

And now, a look at 1971 …

The Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Action Line was established in October 1970. It received 1,487 calls from the concerned public in its first full year of operation. According to the DEP’s annual report looking at 1971, the action line “became popular with a public that enjoyed a 24 hour-a-day connection direct to the Office of the Commissioner.”

Of the calls that first year, 60 percent were complaints related to air pollution; about 20 percent dealt with water pollution; and the remaining were concerned with solid waste problems, dredging, wetlands, noise, recycling and pesticides.

The Times article indicated that the most common air pollution complaints included incidents of open burning of trash, smoke emissions, soot and fumes from factories, and motor vehicle exhaust – particularly from buses and diesel-fueled trucks.

The number – (609) 292-7172 – is no longer in use. Today, New Jersey residents can call the 24-hour DEP hotline at 1-877-WARN-DEP if they become aware of environmental emergency; they can use the WARN NJDEP mobile app for non-emergencies.

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In his annual address to the legislature the following year, Governor Cahill stated, “The pollution of our environment is a fact of grave concern to all thinking citizens,” and that the creation of the new DEP “was a giant step forward in our fight to preserve, protect and enhance the environment.”

How big an event was the formation of the DEP? An Associated Press story that appeared on the front page of The Home News – the 10-cent afternoon edition of April 22, 1970 – led the coverage this way:

“New Jerseyans took an Earth Day look at their environment today and hoped for a future free of pollution.

“Thousands of concerned citizens bridged the generation gap for a while at rallies, discussions and teach-ins across the state. Hundreds of motorists planned to forsake cars for a day in protest of the ‘polluted environment.’ ”

The AP story described how Cahill signed the legislation creating the department “in a gesture he said symbolized that state’s commitment to the principles of Earth Day.”

Newly minted DEP chief Richard Sullivan, speaking at the public ceremony announcing the creation of the department, was quoted as saying: “Earth Day has gotten off to a flying start.”

And lo, those many years ago, a term – so familiar today – also appeared in the piece: A weather scientist, discussing carbon dioxide and thermal pollution, explained that they produce a “greenhouse” effect.

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