I think you are right Bill; all environmental rule making agencies are subject to political pressures but they are all not equal in design or willingness to bend. DRBC is way above average in its long history on the river and the lower estuary. And I think you are right that its structure makes it more accessible to citizens.
from the former Director of Conservation for the old NJ Audubon Society (1989-2013), not the one post 2001. One of the clear warning signs for NJ Audubon came in the dispute over whether the l aw required the nuclear power plants on Delaware Bay, the Salem plants, were required to construct cooling towers as most of the others around the nation had been. It began a huge rift in the environmental community and NJ Audubon was on the wrong side, the corporate side in this case.
Thanks Bill. But I should clarify the dispute on the Salem nuclear power plant cooling tower issues. You are correct that the sellout by conservation groups, led by Mike Catania if I recall correctly, are what led to the abandonment of proposed cooling towers and that caused a huge split in the community that lives on to today
But the regulator decision involved the NJ DEP's capitulation in the NJPDES permit program, not the DRBC. States implement the DRBC water quality standards in their NPDES and other planning and regulatory program.
I lay out the tortured history in detail in this post:
Conservationists Give PSEG and Christie DEP A Pass on Nuke Cooling Towers To Reduce Delaware Bay Aquatic Slaughter
I think you are right Bill; all environmental rule making agencies are subject to political pressures but they are all not equal in design or willingness to bend. DRBC is way above average in its long history on the river and the lower estuary. And I think you are right that its structure makes it more accessible to citizens.
from the former Director of Conservation for the old NJ Audubon Society (1989-2013), not the one post 2001. One of the clear warning signs for NJ Audubon came in the dispute over whether the l aw required the nuclear power plants on Delaware Bay, the Salem plants, were required to construct cooling towers as most of the others around the nation had been. It began a huge rift in the environmental community and NJ Audubon was on the wrong side, the corporate side in this case.
Thanks Bill. But I should clarify the dispute on the Salem nuclear power plant cooling tower issues. You are correct that the sellout by conservation groups, led by Mike Catania if I recall correctly, are what led to the abandonment of proposed cooling towers and that caused a huge split in the community that lives on to today
But the regulator decision involved the NJ DEP's capitulation in the NJPDES permit program, not the DRBC. States implement the DRBC water quality standards in their NPDES and other planning and regulatory program.
I lay out the tortured history in detail in this post:
Conservationists Give PSEG and Christie DEP A Pass on Nuke Cooling Towers To Reduce Delaware Bay Aquatic Slaughter
http://www.wolfenotes.com/2015/08/conservationists-give-pseg-and-christie-dep-a-pass-on-nuke-cooling-towers-to-reduce-delaware-bay-aquatic-slaughter/
and Dave Moore of NJCF (and did Candy Ashmum play a role too?)