[First Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No. 2666
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED JANUARY 23, 1997
By Assemblymen HOLZAPFEL, WOLFE, Moran and Connors
An Act establishing a study group in the Department of Environmental Protection to study pollution problems in the Metedeconk Creek and Toms River 1[basins] watershed management areas1, supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation therefor.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established within the 1[Division of Science and Research in the]1 Department of Environmental Protection the Metedeconk Creek and Toms River 1[Basin] Watershed Management1 Study Group. 1[The study group shall be composed of nine staff persons, to be named by the director of the division, each with expertise in at least one of the following areas: water supply management, water quality monitoring, watershed management, nonpoint source pollution, pollution prevention, and risk assessment. The director of the division shall serve as executive director of the study group. Staff persons may be selected from any division or office within the department.]1 The study group shall meet and commence its duties as soon as practicable.
1[b.]1 It shall be the duty of the study group to conduct a study of the 1[ecology of the]1 Metedeconk Creek and Toms River1 [basins] watershed management areas1 and the groundwater and aquifers located beneath these 1[basins] watershed management areas1 , which shall include, but need not be limited to, an assessment of: the quality of the water supply, including the groundwater and aquifers located beneath the 1[basins] watershed management areas1 ; the type and quantity of pollutants and hazardous substances identified in both the surface waters and groundwaters; the sources, or suspected sources, of the pollutants and hazardous substances identified; and the risks to human and animal health of the pollutants and hazardous substances identified. 1The boundaries of the Metedeconk Creek and Toms River watershed management areas shall be defined by the department.1
1[c.] b.1 The study group shall be authorized to 1[:
(1) call to its assistance the services of employees of any federal, State, county or municipal department, board, commission or agency; and
(2)]1 employ or contract with consulting engineers, biologists, chemists, epidemiologists, and such other consultants as may be required in the judgment of the 1[executive director of the study group] department1 to carry out the purposes of 1[this act] P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as this bill)1 , and to fix and pay their compensation from funds available to the study group therefor, all without regard to the provisions of Title 11A, Civil Service, of the New Jersey Statutes.
1c. The study group shall coordinate its activities with the activities currently being conducted by the department and the Department of Health and Senior Services.1
2. Upon completion of the study conducted pursuant to section 1 of 1[this act] P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as this bill)1, the study group shall make final recommendations for action to address any problems identified in its findings. A report containing the findings made pursuant to section 1 of 1[this act] P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as this bill)1 and the recommendations required pursuant to this section shall be transmitted to the Legislature within 1[one year] three years1 of the effective date of 1[this act] P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as this bill)1 . The study group shall expire upon transmission of its report to the Legislature.
3. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environmental Protection the sum of $250,000 to carry out the purposes of 1[this act] P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as this bill)1.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
Establishes study group in DEP to study Metedeconk Creek and Toms River watershed management areas and to make recommendations.