ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 133
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED DECEMBER 11, 1997
By Assemblyman DiGAETANO
A Concurrent Resolution memorializing the President's Council on Environmental Quality to designate the Passaic river as an American Heritage River.
Whereas, The Passaic river is America's first industrial river, and has provided industrial growth since Alexander Hamilton first recognized the Great Falls at Paterson as a major source of water power for the industrial revolution, the silk industry, manufacturing plants, and innovative technologies related to the construction of train engines and submarines; and
Whereas, Although the people working in the factories along the Passaic river have contributed to the war effort in every major confrontation in which the United States was involved, the industrial discharges from the factories contributed to the contamination of the river with dioxins and other toxic materials; and
Whereas, This contamination, along with organic wastes deposited in the river for decades, resulted in the recognition by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of this river as one of the most polluted in the nation; and
Whereas, Significant progress has been made to revitalize the river's water quality by upgrading wastewater plants, acquiring houses in the flood way and restoring wetlands, removing many abandoned barges, and removing tons of debris through volunteer clean-ups for over twenty years; and
Whereas, The Passaic river's surface waters and its aquifer systems now supply high quality drinking water to millions of people in the most densely populated area of the country, and the river is once again home to over twenty-seven species of freshwater fish; and
Whereas, New Jersey's Green Acres Program, in cooperation with river communities and nonprofit organizations, has worked to enhance the cultural ties to the river, completing several river parks in the urban Lower Passaic; and
Whereas, The EPA designated the Valley Aquifer Systems of the Central Passaic river basin as the seventh "sole source" aquifer under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and the United States Department of the Interior has designated the Great Falls as a National Historic Site; and
Whereas, In 1998 the President of the United States will designate ten American Heritage Rivers to help communities revitalize and protect their river corridors in ways that integrate natural resource conservation and economic development with the preservation of historical cultural values; and
Whereas, Such designation would help bring Passaic river communities together in their efforts to revitalize the riverfront, clean up contaminated sediments, and continue to improve water quality, and would also help communities in the Lower Passaic river basin in their effort to create greenways and enhance economic development; and
Whereas, The New Jersey Legislature has expressed its support for a buyout of flood-damaged and flood-prone properties in the floodway of the Passaic river basin as the best way of reducing flood problems and further improving the Passaic river's environmental quality; and
Whereas, This support was recently buttressed by the New Jersey voters' approval of the "Green Acres, Farmland and Historic Preservation, and Blue Acres Bond Act of 1995," which dedicated $15 million for the purchase of flood-damaged and flood-prone properties; and
Whereas, The American Heritage River designation would encourage these ongoing state efforts to buy out hundreds of houses in the Passaic river floodway; and
Whereas, The criteria for American Heritage River designation state that designated rivers will clearly be important to the nation's culture and history, to past and future economic development, and to public health and environmental quality; and
Whereas, The Passaic river not only surpasses the criteria established by the federal government, it can serve as a model for other river communities throughout the nation; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):
1. The Legislature of the State of New Jersey memorializes the President's Council on Environmental Quality to designate the Passaic river as an American Heritage River.
2. Duly authenticated copies of this concurrent resolution, signed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and the President of the Senate and attested by the Clerk of the General Assembly and the Secretary of the Senate, shall be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President's Council on Environmental Quality, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and to every member of Congress elected from the State of New Jersey.
STATEMENT
This concurrent resolution memorializes the President's Council on Environmental Quality to designate the Passaic river as an American Heritage River.
Memorializes President's Council on Environmental Quality to designate Passaic river as American Heritage River.