SENATE, No. 531

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED JANUARY 29, 1996

 

 

By Senator BASSANO

 

 

An Act establishing the New Jersey Ocean Sanctuary and providing for its protection.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. There is established adjacent to, and in a seaward direction from, the coastline, a protected ocean area to be known as the New Jersey Ocean Sanctuary. The New Jersey Ocean Sanctuary shall include the area extending from the New Jersey coastline to the State's seaward territorial jurisdiction from the northernmost portion of Sandy Hook to the southernmost portion of Cape May.

 

    2. The New Jersey Ocean Sanctuary shall be held in public trust for this and future generations. It shall be administered by the Department of Environmental Protection and shall be protected from any exploitation, development or activity that would adversely affect the public trust or substantially alter or otherwise endanger the ecology of the ocean, or the seabed or subsoil therein, discolor the waters thereof or present a potential danger to human or marine life.

 

    3. The following activities are prohibited in the New Jersey Ocean Sanctuary except upon application to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection accompanied by an environmental impact assessment that the commissioner finds consistent with the provisions of section 2 of this act: building any structure on the seabed or under the subsoil; removing any sand, gravel or other minerals, except as provided pursuant to section 5 of this act; drilling for subsoil minerals, gases or oils; commercial advertising; and dumping any commercial or industrial wastes, including sludge from sewage treatment plants. The construction and operation of a nuclear electricity generating facility is prohibited unless the commissioner finds that the proposed method for disposal of radioactive waste material produced by the facility is safe, conforms to standards established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and effectively removes danger to life and the environment from the waste material.


    4. Nothing contained in this act shall authorize any exploitation, development or activity, or the construction or operation of any facility, in the New Jersey Ocean Sanctuary that is prohibited by any other law.

 

    5. This act shall not prohibit the extraction of sand and gravel from the seabed and subsoil of the sanctuary for shore protection, beach restoration and navigation if that shore protection, beach restoration or navigation project is approved by the Department of Environmental Protection.

 

    6. Any person who violates the provisions of this act shall be liable to a penalty of not more than $3,000 for each offense, collected in a summary proceeding under "the penalty enforcement law" (N.J.S.2A:58-1 et seq.). If the violation is continuing, each day it continues shall constitute an additional, separate and distinct offense.

 

    7. If any person violates the provisions of this act, the Department of Environmental Protection may institute a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief to prohibit and prevent the violation or violations and the court may proceed in the action in a summary manner.

 

    8. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill would establish a New Jersey Ocean Sanctuary extending along the State's coastline from the northernmost portion of Sandy Hook to the southernmost portion of Cape May and from the coastline to the State's seaward territorial jurisdiction. The sanctuary would be held in public trust and be administered by the Department of Environmental Protection, which would have the duty to protect it from any development or activity that would endanger the ecology or environment of the sanctuary.

    The bill would prohibit specific activities in the sanctuary, except those activities that may be approved by the Commissioner of Environmental Protection upon application accompanied by an environmental impact assessment. The bill specifically provides that the construction and operation of a nuclear electricity generating plant is prohibited unless the proposed method of disposing waste material produced by the facility conforms to the standards set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In addition, it would allow the extraction of sand and gravel from the seabed of the sanctuary for shore protection, beach restoration, and navigation if those projects are approved by the Department of Environmental Protection.

    Finally, the penalty for violating the provisions of the bill would be a fine of not more than $3,000 for each offense, and a continuing violation would constitute a separate offense for each day it continues.

 

 

 

Establishes the NJ Ocean Sanctuary and provides for its protection.