SENATE ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1590

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MAY 8, 1997

      The Senate Environment Committee favorably reports Senate Bill No. 1590 with committee amendments.

      This bill, as amended, appropriates $60,000 to the Department of Environmental Protection for the maintenance and restoration of Greenwood Lake. As amended, the monies would be appropriated from the "1996 Lake Restoration Fund" for the maintenance and restoration of Greenwood Lake in Passaic County. The "1996 Lake Restoration Fund" was created and funded pursuant to the "Port of New Jersey Revitalization, Dredging, Environmental Cleanup, Lake Restoration, and Delaware Bay Area Economic Development Bond Act of 1996." The monies would be used for lake restoration activities related to a lake drawdown that is scheduled to occur every five years.

      Greenwood Lake straddles the northern border of New Jersey and New York State, with roughly half of the lake located in Passaic County, New Jersey and the other half in Orange County, New York. The New Jersey portion of the lake is owned by the State.

      The committee amendments change the source of the appropriation from the General Fund to the "Port of New Jersey Revitalization, Dredging, Environmental Cleanup, Lake Restoration, and Delaware Bay Area Economic Development Bond Act of 1996."