For Immediate Release
Contact Jeff Tittel 609-558-9100
Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen has cancelled his annual tour of EPA Superfund sites in Morris, Essex, and Sussex Counties after receiving backlash from Sierra Club and others about his anti-environmental record. This is part of the Congressman’s failure to meet with his constituents, especially those living near Superfund Sites or host a town hall. While he has taken these tours every year, he has even voted against legislation to instate a Superfund Tax. This is outrageous because he could easily be a part of process to provide Superfund funding as House Appropriations Chair. One of the reasons the EPA is taking so long with cleaning up contaminated sites in New Jersey and does not do complete restoration is because they do not have adequate funding. Last week, Frelinghuysen’s budget passed the House with a 7 percent cut to the EPA. This is damaging in itself, but it could get worse as the budget process moves forward because Trump wants to cut the agency’s budget by 1/3.
“Congressman Frelinghuysen has not met with constituents, will not host a town hall, and now he cancelled his so-called Superfund Tour. This is part of the Congressman living in a bubble by avoiding the public and dodging from any backlash. He isn’t showing up for his annual tour because he doesn’t want to hear how bad his record is on the environment. Frelinghuysen has voted to roll back key environmental protections like Waters of the United States and the Antiquities Act, blocked EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, and voted against other clean air and water protections. He has even voted against a Superfund Tax. This is part of his anti-environmental agenda to protect polluters over the people,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Frelinghuysen’s budget included a severe 7 percent cut to the EPA, but it could get worse. Even though this budget passed the House, we don’t know what the outcome will be because Trump wants to cut EPA funding by 1/3. Without EPA funding, more pollution will threaten communities. We need Congressman Frelinghuysen to stand up to any budget cuts and stop voting to roll back environmental protections.”
While the Congressman used to tour about five-six Superfund Sites in his district each year, he voted against the Superfund Tax to help to fund clean ups through the Superfund Program. Congressman Pallone and others have re-introduced legislation that would reinstate the Superfund Tax to help fund clean ups since the Superfund Program is broke. Congressman Frelinghuysen was one of the legislators, which voted against this legislation originally and has not signed on to support the new legislation. The Congressman has served for 11 terms and sits on the Appropriations Committee showing he could do much more to help clean-up these sites than just taking tours. Since Congressman Frelinghuysen is a member of the Appropriations Committee he should be taking the lead becoming a Sponsor and working with Congressman Pallone to actually get it passed.
“For the past twenty years in Congress, Frelinghuysen has failed to get real cleanups or the funding that the people deserve. While New Jersey has more Superfund site than any other state in the nation at 118, we also have thousands of sites waiting to be listed for a real clean-up. Congressman Frelinghuysen has been in Congress all of these years, but he has done nothing to reinstate the Superfund Tax since it expired in the 1990s. The tax was a small fee on oil and chemical companies to pay for the clean ups that they created. The failure to have adequate funds means it takes longer to clean up sites leading to more toxics going into ground water and neighborhoods,” said Jeff Tittel. “The delay of clean ups hurts our environment and puts people at risk. It has taken much longer even decades to clean up the toxics at these sites than it should have because of the lack of federal funding. With the laps of funding for Superfund instead of the polluters paying for the clean up the tax payers are paying with not enough money in the program.”
Polluters must pay and be held accountable, but we believe many of the settlements in Morris, Essex, and Sussex Counties do not go far enough. There is still too much pollution left in the groundwater impacting the water supply and the environment. We cannot allow these toxins to stay in the groundwater because they will get out impacting drinking water, streams and even worse vapors from the contamination will end up in homes effecting people’s health. Monitoring is not a cleanup and should not be used as an excuse to clean up the site. The failure to appropriately clean-up Superfund sites push more contamination and toxic chemicals into the environment, water supply, and community around them.
“Frelinghuysen isn’t taking photo-ops at Superfund Sites this year because he knows the public will no longer fall for it. The toxic sites in his district even more of a threat because the water in Pompton Lakes gets pumped to both the Wanaque and Oradell Reservoirs, which supplies the drinking water for millions of people. Without adequate EPA funding, it takes longer to cleanup sites, which means more pollution into our environment and more toxins in our drinking water,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Again and Again Frelinghuysen has said he has supported programs like Superfund, but he has really helped polluters do a pave and wave. By cutting back on the EPA budget, there will be no one to make sure our air is clean, our water is safe to drink, and our toxic sites are cleaned-up. This is clearly an assault on our environment and public health.”