Good News for Highlands- Gov. Murphy Makes Nominations to Council

The Murphy Administration have made three nominations to the Highlands Council. The nominees include William “Bill” Kibler, Dan Van Abs, and Wynnie-Fred Victor Hinds.

“This is good news for the Highlands, Governor Murphy is moving forward with nominations to the council. We have been waiting for a year and a half for Murphy to nominate people to replace Christie appointees. He nominated people to the council who we believe care about the environment and the Highlands. What makes it more important getting rid of those with anti-Highlands agendas. Nominating Bill Kibler, Wynnie-Fred Victor Hinds, and Dan Van Abs is very good first step. Now we can start to work towards building a council that is more balanced whose priorities go towards protecting the Highlands,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Now with these new nominees, the council need to move quickly to make up for lost time when it comes to the Highlands Protection. There are threats to the drinking water for 6 million people from climate change, toxic sites and overdevelopment. We cannot wait, we need to be updating and improving protections for the Highlands when it comes to clean water, protecting our forest, preventing invasive species, and adapting to climate change impacts.”

William “Bill” Kibler of Califon, NJ, the Director of Policy at the Raritan Headwaters Association and an avid fly fisherman and clean water advocate, He served as Executive Director of the South Branch Watershed Association from 2005 until RHA was created in 2011. Bill graduated from the United States Military Academy (a classmate of Senator Doherty, his senator), served as an officer with the Army Corps of Engineers, earned his law degree from Syracuse University, and became an attorney specializing in environmental law. He is the former Chief of the Califon Fire Department and serves on the New Jersey Highlands Coalition Policy Committee and the Raritan Basin Watershed Alliance.

“I have worked with and known Bill for a long time. He knows water and the water supply in Highlands. More importantly he lives in the Highlands. We believe he will be critical in providing vital information on the Highlands and be able to move the council forward. Bill is dedicated to protecting the Highlands and our drinking water.,” said Tittel. 

Wynnie-Fred has been involved with environmental issues in New Jersey. The Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and the Municipal City Council appointed her as a commissioner to the Newark Environmental Commission, where she serves as co-chair. Wynnie-Fred is the executive director of her own non-profit, Stepping Stones Resources, and her Independent Consulting Business. SSR Consulting Group.

“It is important to have Wynnie-Fred on the council because she represents the people who drink the Highlands water. She is on the Newark Environmental Commission, lives in Newark and has an environmental background. Given all of the water problems happening in Newark, her representation and insight as a member of the council is critical,” said Tittel.

Dan Van Abs is an Associate Professor of Practice for Water, Society & Environment at Rutgers University, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Department of Human Ecology, where he has worked since 2012. He is a licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He has served as a gubernatorial appointee to the New Jersey Clean Water Council since 2005 and was Chair in 2014-2015. He serves on the Boards of Trustees for the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association and the Passaic River Coalition.

“I have worked with Dan and known him for decades. He is a professional and knows water supply and its issues from his work at the DEP and his work since. Dan has also worked for the Highlands Council and his a long career working for agencies dealing with water,” said Tittel.  

Despite new nominees to the Highlands Council, the Murphy Administration have a long way to go when it comes to protecting the Highlands. The Murphy Administration is allowing logging in Sparta Mountain, Brook Wildlife Management Area, and other critical areas of the Highlands.  Instead of protecting the Highlands drinking water, DEP gave water pollution permits for Bellemead’s sewer plant that will impact high-quality streams and allow for the overdevelopment.

“The Murphy Administration need to be doing a lot more to protect the Highlands. DEP is still allowing for a sewer plant to be built in the Highlands, logging in Sparta Mountain, and compromising on a cleanup plan at the Ringwood Superfund site that will contaminate areas at Ringwood State Park.  Given the conditions happening to our lakes in the Highlands like Greenwood Lake and Lake Hopatcong because of warmer weather and climate change, the Murphy need to be doing a lot more to protect the Highlands from overdevelopment,” said Tittel.

Governor Murphy’s three new nominees still need to be voted on in Senate Judiciary committee and on the Senate floor.

The Highlands water is the fuel that runs New Jersey’s economic engine. The water from the Highlands will help drive New Jersey’s three largest businesses, pharmaceuticals, chemical, and food processing and tourism. Its water makes everything from M&M’s to Tylenol, from Budweiser to cutting edge medicines. The Highlands is our Yellowstone where more people come to recreate every year than in Yosemite which is why we need to protect it,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Now we call on Governor Murphy for pushing these new appointments through the Senate. These three nominees are the first step towards protecting the Highlands, Governor Murphy needs to make more nominations. We cannot wait, the future of the Highlands is unbalanced because until they are through, Christie’s appointments are still in charge.”