Highlands Nomination Finally Gets Hearing – a Lot More Needs to Be Done

Dr. Daniel Van Abs. is up for a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary committee. The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee will be voting to appoint Governor Murphy’s nomination for Dr. Daniel Van Abs. to be a member of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council.

“After three and a half years, we are finally seeing Governor Murphy’s nominee for the Highlands Council up for a vote in the Senate.  The Nominee, Dan Van Abs will be an integral part to the Highlands Council if appointed. However there are still Christie appointees on the council that are blocking Highlands Protections. There are 15 holdovers on the council but the legislature is only replacing one. There are other nominations that are being blocked and Governor Murphy needs to push them all through,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

Dr. Dan Van Abs was appointed an Associate Professor at Rutgers University, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, in 2012. He is a member of the College of Fellows, American Institute of Certified Planners. He previously served as a manager with the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council (NJ), NJ Water Supply Authority and NJ Department of Environmental Protection during his 25 years with New Jersey state government, and with the Passaic River Coalition. The Murphy Administration has made two other nominations to the Highlands Council. The nominees include William “Bill” Kibler and Wynnie-Fred Victor Hinds.

“Dr. Van Abs He is a professional and knows water supply and its issues from his work at the DEP and his work since. I have worked with Dan and known him for decades. He has worked for the Highlands Council and has a long career working for agencies dealing with water. However there are other nominations being blocked for the council. The legislature needs to move fast to appoint William Kibler and Wynnie- Fred Victor Hinds to make up for lost time when it comes to the Highlands Protection. I have worked with and known Bill for a long time,” said Tittel.

Governor Murphy has made re-nominations for the Pinelands Commission for the state of New Jersey. The following nominations have been made for the Pinelands Commission, Jennifer M. Coffey, of Hamilton, to replace The Honorable Gary Quinn, Robert Jackson, of Villas, to replace D’Arcy Rohan Green, Theresa I. Lettman, of Manchester, to replace Candace McKee Ashmun, Edward Lloyd, Esq., of South Orange, and Jessica Rittler Sanchez, Ph.D., of Tabernacle, to replace Robert Barr.

“It is shameful that none of Governor Murphy’s Pinelands 6 nominees have been appointed yet. Murphy needs to at least get Theresa Lettman’s nomination through the Senate so that she can fill the vacant seat that was Candy Ashmun. Candy served on the Pinelands Commission for over 4 decades and unfortunately passed in May. We need to move forward with Murphy’s Pinelands nominees and replace Wittenberg, especially with the threat of climate change and fossil fuel projects like the SRL pipeline and SJ Gas,” said Tittel.

The Pinelands is the largest open space on the eastern seaboard and recognized for its biodiversity by the United Nations. When the Pinelands Act was passed forty years ago, one of the major reasons was to prevent pipelines coming through to connect offshore oil to refineries in south Jersey. There are two pipelines that would cut through the Pinelands, the SJ Gas and NJNG’s Southern Reliability Link (SRL). The Highlands supplies drinking water for over half of the State’s population from only 13 percent of its land area. The Highlands include over 110,000 acres of productive farmland. It also provides outdoor recreation at over 150 square miles of State land and two National Wildlife Refuges.

 “We need to move forward with appointing Governor Murphy’s nominees, the future of these boards depend on it. We can’t keep delaying. The Highlands is our Yellowstone where more people come to recreate every year than in Yosemite, and Pinelands is the largest open space on the eastern seaboard and recognized for its biodiversity by the United Nations. We need leaders who can protect these areas, and we need them now,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.