McCabe Approved as DEP Commissioner by Senate

Today the Senate has voted to approve Catherine McCabe as DEP Commissioner.  New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel released the following statement:

“Now that McCabe is officially the Commissioner of the DEP she can finally take charge of the agency. She can do her job to move us forward on environmental protections without having to worry about the Legislature looking over her shoulder. We have a lot of work to do to make New Jersey greener and to protect our air, water, and communities. We look forward to working with Commissioner McCabe to uphold the promises of the Murphy Administration and undo the weakenings of the last eight years under Christie. This process took way too long and delayed the DEP from fully moving forward on critical issues.

“As Commissioner of the DEP, McCabe can help New Jersey have a stronger environment and fight back against climate change. She can work to make the process to rejoin RGGI quicker and more efficient, so we can reap the benefits of the program. She can instruct the agency to begin fixing rolled back rules including the Flood Hazard Rules and Water Quality Planning Management Rules. McCabe can put effort into improving New Jersey’s parks, protecting our waterways, and incorporating environmental justice into programs. She can instruct the agency to reduce greenhouse gasses and plan for climate change. We can also work to better clean up the many toxic sites in our state.

“We hope that Commissioner McCabe can now take a second look at some of the issues we’ve been concerned with over the past few months. This includes fulfilling Murphy’s promise to stop the bear hunt and instead create an effective bear management plan. We also urge the Commissioner to reconsider her decision on the Highlands Septic Density Rules and pull them down completely since they were voided by the Legislature. We need to fully re-open the Office of Climate Change and make sure we’re fighting against dangerous pipeline approvals. We also want McCabe to be strong against pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects that threaten our communities and waterways.

“We need to rebuild the DEP and restore moral to the agency and hope Commissioner McCabe can help us do this. We need to restore funding for parks, especially in urban areas. The DEP has seen a decrease in staff and therefore a decrease in enforcement. For the agency to be truly affective we should be hiring more staff and creating more programs to manage climate change. We need more staff to keep parks open, monitor the water quality on our beaches, and manage bear populations. We need to be managing settlement funds and keeping the money in the agency for environmental clean-ups.

“Commissioner McCabe no longer has to be concerned with the appointment process so now she can really go forward leading the DEP. She can return the agency to what it was before Governor Christie and make New Jersey an environmental leader once again. This includes fighting climate change and planning for sea level rise and storm surges. We will continue to work with the agency to meet the commitments of Governor Murphy to make New Jersey cleaner and greener. This includes protecting our air, water, and land resources as well as working towards the goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050.”