EPA urges Corzine to veto delay in water-quality rules

A bill that would delay new water-quality rules passed easily in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature Monday. But the Environmental Protection Agency is urging Gov. Corzine to veto it.

Regional Administrator Judith Enck sent letters to legislative leaders earlier this month asking them not to delay a planning process that would limit the installation of new sewer lines and septic systems. Yesterday, she sent one to Corzine, calling the proposed delay "troubling."

The agency has granted the state $1.6 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to implement the new rules "as expeditiously as possible," Enck wrote.

Under 2008 rules aimed at protecting watersheds and limiting sprawl, the counties were supposed to submit new water-management plans last April.

Sponsors of the bills said delaying that deadline until April 2011 would give counties more time to finish the plans and protect construction jobs that may have been lost if the rules caused a slowdown in development.

"These regulations have a significant impact on jobs, and particularly on our skilled trades," said Sen. Steven Oroho (R., Sussex), a cosponsor.

The bills passed by wide margins: 60-13 in the Assembly and 30-1 in the Senate.

The New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club is also calling for a veto, saying that the new water protections are needed now and that the bill caters to developers.

Chapter director Jeff Tittel was hoping for a strong stance from the EPA.

"I don't think that they're going to ignore this," Tittel said. The rules were written while Lisa Jackson was commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection. She now heads the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We're basically kicking our boss in the shins," Tittel said.

Corzine's spokesman, Robert Corrales, did not immediately return requests for comment.

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