TRENTON – Senator Barbara Buono, Senator Bob Gordon, and Senator Linda R. Greenstein acted on Thursday to prevent the Christie Administration from moving forward on its attempt to subvert established environmental laws designed to prevent the contamination of natural resources and safeguard public health and safety when the Senate Environment and Energy Committee approved legislation sponsored by Senator Buono, Senator Gordon, and Senator Greenstein that would block the implementation of the administration’s so-called “waiver rule.”
“The Governor does not possess the legal authority to ‘bypass’ laws and regulations put in place to prevent the pollution of our natural resources and safeguard the public’s health and safety,” said Senator Buono, (D-Middlesex) a prime sponsor of the resolution. “This is an abuse of power by the Governor that he wants to grant to himself and, as a result, he will put our air, water and land at risk of serious contamination and expose the public to the bad health effects and safety risks that will result. The Governor isn’t just ‘waiving’ laws and regulations, he’s ‘waiving’ away everyone’s rights and expectations to a clean environment and health protections.”