WASHINGTON—U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) today praised the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for advancing a proposal to clean the lower Passaic River and for opening its plans to the public for a commentary period.
“The proposal to begin cleaning the Passaic River is strong because of the support it has gained from both the public and private sectors,” stated Pascrell. “With active community participation in the upcoming commentary period, we can strengthen the project proposal to further best meet our interests. Local residents, business people and community leaders hold a valuable stake in contributing to the start of these plans. The project engineers, managers and public officials value community input and need it to succeed in this historic cleanup initiative. I commend the EPA for aggressively reaching into our communities for guidance and for hosting a forum to share preliminary planning proposals.”
The public meeting will be held on December 2, 2008 at 7:00 at the Hawkins Street Elementary School on 8 Hawkins Street in the Ironbound section of Newark.
Pascrell, a former member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment, is the long time congressional champion of the restoration effort. He has secured $2.9 million in federal funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to study the 17 mile stretch of the river from the Dundee Dam to the Newark Bay known as the Lower Passaic River.
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