Milestones: NJ’s ‘polluters’ playground’ exposed

A bombshell report

For two years (1984-1986), NJPIRG staff gathered, examined and re-examined reams of government records: water pollution discharge permits, discharge monitoring reports, sewage treatment plant records, and government action files.

The findings were damning: 3,009 pollution permit violations by industrial and sewage treatment plants; only 53 violations (2%) prompting any government response (typically a phone call or a letter); and only two violations resulting in fines. The report summarizing the findings, entitled “Polluters’ Playground” and released on Feb. 19, 1988, concluded:

A clear pattern of industry law-breaking and the laissez-faire approach of government agencies has created a polluters’ playground in which chronic and substantial pollution violations are routine.

The report was shocking, but not surprising, to many at NJPIRG.

Wading through troubled waters

For decades, NJPIRG staff, along with most New Jerseyans, were well aware that oil refineries and chemical plants had dumped their wastes into New Jersey’s rivers and streams virtually unchecked – making fishing and swimming in many waterways not just unsafe, but unthinkable.

Beginning in 1974, teams of NJPIRG volunteer “streamwalkers” pulled out hip waders and walked or canoed through waterways, looking for and too often finding evidence of illegal pollution.

With help from NJPIRG’s professional staff, the streamwalkers contacted state officials with the evidence they uncovered and set up a 24-hour pollution hotline. In 1983, the organization initiated a series of lawsuits against violators, citing as evidence the offenders’ own discharge reports. Yet state and federal officials still refused to crack down. NJPIRG was plugging a broken dam with cotton balls.

According to former NJPIRG director and general counsel Ed Lloyd, “we were looking for systemic change – mandatory minimum fines that would be required of all companies that violated their discharge permits.”

Enter the New Jersey Clean Water Enforcement Act.

Needles on the beach

In 1988, it was far from certain that New Jersey lawmakers would pass the Clean Water Enforcement Act, a bill that would set the tough, mandatory fines that Ed Lloyd had called for.

Four things gave the bill the momentum it sorely needed:

1. Not only did NJPIRG’s “Polluters’ Playground” report earn widespread attention in the state, but the group’s staff produced a series of mini-reports detailing the problems in the districts of key legislators.

2. NJPIRG built a coalition of more than 100 organizations, including not just the usual environmentalists but also outdoors enthusiasts, religious groups and Jersey Shore business owners.

3. To help garner even more attention for the campaign, staff constructed an 18-foot prop fish (called Wanda). Wanda joined NJPIRG and our allies at most campaign events.

4. In the summer of 1988, garbage, medical waste and even used syringes washed up on the Jersey Shore, dramatically illustrating the need to crack down on water pollution.

On May 24, 1990, Gov. Jim Florio signed the clean water enforcement act into law after both houses of the state legislature unanimously passed it. Within a decade, New Jersey rose from near the bottom to near the top for compliance with Clean Water Act permits. And California passed a similar CALPIRG-backed law in 1999.

About this series: PIRG, Environment America and The Public Interest Network have achieved much more than we can cover on this page. You can find more milestones of our work on clean water below. You can also explore an interactive timeline featuring more of our network’s clean water milestones.