Success came in 1996 when the Administration agreed to stop dumping contaminated dredge materials off the coast of New Jersey and close the mud dump site once and for all. The original agreement called for an end to ocean dumping on September 1, 1997 – exactly three years ago today.

And how are we celebrating that anniversary today? By standing here on our shorelines and watching more muck being transported to the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS).  This is the last of three dredge and dump permits being sent out for ocean disposal at the HARS site, formerly known as the mud dump site. 

We all know that these toxic-laden dredged materials should not been disposed of in our oceans. Everyone here knows it, and so do the hundreds of people that joined the shore march over the past week.

We are sick and tired of New Jersey’s oceans being used as a disposal site for contaminated materials simply because it costs less to dump the materials in the ocean than to bring them upland. 

New Jerseyans and shore-lovers from across the Nation united during “the march” to send a strong message to the Administration:  We are frustrated that none of the federal agencies involved in the dredging and dumping want to take responsibility for overseeing the process. It is time for either the Environmental Protection Agency or the Army Corps of Engineers to stop passing the buck and do their job.

I believe that actions do speak louder than words. I want to congratulate Cindy Zipf on the success of the shore march and to thank all of those for their hard work in organizing the event. 

We will not rest until there is an end to ocean dumping off the coast of New Jersey.