Activity Report
October 2002

• At the end of September 2002, the Shore Group initiated an email campaign to petition the EPA to provide additional funds to clean up the Burnt Fly Bog Superfund site in Marlboro Township. No funding for next year's work was planned. Fifty-eight individuals responded to the alert sent September 27 by the Chapter's activist network, sending 174 email messages to Government officials. Shortly thereafter, on October 2, 2002, we had good news. The EPA announced that it would be allocating $20.1 million for the cleanup. Work is expected to begin in the spring of 2003. We don't know whether this funding will be enough to complete the work since the NJ DEP had asked for $23 million to finish the project. We responded when one of the members of the Monmouth County Environmental Coalition (MCEC) asked for help with their email campaign.

• By letter dated September 30, 2002, the Group submitted comments to the NJ DEP on a housing project in Howell Township called The Fountains. We pointed out that the wetlands buffer should be 150 feet because of the documented habitat of state endangered species and asked the DEP to conduct additional surveys. We relied on the data in DEP's Landscape CD and pointed out that the applicant had done its surveys in January, a month when it would be difficult to detect the presence of endangered species.

• On October 16, 2002 the Group approved a resolution supporting the County's non-binding referendum to increase the open space tax. We are pleased that the voters approved the referendum on November 5.

• On October 26, eight volunteers from the Shore Group helped with a beach cleanup at Asbury Park. Working the beach and an area under Convention Hall, we collected 30 bags of bottles, cans, cups, and other litter. The cleanup was sponsored by Clean Ocean Action.