Fertilizer Pollution Battle a Turf War Between County and State?

While the fertilizers that are a major source of nutrient pollution of Barnegat Bay were being spread on the ground throughout the 660-square-mile watershed Wednesday, politicians talked, but mounted no new initiatives to curb that pollution.

Rain, scientists say, will carry some of the phosphorus and nitrogen in that fertilizer into the streams and rivers that feed the bay. There it will upset the natural balance, encourage biting jellyfish to multiply, and kill submerged vegetation necessary for marine life in the nursery.

Political gears were grinding as Ocean County’s Republican freeholders howled over a bill sponsored by two Democrats who own second homes in the county to allow officials here to do what they are already doing, charge developers the cost of managing the stormwater created by their projects.

Freeholder Gerry P. Little said in the past decade that practice has resulted in the county planning board getting $1.9 million for stormwater management projects from developers. They have forced builders to make improvement at their own expense worth more than those fees, he added.

It’s just those kinds of fees for stormwater management that are provided for in the bill that had the freeholders upset, Little said.

“We already do it,’’ he said.

Although the legislation, that has cleared both the state Assembly and the Senate, is permissive, Little claimed it was an end run around the requirement for the state to pay for things it mandates. County and local officials can opt to use the law or ignore it.

The freeholders want Gov. Chris Christie to veto the measure, which only made it to his desk with the support of Monmouth County’s Republican Senator Jennifer Beck.

Environmentalist Willie decamp, of Save Barnegat Bay, told the freeholders it would be “common sense to ask the governor to veto the bill if the county is going to say ‘no’ to implementing it anyhow.’’

He urged them to ask for a conditional veto, with Christie asking that Ocean County be excluded from the bill’s provisions, but the communities in the county covered by its provisions.

“That would give us 33 chances to learn something new,’’ about handling stormwater as science in that field advances, decamp urged.

“Just say ‘no,’’’ argued Garry Black of Jackson Township, claiming the measure was a “tax bill.’’

“We don’t need another layer of bureaucracy,’’ he added, charging Sen. Bob Smith and Assemblyman John McKeon, the sponsors of the measure “have no clue how our system works.’’

Smith, of Middlesex, and McKeon, of Essex, are the Democratic sponsors of a package of bills designed to improve water quality in the bay. Smith has a second home in Lavallette. McKeon’s is in Brick.

Little complained that when he and Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. attended a public hearing on the bill the lawmakers “wouldn’t listen.’’

He told deCamp to urge the sponsors to make the provisions of the measure available statewide and fully funded by the state, not just have it apply to Ocean County, where the bay is located.

DeCamp and the freeholders agreed on land preservation purchases that will eliminate the prospect that property on the Waretown Creek in Ocean Township will be developed, and help consolidate open space holdings in Beachwood.

He and Black spoke at public hearings on the use of county open space preservation funds to buy the properties.

The largest, 57 acres between Waretown Lake Park stretching east nearly to the rail-trail on the north side of Wells Mills Road, is being acquired for $725,000. Bartlett said an application has been made to the state Green Acres program for half that amount.

That property could have been divided into nine building lots, Bartlett said.

The other purchase is a lot surrounded by property the county and Beachwood already own in Beachwood for $10,000.