|
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ-8) today announced the United States Congress has voted to approve the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill that includes $170,000 to continue the Lower Passaic River Restoration program (PRRI). While the funding amount has been decided, the bill now moves to the U.S. Senate and will be later signed by the president.
“The effort to clean the Passaic River’s waters will continue with the help of these dollars,” said Pascrell, who was one of the Congress members who spearheaded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ initial investigation of the river’s pollution. “We cannot relent in our work to restore better water quality in the Passaic River while working to protect the river’s wildlife.”
The Army Corps funding will go toward a $19 million study to find and implement comprehensive solutions to the complex problems facing the 17 miles of the lower Passaic River between Newark Bay and the Dundee Dam in Clifton. Thanks to Congressional intervention, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and forty-three companies potentially responsible for some of the pollution of the Passaic River to act as “cooperating parties” and share the costs of the PRRI.
The lower Passaic project is managed jointly by the USACE, EPA, and New Jersey Office of Maritime Resources, working in conjunction with the Department of the Interior, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NJDEP.
###
|
