Bill > S2712

Introduced Session

This bill would prohibit the Department of Environmental Protection from approving any dumping of dredge spoils on any portion of a Delaware River island owned or controlled by the State or a political subdivision of the State, including riparian land, located on a Delaware River island controlled in whole or in part by a Board of Island Managers established by the Legislature, unless (1) the department petitions each municipality owning land on that island to authorize the dumping of dredge spoils on or around the island, and (2) Each municipality petitioned by the department pursuant to this section adopts an ordinance authorizing the dumping of dredge spoils on or around the island. This section shall be applicable to all dumping of dredge spoils, including any proposed dumping on an existing dredge spoil bank. The only current island in the Delaware River that is controlled by a Board of Island Managers established by the Legislature is Burlington Island. Burlington Island, located on the Delaware River, has been under local control since the mid-19th and activity thereon, since that time, has been subject to restrictions established by general law for the benefit of the City of Burlington. Currently, Burlington Island comprises the entirety of Block 230 on the Burlington City Tax Map, with title to Lot 1, approximately 242 acres located on the southern portion of the island, held by the City of Burlington, and Block 230, Lot 2, approximately 190 acres on the northern section of the island, is owned by the Island Managers, established by the Legislature in the 19th century. Pursuant to P.L.1998, c.119, all land on Burlington Island is to remain exclusively in the public domain for recreational, conservational, educational or cultural use, with supporting facilities permitted. The Department of Environmental Protection, in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers, intends to subvert the intent of the Legislature and dump potentially hazardous dredge spoils on Burlington Island. Any attempt to use Burlington Island as a waste disposal site would be entirely inappropriate and antithetical to the Legislature's attempts to establish local control of the island for the purposes of benefitting the education of the children of the City of Burlington; Accordingly, it is necessary and appropriate to restrict State action on the island to maintain the protections established by the Legislature for the benefit of the City of Burlington nearly 200 years ago.

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Diane Allen (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee (on 11/03/2016)