By Susan C. Moeller
Senior Reporter

LYNDHURST (Oct. 23, 2008) — Drawing on a statement promoted by environmental advocacy organizations, the Lyndhurst Board of Commissioners introduced a “Precautionary Principle Policy” to guide all township officials and employees in decisions that affect human health or the environment.

The policy comes from the Wingspread Statement, which is quoted and incorporated into Lyndhurst’s Ordinance 2674. “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken, even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically,” the statement reads.

In adopting the policy, Lyndhurst will choose to “move beyond fixing environmental ills to preventing the ills before they can do harm,” according to the ordinance.

The Precautionary Principle changes the action threshold from proof of harm to threat of harm. “Where threats of serious or irreversible damage to people or nature exist, lack of full scientific certainty about cause and effect shall not be viewed as sufficient reason for the township to postpone measures to prevent the degradation of the environment or protect the health of its citizens,” the ordinance states.

The township’s dicey relationship with Bedroc Contracting on Orient Way provided Mayor Richard DiLascio with an example of how the principle could be applied in Lyndhurst.

In an interview after the ordinance was introduced Oct. 14, DiLascio expressed frustration that the cost of environmental monitoring tests near Bedroc would have to be borne by the township. Lyndhurst opted not to perform them.

Instead, DiLascio said the contractor should have to prove that its actions are not unhealthy.

“If you’re going to do something that has a potential hazard, you are going to have to show that it’s not going to be detrimental to the environment, the municipality or any other waterway,” DiLascio said.

DiLascio is disappointed in how the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection handled complaints about Bedroc and, on a larger scale, EnCap’s redevelopment efforts in the Meadowlands. So, the township is attempting to take matters into its own hands.

“We’re going to do our very best as a municipality to the greatest of what the laws allow us to do to protect our own people,” DiLascio said.

Will the ordinance be strong enough? DiLascio isn’t sure.

“It’s a statement,” he said. “What’s the real teeth to it? I’m not all that sure that it’s going to have the kind of teeth that we would all like for it to have.”

The first reading of the ordinance received unanimous approval from the board, and the final vote is scheduled for Nov. 11.