Tell EPA to Keep Sewage Out of Our Waterways!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is looking to let sewer plants release a blend of untreated waste and processed sewage during heavy rains or snow. Often plants functioning near capacity are swamped during severe storms, causing storage tanks to overflow and spill raw sewage into bodies of water. Virtually all of New Jersey's coastline, bays and all inland waterways would be subject to higher levels of pollution if the EPA scheme is approved, said 26 organizations signing onto a Tuesday letter to the EPA.

This would included 500,000 people who draw drinking water from the Delaware River would be put at risk along with wildlife in smaller streams, the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, opponents said. "Anyone on the street can tell you what goes down your toilet should not come out of the faucet," said Douglas O'Malley, clean water advocate for the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group.

Debate hinges on whether blending is a permanent solution or the federal government should send states and municipalities money to fix aging infrastructure. Across the state, 170 million gallons of sewage are released each day, according to one 1998 estimate. Typically, this waste is given two phases of treatment -- one involves sifting out solids and the other destroying viruses, parasites and other pollutants. After that it is disinfected with chlorine.

Bush is seeking to let swamped plants skip the second step before releasing water.

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Ode to New Jersey

* Highlands, New Jersey has the highest elevation along the entire eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida.

* New Jersey is the only state where all of its counties are classified as metropolitan areas.

* New Jersey has more race horses than Kentucky.

* New Jersey has more Cubans in Union City (1 sq. mi.) than Havana, Cuba.

* New Jersey has the most dense system of highways and railroads in the United States.

* New Jersey has the highest cost of living.

* New Jersey has the highest cost of auto insurance.

* New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation.

* North Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world, with seven major shopping malls in a 25 square mile radius.

* New Jersey is home to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

* The Passaic River was the site of the first submarine ride by inventor John P. Holland.

* New Jersey is a leading technology & industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation when you include pharmaceuticals.

* New Jersey is the world leader in blueberry and cranberry production.

* Here's to New Jersey - the toast of the country! In 1642, the first brewery in America opened in Hoboken.

* New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the US, located in Elizabeth. Nearly 80% of what our nation imports comes through Elizabeth Seaport first.

* New Jersey is home to one of the nation's busiest airports at Newark Liberty International.

* The light bulb, phonograph (record player) and motion picture projector, were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park, NJ laboratory.

* We also boast the first town ever lit by incandescent bulbs.

* The first seaplane was built in Keyport, NJ.

* The first airmail (to Chicago) was started from Keyport, NJ.

* The first phonograph records were made in Camden, NJ.

* New Jersey is home to the Miss America Pageant held in Atlantic City.

* The game Monopoly, played all over the world, named the streets on their playing board after the actual streets in Atlantic City.

* And, Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world.

* New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.

* The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey, in the Watchung Mountains.

* New Jersey has the tallest water-tower in the world. (Union, NJ!)

* New Jersey had the first Medical Center, in Jersey City.

* NJ built the first tunnel under a river, the Hudson. (Holland Tunnel).

* The first baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ, which is also the birthplace of Frank Sinatra.

* The first intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick in 1889. (Rutgers College played Princeton.)

* The first Drive-in Movie theater was opened in Camden, NJ.

* The first radio station and broadcast was in Paterson, NJ.

* The first FM radio broadcast was made from Alpine, NJ, by Maj.Thomas Armstrong.

All New Jersey natives: Sal Martorano, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jason Alexander, Queen Latifa, Susan Sarandon, Connie Francis, Shaq, Judy Blume, Aaron Burr, Joan Robertson, Ken Kross, Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughn, Budd Abbott, Lou Costello, Alan Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Marilynn McCoo, Flip Wilson, Alexander Hamilton, Whitney Houston, Eddie Money,Linda McElroy, Eileen Donnely, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, Jerry Lewis, Tom Cruise, Richard Wojewodzki, Joyce Kilmer, Bruce Willis, Caesar Romero,Lauryn Hill, Ice-T, Nick Adams, Nathan Lane, Sandra Dee, Danny DeVito, Richard Conti, Joe Pesci,Joe Piscopo, Robert Blake,John Forsyth, Meryl Streep, Loretta Swit, Norman Lloyd, Paul Simon,Jerry Herman, Gorden McCrae,Kevin Spacey, John Travolta, Phyllis Newman, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Eva Marie Saint, Elisabeth Shue, Zebulon Pike, James Fennimore Cooper, Admiral Wm.Halsey,Jr., Dave Thomas(Wendy's), William Carlos Williams, Ray Liotta, Robert Wuhl, Bob Reyers, Paul Robeson, Ernie Kovacs, Kelly Ripa, Joseph Macchia and of course.........Frank Albert Sinatra and "Uncle Floyd" Vivino.