Dear Editor,

Speaker Coughlin should stop blocking protection for Liberty State Park.   The NJ Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously and with bipartisan approval recently moved the Caven Point Protection Bill out of committee.  The bill would keep a rich estuarine ecosystem, located at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, as natural habitat. It is important to many migrating and nesting birds along the Atlantic Flyway, and it is a source of inspiration for many park goers.

However, once again, there is fear Speaker Coughlin will not help move on the legislation in the assembly.  The original Liberty State Protection Act was approved by the senate only to never come up for a vote in the  assembly. It was replaced with another bill that omitted key protections from the original protection act, leaving the park vulnerable to privatization and commercialization. This has resulted in a grass roots effort by the community who uses the park, their elected officials, and environmental groups across the state to obtain legislative protection for the most critically sensitive environmental areas,  such as the Caven Point Peninsula.

Let me be clear.  Our elected officials in the 19th Legislative District, representing Carteret, Perth Amboy, Sayreville, South Amboy, and Woodbridge should not be blocking legislation that conserves critical ecosystems already in our state park system, protects such natural habitat from a history of attempted redevelopment schemes, and does not add one penny to the taxpayers of the State of New Jersey.  We need to stand with our fellow New Jerseyans and urge Assemblyman Coughlin to support the Caven Point Protection Bill.

Regards,
Chris Smiga
South Amboy, NJ