CONTACT: Andrew Souvall 

or Heather Lasher Todd 

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today denounced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not complying with a law passed in 2000 that protects the health of beachgoers through improved water quality standards. 

The two New Jersey lawmakers were the authors of the Beaches Environmental Assessment Closure and Health (BEACH) Act of 2000, which required the EPA to ensure states use the latest science to test beach waters to protect the public's health and to provide the public with up-to-date information on the condition of all public beaches.  Pallone and Lautenberg noted that they authored the Act to provide mechanisms to help ensure that Americans could feel safe swimming at the beach without worrying that they would get sick from contaminated water.

In a letter sent today to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, the two New Jersey lawmakers said the federal environmental agency is not making adequate progress in implementing the major provisions of the BEACH Act, and demanded to know why EPA is not meeting the Act's goals.  (A COPY OF THE LETTER FOLLOWS.)  

Pallone and Lautenberg asked the administrator to provide them an update on the agency's efforts to comply with this law, and a timeline for achieving the goals set forth under the legislation.  The two lawmakers voiced concern that EPA has yet to issue new waterborne pathogen criteria, which were due in October 2005 under a statutory deadline established by the BEACH Act. 

"Implementation of these standards also requires the development of protocols for rapid methods to assess coastal water quality," Pallone and Lautenberg wrote in their letter.  "Such methods are critical to ensuring that state and local governments are able to issue beach closings and advisories as quickly as possible to protect beachgoers' health."

Current water quality monitoring tests, like those used in New Jersey, only test for bacteria levels and take 24 to 48 hours to produce reliable results, during which time many beachgoers can be unknowingly exposed to harmful pathogens.  Immediate results would prevent beaches from remaining open when high levels of bacteria are found.

            "The Bush administration's refusal to fully implement the BEACH Act makes it more difficult for states like New Jersey to ensure safe swimming for beachgoers," Pallone said.  "It's time the administration complies with this beach protection law."

            “When New Jerseyans head to the shore this summer, they shouldn’t have to worry about pollution,” said Senator Lautenberg. “President Bush and the EPA need to enforce the laws that protect our environment.”