MAYOR SAYS CORZINE, SIERRA CLUB ARE HYPOCRITICAL ON GLOBAL WARMING

BOROUGH OF EAST RUTHERFORD

 MAYOR SAYS CORZINE, SIERRA CLUB ARE HYPOCRITICAL ON GLOBAL WARMING

Symbolic Bill Signing Takes Place in Shadow Of Massive Meadows Projects That Waste Energy

East Rutherford, NJ -- The Bergen County Meadowlands was the most ironic of sites chosen for Gov. Jon Corzine and Al Gore to sign a symbolic bill on global warming, said East Rutherford Mayor James Cassella.  The site, he says, offers a blatant example of the state government telling the world “do as I say, not as I do.” 

Cassella, whose town encompasses the state-owned meadowlands property  that is the future home of the massive Xanadu mega-mall project and the new Giants-Jets stadium – said the state is being hypocritical when it is pushing a global warming initiative on state utility companies and private corporations while ignoring the greenhouse gases created by the projects it controls.

“Just a few yards from where Gov. Corzine, Al. Gore and New Jersey Sierra Club President Jeff Tittel were holding their photo-op and proclaiming their concern for the global environment is the site of two of the biggest, energy wasting projects in the state,” said Cassella.

“Both of these projects are subsidized by taxpayers since neither project will pay its full tax obligation. And both projects could have been built to exacting “green” specifications that would reduce the use of energy and the production of greenhouse gases. But they were not. 

"Instead of demanding that the developers of Xanadu and Giants/Jets stadium employ the latest “green” technology in their buildings, the state has let them proceed with building as usual,” said the mayor..

 “Why didn’t the state demand that the acres of roof covering the massive Xanadu mall be covered with thousands of solar panels capable of producing electricity for the new entertainment destination? ” asked Cassella. 

“Instead of solar power for Xanadu, electricity will be provided by burning fossil fuels – and that’s apparently okay with the state and the Sierra Club.” 

Cassella said that New Jersey could have -- as some other states have done – required the developers of the meadowlands stadium and the mega mall to construct a wastewater treatment system that would allow the water to be treated on site and reused, thereby lessening the demands on our diminishing water supply. “But again the state failed to live up to its environmental public relations campaign,” said the mayor.   

“You won’t see a whole lot of green technologies going into either of these projects. What you will see is a huge demand for energy to keep the Xanadu ski dome cold and shoppers warm and massive amounts of air pollution from the cars and trucks crawling along Route 17 to get to the meadowlands,” said Cassella. 

The mayor said that Gov. Corzine and environmentalists such as Mr. Tittel, were quick to pounce on the publicity offered by Mr. Gore’s visit and the signing of a global warming bill, but apparently forgot to check the state’s record on construction.    

“It is ironic that New Jersey – the most overcrowded, overdeveloped state in the nation has become the darling of the Al Gore’s global warming warriors because Gov. Corzine is championing purely symbolic but meaningless legislation.  The hypocrisy between what the state does and what it wants others to do is worth noting,” said Cassella.
 

Legislators in both parties, said Cassella, need to wake up to  

what’shappening in the meadowlands before patting themselves  

on the back for their commitment to the environment. “We live in

a state where the legislature has failed to do anything about over- 

development and instead pushes high density initiatives such as

Gov. Corzine’s plan to build 100,000 units of affordable

housing. There is an obvious disconnect between

what our governor and our legislators say and what they do,”

said Cassella.