The sponsor of a bill that would extend the deadline for some contaminated site cleanups in New Jersey refused to allow any discussion or vote on the bill today, blaming the state Department of Environmental Protection for failing to attend the meeting and take a position on the legislation.

Senate Environment and Energy Committee, Chairman Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) said he believed that the law he sponsored several years ago to require the of Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRP) to supervise and direct site cleanups has been "one of the most successful programs in the state in terms of getting sites cleaned up."

His new bill modifying that law, S3075, would grant extensions in certain cases, including those in which state funding was delayed.

Click to hear what Smith told his fellow committee members and those in the audience who had come to Trenton to hear the bill debated.

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