Sponsor of ‘The McEnroe Act,’ his landmark legislation provided legal and financial direction to the state’s 21 counties at a time when solid waste disposal in New Jersey was transforming from reliance on landfills to incorporate resource recovery incinerator facilities.

Former NJ Assemblyman Harry A. McEnroe

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor

Harry A. McEnroe had a successful history in Essex County Democratic politics before entering the state legislature. He was Chairman of the South Orange Democratic Party for many years and was an Essex County Freeholder from 1973 to 1979. The following year he began a 16-year career in the New Jersey State Assembly, serving from 1980 to 1996.

As chairman of the Assembly Environment Committee, McEnroe was called upon to referee a struggle between competing interests as the solid waste industry, New Jersey’ 21 counties, and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were caught up in dynamic changes initiated with the DEP’s desire to shut down landfills and force all solid waste to yet-unbuilt resource recovery facilities (waste incinerators).

When the courts ruled that counties could no longer direct where waste was sent (waste flow), McEnroe’s legislation sought to provide stability by requiring long-term contracts between counties and resource recovery developers and by instituting new taxes to support their construction and operation.

McEnroe was respected as a gentleman who listened to all sides of issues and tried to fashion equitable solutions. He was ably served by a cadre of young lawyers and researchers in the state’s Office of Legislative Services

For more, read:
Harry McEnroe, 8-term Essex assemblyman, dies at 90 (New Jersey Globe)
Harry A. McEnroe, Longtime Assemblyman (Star-Ledger obituary)

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