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 June 2005 In January, GreenFaith joined the Natural Resources Defense Council and New York/New Jersey Baykeeper in a lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers, charging that in its plans to dredge Newark Bay the Corps has failed to plan to prevent dioxin and other toxins from being re-introduced into the environment. The Corps is carrying out the highly-publicized project to deepen New York Harbor for a new generation of deep-hulled cargo ships. “GreenFaith believes that the dredging can be done in a way that protects the environment and human health,” said the Rev. Fletcher Harper, GreenFaith’s Executive Director. “That’s what we want the Corps to do.” GreenFaith’s board deliberated carefully about joining the suit, using the expertise of several board members with extensive experience in the fields of environmental law and site remediation. The board concluded that unprotected dredging would clearly create substantial environmental damage, and that the law calls on the Corps to assess the potential harm caused by their dredging plans. “This suit grows out of our past Newark Environmental Health and Justice Tour and out of our commitment to environmental stewardship and justice,” said Board Chair David Prescott. “It is important for GreenFaith, on behalf of the faith community, to take a strong position on such an important issue.” GreenFaith first became involved with Newark Bay through its 2003 Environmental Tour in Newark, which introduced religious leaders to the Diamond Alkali Superfund site where Vietnam-era Agent Orange had been manufactured. Dioxin, one of the most poisonous substances known, was a by-product of the manufacturing process, and was dumped into the lower Passaic River and Newark Bay . The dioxin settled into the floor of the River and Bay, creating dangerous levels of pollution that led to the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection making fishing illegal in the area. The lower six miles of the Passaic were designated as a Superfund site in 1984, but no clean-up efforts have taken place to this point. Environmentalists recognize Newark Bay as one of the most polluted bodies of water in the country. In February 2004, due to pressure from NRDC, Hackensack Riverkeeper, NY/NJ Baykeeper and GreenFaith, the US Environmental Protection Agency extended the boundary of the Passaic River site to include Newark Bay . When the groups learned that the Army Corps of Engineers was planning to dredge Newark Bay without planning to minimize the environmental harm dredging would cause, the groups asked the Corps to comply with environmental laws that called for such planning. When the Corps refused, the groups decided to sue. “We hope that the pressure to complete the dredging project may actually lead to a clean-up that hasn’t happened in decades,” said Harper. As the suit progresses, GreenFaith will conduct outreach activities to educate the faith community about this effort. A February 24 Newark Environmental Health and Justice Tour has been scheduled, with one of NRDC’s attorneys scheduled to speak about Newark Bay. For information about progress or for press clips about the suit, e-mail revfharper@greenfaith.org. 
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"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
words, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,'
motivate me to include the struggles against environmental
racism and economic injustice in my lifelong commitment to
social justice activism. No group of people should be forced
to bear the disproportionate burdens of having incinerators,
landfills, sewage treatment plants, oil refineries, and other
polluters in their communities because of the color of their
members’ skin or income level."
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