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DEP Chief Reflects on His Legacy: He Had His Share of Critics, but Bradley Campbell Said the Accomplishments in His Four Years Were Unparalleled

Posted on: Monday, 16 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Elisa Ung, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Jan. 16--TRENTON -- The man who has been front and center in the state's battles over sprawl, development and pollution says no one in his job ever won a popularity contest.

This seems to sum up Bradley Campbell's rocky four years as New Jersey's environmental chief, years that environmental groups and development interests alike have groused about.

Environmentalists say Campbell caved too frequently to developers and political pressure and was prone to flip-flopping, such as on the state's bear hunt. Developers say the department imposed unreasonable restrictions on their ability to build.

"If you're doing your job well, you're not going to please any side of the issue 100 percent of the time," Campbell said in an interview during one of his last few days on the job. He said he had put New Jersey ahead of other states with clean-air standards and tough storm-water regulations.

As he prepared to vacate his office for the incoming Corzine administration, Campbell said he was proud of cracking down on diesel emissions, charging polluters for land damage, and setting standards to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants -- all, he said, done with a tight budget and despite Gov. Jim McGreevey's unexpected resignation in 2004.

"We've achieved more in the last four years in terms of tough standards, tough protection and new programs than in any four-year period in this department's history, and certainly more than any other states," he said.

Campbell's biggest regrets: failing to convince McGreevey, and then Gov. Codey, to approve tougher protections for threatened and endangered species and ground and surface water.

And although he saw reasonable arguments on both sides of the Petty's Island political quagmire, he said, in his heart he wanted the island to be a park and not a development.

"Were the decision mine alone, I would have accepted the donation," Campbell said, referring to the offer of the Pennsauken land as a state park by its oil-company owner, Citgo. The offer was rejected after heavy political pressure by state power brokers on Campbell and McGreevey.

"They went to the governor, and he made clear to me that the administration's position was not to accept the island," Campbell said. He added that it was a fair call, given that two-thirds of the island was paved or contaminated and that Citgo had not yet met its state cleanup obligations.

The state director of the Sierra Club, Jeff Tittel, said Petty's Island summed up Campbell's tenure.

"I think Brad is a very gifted, bright person who cares about the environment, but he got caught up too much in the politics of New Jersey and got used by a lot of people," he said.

Under Campbell, Tittel said, the agency accelerated its role as "part of the pay-to-play system, where political bosses were able to push out permits to help politically connected developers."

But even the builders say they are glad to see Campbell leave. "I think his tenure at the DEP was probably not only hurtful to the housing industry but also to home buyers," said Rick Van Osten, executive vice president of the Builders League of South Jersey.

Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, fought Campbell on Petty's Island but gave him kudos for contributing to the state's opposition to the deepening of the Delaware River shipping channel and for enacting 300-foot buffers separating thousands of miles of waterways from development.

"That's not just progressive for the state of New Jersey. It's progressive for the entire country," van Rossom said.

Campbell, a lawyer and former regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, won raves from environmental groups when McGreevey appointed him.

The groups cheered McGreevey's January 2003 State of the State address, which declared war on sprawl. "There is no single greater threat to our way of life in New Jersey than unrestrained, uncontrolled development," the governor said.

Days after, the state introduced its "blueprint for intelligent growth" -- or "BIG map" -- a way to tie development to environmental factors. Areas marked in red, yellow or green indicated where building would be strictly controlled, where the land already was developed, or a mix of both.

But the map was pulled after confusion and mounting criticism from builders, municipalities, and legislators who said it hijacked the state's planning process. Campbell called it "a strategic mistake."

"Because of the timing of Gov. McGreevey's State of the State, I had to sell the map as a concept before the underlying rule changes were ready for public debate," Campbell said.

Then the environmental groups that had been such staunch McGreevey allies -- and cheered the state's plans to put 400,000 acres in the Highlands region off-limits to development -- were horrified when the admininstration seemed to swing in the opposite direction.

McGreevey decided to back "fast-track" legislation designed to speed up state approval of building permits. Although opponents decried it as the worst environmental legislation in 30 years, the Legislature passed it when Campbell was on his honeymoon.

"Fast-track" eventually stalled, but not before it had "poisoned the debate over environmental issues," Campbell said.

David Pringle of the New Jersey Environmental Federation said Campbell's early missteps had given him less clout with the administration, making it harder to push through things such as protection for threatened and endangered species. Campbell's tenure "started out very strong and went downhill fast," Pringle said.

Campbell had hoped to retain his job under Gov.-elect Jon S. Corzine, but Corzine chose Lisa Jackson, an assistant DEP commissioner whom Campbell had recruited from the EPA. Campbell said it was nevertheless a testament to his record that Corzine had reached into the department for his appointment.

Though his name has even been floated for a run for Congress, Campbell said he now planned to leave government after 15 years in the public sector. Last month, he filed a letter with the state recusing himself from department business relating to several area law firms, colleges and nonprofits -- but said not all of them were job prospects.

"I fully expect there will be a new direction, a different perspective," he said. "We made progress, but work still needs to be done."

Contact staff writer Elisa Ung at 609-989-9016 or eung@phillynews.com.

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Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

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