North Jersey, October 23, 2007
North Arlington officials on Monday called for a federal investigation into the "entire sorry episode" of the controversial EnCap proposal to build a massive golf course-residential-retail complex in three Bergen County communities.
The report, based on a review of 10,000 pages of state documents, showed that the project has added to the pollution in the Meadowlands -- revealing, for example, that 2.5 million cubic yards of contaminated materials have been brought to the site in Rutherford and Lyndhurst.
The project plans for Lyndhurst and Rutherford call for two golf courses, a hotel and 2,500 residences, all built atop the four old landfills there.
After The Record reported details about the $300 million in publicly funded financing for the project, Governor Corzine directed the state inspector general to investigate the deal. That review is still under way.
-No State is feeling the punishment of the private/public relationship more than New Jersey. Here EnCap is apparently accused of buying its way into deals with local government. Due to this, nothing is being developed, trust in the government is being destroyed, and one wonders whether government can ever treat private owners fairly.
