Letters

Save Sandy Hook president speaks out in its defense

In response to a letter appearing in the June 10 edition of a local daily newspaper, I wish to make a few statements on behalf of the Save Sandy Hook organization.

Save Sandy Hook is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that believes the unique value of Sandy Hook lies in the spectacular land itself, first and foremost.

The National Park Service failed in its responsibilities to care for Fort Hancock for more than 30 years and now wants to “fix” things by a 60-year “giveaway” to a developer.

Save Sandy Hook believes this is an extreme and unwarranted tactic which will result in the loss to the public of full usage of Fort Hancock for 60 years.

In addition to that loss, the land will be torn up to make modern accommodations of fiber optics, air conditioning, increased comfort, sewer, sanitary, and other miscellaneous modifications to permit use by a business park where it does not belong.

All of these accommodations will have a deleterious impact on the environment, especially when you consider the increase in the number of people that will be using the facilities on a year-round basis.

If this project does go forward it will result in a huge tax burden to the people of the United States in the form of tax credits for the benefit of the developer.

The scenic beauty is a developer’s dream, but the land was set aside for the public recreation and enjoyment.

Not for a business park. The buildings that are “reasonably” worth saving should be saved by public/private endeavors, such as those that saved the lighthouse, that leave the buildings in the public domain. That may not meet the instant gratification some seek, but will ensure keeping our National Parkland ours.

Save Sandy Hook, and 3,500 petitions signers firmly believe the National Park Service has erred totally in its procedures and its intentions by not following their own rules and regulations that promise equal treatment of, and a level playing field for all offerors.

The Friends of Clearwater organization was not allowed this promise to be fulfilled.

Anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with what Save Sandy Hook is about and what it is doing need only go to our Web site www.savesandyhook.org to follow the factual concerns raised by investigating the archived information.

A lawsuit has been filed in federal district court to prevent the National Park Service with proceeding with its poor plan. Mr. Paul Josephson of the Hill Wallack law firm of Princeton is our lawyer of record.

Litigation is a very expensive undertaking. We plan to have a fund-raiser in the near future and hope the public will show continued support to us by their tax-deductible donation.

Judith Stanley Coleman

president

Save Sandy Hook

Ocean loses big in Senate energy bill

Today, the ocean and its nationwide advocates lost one battle when the U.S. Senate voted to keep provisions in the Senate energy bill that will threaten the ocean and coastal resources.

Despite efforts by New Jersey and New York’s U.S. senators, especially U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ), to remove a harmful amendment, the Senate energy bill includes provisions allowing offshore oil and gas exploration in ocean areas that have been under bipartisan Congressional moratorium for almost 25 years.

Under the amendment, an inventory of all Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) areas for oil and gas resources could easily become a reality, including off the NY/NJ coast, which was under the moratorium.

The inventory includes seismic testing that is equivalent in impact to underwater artillery, causing serious damage to fish, reefs and other marine life.

The moratorium protects many sensitive areas from the destruction associated with the inventory. Documented impacts of seismic surveys include:

• profound and fatal effects on fish from hearing loss

• organ damage in squid, a species that is an important link in the marine food chain

• significant interference with the critical survival activities of whales and other marine mammals, such as locating food, avoiding predators and other hazards, finding mates, caring for young, and navigating.

Clean Ocean Action commends the U.S. Senators from New Jersey and New York for voting to remove this bad-for-the-ocean amendment.

While this most recent fight was lost, the fight to prohibit oil and gas drilling from our coasts will continue later in the year when joint House-Senate conference committee deliberations will be held on this bill. Conservation must be a priority in these deliberations to reduce the need to seek more nonrenewable sources of energy.

Not Now, Not Ever

Ocean water quality off the NY/NJ coast has improved over the past 20 years and now is not the time to rollback this progress.

We must continue to work to lock-in that progress by establishing the Clean Ocean Zone, a campaign led by Clean Ocean Action to permanently protect the waters of the NY/NJ Bight from polluting and harmful activities (visit www.cleanoceanzone.org.) The establishment of the Clean Ocean Zone would prohibit offshore oil and gas activities.

Cindy Zipf

executive director

Clean Ocean Action

Sandy Hook

Blood center director makes plea for donations

Our state’s need for all blood types is becoming critical. While the New Jersey media often have stories about the need to donate blood, sadly too few of our region’s residents are blood donors. While the vast majority of New Jersey residents are generally in good health and eligible to donate blood, only a precious few choose to donate.

As a result, each year New Jersey blood services must “import” thousands of units of blood from neighboring states to meet our hospitals’ and patients’ needs.

If a member of New Jersey family needs a blood transfusion, the family just expects the blood to be available. Yet that expectation can only be met if our region has an ample and stable blood supply.

For our state to have all blood types available, more New Jersey family members need to become regular blood donors.

Presently, there are no substitutes for human blood.

Blood products hospitals continually need include red blood cells, platelets and plasma. These products generally have short shelf life and inventories constantly need to be replenished.

A healthy blood donor between the ages of 17 and 75 can donate every 56 days or about five to six times a years.

Educating the general public about the need to donate blood is a never-ending task.

For more information about donating blood, scheduling oneself to donate blood, or arranging for a group blood drive, go to www.nybloodcenter.org or call 1-800-933-2566.

Please donate blood today — a family member just may need it tomorrow.

Maggie O’Shea

executive director

New Jersey Blood Services

New Brunswick