Christie Wants To Remove Longtime Pinelands Commission Member

TRENTON - Gov. Chris Christie will not nominate a longtime environmental law expert for another term on the state Pinelands Commission, a move that has angered the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and activists who plan to protest in Trenton today.

Christie nominated Edward McGlinchey to replace Edward Lloyd as a gubernatorial representative on the Commission.

"This is an extreme move by a lame duck governor to remove an environmental champion from the Commission," Pinelands Preservation Alliance Executive Director Carleton Montgomery said. "This is political retribution for Mr. Lloyd's staunch support of the rules that protect the Pinelands, which have, at times, put him at odds with the Governor."

The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the state Capitol in Trenton to discuss the matter. The Committee must approve McGlinchey's nomination before it goes a final vote in the state Senate.

"The Judiciary Committee needs to see a significant physical presence in Trenton," Montgomery said. "They need to know that the public is watching and that we expect them to act with integrity and stop this act of political retribution."

Lloyd has been a Pinelands Commission member since 2002. He is an environmental law expert, has served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Environmental Litigation and is a member of the Litigation Review Committee of the Environmental Defense Fund. He is an environmental law profession at Columbia Law School. he was the founding director of the Rutgers University Environmental Law Clinic.

"The Pinelands Commission is once again under attack," said Marianne P. Clemente, the regional chapter leader of the Organizing for Action - Jersey Shore. "Not only did Christie stack the deck on the Commission to force a "yes" vote on allowing South Jersey Gas to build their pipeline through our precious and pristine Pinelands, but now, as a lame duck, he plans to replace one of our most beloved environmental champions (Ed Lloyd) on the Commission with one of his "yes" people."

Patch will update if any action is taken at today's Committee hearing.

Photo: Patricia A. Miller