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MEDROW ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR SUBWAY CAR REEF BUILDING SAYS PROGRAM COULD TURN BARREN AREAS INTO A FISHING PARADISE

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EDISON, NJ  — Ric Medrow, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Monday urged Gov. James E. McGreevey to adopt plans to accept subway cars from New York City for the reefs off the New Jersey coast.

Acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco killed a plan sink 650 of the 1300 subway cars New York has available as part of the ongoing reef-building program last spring. The idea, however, was revived at a meeting of state legislators Tuesday in Somers Point.

“I believe in solving, not spending. This is a perfect example. New York City was willing to clean up these cars and barge them out to the reef site for free. Normally, taxpayers pay big money to build our New Jersey reefs. But our acting governor turned down free subway cars last spring,” said Medrow yesterday at a press conference at 6 p.m. on board the Norma K III at Ken’s Landing in Point Pleasant.

Fishing is a mainstay of New Jersey’s tourism industry, which brings billions to New Jersey’s economy annually. Fishing alone pumps $1.5 to 2.1 billion to the state’s economy.

After New Jersey turned down the subway cars, Delaware accepted 400 of them and put them on their reefs last fall. Delaware expects to receive $2 million in matching funds from the federal government as a result of its decision to accept the cars.

“Do you think that Gov. McGreevey could use that money given the current
budget crisis?” Medrow asked. “They’ve turned their ocean floor in Delaware
from a desert into an oasis. It’s a paradise for marine life. It is really helping their fishermen.”

Medrow said that if New Jersey does not accept the remaining cars, some other state will. In addition to Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia currently have plans to take subway cars for their own reefs.

“I am certainly not here from out of state to tell you folks in New Jersey what to do. But my fishermen in Delaware would be glad to take the cars if you don’t want them,” said Jeff Tinsman, a Delaware official at Tuesday’s hearing.

While most environmentalists and public officials believe the plan is safe and environmentally responsible, some groups have pointed out that the cars contain a small amount of asbestos. According to Bill Muir, an oceanographer at the Environmental Protection Agency, sinking subway cars off of our shores would do no harm to our oceans but would help support fish populations. “There is no public health threat from this asbestos,” Muir said.

Tinsman agreed. “There really is no risk from non-friable asbestos,” Tinsman said.

Medrow said he would never support any plan that he thought would harm New Jersey’s oceans.

“Do you know that asbestos occurs naturally in New Jersey soil?” Medrow said. “Here is the worst case scenario that scientists have been able to paint. After 25 to 28 years, the subways cars we sink off the New Jersey coast will collapse from the water pressure. They will become a pile of rubble that contains less asbestos than New Jersey soil already does. And there it will stay. The asbestos in these subway cars is not water soluble and may never be released in sea water.”