For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
For the second time, the New Jersey Water Supply Authority canceled their October 26th hearing on the renewal water permit for Trump’s National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey. The private golf club is located in the middle of the Highlands Preservation Area. The New Jersey Sierra Club opposed the issuing of the original permit under the Christie Administration and submitted opposition on its renewal to the Water Supply Authority. The hearing for Trump National’s water supply contract has been rescheduled to Monday, November 9, 2020 October 26, 10:00 a.m., with objections due by November 2.
“Why is New Jersey allowing Trump to delay this hearing past the election. This is the second time they have rescheduled. They keep delaying and Trump keeps over pumping water in the Highlands for this golf club. Bedminster is trying to cover up their wetlands violations and PFAS violations and let themselves off the hook. There has been a series of destruction at this golf course including cutting down trees, damaging buffers, and critical wetlands. It has been over a decade, and DEP have not held this golf course responsible for the environmental damage they have caused. Now forever chemicals have been found in the golf club’s tap water with levels that are three times higher than safe drinking levels,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “It seems like there is a laundry list of violations that Trump is trying to sweep under the rug for his golf course. This is wrong and he needs to be held accountable. NJ Water Supply Authority and the DEP should not let Trump get away with this. More importantly, his Bedminster golf course should be shut down until a full investigation is done.”
The golf club has been hit with several water and wetlands violations in over the last decade, including violations of the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act and the Flood Hazard Area Control Act. The combined total estimated unauthorized impacts within the regulated area found after a DEP inspection includes 2.8 acres of Freshwater Wetlands, 8.05 acres of Wetland Transition Area, 0.76 acres of State Open Waters and 4.075 acres of Stream Riparian Zones.
“Trump’s golf course in Bedminster has already caused serious damage to Exceptional Resource Wetlands near C1 streams. DEP found that over 10 acres of Freshwater Wetlands and transition areas were damaged. Their inspection also found damage to State Open Waters and over 4 acres of Stream Riparian Zones. The runoff of pesticides, herbicides fungicides and chemicals to maintain the course have impacted critical streams and environmentally sensitive areas in the Highlands,” said Tittel. “Wetlands are critical for the environment; they protect against flooding, improve water quality, recharge aquifers, and provide important habitat. They are especially important in this Highlands area because the Bain floods and it is right above a water supply intake.”
The Bedminster, N.J., property is a private, 600-acre, 36-hole golf course about 45 miles west of New York City in the Highlands Preservation Area. Trump bought the land in 2002 and shortly thereafter began building the golf course, which the Trump Organization now owns and operates. In 2016, The NJ Audubon Society entered into a 10 year partnership with Donald Trump.
“Trump gave himself cover from the environmental damages by hiring the NJ Audubon Society. They have a 10-year partnership with Trump. The NJ Audubon Society was part of the destruction of violations and provided green cover for the golf club to get its water withdrawal permits. The organization is guilty of violations, support clear cutting in the Highlands, and have misrepresented the facts time and time again, and have sided with polluters over the environment many times,” said Tittel. “In March of 2018, Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster had been fined $147,000 by state regulators over damaged wetlands. One of the culprits who Trump blamed was the New Jersey Audubon Society,”
Last November, A highly toxic Teflon chemical had been detected in the drinking water sources serving President Trump and other members of the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, N.J., according to a new analysis of water utility tests by the Environmental Working Group and first reported on by Politico. The levels of PFOA detected by an independent laboratory on behalf of the N.J. The Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, were at 3.5 and 3.6 parts per trillion, or ppt; more than three times higher than the 1 ppt that EWG scientists and other independent experts believe is safe for human health. There is no legal limit for PFAS chemicals under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, or SDWA.
“DEP should have done a full investigation as to why forever chemicals contaminated the tap water at the Bedminster golf club. PFAS can cause cancer and weaken immune systems. Exposure at high levels of these toxic chemicals can cause cancer and weaken the immune system. The golf course is also in the Highlands regions, so it is critical that the agency determines the source of the contamination before it spreads into C1 streams and drinking water in the Highlands,” said Tittel.
Donald Trump has found ways to get tax exempt for his Golf Courses in New Jersey. In 2016, Trump’s small goat herd, combined with hay farming and wood cutting, let him qualify for a New Jersey farmland tax break that saves him tens of thousands of dollars a year in property taxes on two golf courses Bedminster and Colts Neck.
“Trump is trying to use his wetland plan for Bedminster to distract attention away from his dirty deal on water. With this permit, Trump will be able to pump water from critical C1 streams, impact wetlands, lower groundwater for streams and contaminate this protected area with pesticides and chemicals used to maintain the course. The water diversion at Trump National, a private, exclusive golf club, is not a “public interest and necessity” as required by NJAC 7:11-3. Golf is for recreation, it’s not a necessity,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Trump got a free ride under the Christie Administration but now we have a new Governor that should hold this golf club accountable. They are reckless with the environment and with the health and safety of our community.”