LITTELL: DEP COMMISSIONER PROPOSES RAISING
PROPERTY TAXES TO PAY FOR BEAR-PROOF GARBAGE CANS

Senator Robert E. Littell, (R-24), issued the following statement regarding published comments by Lisa Jackson, the Commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Protection, that “she might ask the Legislature to require households in bear country such as Sussex County to use bear proof garbage containers.�
Senator Robert E. Littell, (R-24), issued the following statement regarding published comments by Lisa Jackson, the Commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Protection, that “she might ask the Legislature to require households in bear country such as Sussex County to use bear proof garbage containers.�

“It is unconscionable that Commissioner Jackson would propose requiring the citizens who live in ‘bear country to use bear proof containers.’ This unwarranted mandate from the Trenton bureaucrats would cost millions of dollars to further an extremist anti-hunting agenda. In fact DEP’s own information sheet on the web lists prices for bear proof garbage containers that range from $348 to more than $800. The prices for commercial bear-proof dumpsters range in the thousands of dollars.

“Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon and Warren counties had a combined total of 302,000 households in the 2000 census.

Multiplied by $400 that would drive the price of a bear-proof garbage container mandate to more than $121 million for the four counties. A price that would certainly be borne by the taxpayers.

“It is wrong to propose an expensive proposal like this when a scientifically valid, time tested alternative exists – a controlled hunt. The taxpayers of this state should not be forced to fund a politically motivated wildlife management experiment.�