Hercules Testimony Never Given at Roxbury Planning Board

My prepared testimony for the open public Roxbury Planning Board hearing on the  Hartz Mountain application to build a warehouse on the Hercules property was never delivered. The application for the 54-acre warehouse was suddenly withdrawn, so no meeting open to the public on the warehouse was held.  Here below is the testimony I didn't give.

My frustration with the planning board meetings is that all public comments after testimony given in the hearings could only relate to the testimony given by the witnesses. The public was able to raise questions or concerns outside of what Hartz Mountain representatives or planning board members presented.

This restriction is understandable and unavoidable for the functioning of the planning board, but it is still very frustrating for the public. I looked forward to an open public planning Board meeting. I wrote my comments to highlight one small example of the larger need for a more scientific environmental study of habitats on the Hercules property. 

Comments by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

Mine Hill, N.J.

May 1, 2024

I am what the Raritan Headwater’s Association (RHA) calls a citizen scientist who volunteers to monitor streams for the organization. This means I have been specially trained by them and certified as a stream monitor by the New Jersey DEP. Since 2018 I have monitored a section of the Black River about 150 yards from where it flows out of the Hercules-Kenvil property. 

I believe the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that Hertz Mountain Corporation prepared as part of their General Site Permit is inadequate for this board’s purposes. The EIS is not sufficiently site-specific to the actual fauna and flora that will be impacted. An adequate habitat inventory and assessment are lacking. My statement here tonight is to provide just one example of why a specific environmental evaluation matters at this site. 

 

A difference of 5 degrees Centigrade, or 9 degrees Fahrenheit, in-stream water doesn’t sound like much. Still, it could be the difference between survival and extinction for the American Brook Lamprey that lives in the Black River between Hercules and Sunset Lake. 

 

American Brook Lamprey are prehistoric freshwater fish that have survived every natural calamity over the past 360 million years. They are essentially unchanged from their earliest fossil records dating back that far. No one knows for how many millennia these “living fossils” have inhabited the Black River in Kenvil, but residents just downstream from Hercules have seen them for the past three years. 

 

This should be good news. The American Brook Lamprey are pollution intolerant. Their presence in the stream is the best proof Ashland Chemical has that an array of toxic chemicals in the soil is staying put rather than migrating into the "Great Spring” in the southern wetlands. These fish are also intolerant of high turbidity, high saltation, manmade barriers such as dams, and water temperatures above 20 degrees Centigrade, or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 

For this reason, the U.S. EPA considers the Brook Lamprey an excellent biological indicator of water quality in our streams.  If the waters flowing from the Great Spring on the Hercules property were tainted with toxins, turbid, salt, or were too warm, the lamprey would not be present at the RHA monitoring site. Some barriers would prevent them from migrating to the monitoring site from below Sunset Lake.

 

I am the New Jersey DEP-certified stream monitor for the Black River site where water exits Hercules. Each year, my volunteer colleagues and I collect samples for laboratory analysis of the macroinvertebrates that live in the stream bed. This section of the stream is not well suited for the HDMI water quality index that is based on the macroinvertebrates analysis because the stream flows over a smooth bed of glacial sand. There are no cobbles or riffles to add oxygen to the water. Because cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, the coolness of this water iscritical for all the aquatic life in this part of the stream. Ialso measure the stream's temperature, volume, and turbidity every year. On the warmest June monitoring day in 2022, after three-quarters of an inch of rain fell 18 hours prior, the water temperature was just at 20 degrees Centigrade (68 degrees F). This is the upper limit beyond which the American Brook Lamprey cannot survive. Also, the water was only slightly turbid after a substantial rainfall that day. 

 

This observation matters because, up until a few weeks ago, I had never seen an unusual amount of turbidity after a rainstorm at the monitoring site. High turbidity after a rain event often signals that an abundance of soil or other sediments is entering the stream. 

 

On April 13, 2024, I observed substantial turbidity at the monitoring site after a significant rainstorm. I photographed the stream and then went to each accessible location where water entered the property. No significant inflow of turbid water was observed at this location. I photographed those sites as well. This suggests that the soil causing this excess turbidity may be coming from the bioremediation area where acres of soil have been excavated and exposed. If so, this raises the possibility of toxins in the soil migrating off-site. For the lamprey, increased turbidity and the possibility of toxins entering the water puts them at risk. 

 

Why Else should the Lamprey’s survival matter?

Among the many good reasons, these ancient survivors have one of the most robust immune systems on the planet. Scientists are convinced that lampreys hold genetic secrets that might someday unlock ways to enhance our immunity from diseases. There is an urgency among scientists to study these fish because their numbers are dwindling. They are already listed as an endangered species in several nearby states. In New Jersey, they will soon be listed as a “species of interest.” This will allow the DEP to study them more carefully and determine if they need to be protected. 

 

My comments here highlight just one example of where the EIS falls short of assessing the potential environmental impacts of the proposed development on the aquatic habitat at Hercules. I would ask this board to take this information into consideration as you make your decision regarding the General Site Plan approval.

POST SCRIPT:  Since I wrote this the NJDEP Fish and Game took an interest in the lamprey in the Upper Black River, conducted a fish survey, and discovered that the stream is also home to first-of-the-year brook trout. The stream categorization will be upgraded to C1-TP which is the highest level of protection.