In the wake of disturbing news that harmful contaminants were found in the waters and beaches along Ocean County’s shoreline last week, U.S. Reps. Chris Smith (NJ-04) and Jim Saxton (NJ-03) have called on U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to initiate an investigation to determine the responsible parties and prosecute them for violating federal anti-dumping laws.

    “The sewage and waste that washed up on our beaches last weekend pose a serious health hazard to Ocean County residents and visitors, not to mention the irreversible damage it caused to the local economies on one of the busiest beach-going weekends of the year,” Smith said. “In light of this, Jim and I are asking the U.S. Attorney to use the rigorous federal laws on the books to go after these polluters. Those responsible should—and must—be held accountable for their actions.”

    “Chris and I have seen too many occurrences of this type over the years,” said Saxton, who was one of the authors of the Medical Waste Tracking Act in the House in 1988 that was later signed into law. “In the 1980s, we in New Jersey fought to end medical waste dumping at sea, with some success. This is a bad reminder of those not-so-good old days. I hope the U.S. Attorney can track down the responsible party and apply the law. Beach tourism is the lifeblood of Ocean County and the entire Jersey Shore and incidents like this threaten that tourism appeal.”

    In a letter to Christie, the two shore-area Congressmen noted that similar events in the 1980’s involving the dumping of medical waste resulted in federal statutes designed to permanently end this practice, including the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-688). Smith and Saxton are calling on Christie to use the power of the U.S. Attorney’s office to hold those to blame for dumping harmful contaminants into the waters along the Jersey shoreline last weekend accountable—contaminants which include hypodermic needles and human waste.

    “While we are encouraged that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and local authorities are working to uncover the source of the pollution, we believe those responsible should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and a federal probe into whether federal laws were broken will add significant accountability and scrutiny,” Smith and Saxton’s letter said.