The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting statements of interest from organizations interested in hosting the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program (June 26, 2013, New York City).
The Harbor & Estuary Program, which has worked to protect and restore waterways throughout the New York-New Jersey Harbor for over 25 years, is currently located at the EPA Region 2 office in New York City.
The EPA has determined that having the program hosted by an outside non-federal organization will increase the opportunities for partnerships between public and private entities and will align the program with the vast majority of estuary programs throughout the country, which are largely hosted by outside groups.
The organization chosen to host the program will receive an EPA grant to support its work.
Congress established the National Estuary Program in the 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act. Its purpose is to promote the development and implementation of comprehensive management plans for estuaries of national significance that are threatened by pollution, development or overuse.
At the request of the governors of New York and New Jersey, the EPA accepted the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary into the National Estuary Program in 1988.
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Press Release, June 12, 2013