Dear DEP Team:

I want to send a quick note to all of you to introduce myself and to thank you all for a very warm welcome.

I am very honored to be your new Commissioner and to lead this wonderful organization. While I've only been here 6 days, I see many good things happening here, and a very talented group of professionals. At the same time, I do see things we can do better and must do better to fulfill Governor Christie’s agenda for action.

Like the Governor, I am personally committed to ensuring that the DEP protects New Jersey’s water, air, land and precious natural resources, and that we rapidly and predictably issue permits, clean up contaminated sites and ensure we protect our treasured open space for future generations. Additionally, our regulations and decisions need to be based on sound science, facts and a robust cost/benefit analysis. We will also continue to vigorously enforce the environmental laws of this state to protect the health and safety of all our citizens. At the same time, in the face of a collapsed economy, we need to play a key role in the economic growth of this State.

My style is to be open and honest and to work with all of you as a team. I want to empower decision making down through our chain of command and have all who come before us for service treated as valued customers.

I plan on walking through most of our locations over the next few weeks to meet as many of you as possible (I think I'm up to about 3 floors completed at 401 E. State) and will continue walking around our Trenton campus for an hour or so most days. A little later in my tenure I also plan to visit as many of our offices, parks and historic sites as possible located outside of Trenton.

There are a lot of very talented people here and I want you all to be part of the solution in improving our operations, efficiency and service to the public.

My commitment to all of you is that I will work as hard as I possibly can to make DEP a great place to work while we continue to protect the environment of this beautiful State. Most importantly, I will always listen and my door is always open.

Thanks!

Bob Martin
Acting Commissioner