States eye Dutch comprehensive environmental planning model

摘要

New Jersey and the Netherlands have much in common: small size, dense population, thriving industries and agriculture, major ports, and deep-seated environmental problems. When New Jersey officials heard about a Dutch long-range national plan to double gross national product by 2010 while reducing emissions and discharged waste by 70-90%, they were interested. In August 1994, a New Jersey delegation visited the Netherlands. Following that visit, state officials met with business people, environmentalists, health professionals, farmers, and citizens and began drawing up a plan to build a "sustainable state," according to Jane Kenny, who led the delegation as chief of policy and planning for the governor.