The DEP has scheduled a hearing on March 7, 2001 to solicit public comments on the Proposed Priority System, Intended Use Plan, and Project Priority List for Federal Fiscal Year 2002 (PPS-FFY2002) for New Jersey's clean water and drinking water State Revolving Fund (SRF) Programs. Both programs are administered by the Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program, which is a partnership between the DEP and the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust. The hearing on the PPS-FFY2002 will be held at the offices of the Trust located at 3131 Princeton Pike, Building #6 in Lawrenceville, New Jersey (609-219-8600).

The hearing for the clean water and drinking water PPS will begin at 2:00 p.m. and conclude either at 4:00 p.m., or at the end of testimony, whichever is sooner. Presentations may be made orally or in writing. The period for submitting written comments on the proposal will close March 21, 2001 (comments must be postmarked by that date). All comments submitted by the above deadline will be considered in the preparation of the final Priority System for FFY2002.

The Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program provides low-interest loans for water quality management projects. Projects eligible for funding include all areas of wastewater treatment and collection, stormwater/nonpoint source pollution management projects including equipment purchases and land acquisition for water quality protection, and drinking water projects that are needed to comply with safe drinking water standards.

The PPS-FFY2002 documents have three major parts: the priority system, the intended use plan, and the project priority list. In general, the priority system describes the ranking methods used in prioritizing projects, the intended use plan discusses the use of SRF funds, and the priority list presents the FFY2002 clean water and drinking water projects in descending order of priority.