COA Launches the Municipal Blue Star Program

While New Jersey towns are earning certifications in the Sustainable New Jersey Program, they're also eligible to become Blue Star municipalities. On Thursday, September 18th at Richard Stockton College, Clean Ocean Action (COA) is officially launching its Municipal Blue Star Program.

COA Coastal Programs Coordinator Cara Muscio said the Blue Star program informs towns about the actions they can take to reduce stormwater pollution and improve water quality. It also allows them to perform task to earn points toward a Blue Star Award.

"Just as an example, one of the actions is to have an environmental 'Green Fair', if it's for our program to focus on storm water and water quality as part of the green outreach education event," said Muscio.

The program works in coordination with the Sustainable New Jersey Certification Program, which already requires towns to perform certain task to receive these certifications. Muscio, said the Municipal Blue Star Program has added a list of water quality improvement tasks to the list.

"And so while they're going through their Sustainable Jersey process, if they accumulate 50% of their points from our action list, they then qualify to become a Blue Star," said Muscio.

However, only towns registered or certified in the Sustainable Jersey program is eligible to work toward a Blue Star Award.

COA will also be show-casing Environmental Canine Services Pollution Detection Dogs at the event.

"They're training the dogs just like they would train them to detect bombs or drugs or anything like that, to detect the signature of human fecal bacteria," explains Muscio.

The program takes place at Richard Stockton College on Thursday, September 18th from 9am to 1pm. To register visit Clean Ocean Actions Blue Star Launch registration page or call Clean Ocean Action at 732-872-0111.