Landfill Protesters Confront Christie Outside NJ 101.5 Studio

Gov. Christie was confronted by a group of angry protesters as he approached the NJ 101.5 studios earlier today on his way to the Ask the Governor program. The protesters are concerned about hydrogen sulfide emissions wafting from the Fenimore landfill into the nearby town of Roxbury, in Morris County, and say Christie isn't doing enough to help battle the problem.

The group, called REACT, is asking Christie to "truck out" waste materials buried in the Fenimore landfill. As Christie entered the studios today, the group chanted: "Who are we? Roxbury. What do we want? Truck it out!"

Christie, surrounded by his security detail, walked directly past the protesters on his way into the studio. On his way out, several chased his departing SUVs, one of them shouting and cursing as the motorcade pulled away.

While in studio, Christie responded to a caller who asked about the landfill situation, saying that he will not allow the materials to be trucked out.

"A whole group of folks in Roxbury want the stuff trucked out," Christie said during the program. "If you want me to shut down the town of Roxbury for the 18 to 24 months it would take to truck the material out of the Fenimore landfill, you be the governor and impose that decision, but I'm not going to." Instead of trucking away the waste, the Department of Environmental Protection is capping the landfill.

The department blames SEP, a contractor brought in to cap the landfill in 2012, for initially introducing the emissions.

The caller also expressed concern that not enough testing had been done on the landfill site to determine the environmental and health effects.

"You’re wrong about that," Christie said. "Not all the testing some of the groups wanted was done, but it has been done."

Bob Schulz, the president of REACT and one of those gathered outside the NJ 101.5 studio during Ask the Governor, said if Christie would stop and talk to him, he would "beg him to reconsider his decision to get this stuff trucked out of the landfill."

"Do the right thing, man up, and do what’s right for the people and kids of Roxbury," Schulz added.