Voters yesterday easily approved ballot questions that will provide funding for libraries to undertake new capital projects and will ensure money collected from polluters is used to restore natural resources damaged from spills and other disasters.
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The second ballot question involves a constitutional amendment that will end a practice long decried by conservationists and some lawmakers: the diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars from lawsuit settlements involving polluters who have contaminated the state’s waters, wetlands, and other natural resources.
With approval of the question, the money will instead be used to restore those areas damaged by the pollution, or pay attorney fees for law firms that have represented the state in lawsuits. In the past, much of the money from recent settlements involving natural-resources damage suits has gone to balance the state budget.
“Those raids are done once and for all,’’ said Ed Potosnak, director of the League of Conservation Voters for New Jersey, which spent more than $400,000 promoting the ballot question. “Voters have done an amazing job in making sure politicians can’t continue to divert money that is supposed to restore the environment.’’
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