Russ Zimmer

@RussZimmer

TRENTON - State senators looking for answers as to why New Jersey came in last in a competition for $1 billion worth of disaster protection funds were asking the wrong people during a committee hearing Thursday.

Testimony was heard from planning experts, conservationists and homeowners, but not one state or federal official was called to account for what went wrong.

"We expect to hear from (federal Housing and Urban Development) officials and the (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection) at a follow-up hearing a few weeks from now," said Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Bergen, chairman of the Senate's Legislative Oversight Committee.

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Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat from Camden County, pledged to lean on New Jersey's Congressional delegation to get federal bureaucrats to participate.

"The (Christie) administration needs to provide their people too, to tell us where the feds were wrong... because if (the feds) made the mistake we can fight it," he said. "If it was ours then we need to correct it."

The hearing was in response to last month's announcement that New Jersey had been awarded $15 million through the National Disaster Resilience Competition. It was a paltry sum compared to the largesse given to both New York City ($176 million) and New York state ($35.8 million).

Even 46,000-person Minot, N.D., got five times more than New Jersey. Coming in behind Minot and Shelby County, Tenn., was particularly galling to New Jersey officials considering the grant money was originally pledged to the superstorm Sandy-affected region as part of a $60 billion federal aid package.

New Jersey had submitted "a weaker application," said Julian Castro, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, at the time of the announcement.

In fact, Castro said the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was given feedback and the opportunity to resubmit its application and still fell short.

MORE:New Jersey loses big to New York City, others for disaster money

National Disaster Resiliency Competition awards:

But the committee's hearing comes before HUD, the gatekeeper of the NDRC money, releases key details on how it scored any individual application.

At the beginning of the hearing, Democrats on the panel seized on reports that the Christie administration had dropped the ball by ignoring important grant requirements and not seeking advice or help.

However, the criticisms levied toward the Christie administration Thursday were fueled entirely by Castro's vague comments to reporters rather than the specifics of where the state slipped up. HUD won't make those score sheets available to the state or the public until Feb. 22.

Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean Jr., R-Union, called Thursday's hearing "premature" and chided Gordon for "a frustratingly partisan introduction."

Gov. Chris Christie's office released a statement saying that it was "hard to view this hearing as anything but political" and calling again for a Congressional investigation of HUD.

Another hearing with state and federal officials should be scheduled in the coming weeks, according to Gordon.

MORE: Toms River receives $4.9 million FEMA grant

One question that resurfaced time and again Thursday was whether the projects the state pitched would have been the best use of the grant money.

"Of all the projects that this state needs, no, I didn't think that was a good project. ... It was really one from the (1970s) rather than one that was moving us forward," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, referring to a $236-million flood protection project near Little Ferry and Moonachie.

"We have a state where every time we have a full moon and a coastal storm we have a lot of property damage."

MORE:What to do if HUD agents knock on your door?

The other project proposed was a $75 million bus garage in Secaucus, which had some people scratching their heads.

“How does building a bus station in the Meadowlands protect anybody from flooding?” said Bill Sheehan, founder of the Hackensack Riverkeeper, a conservationist group.

A video retrospective of New Jersey's most costly natural disaster:

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com

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