State Sen. Michael Testa (R-1) has introduced a 53-page bill to rename Delaware Bay as the Bay of New Jersey in “all statutes and official references under New Jersey law.”
Emulating President Donald Trump’s move six months ago to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, Testa, a supporter of Trump policies, says his real goal is to highlight the state’s bay shore communities, which stretch from Cape May County up through Cumberland County and into Salem County.
These communities are often forgotten under the gold dome in Trenton, Testa said recently on the Dom Giordano radio show.
More directly pertinent to the renaming of the bay, Testa pointed to the 52 miles of bay shoreline in New Jersey compared to 28 in Delaware, calling it “unfair” that Delaware gets to claim the bay when New Jersey has so many more bay shore communities along its border.
Delaware Bay is an estuary of the Delaware River, which is not mentioned as being in need of renaming in the legislation. Both river and bay were named long before Delaware became a state. Delaware ratified the Constitution before New Jersey did.
The bay’s 782 square miles are bordered by six counties, three in Delaware and three in New Jersey. The bay’s mouth is framed by Cape Henlopen in Delaware and Cape May in New Jersey and traversed daily by the Cape May-Lewes Ferry run by the Delaware River and Bay Authority.
A question: Would the authority have to become the Delaware River and New Jersey Bay Authority in New Jersey statutes? From DRBA to DRNJBA?
Testa’s bill would require that all state departments, agencies and instrumentalities revise their websites, printed material, signage, maps and other public documents to reflect the new designation. All of this would be at taxpayer expense.
It also requires that the state notify relevant federal agencies of the name change, including requests to reflect this designation in federal documents and materials. A big ask, but one that the federal government now has some experience with given the renaming of the southern gulf.
There is some doubt that Testa, a member of Trenton’s minority party, expects the bill to pass. The bill is as long as it is because it lists various places where amendments must be made to reflect the proposed name change.
Delaware Bay got its name more than 400 years ago. The name came from the third baron de la Warr, who governed the colony of Virginia.
Social media comments from the other side of the bay show Delawareans don’t care for Testa’s proposal at all. The two states have had their share of boundary disputes and even argued them before the Supreme Court. This would only be New Jersey law, but it has Delaware officials already scoffing at the idea.
Perhaps a compromise exists. The native peoples of the area, the Lenni-Lenape, called the bay Poutaxat, which means “near the falls.” It is short and historical.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
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