Mills wants to build Meadowlands Mills, 2.1 million sf of retailing, 1,000 hotel rooms and 2.2 million sf of office space. At issue is the environment. As DiFrancesco told the radio audience, "we have to be sensitive to the ecology, to wildlife, water quality--and to traffic. The question is, 'should we keep this tract pristine, or allow this project?'

"We've offered to find an alternate site," he continued. "We would like to see the jobs and tax revenues, but I don't see how it would help anyone to build on this site."

DiFrancesco inherited a hornet's nest after taking over from Gov. Christie Whitman, who became the head of EPA. Two of the hottest issues in New Jersey are the controversial Nets/Devils arena in Newark and the even more controversial Mills project. There may be a connection. If the Nets and Devils get their arena, Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands would become surplus, and could be razed and become an alternate site for the Mills project.

DiFrancesco can't legally block Mills, but serving simultaneously as acting governor and president of the State Senate, he can marshall appropriate state agencies to effectively accomplish that. The Federal EPA is already against it, and the Army Corps of Engineers, which has crucial permitting power, is openly leaning against it. Mills proposes to develop 200 acres and restore 300 polluted acres nearby, but the trade-off may not be enough.

As for other interested parties, the borough of Carlstadt is openly miffed at the governor's stance. Bergen County is noncommital as long as the project ends up within its borders. Labor unions aren't happy. Environmentalists are ecstatic.

"We continue to offer to find alternate sites, because we are still in favor of economic development," DiFrancesco concluded. "This just isn't the right place for this project."