Atlantic County Utilities Authority receives national clean water award

 ACUA Lab Analyst Matthew McGill performs water testing in ACUA’s water testing laboratory.

Atlantic City, NJ – July 29, 2026 – The Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) has been honored with a Gold Peak Performance Award by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA).

“This recognition exemplifies the Authority’s continued commitment to environmental protection and is a testament to the hard work of our wastewater team,” said ACUA President Matthew DeNafo. “From performing tests in our laboratory to monitoring the plant’s operations around the clock, their work is essential to protecting the public health of our community.”

The Peak Performance awards are presented annually to NACWA member agencies that demonstrate operational excellence and achieve 100 percent compliance with their National Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The NPDES permit sets limits and reporting requirements for wastewater treatment facilities to ensure treated wastewater is safely returned to the environment.

“ACUA continually meets and exceeds permit requirements for wastewater treatment,” said ACUA Vice President of Wastewater Joseph Pantalone. “This award brings attention to the important work completed at this facility and the role it plays in preserving local waterways.”

The ACUA Wastewater Treatment Facility serves 14 municipalities in Atlantic County and can treat up to 40 million gallons of wastewater per day. The Authority manages more than 60 miles of pipeline and 22 pump stations. The facility is powered in part by renewable energy and is home to the world’s first microplastic removal project.

To give residents a closer look at this important work, ACUA provides free public tours of its facility every Wednesday in August at noon. Visitors learn how wastewater is treated and see firsthand how ACUA protects the environment. Visit acua.com for details.

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NJDEP says it hasn’t found a link explaining cancer cluster in Keyport


By Amanda Oglesby, Asbury Park Press, July 29, 2026

KEYPORT — New Jersey environmental authorities have found no evidence so far that contamination at a former manufacturing site and landfill along Raritan Bay is connected to cancer in the surrounding community, according to a recent statement from state officials.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials said they had received the results of soil, groundwater and soil-gas tests conducted in late spring at the former Keyport Sanitary Landfill and the Aeromarine Industrial Park. The agency is also investigating surface water around the landfill for contamination.

The sites have come under public scruti

ny in recent months amid claims by some residents that the properties’ contamination may be connected to cancers in the community.

The Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company manufactured aircraft and engines through the early 20th century at the adjacent site.

Environmental officials have known about the contamination in the area for decades, but the issue has gained public attention in recent months because Pacer Group Holdings LLC is considering purchasing the property.

Read the full article here

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Cherry Hill New Jersey prohibits large-scale data centers

Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher said the township “wanted to be proactive and make sure that we eliminated a problem before it became one.”

 

By Lacey Latch, Philadelphia Inquirer

Cherry Hill just became the latest municipality in New Jersey to formally ban the development of large-scale data centers.

The township council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday night that lists data centers as a non-permitted land use within the township’s borders.

“We don’t think that Cherry Hill should be a guinea pig,” Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher said after the council meeting. “So while the technology is evolving, we wanted to be proactive and make sure that we eliminated a problem before it became one.”

The ordinance also clarifies the difference between the now-forbidden data centers used for artificial intelligence or cloud storage and the small server rooms used by standalone businesses for file storage, which will still be permitted.

The move is consistent with the goals outlined in Cherry Hill’s master plan, said Christopher Dochney, a certified city planner who worked with the township on the ordinance.

This includes “maintaining Cherry Hill as a garden suburb, maintaining a desirable visual environment and attractive community, and wanting to preserve natural resources,” he said.

It also aligns with the economic development portion of the plan, he said, which prioritizes job creation, job retention, and “providing an economic boon to the residents of Cherry Hill.”

“[Data centers] consume a lot of land, they use a lot of water, they take up a lot of energy, and they also tend to be very big, ugly buildings,” Dochney said. “Things that are all directly inconsistent and contradictory to the stated goals of your master plan.”

For a data center to be built in the future, a developer would need a land-use variance from the township’s zoning board — generally the most difficult land-use approval to obtain, he said.

Up to this point, no data center developers have approached the township, “and we wanted to keep it that way,” Fleisher said.

The full story here.

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France orders 4,000 more evacuated as fires displaces hundreds of thousands across southwest Europe

By  THOMAS ADAMSON, MARK CARLSON and EMMA DA SILVA, AP

Updated 12:49 PM EDT, July 28, 2026

LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — French authorities ordered 4,000 more people evacuated from Atlantic coast tourist sites Tuesday, widening what may be France’s largest peacetime evacuation as returning heat threatened firefighters’ fragile hold on a vast wildfire west of Bordeaux.

Fire crews held the blaze in the Gironde region in check through a calm night, bringing flare-ups near coastal dunes under control and keeping the burned area unchanged at 420 square kilometers (162 square miles). Authorities called the fire stabilized, but not contained, and said it was still capable of breaking loose as temperatures rose and humidity fell.

Fresh flames erupted later Tuesday near Grand Crohot, a popular Atlantic beach on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula, local authorities said. A fleet of 23 planes and helicopters — up from 18 — dropped water and fire retardant as crews fought to keep the renewed flames from spreading.

Read the full story here

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New Jersey Urged to Enforce Horseshoe Crab Harvest Moratorium

RSHorseshoe-crabs-Gregory-Breese-USFWS-FPWC

CAPE MAY, N.J.— The Center for Biological Diversity and allies today petitioned a New Jersey agency to issue a declaratory ruling on a biomedical company’s persistent violation of the state’s moratorium on harvesting, killing and injuring horseshoe crabs.

“On paper, New Jersey is one of the best state protectors of horseshoe crabs, but look under the hood, and you’ll find it’s actually allowing a company to kill and injure horseshoe crabs in huge numbers,” said Danny Waltz, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “New Jersey must act quickly to fulfill the promise of its own laws and protect these highly imperiled animals and the endangered birds who depend on healthy crab populations.”

Through records requests made to the state, the conservation groups recently uncovered reports showing that Limuli Laboratories, a Cape May County biomedical company, annually injures thousands of horseshoe crabs as part of its collection of crabs to harvest their blood. Hundreds of these horseshoe crabs die. Limuli’s owner also publicly acknowledged that her company picks up horseshoe crabs by their telsons (tails), despite the scientific understanding that lifting crabs by their telsons can cause life-threatening harm.

Today’s petition asks the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to review Limuli’s activities under the state’s 2008 statutory moratorium on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs and issue a declaratory ruling as to whether Limuli is violating the law.

The moratorium generally prohibits all collection of horseshoe crabs, with an exception for capturing horseshoe crabs to harvest their blood for biomedical purposes. However, this exception requires the horseshoe crabs to be released “otherwise unharmed to the same waters from which they were collected.” The petition argues that the horseshoe crabs Limuli kills and injures are not released otherwise unharmed.

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