Does PJM need to run new line through wildlife refuge?

Section of letter from the NJBPU to PMJ questioning route of proposed new power line

NJ Spotlight today reports on a letter from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to the regional electricity grid operator, PJM Interconnection, questioning why PJM staff is recommending a preferred route for a proposed new transmission line that would cut through a national wildlife refuge and state-run wildlife management areas. NJ Spotlight’s Tom Johnson writes: “The 18-mile high-voltage line will run from the Hope Creek nuclear power plant in Salem County to neighboring Delaware, a project designed to address potential reliability problems in the region. The current transmission lines are pushed to the limits of how much power they can deliver from the facility, according to the PJM. Like what you’re reading? Click here to get free updates

“The proposed route, one of nine projects under consideration, may affect the Supawana Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Pennsville, the Alloway Creek Watershed Wetland Restoration site, the Abbots Meadow Wildlife Management Area in Elsinboro, and the Mad Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area in Salem, according to the BPU letter mailed in early June. “In expressing concerns over the preferred route, the BPU compared the proposal with the highly contentious Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line now under construction, which also crosses federally protected land.” Read the full story here Recent posts: 
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Raritan Bay Superfund site lawsuit allowed to proceed 
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No, they won't tell you where the ginseng is growing

In Pennsylvania a few plant species – valuable and, in some cases, at risk of extinction –
are in a sort of plant "witness protection program," their identities and precise locations
kept secret as poachers hunt them for sale on the black market.

The Associated Press reports that, across the state, the plants are stolen for foreign markets, high-end restaurants or backyard gardens.

Harvested ginseng in Germany (Wikipedia photo)
"When there’s something rare or special in a place, someone, unfortunately, is going to try and take it," said Donald Schwartz, Bedford County’s planning director.
In Bedford’s current Natural Heritage Inventory, which land developers follow for permitting, at least eight locations feature secret species. The county isn’t alone: Across the state, government agencies avoid publishing the locations of sought-after plants like ginseng and rare orchids.

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Raritan Bay Superfund site lawsuit allowed to proceed

A lawsuit filed against a New Jersey town and county and the Army Corps of Engineers over the nearly $80 million cleanup of a Raritan Bay Superfund site can proceed, a federal judge ruled this week.

The Associated Press reports:
“U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp’s ruling means that NL Industries can continue its attempt to divide the costs of the cleanup of the site in the Laurence Harbor section of Old Bridge Township. The defendants include Old Bridge, Middlesex County, the Army Corps and more than two dozen individual companies that NL Industries claims are responsible for the contamination.

“The federal Environmental Protection Agency last year announced NL Industries was responsible for lead pollution at the site dating back decades and was liable for a cleanup estimated at $78.7 million, according to court filings. The company had operated a smelting plant in nearby Perth Amboy.
“NL Industries sued, claiming it never dumped any material at the site and that the state, county and township allowed a developer to build a seawall with soil contaminated by used batteries, scrap metals and other waste trucked from its plant by a third party.

“NL Industries is suing the state in a separate action in state Superior Court, said Christopher Gardner, an attorney representing the company.”

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Fracking waste water ban heads to NJ Gov Christie

For the second time in two years, the New Jersey Legislature has passed legislation that would prohibit the importation, processing or disposal of waste water generated during the natural-gas drilling process called fracking.

The state Assembly on Thursday voted its approval of S-1041 on a 62-16 vote. That follows
a 32-5 vote in the Senate.

In 2002, similar legislation was vetoed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie who more often than not sides with business interests, like the State Chamber of Commerce, Business and Industry Association, Chemistry Council and Petroleum Council–who all oppose the anti-fracking measure.

In passing the bill, New Jersey legislators joined lawmakers in several other northeast states that also seek to block fracking water produced by drilling companies in Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale.

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Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy last week signed into law a moratorium that outlaws the collection, storage, treatment, transfer or disposal of waste from hydraulic fracturing for at least three years. The law goes beyond a temporary ban to also require the state’s Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection to issue new regulations that mandate the “disclosure of the composition of the waste from hydraulic fracturing.”

Vermont led the pack in 2012, when it passed a law banning both fracking and the receipt of fracking wastewater.

Earlier this week, the New York Assembly passed a bill extending the state’s current moratorium on fracking for three-years. No action on the bill is expected in the state Senate before the fall.

Listen to our interviews with an advocate and an opponent
On Thursday, we spoke with an advocate of the frack water ban, and with a business opponent. Click on their names to hear the interviews. Doug O’Malley and Michael Egenton.

Related environment and energy news stories:
Northeastern States Push to Keep PA Fracking Waste Out
Will NJ Gov Christie Veto Frack Wastewater Ban a 2nd Time?
Fracking Debate Rages On – New Providence 
Pennsylvania Health Department employees instructed to hide

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Fracking waste water ban heads to NJ Gov Christie Read More »

Funding for open space hangs by a thread in New Jersey


Members of NJ Keep it Green, the environmental coalition that has been fighting for
two years to get the state legislature to adopt a dedicated funding source for open
space preservation, experienced the highs and lows of dealing with the state legislature
yesterday in Trenton.

Early in the afternoon, group members were elated when the state Senate provided overwhelming support (35-1) for SCR-84, a bill that would constitutionally dedicate a
portion of corporate business taxes to fund the preservation of open space, farmland,
and historic structures.

Within hours, however, hopes for final passage of the legislation in the Assembly,
before the legislature’s summer recess–and in time to get the measure on the
November ballot–were deflated when the Assembly’s Democratic leadership
decided not to post it for a vote. We spoke with Keep it Green‘s Tom Gilbert before the Assembly adjourned for the day, when there still was hope that the measure might be posted at an Assembly session scheduled for Monday, June 30. Today the Assembly canceled that session. 

Listen here to what Gilbert had to say  It appears now that the only chance that voters will get to decide the issue in November is
if the Assembly holds another session by early August and the bill is posted and passed. NJ Keep it Green no doubt will be pulling out all the stops to make that happen.    Related environmental news stories:
Open space bill sails through Senate, but Assembly deadline looms – NJ Spotlight
Opinion: NJ can’t give up on parks, open space preservation – The Times, Trenton
Environmentalists press NJ to include open-space funding question on ballot – Newsworks
EDITORIAL: Put open space bond on ballot – MyCentralJersey.com
Smith, Bateman tout bill reallocating corporate tax revenues for open space – PolitickerNJ

Recent posts:  
When pesticides were used, is remediation required?
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Funding for open space hangs by a thread in New Jersey Read More »