Dispute arises when enviro-advocate is rejected for spot on panel to consider changes to Highlands region plan

Highlands trail marker - Steven Reynolds photo
                      Highlands trail marker – Steven Reynolds photo

The appointment of a four-member committee to develop possible revisions to New Jersey’s management plan for the Highlands region touched off an immediate dispute, Ben Horowitz reports in the Star-Ledger.

Some council members and environmentalists say three of the four committee members have been critical of the Highlands Act, which was passed in 2004, and that one outspoken environmentalist, Tracy Carluccio, was rejected when she offered to serve on the panel. They fear the revisions may weaken the master plan’s environmental protections.

***Like what you’re reading? Click here to get free blog updates***    Council Chairman Jim Rilee, who appointed the committee and is a member, denied there will be any bias and said the panel’s work will seek an objective balancing of “the concerns of property owners and the environmental perspective.”

“We’re appointed to uphold that law,” Rilee said. “Whatever personal opinions people may have, they are just that.”

New Jersey Highlands Coalition’s Executive Director Julia Somers called Rilee’s failure to appoint Carluccio “very unfortunate.” Carluccio described
the decision as ‘exclusionary.’

Rilee’s reaction?

“Tracy’s upset about everything. I can’t specifically identify what she’s talking about this time. I think she’s incorrect, as I usually do.”

Read the full story here

Related environmental news stories:
New Jersey Highlands development waiver proposed to restore ‘economic viability’
Grants available for grassroots groups working to protect Highlands

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Dispute arises when enviro-advocate is rejected for spot on panel to consider changes to Highlands region plan Read More »

Will new climate studies affect rate hike petition in NJ?

utilitypoles tilting during Mar 6 nor'easter in Cape May County - Ted Greenburg photo

"With hearings about to end on a petition by Public Service Electric & Gas to spend $2.6 billion to harden its power infrastructure, the utility could be encouraged by the release of independent reports saying climate change poses a serious strain on energy supplies,"
Tom Johnson writes today in NJ Spotlight.

"It is an argument the Newark company frequently has made during the hearings before the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, which are expected to end today. PSE&G noted that the three worst storms in its more than century-old history, which left millions of customers without power, all occurred in the past 18 months.

"The reports, prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy and by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, suggest that existing energy production and use are at risk of cascading failures."


The BPU faces a delicate political decision. One the one side is the need to give utilities rate increases high enough to fund the hardening of their facilities and equipment against future storms. On the other is the fact that New Jersey residential and business customers already pay among the highest electric bills in the nation.

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Will new climate studies affect rate hike petition in NJ? Read More »

Capitol Hill Enviro-Calendar: March 6, 2014


Agriculture, Energy and Environment Policy and Legislation

THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014

 HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE
Subcommittee on Energy and Power
9:00 a.m. 2123 Rayburn
Hearing entitled "Benefits of and Challenges to Energy Access in the 21st Century: Fuel Supply and Infrastructure", 9 a.m.
 
HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES
Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation
10:00 a.m. 1324 Longworth
Hearing on the following legislation: H.R. 414, to provide for the continued lease or eventual conveyance of certain Federal land within the boundaries of Fort Wainwright Military Reservation in Fairbanks, Alaska; H.R. 1839, the "Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act of 2013"; H.R. 2430, the "Hinchliffe Stadium Heritage Act of 2013"; and H.R. 3606, the "Emigrant Wilderness Historical Use Preservation Act of 2013"

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SENATE AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

10:00 a.m. SR-328A
To hold hearings to examine the nominations of Timothy G. Massad, of Connecticut, to be Chairman, Sharon Y. Bowen, of New York, and J. Christopher Giancarlo, of New Jersey, all to be a Commissioner, all of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,10 a.m., SR-328A.
 
 SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
11:00 a.m. SR-253 (202) 224-4852
To hold hearings to examine enhancing our rail safety, focusing on current challenges for passenger and freight rail, 11 a.m.
 
SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
10:00 a.m. SD-406
To hold hearings to examine preventing potential chemical threats and improving safety, focusing on oversight of the President’s executive order on improving chemical facility safety and security, 10 a.m., SD-406.

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Fracking waste battle under way in Connecticut

 “The legislative battle over banning or regulating “fracking waste” in Connecticut opened Friday with a barrage of testimony about the environmental dangers this industrial byproduct may bring, Gregory B. Hladky reports in the Hartford Courant.

“Connecticut’s new commissioner of energy and environmental protection, Robert Klee, urged lawmakers to give the state authority to regulate the wastes produced by natural gas drilling as a hazardous material.
“He said a bill proposed by his agency would give state regulators “cradle-to-grave oversight” for any fracking waste products that might enter Connecticut.
“Activists like Leah Lopez Schmalz, of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, insisted Klee’s plan would be “an incomplete solution” to the problem and that the best way to safeguard public health in this state would be to ban potentially toxic fracking waste completely.”



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