NJ environment bills in committee in Trenton – Feb 24

Legislation to allow small, controlled fires in state forests (to prevent larger ones), establish fishing licenses for the taking of Menhaden, set carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide air quality standards for ice arenas, and require state buildings to be topped with green or blue roofs are among nine environmental bills up for debate Monday at 2 p.m. in Assembly committees.

Here’s the lineup.

ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Committee Room 15, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
A-1275  Dancer, R.S. (R-12); Conaway, H. (D-7);
Caride, M. (D-36)
Authorizes prescribed burning in certain circumstances.
     
A-1775  McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Moriarty, P.D. (D-4);
Chivukula, U.J. (D-17)
Establishes forest stewardship program for State-owned lands.
     
A-2684  Andrzejczak, B. (D-1)
Establishes Menhaden Personal Use and Limited Sale
License and permits use of certain gear for taking of menhaden.
     Feb 24, 2014  – Posted: Assembly Agriculture
and Natural Resources
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ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT AND SOLID WASTE

Committee Room 9, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
A-361  Caputo, R.R. (D-28); Chivukula, U.J. (D-17)
Requires Department of Health and Senior Services to establish carbon monoxide and nitrogen
dioxide air quality standards and certification requirements for ice arenas.
     
A-1726  Eustace, T.J. (D-38); Lagana, J.A. (D-38);
Mosquera, G.M. (D-4)
Amends “Flood Hazard Area Control Act” to
require DEP to take certain actions concerning delineations of flood hazard
areas and floodways.
     
A-1828  Lampitt, P.R. (D-6); Vainieri Huttle, V.
(D-37); McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Stender, L. (D-22)
Requires BPU to establish Energy Efficiency Leadership
awards program.
     
A-1928  Conaway, H. (D-7); Singleton, T. (D-7);
Riley, C.M. (D-3)
Requires DEP to conduct vibration analysis along routes
for disposal of dredged material from Delaware River.  Related Bill: S-1301
     
A-2303  DeAngelo, W.P. (D-14)
Requires certain State departments, divisions,
commissions, and authorities to consider use of green or blue roof in
construction of certain new State buildings, facilities, and structures.
     
AR-48  Chivukula, U.J. (D-17); McKeon, J.F. (D-27);
Gusciora, R. (D-15)
Urges NJ participation in Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative because of its importance to national security and energy
independence.

Recent posts:NY village, enviros clash over water sales to fracker
     

NJ environment bills in committee in Trenton – Feb 24 Read More »

NY village, enviros clash over water sales to fracker

Farmland in rural Steuben County, New York (Wikipedia)

Environmental groups and a New York village will be in court Monday arguing over the sale of water to a Shell Oil Company subsidiary for shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania, the Associated Press‘s Mary Esch reports.

The Sierra Club and People for a Healthy Environment won a court injunction in March 2013 stopping the Finger Lakes village of Painted Post from further water shipments under a 2012 contract with SWEPI LP, a Shell subsidiary drilling gas wells in Pennsylvania.

The five-year contract called for up to a million gallons of water per day shipped by rail, and Painted Post officials anticipated earning up to $2.5 million a year on the deal.

But a trial judge ruled that Painted Post officials improperly conducted the project’s environmental impact review and halted the sales, a decision the New York State Conference of Mayors says could endanger thousands of water-sale contracts that help financially struggling towns in New York.

A state appeals court in Rochester will hear arguments Monday in the appeal by the village and SWEPI. 

Read the full story here

Related environmental news stories:
Visualization: Water for Fracking in Ten Texas Counties – Texas Tribune
Group hears about fracking water needs – Fort Morgan Times
Exxon CEO Joins Suit Citing Fracking Concerns – Wall Street Journal
How to Save Water on Fracking – Bloomberg
Trading water for fuel is fracking crazy – rabble.ca (blog)

Recent posts: 

Little fracking concern in some Pa towns without zoning 



NY village, enviros clash over water sales to fracker Read More »

NJ reporter wins award for Bridgegate coverage

Shawn Boburg, the reporter for The Record (Bergen County, NJ) whose coverage of the role of political payback in the creation of four days of traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge last September has left Governor Christie’s presidential aspirations in doubt, is a winner of the annual George Polk journalism award, it was announced Sunday night.
 

The Polk Awards are granted by Long Island University to honor special achievement in journalism. The awards, which place a premium on investigative and enterprise reporting that gains attention and achieves results, were established in 1949 by LIU to commemorate Gorge Polk,
a CBS correspondent murdered in 1948 while covering
the Greek civil war.

Other winners in the 65th annual awards included three reporters from the British newspaper The Guardian and one from The Washington Post who revealed the extent of secret surveillance and data collection by the National Security Agency.

Read the full story here 

Related:
The Record nails Christie story – Washington Post How a local reporter broke the Christie story – Video (Rachel Maddow)

Little fracking concern in some Pa towns without zoning
Scientists generate more energy out than energy in?

NJ reporter wins award for Bridgegate coverage Read More »

After outages, the question is, why not bury power lines?

                                                                                                    Photo by Michael Bryant – Philadelphia Inquirer

For many of us who were without power for days or more during recent storms, the thought arises, why not bury power lines? A fallen tree or branch can’t snap a line what isn’t dangling overhead, right?


Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Andrew Maykuth (and others below) explored the question and found that, while underground power lines are generally more reliable than overhead wires, they are costly to build, and more expensive and time-consuming to repair when they fail.

“Undergrounding sounds great until you start looking at a million dollars a mile for cable, and trenches through everyone’s yard; then, people think differently,” said Robert F. Powelson, chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Since Lady Bird Johnson championed underground wires as part of her 1960s beautification campaign, Peco and many utilities have required all-underground service for new residential developments. The cost of buried wires in new developments is included in the cost of the houses.

About 41 percent of Peco’s 21,822 miles of wires are underground, spokeswoman Cathy Engel Menendez said.

Converting overhead wires in older neighborhoods runs into problems with regulators, who require the costs to be paid by those who benefit from the conversion and not passed off to other ratepayers.


Read the full story at:  Bury power lines? Not that simple

Related:

Overhead Or Buried, Power Lines Still Vulnerable 

Electric users ask: Why not put power lines underground?
Why not put power lines underground?
Power outage affects more than just the heat in your home 

What to Do Before, During Power Outage

Little fracking concern in some Pa towns without zoning
Scientists generate more energy out than energy in?
Capitol Hill Calendar: February 12-13, 2014 


After outages, the question is, why not bury power lines? Read More »

Outreach opportunities for your environmental business

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Good and bad news in new study on methane gas levels

Science Magazine graphic published in The Washington Post on Feb 14 2014 

The bad news about methane in a new study published in the journal, Science, is that the nation’s natural gas system is leaking at a rate large enough to negate the value of converting buses and trucks from diesel to natural gas.


The good news is that, even with the current leaks, burning natural gas instead of coal is producing less heat-trapping gas and will slow the rate of climate change over 100 years.


The Washington Post reports the findings today in: Levels of global-warming gas methane exceed government estimates, new study contends

Related environmental news:
Fuel Fix: Methane emissions higher than federal estimates, study
Methane Leaks and Natural Gas Benefits | The Energy Collective
3 Questions: On the climate impact of ‘leaky methane’ | ScienceBlog
Methane levels rising as funding cuts threaten monitoring network 

Recent posts: 

Little fracking concern in some Pa towns without zoning
Scientists generate more energy out than energy in?
Capitol Hill Calendar: February 12-13, 2014 

Is New York State not all it’s fracked up to be?

Good and bad news in new study on methane gas levels Read More »