NJ developers ready to get giddy as incentives bill nears


New Jersey’s development community hasn’t had much reason to buy a round in recent years but the corks may be popping on the bubbly soon.

NJBIZ reports this afternoon that:

"Months of waiting on what would — or would not — become of the Economic Opportunity Act finally seem at an end. ..Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed the legislation Monday, with the Assembly adopting Christie’s changes that same day and the Senate expected to do likewise on Thursday.

"The bill would consolidate five corporate incentive programs into two, expand eligibility for tax credits and place a greater focus on job creation.

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"This legislation is really transformative, and is really going to make New Jersey one of the most business-friendly states in the country," said Clark Machemer, vice president of public affairs for the New Jersey chapter of industry group NAIOP, and vice president and regional director of development for The Rockefeller Group.

"Ted Zangari, a real estate attorney with Newark-based Sills, Cummis & Gross who also serves as chair for the firm’s redevelopment law practice group, called the bill "a free market-style program" that doesn’t punish companies unwilling to leave the suburbs. The massive Urban Transit Hub tax credit program was signed to offer tax breaks to spur development, but was originally limited to nine cities.
You can read the full story here

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Enviros concede legal battle against PA-to-NJ power line

susquehanna-roseland-powerlinejpg- jERRY mCcREA - Star-ledger 
                                                                                                                                  Star-Ledger photo

A five-year battle that pit a group of environmental organizations against the two largest public utilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is over and the utilities have won.

The New Jersey Herald‘s Bruce A. Scruton reports today:

"A consortium of environmental groups has decided not to appeal a federal judge’s decision to let stand federal permits to allow construction of the half-million-watt Susquehanna-Roseland electric transmission lines across the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

“We’ve decided not to appeal,” said Hannah Chang, lead attorney on the case for Earth Justice, the group of lawyers hired to have the National Park Service permits overturned.
"Chang said that after a thorough review of the decision, “We’ve concluded that it’s highly unlikely we will get a three-judge panel of the Appellate Court to reverse in a case where the standard of review is extremely deferential to the agency.”
Federal court judge Richard Roberts effectively ended the fight on August 30 when he dismissed a challenge brought by the nine environmental groups who had argued that the park service did not follow its own environmental study in making the final decision to allow the work to go on.
Roberts said the law gives agencies great latitude in making their decisions and said the fact that the Interior Department through then-Secretary Kenneth Salazar, demanded a set amount (more than $60 million) for a mitigation funds did not require a thorough accounting of what mitigation work would be done or require more public comment
Environmental groups that filed the lawsuit included the Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, New Jersey Highlands Coalition, New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, Rock the Earth, Sierra Club and Stop the Lines.
The 145-mile-long Susquehanna-Roseland line is being built by PPL in Pennsylvania and Public Service Electric & Gas in New Jersey to deliver electricity produced by PPL plants to the PSE&G service area.
You can read the entire story here

Enviros concede legal battle against PA-to-NJ power line Read More »

EPA’s new web tool helps you track proposed projects


Getting information on major projects proposed on federal lands and other proposed
federal actions is now a lot easier thanks to EIS Mapper, the EPA’s new interactive
web-based mapping tool.


Users can click on any state for a list of Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)
and  find information about their potential environmental, social, and economic impacts.


Federal agencies are required by law (National Environmental Policy Act ) to consider
the impacts of proposed actions, as well as any reasonable alternatives  as part of their decision-making process.

For proposed projects with potentially significant impacts, federal agencies prepare
a detailed EIS, which is filed with EPA and made available for public comment.
EPA is required to review and comment on EISs prepared by other federal agencies.


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EIS Mapper lets you click on a state in the map and is see comment letters submitted
by the  EPA on EISs within the last 60 days. The tool also helps you to identify projects
with open comment periods, and provides information on how to submit comments.
 
Clicking on our favorite states, we accessed information on 84 EISs filed in
New York since 2004, 56 in Pennsylvania, 19 in New Jersey and 4 in Delaware.

Have you tried EIS Mapper?  What do you think?  Let us know in the comment box below,

Our most recent posts:  
Q. When will NY decide on fracking? A. Uh, uh…
Hurricane season coming but some still block NJ dunes 
NJ still missing the boat to offshore wind power 
What a difference a dune makes and how to build one  
Work to begin on controversial PA-to-NJ power line  

EPA’s new web tool helps you track proposed projects Read More »

Q. When will NY decide on fracking? A. Uh, uh…

When will New York Governor Andrew Cuomo decide to allow or prohibit the use
of fracking by natural gas drilling companies in the Empire State?

The latest answer from a member of the Administration is: "there is no timetable."

At a hearing on Friday, Anne Reynolds, who is deputy commissioner for administration for the Department of Environmental Conservation, told the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee that her agency continues to review comments it received on a 2011 draft review of fracking, a 1,500-page document known as the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, or SGEIS.

“There isn’t a timeframe at this point,” Reynolds said. “As you know, you’ve heard before that we’ve received over 100,000 comments from the public. The department is still reviewing those comments, developing responses and developing any changes to the SGEIS in response.”

Gannett’s Democrat and Chronicle covered the hearing and posted this story.

Related environmental news stories:
Many New York shale gas leases expire as fracking moratorium remains
Chesapeake nearing agreement to drop New York leases
Pennsylvania candidate pushing 5 percent tax on shale drilling
Confirmed: Fracking practices to blame for Ohio earthquakes

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Our most recent posts: 
Hurricane season coming but some still block NJ dunes
NJ still missing the boat to offshore wind power
What a difference a dune makes and how to build one 
Work to begin on controversial PA-to-NJ power line 
Court green lights Susquehanna-Roseland power line 

Q. When will NY decide on fracking? A. Uh, uh… Read More »

Hurricane season coming but some still block NJ dunes

Sandy - Tilting house on beach in Mantoloking - April Saul - Inquirer Staff Photographer                                                                 Photo: April Saul/Philadelphia Inquirer

After all of Superstorm Sandy’s devastation and the overwhelming evidence that sturdy dunes prevented even greater destruction, it’s almost inconceivable that some New Jersey shore residents are still refusing to sign easements that will allow dune-building to proceed.

And yet, this is the case.

"Since Sandy, the strong emotional ties residents feel for the Jersey Shore have become a jumbled mess of competing interests that have pitted neighbor against neighbor, politicians against residents and all of them against environmental advocates and coastal scientists," USA TODAY reports. What prompts this? Distrust of government at all levels, from the U.S. Corps of Engineers right down to the local mayor, apparently plays a large role.

View this USA TODAY video for clues as to what is motivating the holdouts.

What do you think?  Let us know in the comment box below

Related environmental news stories:
Recovery from Superstorm Sandy ignites fight over dunes
Differences over Shore Rebuilding 

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NJ still missing the boat to offshore wind power

 

NJ Spotlight reports today that:

For the second time in two months, the federal government is auctioning leases to build offshore wind farms along the Eastern Seaboard — once again without including New Jersey.

The latest auction involved 112,800 acres approximately 25 miles off the Virginia coast capable of producing about 2,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power some 700,000 houses.

The auction follows two earlier ones by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that offered leases for offshore wind farms along Massachusetts and Rhode Island in July.

The failure to offer leases on the Jersey coast, where the Christie administration is purportedly trying to develop an offshore wind industry capable of generating 1,100 megawatts by 2020, once again raises questions about how successful the state’s efforts will be. 

Read the full story at: NJ Left Out of Auction for Offshore Wind Farm Leases–Again

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Our most recent posts:
What a difference a dune makes and how to build one
Work to begin on controversial PA-to-NJ power line 
Court green lights Susquehanna-Roseland power line  
Hurricane season coming but some still block NJ dunes  
New rules governing gas drilling under review in Pa  

NJ still missing the boat to offshore wind power Read More »