Third NJ hearing today on hurricane recovery problems

Situated at the southwestern base of Route 72 bridge to Long Beach Island, Beach Haven West is one of many Jersey Shore neighborhoods that were devastated 11 months ago by Superstorm Sandy.

In today’s Star-Ledger, MaryAnn Spoto reports that many homeowners here are still struggling to make their homes livable again. Some are still renting elsewhere, others are crammed into usable portions of their houses while using what funds they have to make repairs. All are still waiting for promised government relief.

"Many homeowners have been promised help in the form of grants from the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation Program (RREM) to rebuild or elevate their homes," Spoto reports. "But as summer slipped into fall, residents are still waiting, wondering if they can rebuild without going bankrupt.

"We’re not getting relief at all," said Jackie Terefenko, of Morris Boulevard. "We’re all on freeze with no money."

beach-havem2.JPGJackie Terefenko becomes emotional as she shows two visitors the cluttered
condition of the master bedroom she and her family have been forced to live
in while working to repair their Hurricane Sandy-damaged home on Morris Blvd.
Photo: Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger


"This cozy section of Stafford (Township) sits directly west of Long Beach Island and is a triangular maze of lagoons bounded by busy Route 72 to the north, the Mill Creek to the south and Manahawkin Bay to the east. About 1,080 homes in Beach Haven West were substantially damaged by Sandy and must be rebuilt to new standards set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. About 450 have to be torn down, according to Mayor John Spodofora. And, he said he suspects many homeowners underestimated damage to avoid FEMA regulations, including elevating their homes. The damages — just in this section alone — dropped the township’s ratables by $200 million, Spodofora said.

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"With money from their flood insurance claim, Terefenko, 59, and her husband Michael, 70, started repairing their two-story home, but quickly ran out of cash. They are among 211 full-time residents of Stafford approved for the RREM program, which provides grants of up to $150,000.
"The Terfenkos were counting on the RREM money, but the process has been painfully slow, she said. After registering in July, they still have a long way to go in the 11-step process. No one has received any money from that program yet, state officials have acknowledged.

Legislative hearing today in Trenton will examine state recovery programs
The plight of families like the Terefenkos likely will be raised this morning in Trenton at a
joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly Environment Committees. It will be third time in recent months that the two panels have met to explore the progress and shortcomings of government programs in the wake of the October, 2012 hurricane.

Previous hearings
At the committees’ August 15 hearing in Atlantic City (Lawmakers hear other side of NJ’s Sandy recovery), EnviroPolitics Blog conducted video interviews with Senate Chairman Bob Smith and Assembly Chairwoman L. Grace Spencer. We also spoke with environmental experts: Mark Mauriello, Rod Scott, Wayne DeFeo, Jeff Tittel and Debbie Mans. 

The committees met again on September 17 in Jersey City: North Jersey also felt Superstorm Sandy’s punch.

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Why EPA's draft power plant standards won't affect NJ


The Obama administration is proposing new rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants, but the draft standards should have little impact on New Jersey’s efforts
to promote additional generation being built in the state, NJ Spotlight reports today.

Why?  Two reasons.

1. Governor Chris Christie, who is aggressively pushing for the construction of new power plants in energy-hungry New Jersey, insists that his state will not permit any new coal-fired plants which are the primary targets of the proposed new EPA rules; and

2. Although the new limits on CO2 also would apply to natural-gas plants, New Jersey’s  emissions limits on that greenhouse gas already are stricter than what the federal government is proposing.

NJ Spotlight‘s energy and environment reporter Tom Johnson has the details here.  

Related environmental news stories:
Obama moves to limit power-plant carbon pollution
New power-plant emissions limits lack initial impact
Obama administration not waging war on coal, EPA chief says

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NYC Mayor planning to divert food from landfills


The administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes to introduce legislation requiring hospitals, hotels, universities and other large-scale producers of food waste to recycle it into something useful rather than just send it to landfills or incinerators, Crain’s New York Business reports today. 

A bill could be introduced next month and passed before Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leave office at the end of the year. But it would not take effect until at least 2015, and only then if food-waste processing facilities could handle the enormous quantities of food that institutions throw away. Food waste accounts for a third of the city’s more than 20,000 tons of daily refuse.

A spokesman for the mayor’s office did not respond to an inquiry about the plan. A City Council spokeswoman said the administration has told the council about the effort but has not shared a bill or enough detail for the speaker’s office to be able to comment yet. However, Ms. Quinn has been vocal about expanding composting in the city and has indicated a desire to pass a great deal of legislation before her term expires.

Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts have already adopted bans on sending commercial food waste to landfills, though it is too soon to know if they are effective because their trigger mechanisms have yet to kick in: Until sufficient processing capacity is available, businesses are off the hook.

 But waste-handling companies are actively adding this capacity: Waste Management has at least three dozen organic processing plants in the U.S. and has investments in others, such as Harvest Power, which turns yard trimmings and food waste into energy, soil, mulch and fertilizer at 28 sites across North America. There’s even one in Brooklyn, but it only accepts wood, leaves, brush and other vegetative material.

 

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EPA extends Maywood Superfund site comment period


Originally set to expire on on September 23, the deadline for public comment on a cleanup plan for the Maywood Chemical Company Superfund site in Maywood, Lodi and Rochelle Park, NJ has been extended to October 22 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The  proposal calls for a combination of removing and treating contaminated soil. The plan was explained to the public in a meeting held by the EPA on September 9, 2013.

According to EPA background documents, the site consists of three connected areas: the Stepan property, the Sears and adjacent commercial properties, and the Maywood Interim Storage Site (MISS) owned by the federal government. The site also includes certain vicinity residential and commercial properties. It is located in a highly developed commercial and residential area that includes portions of the Borough of Maywood, Lodi, and Rochelle Park.

"From 1916 through 1955, the Maywood Chemical Company processed radioactive thorium ore. The residues or tailings from the process operation, clay-like dirt, contained significant quantities of low-level radioactive materials. In addition, other processing operations generated various types of waste products (such as lanthanum, lithium compounds, detergents, alkaloids, essential oils, and products from tea and cocoa leaves).

"Maywood Chemical pumped process wastes to diked areas west of the plant. In 1932, State Route 17 was built through the disposal area. Process wastes subsequently migrated onto adjacent properties in Rochelle Park. Some of the waste materials were excavated and used as fill dirt and mulch for nearby properties in Maywood and Lodi. Waste materials were also transported via the old Lodi Brook stream channel (later replaced by a storm water drainage system). The result was chemical and radioactive contamination over much of the local area.

"The Maywood Chemical Company was bought by the Stepan Chemical Company (later, the Stepan Company) in 1959. The Stepan Company is currently the owner/operator of a portion of the original Maywood Chemical Company property. Many of Maywood Chemical’s operations were discontinued in the 1960s. The Stepan Company currently focuses on the production of specialty chemicals.

Click here to see the proposed cleanup plan   Background information on the site

Related environmental news stories:
EPA Proposes Plan to Address Contaminated Soils
Maywood Chemical Co. Superfund site to get $17 million cleanup
EPA lays out plans to clean contaminated former chemical company site

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Water privatization contract for Dover Air Force Base awarded to a subsidiary of Middlesex Water Company

New Jersey-based Middlesex Water Company announced today in a news release that it has entered into an agreement through its subsidiary, Tidewater Utilities, Inc. with the U.S. Department of Defense for the privatization of the water system of Dover Air Force Base (DAFB) in Dover, Delaware.
Tidewater, also located in Dover, will provide DAFB with potable water service under a 50-year agreement. Tidewater intends to integrate the DAFB water system into its regulated utility operations, subject to Delaware Public Service Commission regulatory approval. Tidewater will own and maintain all DAFB water utility assets and make all necessary capital improvements to provide continued reliable utility service to the Base. Once implemented, the privatization is expected to be accretive to earnings immediately.
DAFB executes hundreds of missions throughout the world and provides 25 percent of the Nation’s strategic airlift capability, projecting global reach to over 100 countries around the world. The Base operates the largest and busiest air freight terminal in the Department of Defense and is also home to the Air Mobility Command Museum, which welcomes thousands of visitors each year.

Middlesex Water Company, Tidewater’s parent company, organized in 1897, is one of nine U.S. based publicly-traded investor-owned water and wastewater companies. The Company provides regulated and unregulated water and wastewater utility services in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania through various subsidiary companies. 


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North Jersey also felt Superstorm Sandy’s punch


State lawmakers learned last night that Superstorm Sandy not only punished the Jersey Shore. Big cities up north also felt her punch.

 Members of the environmental committees of the state Senate and Assembly, meeting jointly in Jersey City, heard that the state’s second-largest city suffered damage to 6,100 residential housing units (mostly not covered by basic insurance) and 15 high-rise office buildings. The waterfront was flooded and damage to city properties totaled $22 million.

 Jersey City Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Greg Kierce said the storm highlighted the need for better evacuation procedures, better communication — especially with non-English speakers — and more communication between agencies to coordinate relief efforts

 But in the end, there are some things that simply can’t be changed. “I still haven’t found out how you can elevate a brownstone,” he said, referring to the building elevation requirements on FEMA’s new flood maps.

NJ Spotlight’s Scott Gurion covered the hearing and filed this story: North Jersey Still Struggling to Recover from Hurricane Sandy 

It was the second meeting held by the twin committees on the state’s recovery efforts. EnviroPolitics attended the first meeting in Atlantic City in August. See our stories and videos here and here. 

If you or your organization testified last night and did not make it into the NJSpotlight story, send us a link to your testimony and we may use it in an update to this post.

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