Why no decision yet on fracking in New York State?

Two months ago, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was reported to be considering a plan to allow fracking for natural gas in five counties near the Pennsylvania border . But the state’s moratorium, imposed in 2010, is still in effect. Why?

DEC Chief Joe Martens 

A major reason is that the state’s much-anticipated environmental report on high-volume hydraulic fracturing has grown to about 4,000 pages, according to Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. 

Martens told Gannett’s Albany News Bureau on Tuesday that there is still more work to be done and there is no firm timetable on when a final report may be released. 

A September draft weighed in at about 1,537 pages, including appendices. Since then, Martens’s staff has been reviewing and preparing responses to every public comment.


“It’s almost hard to comprehend, but when I tell people that we’ve been working nonstop and working really hard, people have been,” Martens said. “But all of that has to be reviewed and reviewed by executive staff who are administering the agency day-to-day, doing all of the other responsibilities they had before hydrofracking even started.”



See the full Democrat and Chronicle story here.

For  thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.

Why no decision yet on fracking in New York State? Read More »

NJ enviro groups awarded CRI ‘Back to Nature’ grants

Wood frog – Blaine Rothauser photo

Five New Jersey nonprofits have been awarded a total of $10,500 in the first year of the Back to Nature Fund grants program offered by Conservation Resources Inc. (CRI).

Selected for 2012 grants were:

  • Great Swamp Watershed Association– $2500 for its Watershed Friendly Homes project
  • New Jersey Audubon Society– $1500 for restoration of a vernal pond at Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary
  • North Jersey Resource Conservation and Development Council– $2000 for riparian restoration projects
  • Schiff Natural Lands Trust– $2500 for wetlands restoration at Mt. Paul Preserve
  • The Willow School– $2000 for expansion and enhancement of interpretive nature trails

CRI says the program is an extension of its role as a grantmaker and conservation finance intermediary. The grants are intended to help finance ecological projects and provide financial support for
New Jersey non-profits that seek to foster the preservation and
restoration of natural areas.

Read more about CRI and its Back to Nature Fund 

For  thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.

 

NJ enviro groups awarded CRI ‘Back to Nature’ grants Read More »

NY making the Adirondacks purchase of the century

Location of Former Finch Parcels

New York State is making the largest single addition in more than a century to the Adirondack State Forest.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that the state is buying 65,000 acres of the former Finch, Pruyn & Co. land and 4,000 acres of other Nature Conservancy lands from
The Nature Conservancy to preserve it for public use. 

The Post-Standard reports that the land will be sold to the state in a phased five-year contract beginning this year. Using funds dedicated for these purposes in the Environmental Protection Fund, New York will pay $49.8 million over five years, with $13 million to be paid in this fiscal year. The balance will be paid in each fiscal year through 2016-17. The State will pay full local property and school taxes on the land. 



For  thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment. 

Moose drinks along Black River Trail on western edge of Adirondack Park 


“Adding these properties to the Forest Preserve protects the incomparable and breathtaking natural resources of this region and preserves a significant portion of the Upper Hudson River watershed,” Gov. Cuomo said in a statement issued by his office. “Today’s agreement will make the Adirondack Park one of the most sought after destinations for paddlers, hikers, hunters, sportspeople and snowmobilers. Opening these lands to public use and enjoyment for the first time in 150 years will provide extraordinary new outdoor recreational opportunities, increase the number of visitors to the North Country and generate additional tourism revenue.”

NY making the Adirondacks purchase of the century Read More »

NJDEP’s waiver rule takes effect; Armageddon at hand?

The day that New Jersey green activists warned about has arrived. Prepare for some sky falling. Or not?

August 1 has come and passed and (at least so far) not a single politically connected law firm has petitioned the Department of Environmental Protection to waive its established environmental safeguards and grant permits to projects that will despoil the environment. 

That’s what some green groups promised would happen if the Legislature failed to block the DEP from implementing its so-called ‘waiver rule.’ The Assembly passed a resolution to do just that. The Senate declined and the rule went into effect on Wednesday.

What does the dreaded waiver rule do?
It allows DEP to waive its regulations when: 

  • applicants demonstrate that applicable regulations pose an undue burden
  • those regulations are in conflict with rules of other agencies, or 
  • when there is a public emergency, or 
  • when the permit would result in a net environmental benefit.

The basic idea is to give the department the flexibility to use common sense in situations where cracking through regulatory logjams would result in a beneficial outcome.

DEP Commissioner Bob Martin promises that the waiver process will be transparent, with all applications and actions posted prominently on the DEP’s web site. The rule will be judiciously applied, he says, and he personally will review each case.

[Use this link to keep track of any waiver petitions]

Baloney, (or some more forceful term) says Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel, who calls it the rule “one of the worst ever adopted in New Jersey and the broadest attack on environmental protections in 40 years.”

The Sierrans and 26 other groups have gone to court to block it via Ed Lloyd and the Columbia Environmental Law Clinic. 


For  thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.

DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese says the waiver rule would have been handy back in January 2011 when successive storms left some northern New Jersey streets buried under up to 60 inches of snow. The towns wanted DEP to suspend its rules and allow them to dump the snow in rivers, but it took a frustratingly long time to get the Department’s multiple divisions to approve the request. 

Ragonese said the waiver rule would have allowed the department to recognize a public emergency and sanction the river dumping without delay. He said the rule is one of the ways his agency and the Christie administration are reaching out to “the average guy in New Jersey, the people who talk about government not working, or see government as too big, bureaucratic, and unfeeling.” 

Does that mean no one will seek a waiver to gain an unjustifiable advantage?  Like some “connected” law firm? Or a consultant who goes to all the right fundraisers?

Hey, this is New Jersey. If that isn’t attempted, we’d almost be disappointed. But that’s why each request will be on the public record and Bob Martin himself will serve as judge.  

Will the enviros give Martin and his agency the chance to prove that their intentions are honorable?

Don’t count on it. Tittel pledges to oppose every single waiver request.  

Hey, this is New Jersey. Don’t expect the green guys to be open minded about anything the Christie administration does. It isn’t just the environment. It’s politics, too.

Related:  
Op-Ed: What the Waiver Rule Does — and Doesn’t — Do 
Editorial: N.J. DEP ‘waiver rule’ is a dangerous gamble on our environment  
Waive Goodbye to Environmental Regulation: DEP Implements Waiver Rule 


See our latest posts:
 Is NJ’s Christie breaking with GOP’s anti-solar ranks?
Another PSEG solar farm breaks ground; more coming 
Court tells PADEP to provide drilling info to newspaper
New findings as Indian Point permit hearings resume 
RGGI Redux: Christie’s latest smack-down; Enviros livid 

NJDEP’s waiver rule takes effect; Armageddon at hand? Read More »

Is NJ’s Christie breaking with GOP’s anti-solar ranks?

The Sierra Club charged today that the fossil fuel
industry “is not only waging an attack on renewable energy in the political
sphere through immense financial contributions to elected officials, but they
are also funding a concerted, covert misinformation campaign.”

Through faux
“think tanks,” phony intellectuals, and astroturf groups masquerading as
“concerned citizens,” the industry is seeking to shift public opinion and
discredit renewable energy,” the organization said in a new report, Clean Energy Under Siege.

If that’s true, then what message was being sent by New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie, an active campaigner for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, when he signed legislation boosting the state’s solar industry?

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For  thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.
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Was Christie breaking ranks with those bent on sustaining Big Oil/Coal’s reign?

Likely not, according to those quoted today in an interesting story in Inside Climate News.

“He [understands] the practical benefits of having good policies in the
state,” said Carrie Hitt, vice president for state affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association. “But he’s not going to campaign to promote renewables across the country.”

Andrew Krulewitz, a solar analyst at GTM Research,
said it would have reflected poorly on Christie to “let the bottom fall
out” of the solar market. “He didn’t want to see all these new jobs
leave the state.”

Following the bill signing, Christie said that building the solar
economy is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. “It’s an issue
that the people of our state demand we work on together,” he said.

“I think it’s important for conservatives to hear the message from a
credible source like Gov. Christie that solar energy is not liberal—in
fact, it’s not conservative either. It just makes sense from an economic
development standpoint,” said Jim DiPeso, policy director for ConservAmerica, a conservative policy group. Last year, approximately 100,300 Americans worked in the U.S. solar industry, says The Solar Foundation, a nonprofit group.

What do YOU think? Is the Republican Party hopelessly committed to a fossil fuel future? Has industry purchased that allegiance through campaign contributions, as the Sierra Club contends? Does Christie see a more nuanced position as beneficial to his national political plans? Should he? Share your thoughts in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link. 

See our latest posts:
Another PSEG solar farm breaks ground; more coming
Court tells PADEP to provide drilling info to newspaper
New findings as Indian Point permit hearings resume 
RGGI Redux: Christie’s latest smack-down; Enviros livid 
Pennsylvania not following Jersey’s lead on solar rescue 

Is NJ’s Christie breaking with GOP’s anti-solar ranks? Read More »

Another PSEG solar farm breaks ground; more coming

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who last week signed legislation to prop up the state’s solar industry, was spreading a bit more sunshine yesterday.

He gave the state’s largest utility, PSEG, a media boost by attending the groundbreaking ceremony for a 1.06 megawatt solar farm on a brownfield site in Hackensack.

PSEG has been leading all New Jersey utilities in developing solar and yesterday announced plans to widen the gap.

Chairman Ralph Izzo used the event to announce that his company is seeking approval from the state Board of Public Utilities to invest up to $883 million to expand its Solar 4 All loan program and to develop an additional 233
megawatts of solar capacity.

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For  thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.
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That’s good news for the environment and for alternative energy advocates. 

And not bad for PSEG which expects to recoup the growth through higher electric rates. 

The latter hasn’t escaped the notice of high-use sectors of the business community who grumble that they’re already paying too much for energy.

“You can bet we’ll be taking a good look at it,” said Stefanie Brand, director of the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, the state’s consumer advocate.

Related: 

Gov touts PSE&G solar field on prior brownfield (Daily Record)
 PSE&G seeks to energize its solar-energy program (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Governor Christie Joins PSE&G in Turning Brownfield Green (PSEG release) 
Christie signs bill to help solar sector (NJ Spotlight)
NJ Sierra Club thanks (gasp) Christie for solar signing  (EP Blog) 

Another PSEG solar farm breaks ground; more coming Read More »