**Updated on July 26, 2012 to add more related news stories**

The New Jersey Sierra Club, which pulled out all the stops to oppose Republican Chris Christie’s gubernatorial campaign more than two years ago–and has issued almost daily news releases criticizing him since his election–was almost gracious today after Christie signed a bill to save the state’s endangered solar energy industry.

No, we are not missing the real news story here–the signing of the bill. That was expected.

The man-bites-dog event was the Sierra Club saying something positive about the Christie administration.

Today they had no choice. So they did.

Sort of.

Christie signed into law S-1925, a bill that won bipartisan support after many months of haggling among solar industry interests, electric utilities, big business organizations, the NJ Board of Public Utilities, and the state’s Ratepayer Advocate.  (For details on the legislation, see related stories below).

The environmental community, including the Sierra Club, was solidly behind the legislation.

One green organization, Environment New Jersey, today said, graciously, of the signing:

“Today
we applaud the Legislature and the governor for supporting a bill to help New
Jersey continue to be the nation’s solar leader.  We are pleased that the
measure passed both houses of the Legislature with overwhelming bi-partisan
support, reflecting the people of New Jersey’s strong support for clean, renewable
energy, regardless of party affiliation. And we applaud Governor Christie
for signing the bill into law today. 

The Sierra Club, which issues statements on every major environmental bill and frequently on issues that have only tenuous connections to the environment (affordable housing, women’s health etc.) could hardly dodge this one. Even if Enemy #1 –Chris Christie, who they claim is on a mission to undo all essential environmental protections, actually did something that they advocated.

So, in paragraph two of his release today, Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel said:

• The dramatic decrease in solar was due in part to the failed policies of
  the Christie administration to help keep the solar industry in our state
  afloat.



• The Administration
  has eliminated the rebates for families and residents to put solar on their
  homes and have made it difficult for small projects to get Solar Renewable
  Energy Credits

• The Governor has been
  diverting money that could have gone towards solar and offshore wind projects
  for his budget. 

• The Governor has
  given $2 billion to subsidies for natural gas power plants, while eliminating
  programs for solar and renewable energy. 

Etc, etc etc. 

Governor Christie signs New Jersey solar legislation 
Christie signs solar rescue bill
Christie Signs Solar Bill Increasing N.J. Energy Requirement
Solar ‘resurrection bill’ will keep spotlight on vital industry 
N.J. aims to reinvigorate solar energy development  
Solar industry to get a boost  New Jersey solar bill risks ‘triggering new SREC crash’

Nitrogen Dioxide

[Update: Thank you, Howard Wein of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, for pointing out our use of the wrong chemical graphic in the earlier version of this post. We long feared that flunking high school Chemistry in both regular and summer session would come back to haunt us.]  

Yesterday, in American Petroleum Institute v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed EPA’s revisions to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

The revisions adopted, for the first time, an hourly NAAQS for NO2 , in addition to the
annual standard. 

Foley Hoag‘s Law and the Environment blog reports on the decision, including a stinging
slap-down of one of API’s arguments.

You can read it in Not a Good Start for Challenges to EPA NAAQS Revisions. 

Related:
EPA final rule on Air Quality Standards for Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur
EPA Fact Sheet

Our most recent posts:  
Inconvenient truths about impressive CO2 emission cuts

Was NJ appellate court’s ‘de minimis’ ruling a big deal?
NJ publisher and recycling pioneer, Richard Scudder, 99
How to get free publicity for your environmental event
Two regional land conservation groups join forces

************************************************************************************************************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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In a decision last week that has raised both concern and speculation, a New Jersey appellate court ruled that owners of properties containing small amounts of
pollution do not have to prove the properties are clean before selling
them.  

The New Jersey Sierra Club responded with an immediate declaration that the court had  “ruled in favor of polluters over the public health.”

 “With over 20,000 contaminated sites in the state, virtually all residents will be impacted by this Court decision,” warned Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel. 

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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Sounds pretty drastic, doesn’t it? 

Yes, except for the fact that the appellate panel took pains to note that their decision would not have a wide environmental impact. The court wrote that the decision answered a “narrow question” over whether the DEP was authorized to adopt such a regulatory requirement under applicable state environmental cleanup laws, primarily ISRA, the Industrial Site Recovery Act of 1993.

In its July 6 decision, the court also suggested a way to fix the problem, noting that the state Legislature could act to “explicitly and
unambiguously” require such cleanup assurances (by amending the law) or lawmakers could give the DEP the power to adopt and enforce those types of regulations.

The court also stayed its decision for 30 days, giving the state time to decide whether to appeal.  

In a bulletin to clients of the firm, Cole Schotz environmental attorney Gerard M. Giordano writes:

“There has been much press recently indicating that this is a big “win”
for business.  However, the reality is that this is a very limited
decision with very limited applicability.  

 “The ISRA statute specifically allows an exemption to its requirements if
an applicant can show that it handled less than certain specific
quantities of hazardous substances.  NJDEP added one more requirement
while updating the regulations promulgated under the statute; that the
applicant must also certify to the best of their knowledge that the
property is not contaminated. Simply put, the court found that NJDEP’s
additional requirement was not authorized by the ISRA statute, and that
NJDEP went beyond the bounds of its authority when it adopted that
regulation.

“This decision does not change the fact that if there is contamination at
the property, the owner or operator may still be required to
investigate and cleanup the contamination under other environmental
statutes.”

You can read Mr. Giordano’s full comments here.