Energy & environmental bills in committee today in NJ

 Photo by Anthony Smedile for the Atlantic City Press

Scores of  energy and environment bills already have been introduced during the first few weeks of the New Jersey Legislature’s new two-year session.

This morning, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee will discuss and possibly vote on six of them, including a controversial measure that would allow tree harvesting in state forests.

The bills are:

S-81  Bateman, C. (R-16)
Prohibits health care institutions from discharging
medications into sewer or septic systems.

S-84  Bateman, C. (R-16); Smith, B. (D-17)
Establishes pilot program in DEP for chemical clean-outs in schools.   

S-826  Smith, B. (D-17); Cardinale, G. (R-39)
Concerns calculation of value for conveyance of certain
State-owned lands. 

S-1084  Smith, B. (D-17)
The “Adopt a Barnegat Bay Stormwater Management
Basin Act.” 

S-1085  Smith, B. (D-17)
Establishes forest harvest program on State-owned
land.  

S-1270  Smith, B. (D-17) Establishes uniform real property taxation for
commercial renewable energy systems and limits municipal construction permit
fees for non-commercial renewable energy systems.

The “forest harvest” bill, sponsored by committee chairman Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) is the most controversial of the half-dozen. The legislation made it through the state Senate at the tail end of the last term but failed to be posted for a final vote at the Assembly’s last voting session.

It was opposed by several major environmental groups, but won the support of other organizations and also was backed by the state Department of Environmental Protection. (See “Related” stories below)

You can listen via the Internet to today’s discussion. It’s scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Related:
Proposal to harvest New Jersey forests divides environmentalists
Opinion: Good stewards of our forests take cues from Mother Nature
Editorial:  ‘forest harvest’ should be sent to the chopping block
Logging measure stalls in NJ Legislature


Our most recent blog posts:
NJDEP releases revamped guidance on vapor intrusion
If you missed yesterday’s seminar on NJ’s LSRP program

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Energy & environmental bills in committee today in NJ Read More »

NJDEP releases revamped guidance on vapor intrusion

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has released its revamped
Vapor Intrusion Technical
Guidance Document.

The document is designed to provide more in-depth assistance to investigators who evaluate

and respond to evidence of volatile chemicals migrating from subsurface
soils into overlying buildings.

Douglas I. Eilender, a member of the Environmental & Energy Department at the Cole Schotz
law firm, summarizes the changes in a blog report to the firm’s clients.

Related:
EPA weighs using vapor intrusion as a Superfund criteria
New York State Vapor Intrusion Guidance 


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NJDEP releases revamped guidance on vapor intrusion Read More »

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 1/19/12

Business, government and environmental leaders who subscribe
to EnviroPolitics accessed full versions of the environmental news
stories below in today’s edition
—and dozens more!

In Pennsylvania 

Gov.
Tom Corbett will sign drilling emergency-response bill The legislation is
designed to provide an emergency response plan and accurate GPS coordinates for
each Marcellus Shale well site in Pennsylvania Inquirer 

Corbett
administration slashes wildlife research funding The administration
of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has cut funding for a wildlife research
program by nearly 70 percent, eliminating state money for projects meant to
examine the impact of natural gas drilling and climate change, according to a
report AP


In New Jersey

Logging
bill lands in limbo Environmentalists concurred that the State
Legislature’s decision to put on hold a controversial logging bill, which would
have opened up state lands to the logging industry, would be an opportunity for
lawmakers to tweak the legislation The
Record

State Agency to investigate improper billing at
PSE&G Whistleblowers’ allegations, if true, could
lead to criminal charges against New Jersey’s largest utility NJ Spotlight

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 1/19/12 Read More »

If you missed yesterday’s seminar on NJ’s LSRP program

Yeah, we know. When you read yesterday’s post (Interest high as new NJDEP site-cleanup program nears) you nearly wept, knowing you had missed a terrific opportunity to learn all about the upcoming changes to New Jersey’s contaminated site remediation program.

Well, cheer up, fortunate person. The law firm of Riker Danzig is offering you a chance to save your bacon.

Attorneys in the firm’s Environmental Practice Group will touch all the bases of the state’s new Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRP) program in a complimentary breakfast seminar on January 26 in Morristown, NJ.

They will be joined by experts from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and the LSRP Licensing Board.

If you missed yesterday’s seminar, it’s probably because you have not signed up for free email updates on our Enviro-Events Calendar.  

Our calendar also is where you’ll find all the details on the Riker Danzig seminar.

So get your butt over there and check it out.  And be sure to use the form on top of the right column to get on our email update list.

Will the NJ Senate override Christie’s fracking ban veto?

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If you missed yesterday’s seminar on NJ’s LSRP program Read More »

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 1/18/12

Business, government and environmental leaders who subscribe
to EnviroPolitics accessed full versions of the environmental news
stories below in today’s edition
—and dozens more!

In Pennsylvania 


Shale boon
could stunt alternatives

Natural
gas derricks like this one  in Morgantown, West Virginia have become an
increasingly common sight in the United States. A new economic study raises
concern that the abundant new resource could delay development of renewable
energy and carbon capture technologies.National
Geographic 

Protestors
outside Capitol say gas drilling erode local control About 150 members of environmentalist groups and local citizen activists
staged a raucous rally in the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday that targeted two
competing bills to regulate the fast-growing shale drilling industry Associated
Press


In New Jersey

Law delays antipollution efforts in New Jersey Gov. Christie signed a bill Tuesday that aids land
developers in the state by delaying antipollution efforts, a move
environmentalists said would mean further deterioration of New Jersey’s water
quality Statehouse
Bureau  NJ Spotlight  AP
Press


 Superfund designation sought for Pompton Lakes sites U.S.
Senator Bob Menendez says he believes the areas of the borough contaminated by
a former DuPont munitions factory should be designated Superfund sites, and is
pushing the federal government to explain why it hasn’t done so The
Record

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 1/18/12 Read More »

Interest high as new NJDEP site-cleanup program nears

In May, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) will turn over authority and responsibility for the remediation of contaminated sites to independent engineering practitioners called Licensed Site Remediation Professionals
(LSRPs).

It marks a major change in regulatory direction for New Jersey which formerly attempted to manage the program exclusively within the NJDEP. That led to years of processing delays and an eventual backlog of more than 20,000 sites.

In May of 2009, the state Legislature stepped in and created the LSRP program, modeled on a cleanup-program in Massachusetts. 

Interest in the rules and procedures that will govern the new program was evident this morning as more than 200 people turned out to hear DEP officials conduct an overview session in Edison sponsored by the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey.

NJBIZ today carried a report on the day-long program that included 14 speakers on topics such as the status
of the new LSRP licensing exam, implementation of the new program, the
future of training for the site remediation program and specific looks
at the documents being furnished by the DEP.

Related:
Overview of the Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) Program
Slides for the Overview of the Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) ProgramQuick Reference Guide: Major differences between old SRP process and the new LSRP program
New Jersey Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Association (LSRPA) Website
What is an LSRP? Fox, watchdog, rat or scapegoat?
What do you want from NJ’s LSRP program?

Recent posts:
Combined NJ agriculture shows opening in Atlantic City
Recycling company mines NJDEP for management talent
PA’s top court takes a pass on local control of gas drilling

Will the NJ Senate override Christie’s fracking ban veto?
Natural gas fracking has new PR problem – Earthquakes


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Interest high as new NJDEP site-cleanup program nears Read More »