How you can save your town some money and energy

Many counties and municipalities are in danger of missing out on a federal grant of up to $20,000 for energy efficiency upgrades at government buildings–from town halls and police stations to public libraries and senior centers.

The good news is that the money is available to any county or town that was not a direct recipient of a Federal Stimulus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant.

Better yet, the grants are available without any matching funds requirement.   

In a letter sent yesterday, NJ State League of Municipalities Executive Director Bill Dressel informed mayors that the grants are being administered through the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ Clean Energy Program and that the BPU’s Direct Install Program offers up to an additional $50,000 to local governments for energy efficiency upgrades.

Dressel called the BPU grant process “simple and fast” and added that it has “staff available to guide you through the entire process.”

So what’s the catch?  There’s always a catch, right?

Well, yes. The catch is that the funds are only guaranteed until Dec. 31, 2010.

Here’s where you come in, Mr. or Ms. Taxpayer

Don’t let your tax dollars go to help every other county or town in America except yours. 

Give your freeholder, mayor, and/or councilperson a call and ask them how their grant submission is coming along.  If they don’t know what you’re talking about, advise them
to call the NJ Clean Energy Program at: 866-NJSMART, ext. 4.

The Clean Energy Program’s website has a list of eligible municipalities and counties. Towns that have applied for their free upgrades are highlighted in green (like the environment–and the money your town will save).

Our most recent posts:
Gilbert & Sullivan meet Obama & the Tea Party
Environmental bills on Monday’s NJ Assembly voting list  
NJ lawmakers write prescription for med-waste dumpers

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Environmental bills on Monday’s NJ Assembly voting list

Environmental legislation 
scheduled for votes 
in the New Jersey Assembly
on Monday, Oct. 25, 2010

** Post updated at 4:35 p.m. to correct legislative house designation**

A-1052  Quijano, A. (D-20); Cryan, J. (D-20); Chivukula, U.J. (D-17)
Requires State entities to purchase biofuels in place of fossil fuels when reasonable, prudent and cost effective.
Related Bill: S-1413
   
A-2529  Chivukula, U.J. (D-17); Quijano, A. (D-20); Stender, L. (D-22)
Revises certain definitions in P.L.1999, c.23 concerning alternative energy technologies.
Related Bill: S-2306
   
A-2665  Riley, C.M. (D-3)
Clarifies law concerning labeling of farm products; increases penalties for violations and false labeling and identification of “Jersey Fresh” and Department of Agriculture designated brands; repeals R.S.4:10-15.
   
A-3142  Chivukula, U.J. (D-17); Wilson, G.L. (D-5); Fuentes, A. (D-5); Quijano, A. Directs BPU to establish standards concerning local government renewable energy generation demonstration projects utilizing renewable energy technologies.
Related Bill: S-2196
   
A-3167  Coughlin, C.J. (D-19); Wagner, C. (D-38); Conners, J. (D-7)
Authorizes zero-interest loans to local governments for certain brownfield remediations.
Related Bill: S-2278 
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EnviroPolitics Events Calendar for Oct 21 2010

October 22 2010

Solar Education, Credentialing and Workforce Development
Free Green Education Seminar!
Dessie Kirilova, Directpr US Operations at Solar Education Center
10 a.m. to Noon
Beanwood Coffee Latin Bistro
222 Farnsworth Avenue,
Bordentown, New Jersey
Please RSVP at http://solareducationcenter1.eventbrite.com .
Call 609-379-2885 or email tim_razzaq@princetongreen.org for more information.

October 22, 2010
Government Efficiency and Best Practices Forums

8:30 a.m. to noon
Forsgate Country Club, Monroe

The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey League of Municipalities are co-sponsoring this free event featuring a Q&A with DCA Commissioner Lori Grifa and two panel discussions. One panel will feature four former state treasurers – Brian Clymer, Sam Crane, Jim DiEleuterio and John McCormac. The other panel will soon be announced.  For more information, click here.

October 25-27, 2010
International Symposium on Sustainability Science:
The Emerging Paradigm and the Urban Environment
Registration begins at 9 a.m.
Seminar: 9:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
DEP Northwest Regional Office
230 Chestnut St., Meadville, PA.

The seminar will focus on completing the residual waste Form 26R, the Chemical Analysis of Residual Waste Annual Report by the Generator. Residual waste generators in Pennsylvania are required to characterize annually the physical properties and chemical composition of each industrial waste that is generated. Form 26R is required to be submitted to DEP and to each solid waste management facility that accepts the waste for processing or disposal. 
Since seating is limited and to ensure adequate reference material is available, pre-registration is required. There is no registration fee.  Those who wish to attend should contact Cindy Fry or Robert Bechtel by Friday, Nov. 12, at 814-332-6848. For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us.


November 17, 2010

New Jersey WasteWise Business Network 
9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
PSE&G Training Facility
Hadley Road, South Plainfield, NJ.  
There is no fee charged to attend this meeting or any of our meetings.
Please RSVP to me at Steven.Rinaldi@dep.state.nj.us.
Note:  NJ Certified Recycling Professionals will earn 2.5 re-certification credits for attending

November 23, 2010
EBC Environmental Roundtable
8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
PSE&G Training & Development Center
234 Pierson Ave.
Edison, NJ

The EBC Environmental Roundtable meets to discuss relevant environmental issues, regulatory changes and new developments provided by our subcommittees that may impact our members focusing on: Regulatory Affairs, Brownfields & Site Remediation, Natural Resource Damages, Water, Air, Environmental Technology, International Trade, Sustainability, Energy, Enforcement & OSHA News and Regulations.   Lanny Kurzweil, McCarter & English, LLP, Moderator. Tracy Straka, Creamer Environmental, EBC Chair SEATING IS LIMITED.  This meeting is complimentary to CIANJ members. 
The cost is $ 80 for non-members.


November 30, 2010
LSRP Summit:
Update and Assessment of the ‘New World Order’ 

Trenton Marriott at Lafayette Yard
Trenton, NJ
Hear from NJDEP Assistant Commissioner David Sweeney and key leaders in New Jersey on the latest legislative, regulatory and technical developments in the LSRP program as we prepare for legislative hearings, new regulations and sweeping technical changes that are under way. All of this plus key insights from a distinguished panel on their experience with the LSRP program.
RSVP: Alicia Johnson, Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
ajohnson@langan.com  or 215.491.6529 

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For free publication, send your event information to: editor@enviropolitics.com

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NJ lawmakers write prescription for med-waste dumpers

New Jersey vacationers were outraged when Avalon’s beaches were forced to close prior to the busy Labor Day weekend in 2008 after medical waste washed ashore.

An intense criminal investigation tracked down the source–a suburban Philadelphia dentist who had piloted a small boat into Townsend’s Inlet, just north of Avalon, and dropped overboard a bag of needles and other medical waste from his dental practice.

Three New Jersey Assemblyman, still smarting from the incident, are sponsoring legislation that would crack down hard on medical practitioners, medical facilities and transporters involved in illegal medical waste disposal.

The bill, A-861 (pdf), applies to doctors, dentists, and other health care professionals, as well as to hospitals, nursing homes, labs and other medical facilities and to transporters of medical waste. If found guilty of willfully violating the state’s medical waste anti-dumping laws or regulations, they would see their license, registration or other authorization to practice suspended for three years.  The registration or license would be revoked if the violator continued to operate or practice while suspended.

If the guilty professional or handler is not a New Jersey-based company (as was the case with the Avalon wash-up), New Jersey’s Attorney General’s office would contact its appropriate sister agency to ensure the offender faces the appropriate penalties in his or her state of operation.

The bill was released from committee on October 18 and is now in position for an Assembly
floor vote.

Related:
Pennsylvania dentist indicted on charges of dumping waste in ocean 
(11/19/2008 story and video)

Our most recent posts:
Sussex County, NJ dump site proposed for Superfund list


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Sussex County, NJ dump site proposed for Superfund list

The Mansfield Trail Dump Site in Byram Township, NJ has been proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection  Agency (EPA) for addition to its Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites.

The Sussex site is one of nine of the latest hazardous waste sites found that pose risks to human health and the environment to the general Superfund section of the National Priorities List.  Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.

“EPA is proposing to add this site to the Superfund list so we can fully address any contamination in this community, especially the toxic air contaminants that are seeping into some homes through their foundations,” said Judith Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “By listing the site, EPA can do the extensive sampling needed to determine the best ways to address the contamination and protect people’s health.”

An EPA news release explains that:
 
Sampling has shown that chemical contamination in a wooded area where waste was dumped in trenches is affecting a number of nearby homes. Chemical vapors from contaminated soil underneath some area homes have been found in some basements. Exposure to the contaminants found at the site can have serious health impacts, damage the liver, impair the nervous system or increase the risk of cancer.

Sampling by the Sussex County Department of Health in 2005 identified trichloroethylene (TCE), an organic solvent used in industrial processes, in residential drinking water wells along Brookwood and Ross Roads in Byram Township. To protect public health, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) installed carbon water filtration and treatment systems in 16 homes to remove contaminants from their drinking water. In addition, NJDEP installed systems to reduce the intrusion of chemical vapors into the basements of five of the homes that tested positive for air pollutants.

In an effort to identify the source of the contamination, NJDEP identified and investigated four areas in a wooded section near the Mansfield bike path, and found evidence of TCE contamination in two of them. Sludge of unknown origin had been deposited in trenches in the area. Sampling and analysis conducted by NJDEP in 2009 indicated the presence of TCE in two areas above state screening levels. Other volatile organic compounds, a group of pollutants common in household and industrial products, and various chlorinated benzene compounds, have also been detected.

Furthering the investigation, NJDEP collected gas samples from the soil underneath people’s basements as well as inside the basements throughout the affected neighborhood. The results varied, with some homes showing TCE concentrations above state screening levels in just the samples from underneath the basements and some homes showing TCE concentrations above screening levels both in the basements and underneath them.

After receiving a letter from the New Jersey government supporting the inclusion of the Mansfield site on the Superfund list, EPA has determined that a listing offers the best course of action to protect human health and clean up the contamination. EPA periodically proposes sites to the Superfund list and, after responding to public comments, designates them as final Superfund sites. The Superfund final designation makes them eligible for funds to conduct long-term cleanups.

General information on the Superfund cleanup process
Information on the EPA’s  60-day public comment period can be found here.

**Post updated at 3:49 p.m. on 10/20/10 to add news story below**

Related:
‘Denny’s Dump’ in Byram could be added to Superfund list
Byram homes to become Superfund site 

EnviroPolitics Events Calendar for Oct 15 2010
Can you guess where the enviros are on this NY race?

 
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