Below are just a few of the environmental news stories for New Jersey and Pennsylvania which appeared in EnviroPolitics during the week of January 19-23.

PSE&G looking to spend $888M Public Service Electric and Gas Co. announced Thursday that it is seeking regulatory approval to spend $888 million on energy infrastructure and efficiency programs to create much-needed jobs and boost New Jersey’s ailing economy Bergen Record

NJ Natural Gas pitches projects to help local economy The Wall Township, NJ-based utility, which serves nearly 485,000 customers in Monmouth, Ocean and Morris counties, has asked the state Board of Public Utilities to approve the proposals by the end of next month AP Press

Report: Drywell at Oyster Creek safe A corroded steel radiation barrier at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey is good to go until its next scheduled inspection in 2012, despite some water leakage, according to a federal report AP Press

New law helps public buildings go green Public buildings that can’t go green because they lack the funds to pay for the work have a new way to finance these projects through a law enacted Wednesday Star-Ledger

Agency backs plan to link Atlantic City, River Line rails A bistate agency backs plan for a new station to provide better access between Trenton and southern New Jersey AC Press

Delay in the sentencing of foundry managers continues Prosecutors and defense attorneys are preparing for battle as sentencing delays continue in the Phillipsburg case of four Atlantic States foundry managers convicted in April 2006 of environmental and safety crimes Express-Times

New law aims to reduce greenhouse gases Gov. Corzine signed into law today legislation that aims to create jobs and reduce greenhouse gases by making government buildings more energy efficient. State, counties, municipalities, school boards and other public agencies can now enter into agreements with energy companies to pursue savings Bergen Record

Road to history passed through Princeton and Trenton On the day when Barack Obama became the nation’s first African-American president, New Jersey’s Lisa Jackson is poised to become the first African American to lead the federal Environmental Protection Agency Star-Ledger

Freeze raises fears rivers will be dolphins’ icy graves The Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers in Monmouth County, where a pod of bottlenose dolphins have lived since the summer, are freezing, increasing concerns that the mammals might not be able to survive much longer AP

EPA report says seas could destroy New Jersey coast Accelerated sea-level rise could increase coastal flooding, storm intensity and the ongoing destruction of tidal marshes and barrier islands in southern NJ, a federal report finds AC Press

Bat-killing ailment spreads to NJ & PA

AP Photo/Mike Groll
A mysterious lethal phenomenon killing bats in New York
for the past two years has spread to populations in New
Jersey and Pennsylvania, wildlife authorities in both
states say Star-Ledger

Pennsylvania

Palo Alto blaze controlled below ground Smoke may still be rising, but officials believe an underground coal refuse fire is under control Pottsville Republican

Judge hears testimony in landfill deal A grass-roots group’s lawsuit charges that Williams Twp supervisors improperly met with Chrin Brothers landfill representatives for a year to hash out a far-reaching agreement over a controversial proposal to expand the landfill Morning Call

Lawsuit: Firm ‘squandered’ Lehigh Coal’s assets A management firm the state installed in 2006 to help a historic Schuylkill and Carbon county coal company overcome regulatory problems instead drained the company’s finances for its own benefit, a lawsuit says Morning Call

Centre County residents voice landfill concerns Residents of local townships came to State College Tuesday night to issue concerns about what they say could be the largest landfill east of the Mississippi Penn St. Daily Collegian

Recession hurting recycling efforts Value of scrap metal, paper down, so some are less apt to recycle Times Leader
> Carbon County facing downturn in recycling market Despite the recent downturn, Duane Dellecker, the county’s solid waste director, says recycling is the still the way to go Lehighton Times-News
Energy industry steps up presence at Farm Show The Pennsylvania Farm Show is becoming an important stop for public officials and private business owners promoting development of alternative forms of energy such as solar and wind power Scranton Times-Tribune
Knox Mine Disaster: 50 years later The small group of men fleeing onrushing water through the Knox Coal Co.’s River Slope Mine tore frantically at the pile of debris before them, trying to clear a way to the air shaft through which they hoped to escape. But even when they managed to reach the bottom of the 10-foot-by-10-foot Eagle Shaft, they found it was a good 50 feet to the surface – straight up the dirt and rock walls Times Leader

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