EnviroPolitics Blog

Inspect me, Jersey DEP, please!

Until now, the sudden appearance of a DEP inspector on your business doorstep was about as welcome as a social disease. But now, at least for some in New Jersey, that’s about to change in a radically welcome way.

Long known for its strict (some might prefer the term ‘aggressive’?) enforcement tactics, the state Department of Environmental Protection is adopting a kinder and gentler approach when its inspectors, failing to find violations, actually encounter businesses making an extra effort to be good environmental citizens.

“The concept of an environmental cop on the beat has always been strong in New Jersey,” says DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson. “What is also strong is the spirit of innovation at the DEP. We are leading the country again, this time by defining and measuring the incredible amount of environmental good that exists in our state.”

How are they planning to do this?

The Department is implementing an Environmental Stewardship Program to publicly recognize businesses that go beyond minimum environmental requirements. The goal, they say, is to encourage all businesses to evaluate their current facility operations and integrate stewardship initiatives into their operations.

In other words, the carrot instead of the stick.

How will DEP inspectors go about the job? The following is directly from a DEP news release:

“The companies will be asked, among other things, whether they have broadly adopted stewardship activities, whether they have a comprehensive written environmental policy, whether they operate under an Environmental Management System designed to reduce environmental impacts, and whether they publish an annual environmental report. The companies also will be asked whether they have documented their greenhouse gas emissions, whether they employ environmentally friendly purchasing policies, whether they operate certified green buildings, and whether they have employee trip reduction programs.The inspector may review certain documents, processes and operating procedures to verify stewardship activities.”

Does that sound just a tad bureaucratic to you? Maybe, but remember, this is state government we’re talking about. At least they’re trying. And besides, how would you like to be the DEP supervisor who explains the new program to Inspector Callahan?

For more, here’s DEP’s news release and a link to its Stewardship program.

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States’ tailpipe suit gets new bite at media apple

Earlier this month, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland were joined by 10 other states in an environmental law suit challenging the Bush administration’s conclusion that states have no business setting vehicle emission standards.

The long-expected suit was filed after EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson on Dec. 19 denied California a waiver it needs under the federal Clean Air Act to enforce its own law which sets tougher tailpipe standards than those established by the EPA.

New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have all passed similar versions of the “California Car” law, claiming they were forced to act because of environmental foot-dragging in Washington under President Bush’s watch.

On Tuesday, Jan. 22, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell plans to testify on Capitol Hill about greenhouse gases. The Patriot-News headline? Rendell to Gore it up on Capitol Hill.

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Who but Corzine will sell his toll hike plan?

After unveiling for the state legislature last week his long-awaited plan reduce New Jersey’s massive debt while also generating new funds for roads, bridges, tunnels and mass transit, Governor Corzine has taken to the public stump. He’s holding town meetings across the state, working earnestly to to sell the toll-hike plan to wary state residents.

It’s a Sisyphean endeavor. The public is disheartened and distrustful. Property taxes are viewed as crushing. Recent census figures validate the conventional wisdom that many families with substantial incomes are leaving the state. Business leaders say New Jersey is no longer viewed as a good place in which to invest and signs of a looming national recession and endless spending for a war in a far-off and hostile nation only deepens the gloom.

It’s still early in the debate, but so far the governor doesn’t seem to be getting much political cover from his fellow Democrats in the Legislature or from members of the traditional Democratic power base among the trade unions, teachers, public employees, urban mayors, social-program advocates, environmentalists and others. In fact, the only public figure to announce that he’ll be working to gain support for the plan is a Republican–former NJ Assemblyman and Congressman Bob Franks. Strange bedfellows indeed.

It may be that traditional Democratic interests are, like everyone else, still numb after hearing Corzine’s analysis of just how bad things are (“more than $30 billion in debt and staggering unfunded pension and health care liabilities”). Or maybe they’re worried about the implications of his one-year spending freeze. Or they’re cautiously monitoring the mood of the electorate, waiting for signs of moderation or even begrudging acceptance of the plan.

New Jersey Future, an organization committed to ‘smart growth,’ is one of the first public policy groups to venture into the discussion. On January 17, its twice-monthly e-publication Future Facts provided a litany of economic factors that support Corzine’s approach, but the overall tone of the piece is fairly dispassionate and, while it offers no objections to the Corzine tolls, it raises some questions for public debate, including:

“How do toll increases compare, in terms of fairness, equity and progressivity, with raising other potential sources of revenue: the gas tax, the income tax, the sales tax? Would it make sense to raise the gas tax along with the tolls, thus spreading the cost across all motorists, not just those who drive on toll roads? “

You can read the Future Facts piece here. The governor’s “State of the State” speech is here.

Care to share your opinion on the governor’s plan? Just click on the “comment” line in the tiny type below and give us your two-cent’s worth.

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Reed Smith’s Princeton enviro group jumps ship

Former NJ-Department of Environmental Protection Assistant Commissioner Steven J. Picco, who for years in private practice has advised such prominent industry clients as the New Jersey Chemistry Council, recently headed up what LAW.COM describes as:

“a five-lawyer defection from the Princeton, N.J., office of international giant Reed Smith to the cozier confines of 250-lawyer regional firm Saul Ewing.”

Taking the 2.1-mile trip with Picco, from Reed Smith’s Princeton offices on Route One’s Forrestal Village to Saul Ewing’s digs at 750 College Road East, were fellow environmental lawyers Andrea Lipuma, Tom Burns and Cristina Stummer and insurance lawyer Paige Berry.

The move doesn’t exactly wipe out Reed Smith’s Princeton office. They still have 50 attorneys there and the firm, overall, has been growing by leaps and bounds. In 1999, Reed Smith was a Pittsburgh-based regional firm with 510 lawyers pulling in $165 million annually. Since then, the firm has more than doubled in size while expanding to 18 offices around the globe.

For more on this and other environmental business stories, check out our EnviroBusiness News page.

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Big enviro bills nip past NJ legislative deadline

Three major pieces of environmental legislation managed to pass both houses of the New Jersey Legislature on Monday–the final day of the two-year session.

In addition to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — A-4559 — covered in the next two posts — the Legislature sent to Governor Jon Corzine for his consideration, bills that:

Impose a $3-per-ton tax on solid waste to fund municipal recycling tonnage grants and county recycling and solid waste planning
(A-1886), and

Require electronic product manufacturers to institute recycling programs for used television sets and computers (A-3572).

Other environmental bills passed on the final session day would:

Allow counties, municipalities and school districts to join with the State under certain circumstances for provision of alternative electrical energy systems (A-357);

Add four members to South Jersey Port Corporation (A-2861);

Require purchasing agents to complete a course in green product purchasing (A-4086);

Require the state Board of Public Utilities to establish a voluntary program for the certification of renewable energy installers (S-344);

Require certain State buildings to be designed and managed to meet high performance green building standards (S-843);

Require commercial pesticide applicators and operators to contact agricultural agencies prior to exterminating honey bee colonies
(S-1848);

Require DEP to conduct public hearing and provide opportunity for public comment at conclusion of feasibility study for shore protection projects (S-2240);

Establish the New Jersey Coastal and Ocean Protection Council
(S-2645);

Revise procedures for condemnation of certain property and use of the power of eminent domain by railroads (S-2743), and

Revise the law concerning electric power net metering, safety and power quality interconnection standards (S-2936)

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Note: Our daily, electronic newsletter, EnviroPolitics, tracks every environmental bill in New Jersey and Pennsylvania–from introduction, through committee and floor votes–all the way to the governor’s desk.
For a complimentary, no-obligation, 30-day trial subscription, click here

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As predicted, PSEG gets to cap and trade

Against all odds.

The state’s major business associations opposed it. The environmentalists hated it. The Public Advocate’s Office warned against it. The Republicans turned up their noses and voted a united “no.”

But, as we predicted on Saturday, none of it mattered.

RGGI (nickname: Reggie), the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, legislation passed both houses of the New Jersey Legislature on Monday–the final day of the session–and will be signed into law by Governor Jon Corzine.

Why? Because PSEG, the state’s super utility wanted it, that’s why. And why did they want something that engendered such broad-based dyspepsia? For the answer, see our previous post Who’s Reggie and why is he so disliked?

At the end of that post we threw in a wisecrack about not owning PSEG stock…yet. In retrospect, we should have been on the line to our broker instead of our blogger service. On the same day the energy/environmental bill passed, PSEG stock hit a record high.

Our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, today carried the Gannett story on the bill’s passage —Bill environmentalists hate clears Legislature as well as Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine’s observations on the cap and trade approach to carbon reduction–Let’s cap and trade these energy plans. You also should check out Ledger business writer Tom Johnson’s story–PSEG stock tops the century mark.

As predicted, PSEG gets to cap and trade Read More »