NJ enviro group ads to target wayward GOP moderates

Environmental organizations are more accustomed to raising money than spending it, but Trenton-based Environment New Jersey is breaking new ground with a five-figure advertising campaign that focuses public attention on the trending votes of three Republican congressmen from New Jersey.

No, the organization is not going after veteran Scott Garrett (R-5), who almost always votes against pro-environment legislation, or newcomer Jon Runyan (R-3) who appears to be traipsing down the same path.

Instead, they’re targeting friends-three members of the state’s congressional delegation who formerly could be counted on to support legislation endorsed by the environmental community
The three little lambs who have gone astray are: Rep. Leonard Lance
(R-7), Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2) and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11). 
The trio is being singled out for “three recent votes
that threaten public health by undermining clean air and allowing more air
pollution,” according to Environment New Jersey’s field director Doug O’Malley.   
The bills are:

  • The “TRAIN” Act, which O’Malley says would
    indefinitely delay the clean-up of toxic power plant pollution; 
  • (H.R. 2681) which would block clean air standards that lower mercury and
    other toxic air pollution from cement plants; and 
  • (H.R. 2250) that would
    prevents the imposition of new standards to reduce toxic pollution from industrial incinerators and
    boilers at power plants. 

O’Malley contends that the TRAIN Act alone, if passed, could result in 139,500 lives lost due to smog,
soot, and toxic air pollution. The health benefits delivered by the
incinerator and boiler standards are as high as $54 billion annually, and the
health benefits from cement standards will be as high as $18 billion annually, he says.
Environment New Jersey isn’t saying exactly how much they’ll be spending on the ad campaign or where the money is coming from but O’Malley says the media buys will target “the state’s largest web-sites – including nj.com – with
banners targeting hometown voters in all major newspapers, a homepage takeover
of PolitickerNJ, sponsorship of the “Wake Up Call” e-mail newsletter and
targeted Google ads. 
The ads will run for a week.  
We find this to be an interesting departure from the usual press-release and photo-op-demonstration approach favored by environmental groups.
But will it be effective? Can it bring the lambs back in line? Will it provide green-leaning Republicans with ammo they can use the next time the party’s right-wing apparatchik demands a vote that offends enviros? 
Tell us what you think in the opinion box below.    

Related:    
Rosi over at Blue Jersey sent along this link to their post today in which Adam L. scoffs at the use of the term “moderate” when applied to Republican congresspeople. Thanks, Rosi, for also correcting our original misspelling of Mr. Runyan’s name. 






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Recycling expands in Delaware despite weak economy

Photo: Jennifer Corbett/The News Journal

An industrial-scale sorting center for cans, bottles and other wastes is preparing to open in the Southbridge section of Wilmington, DE and the Delaware Solid Waste Authority next week will consider
four proposals for operation of a sorting center at the
city’s Delaware Recycling Center. 

It’s not what you might expect in a down economy, but the prices that manufacturers are paying for recycled  paper, plastic and metals has rebounded from recession levels a few years ago and Delaware’s year-old mandatory curbside recycling law is also helping to drive the recycling recovery.

The News Journal’s Jeff Montgomery delivers the encouraging environmental news today in:
Recycling efforts to expand

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NJ’s conditional fracking ban: A missed opportunity?

In a guest opinion column in this morning’s Trenton Times, environmentalist Tracy Carluccio writes that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie missed the boat by refusing to sign into law an outright ban on the controversial, natural-gas drilling technique known as hydrofracturing, or fracking for short? 

Ms. Carluccio, who is deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, writes that New Jersey  “could have been the first state in the nation to put clean drinking
water before a dirty method of natural gas drilling.” 
Instead, she says, “the
governor has replaced a brilliant pro-active policy with a weak one-year
moratorium.”

Check out her arguments at: N.J. should ban fracking now to protect state’s water resources  and let us know what you think in the opinion box below.

If on is not visible, activate it byclicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

Related:
New Jersey Governor Proposes 1 Year Gas Drilling Moratorium
Op-ed: – Fracking has a 60-year safety record
NJ bans fracking. NY un-bans it. PA skips a frack tax


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Martin Robins sadly recalls NJ’s tunnel to nowhere

ARC tunnel station sketch

With the recent report on how the Christie Administration has settled its outstanding bill with the federal government for the massive New Jersey to Manhattan commuter rail tunnel that was killed last year, the once intensely covered mass-transit story is likely to disappear from public view and memory.

For Martin Robins, the original project director for the Access to Regional Core (ARC) tunnel, however, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to terminate the project was a shock at the time and remains a source of deep disappoiontment.

In an October 13 interview with NJ Today anchor Mike Schneider, Robins recounts how difficult it was to overcome interstate obstacles, generate financing, and ‘thread the needle” to find a workable route under the Hudson and available facility space in Manhattan.

He talks abut the project’s eerie entombment in North Bergen, what likely has happened to the mountain of engineering data and plans that ARC generated, and whether the project could ever be restarted.

The interview begins at the 17:06 minute mark in the video below.

   

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House votes to delay EPA’s MACT boiler rules

The U.S. House of Representatives voted almost two-to-one Thursday night to postpone the implementation of EPA’s proposed Boiler maximum achievable control technology (Boiler MACT) rules that would regulate
emissions from commercial, institutional and industrial boiler systems.

The Hill reports: 

The EPA Regulatory Relief Act, sometimes referred to as “boiler MACT”
would slow the implementation of rules designed to restrict the types
and quantities of poisons water boilers use to create steam for heating
buildings are allowed to emit.  

Prior to the resounding 275-142 vote, lawmakers engaged in hearty
debate with some Democrats like Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) arguing
that repealing the rules would literally result in the death of
thousands of Americans.

“If the regulation to remove mercury, lead and cancer-causing toxins
from incinerators and industrial boilers, which is already 11 years
overdue, is delayed for even one year, there will be 6,600 people who
will die prematurely, and people will miss 320,000 days of work and
school,” said Markey.
“Pass this bill and you sentence hundreds of
thousands to asthma attacks and a lifetime of health complications,”
Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) echoed.

Meanwhile Republicans, who prevailed in the vote, argued that the
complicated set of rules in “Boiler MACT” were onerous and would cost
the economy billions of dollars in added costs at a time it can least
afford it.

Supporters of H.R. 2250, saw its 275 to 142 passage as a victory for job creators and workers, Power Engineering reports.

“This bill is a critical step toward getting the Boiler MACT rules right the first time, saving the biomass industry millions of dollars in unnecessary costs and sparing thousands of American jobs,” said Bob Cleaves, president and CEO of the Biomass Power Association.

But Randy Rawson, president and CEO of the American Boiler Manufacturers Association, said the House  vote was “opting for continued, arbitrarily-chosen delay and imprecise legislative definitions and directions.”

“The House has signaled its preference for on-going, long-term marketplace uncertainty and turmoil rather than trying to resolve exigent issues,” Rawson said.

The bill  now moves to the Senate.

Related:
If you’d like to dig into the details of the EPA proposals, check out this comprehensive video produced by Trinity Consultants: EPA Issues Final Boiler Rules

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NY loses out on $300M solar plant but still picks up jobs

GE’s campus in Schenectady, NY. Photo: Business Journal

General Electric has decided not to build the nation’s largest solar panel plant in Schenectady, N.Y., where it is headquartered, but the $300 million, alternative-energy project will still generate valuable new employment in the Empire State.

The (Albany) Business Review reports today that the manufacturing center will be located in the Denver, Colorado, area where it will generate 355 jobs and produce enough panels per year to power 80,000 homes.

After added construction, the plant will be the size of 11 football
fields, GE said.

The good news for New York is that GE will add 100 doctorate, engineer and technologist positions between
two sites in Schenectady County to support the work in Colorado.
 
Related:
100 new jobs reduce sting of losing GE solar plant to Colorado
GE to build largest solar plant in U.S.
Colorado lands GE solar plant




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