Construction and real estate prospects in New Jersey

What is the status and future of the construction and real estate sectors in New Jersey?

That’s the question that will be addressed today by workers and business representatives testifying before the New Jersey Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee.

The committee will meet at 2 p.m. in Room 9 on the Third Floor of the State House Annex on West State Street in Trenton.

You can listen to the hearing live online or catch a rebroadcast following the meeting’s completion.

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A batch of new environmental bills in New Jersey

Eleven new environmental bills, on topics ranging from development-permit extensions to license plates for striped bass enthusiasts, will be introduced in the New Jersey State Senate next Thursday (May 12). They are: 

S-2837 Stack, B.P. (D-33); Oroho, S.V. (R-24)
Requires certain State oversight of budgets of regional sewerage authorities.
   
S-2828 Stack, B.P. (D-33); Oroho, S.V. (R-24)
Requires State oversight of budgets of joint meetings.
   
S-2839 Weinberg, L. (D-37)
Extends “whistle-blower” protections to employee disclosure of governmental mismanagement, waste and abuse.
   
S-2847 Van Drew, J. (D-1)
Extends for two years expiration date of certain permits pursuant to “Permit Extension Act of 2008.”
   
S–2849 Van Drew, J. (D-1)
Provides for voluntary contributions by taxpayers on gross income tax returns for fish and wildlife management and conservation.
   
S-2850 Van Drew, J. (D-1)
Exempts  amusement parks and carnival amusement rides from noise restrictions of “Noise Control Act of 1971” during certain time periods and subject to certain conditions.
   
S-2856 Van Drew, J. (D-1)
Establishes flat digital striped bass motor vehicle license plates.
   
S-2857 Codey, R.J. (D-27); Doherty, M.J. (R-23)
Appropriates $84,495,199 from “2009 Green Acres Fund” and “Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund” for local government open space acquisition and park development projects.
   
S-2858 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14); Kean, T.H. (R-21)
Appropriates $14,818,787 from “2009 Green Acres Fund” and “Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund” for grants to certain nonprofit entities to acquire or develop lands for recreation and conservation purposes.
   
S-2859 Gordon, R.M. (D-38); Beck, J. (R-12)
Appropriates $45 million from “2009 Green Acres Fund” and $12 million from “2009 Blue Acres Fund” for State acquisition of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, including Blue Acres projects.
   
S-2865 Bucco, A.M. (R-25)
Revises certain exemptions to “Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act.”
Related Bill: A-1846 

** NOTE: Copies of  the above bills will be available for viewing or downloading from the
NJ State Legislature’s website on May 13. For no-effort tracking of these and all other
energy and environmental bills in New Jersey and Pennsylvania see offer below.

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Readers of our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, get to follow all environmental
and energy legislation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania—from introduction to enactment. If legislation like this is important to you, your business or your organization, take advantage of our 30-day, free trial subscription.
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Solar, wind energy and deer-control bills clear NJ Senate

Alternative energy legislation allowing the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on former landfills and former mining sites moved closer to enactment on Thursday (April 28) when the New Jersey Senate passed S-2126 (Whelan) on a 33-0 vote. 

This is the  second go-round for the environmental bill. It received final legislative approval on January 10, 2011, but was returned to the Legislature by Governor Chris Christie with recommended amendments affecting sites within the  jurisdiction of the NJ Pinelands Commission. The Senate approved those changes on Thursday and now sends the bill to the Assembly for final legislative approval.   


Another piece of environmental legislation had a rougher time. Senate Environment Committee Chairman Bob Smith’s S-2649 , which allows hunters to use bait to attract deer, also was approved but only by one vote more than a required 21-vote majority. The measure now moves on to the Assembly for consideration.


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___________________________________________________________________________

Readers of our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, get to follow all environmental
and energy legislation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania—from introduction to enactment.  If legislation like this is important to you, your business or your organization, take advantage of our 30-day, free trial subscription.
____________________________________________________________________________ 
 

Solar, wind energy and deer-control bills clear NJ Senate Read More »

A merger of New Jersey law firms-north and south

The South Jersey law firm, Archer and Greiner, which has a substantial environmental and alternative and renewable energy practice, is merging with the North Jersey firm of  Herten, Burstein, Sheridan, Cevasco, Bottinelli, Litt & Harz, which has an active real estate and land-use practice.

The combined firm will retain the name Archer & Greiner PC and will become the state’s fourth largest law firm.

Prior to the merger, which will become effective on May 2, Archer & Greiner had 170 attorneys firm-wide, including 134 in New Jersey. Founded in 1928, the firm has its headquarters in Haddonfield and additional New Jersey offices in Princeton and Flemington. Its regional network of seven offices also spans Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York.

Founded in 1987, Herten Burstein has 31 attorneys in its main office in Hackensack, N.J., and a satellite office in New York City.

The addition of the Hackensack location will significantly expand Archer & Greiner’s statewide presence. The firm also has full-service offices in Philadelphia and in Wilmington and Georgetown, Del. The merger with Herten Burstein will bring Archer & Greiner’s complement of attorneys to 201, along with 47 paralegals and 190 support staff, for a total workforce of 438.

Attorneys practicing Land Use, Environmental Permitting and  Alternative & Renewable Energy law in the pre-merger Archer and Greiner firm are:

Attorneys in Herten Burstein’s Real Estate and Land Use section are:

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Coal vs. Oil – How about other ecological impacts?


[We’ve got mail and we’re sharing it with you below.  If you’d like to add to it, use the comment box below the letter.  If one isn’t visible, click the tiny ‘comments’ link ]
Dear Editor,

Thank you for your thoughtful articles on the impacts of natural gas versus coal. Your readers may want to be aware of a tool for impact analysis that could help rationalize the debate. Lucent has developed Life Cycle Analysis software that is accepted by a global standards organization (International Standards Organization, ISO) for determining ecological impact of a product or process from start to finish. They use it to choose the best way to make a product like routers. Sometimes they even decide not to make a product because it will be too much long term environmental liability compared to short term profit. How smart is that?

So if you applied this tool to some proposed actions like large scale deployment of drilling in certain locations, what happens? Hmm… So maybe we should build a pipeline to deliver gas from Alaska where we do not have to fracture, while we develop better ways to drill in the eastern shale.

And if you applied this tool to making lots of wind farms with wind machines using rare earth elements dug up in East Africa where wildlife lives, what happens? Hmm… So maybe we should mine landfills and e-waste in New Jersey for the rare earth elements, while we develop a better way to get the rare earth out of Africa without harming the wildlife.

And if you applied this tool to cutting greenhouse gases at great expense while affecting global warming 0.1 degree F, what happens? Hmm… So maybe we should burn coal. We could even convert the coal to fuels for our vehicles. Remember the synfuels program? How about that. We could do that while we work on the long term solution to global warming.

Think of all the jobs we could create, right here in the Garden State. Trenton makes, the world takes.

Happy Easter.

God Bless You.

Gary T. Boyer, P.E. BCEE
Branchburg, NJ 08876
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What you can do to keep a New York farm in business

We received this message today from the New York  League of Conservation Voters and pass it along to you in its entirety.
You already know that locally grown is good for New York’s environment, economy and public health. It tastes better, too.

But did you know this? A New York farm goes out of business and is lost to development every three and a half days.
The state’s existing Farmland Protection Program simply cannot keep up with the high demand or intense pressure to develop agricultural lands. A new approach is needed right away, or more farms will be lost for good.
Over the coming days, lawmakers in Albany will be working on proposals to generate new revenue to save New York’s farms.
Please join NYLCV in asking the Legislature to protect New York’s agricultural industry and keep high-quality, locally made products on New Yorkers’ tables.
Act Now
then
Forward this message to a friend

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