EnviroPolitics Blog

Upcoming environmental events in NJ & PA

Check out these great upcoming events
in New Jersey and Pennsylvania:

December 1
Pennsylvania DEP Public Meeting on Results of TEC Emission Reduction Efforts
7 p.m., Perkiomen Valley Middle School East auditorium, 100 Kagey Road, Collegeville, PA.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will hold a public meeting to update residents on efforts to reduce airborne trichloroethylene or TCE levels in that area of Montgomery County. Background information on the work conducted to date, as well as previous air monitoring reports and presentations from previous public meetings, have been posted on DEP’s Southeast regional Web page – http://www.ahs2.dep.state.pa.us/redirector?varURL=http://www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Collegeville.

December 8
Site Remediation Reform Act and LSRP Program: A Revolutionary New Way of Doing Business in New Jersey 8:30 to 4:30, Newark, NJ. This one-day program is designed to familiarize practitioners and those associated with site remediation with the Site Remediation Reform Act and the new way of doing remedial business in the Garden State. The newly adopted regulations will be discussed in depth by the NJDEP officials who developed the rules. Presented by NJDEP, Rutgers University Office of Continuing Professional Education, and the Licensed Site Remediation Professional Association Information & Registration

December 11
Roundtable Breakfast with NJ Board of Public Utilities Decision-Makers

8:30 to 10 a.m., Forsgate Country Club, Monroe, NJ. At the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce’s next Roundtable Breakfast, BPU Commissioner Elizabeth Randall and BPU President Jeanne Fox will address the topic: How Does BPU Policies and Programs Impact NJ Companies? As part of the presentation, they will discuss the New Administration • NJ Clean Energy Program • Energy Master Plan • Natural Gas, Electricity, Water, Telecommunications and Cable Television Industries • BPU

Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and other items. Registration Information Registrations are only accepted with payment. Your credit card will be billed the appropriate amount. No refunds after December 9, 2009 • $10 cancellation fee. To register, go to:
http://www.njchamber.com/Events/fox%20randall%2009.asp

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These are just a few of the many great seminars, forums and other educational and networking opportunities on our Envio-Events Calendar. Get on our list and receive free updates when new items are added. Just type the word ‘events’ in the subject line of an email and send it to: enviro-calendar@aweber.com Then watch your email for a one-step confirmation.

Our most recent posts:

New Jersey boosts solar energy, green building
NJ-based NRG and Covanta get road wins
Setting your own biodiesel blend in New Jersey
New Jersey sets new recycling grant record

Upcoming environmental events in NJ & PA Read More »

New Jersey boosts solar energy, green building

A new program providing rebates for solar panels and related equipment manufactured in New Jersey has been kicked off by the state’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU).

Also making New Jersey environmental news is a bill scheduled for action on Monday in the state Legislature that would provide low-interest loans for building projects that meet green standards.

Rebates for solar equipment made in New Jersey
The BPU’s new program offers consumers, businesses, and municipalities that purchase solar panels, inverters, and racking systems manufactured in New Jersey a rebate of up to 25 cents per watt for panels, and up to 15 cents per watt for inverters and racking systems. The program is expected to provide $1 million in incentives to the state’s consumers, businesses, and municipalities over the coming months.

BPU President Jeanne M. Fox said the program “supports our environmental, energy, and economic development goals and helps establish New Jersey as a hub for the growing green economy.”

To qualify for the incentives, applicants must use products manufactured with at least 50 percent of the product cost – including the labor, overhead, components, and raw materials – from facilities located in New Jersey. Products must also comply with applicable Underwriters Laboratory standards and be commercially available to the public.

Yearly audits will be performed to ensure manufacturing compliance. Organizations awarded a grant under New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA) Clean Energy Manufacturing Fund (CEMF) are automatically certified as a New Jersey manufacturer.

Additional information about the program and all of the business and residential incentives offered by New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program can be found at http://www.njcleanenergy.com/ or by calling 1-866-NJSMART (1-866-657-6278).

In the Legislature, a bill to encourage green buildings

The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee on Monday will take up A-2065, which permits developers to qualify for low-interest loan from NJEDA when building a high performance green building.

Sponsored by Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) and Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), the measure directs the Economic Development Authority to develop a program that makes low-interest loans available to

“a developer or redeveloper who constructs a new building or renovates an
existing building that, when completed, qualifies as a high performance green
building. “

The bill defines a “high performance green building” as one:

“having at least 15,000 square feet in total floor area that is designed and constructed in a manner that achieves at least a silver rating according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System as adopted by the United States Green Building Council.

Our most recent posts:
NJ-based NRG and Covanta get road wins
Setting your own biodiesel blend in New Jersey
New Jersey sets new recycling grant record
Law firm trolling for Marcellus water cases

Also check out our:
Enviro-Business News
Enviro-Events Calendar

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New Jersey boosts solar energy, green building Read More »

NJ-based NRG and Covanta get road wins

Results in the New Jersey Environmental-Energy big leagues:

Princeton-based NRG Energy picks up road win in Texas

Environmental regulators in the Lone Star State have approved a draft permit to allow the energy company to build a $1.2 billion pulverized coal unit at its Limestone station near Jewett, some 120 miles northwest of Houston.

The Jersey team recorded the win over a scrappy team of environmental groups and some nearby property owners who are challenging the state’s air-permitting process, citing Texas’ ranking as the leading emitter of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

In its last successful outing, NRG Energy acquired Bluewater Wind, the wind-energy company that hopes to install turbine farms off the coasts of Delaware and New Jersey.

Covanta scores win in South Carolina, loss in Connecticut

The Chester County Council gave initial approval this week to recommendations from the county’s planning and zoning boards to rezone 100 acres off S.C. 9 to allow Fairfield, NJ-based Covanta Energy to build a waste-to-energy plant near Fort Lawn, SC.

The project is expected to cost at least $500 million and create around 50 permanent jobs, along with related temporary jobs, said John Phillips, vice president of business development for Covanta, which operates more than 40 of these plants around the country. The project faces as second vote at a specially called meeting Friday, and a final vote in December.

Meanwhile, Covanta suffered a loss to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. Covanta has agreed to a settlement over an emissions violation discovered at the trash-to energy plant in Wallingford that Covanta operates for the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.

Instead of a fine, Covanta will pay $355,000 to the DEP to fund local recycling programs. The excess dioxin emissions were discovered during the plant’s annual performance test on May 23, 2007.

Dennis Schain, a DEP spokesman, said the dioxin violation was not severe enough to pose an immediate threat to public health. Covanta corrected the violation quickly and that the plant has not had any emission violations since, he said.

Our latest posts:

Setting your own biodiesel blend in New Jersey

New Jersey sets new recycling grant record

Law firm trolling for Marcellus water cases

Radioactive news on Marcellus Shale water

Also check out our:

Enviro-Business News

Enviro-Events Calendar

————————————————————————————-

Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, E nviroPolitics

Try it now, without cost or obligation for 30 full days

NJ-based NRG and Covanta get road wins Read More »

Setting your own biodiesel blend in New Jersey

Dixon Brothers, location on Cobb Street in Rockaway, is the first biodiesel retail fueling stations in Morris County–and one of only
two in New Jersey–where customers can set their own blend of conventional diesel fuel and a domestically produced, renewable soybean product.Daily Record writer Megan Van Dyk reports today that Jennifer and Sally Pierson, who are the fourth-generation family owners of the business, invested $25,000 to install a heated storage facility where the 100 percent bio is kept in a tank aside a diesel tank. Pipes leading to the self-serving pump outside mix the two fuels to the customer’s specifications–ranging from 2 percent bio to 20 percent bio.Biodiesel produces less pollution and improves the longevity of diesel engines because of improved lubrication, and it can be used in existing diesel engines without the need for modifications. For now, Dixon Brothers is offering its biodiesel at five cents more per gallon than regular diesel fuel, which Levitt admits can be a hard sell in this economy.The company is pitching its product to area municipalities alongside information about the state’s Biodiesel Fuel Rebate Program, which offers rebates to government entities for the price-per-gallon difference between biodiesel and regular diesel to fuel their fleet of construction vehicles, police cars and school buses.The first company in New Jersey to offer biodiesel was Maplewood-based Woolley Fuel, which opened its pump in December. Demand for biofuel is “one of the few things that has increased every month,” said Norman Woolley Jr., the company’s vice president.Related:
ChemrezTech earnings up on stronger biodiesel sales
Introduction of B2 blend improves company’s profits by 3%
NYC cooking oil fueling vehicles and buildings

Our most recent posts:

New Jersey sets new recycling grant record
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Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, E nviroPolitics
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Setting your own biodiesel blend in New Jersey Read More »

New Jersey sets new recycling grant record

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is awarding $14.5 million in grants to boost local recycling efforts–nearly twice as much as last year’s $8 million and almost three times higher than the previous high of $5.5 million set in 1995.

What accounts for the difference?

The Recycling Enhancement Act, a law passed in 2008, which sets a $3-per-ton surcharge trash taken to disposal facilities in the state.

The law was enacted to provide municipalities and counties with more funds for recycling programs, including education and enforcement (the carrot and the stick).

The amount that each municipality is receiving this year is based on its respective recycling level in 2007, the last year for which official figures have been established.

The DEP reports that, in 2007, New Jersey:

Recycled 12.4 million tons of a total 21.6 million tons of solid waste, for an overall recycling rate of 57.3 percent. This includes all types of waste, including municipal solid waste as well as bulky waste such as construction and demolition debris, scrap metal and wood.
Of the total amount above, the state recycled 3.8 million tons of some 10.5 million tons of municipal solid waste, for a municipal solid waste recycling rate of 36.5 percent. Materials recycled as part of municipal programs includes paper, cardboard, glass, metal cans and plastic.

The expectation is that the additional funding will enable counties and towns to improve the state’s overall recycling numbers which have been on the decline in recent years.
The danger is that cash-starved municipalities will look to siphon off some of the recycling funds for other purposes. State law forbids such diversions, but the temptation will be there, making state-level auditing and other oversight practices more important than ever.

Our most recent posts:
Law firm trolling for Marcellus water cases
Delaware: First to sign and the first to spin?
Radioactive news on Marcellus Shale water
Enviros (and business) split over climate bill
Politics by the pound in New Jersey

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Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics
Try it now, without cost or obligation for 30 full days.

New Jersey sets new recycling grant record Read More »

Law firm trolling for Marcellus water cases

Can the use of ‘fracking’ to extract natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania pollute private wells?

A Texas-based law firm thinks it can and it’s actively searching for affected property owners to represent in law suits against drilling companies.

The Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm in Southlake, TX is using its website to spread the word about George Zimmermann, the owner of 480 acres in Washington County, southwest Pennsylvania, who claims that Atlas Energy Inc. ruined his land with toxic chemicals used in or released there by hydraulic fracturing, also known as ‘fracking.’

The law firm’s web site reports:

“Water tests at three locations by gas wells on Zimmermann’s property –one is 1,500 feet from his home — found seven potentially carcinogenic chemicals above “screening levels” set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

“The gas is being extracted by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is forced a mile or more underground at high pressure, fracturing the shale and causing the release of natural gas.

“In June, water tests found arsenic at 2,600 times acceptable levels, benzene at 44 times above limits and naphthalene five times the federal standard. Soil samples detected mercury and selenium above official limits, as well as ethylbenzene, a chemical used in drilling, and trichloroethene, a naturally occurring but toxic chemical that can be brought to the surface by gas drilling.

“Zimmermann’s suit, filed in September in the Washington County Court of Common Pleas, follows claims by residents in many gas-drilling areas of the United States that fracking pollutes private water wells with toxic chemicals and threatens widespread contamination of aquifers from which many rural households draw drinking water.”

Should anyone miss the point of the reportorial exercise, the law firm ends with the following paragraph:

“If you or a family member has been injured because of the fault of someone else; by negligence, personal injury, slip and fall, car accident, medical malpractice, trucking accident, drunk driving, dangerous drugs, bad product, toxic injury etc then please contact the Dallas Fort Worth Texas Toxic Injury Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.“

For a more robust, and perhaps less self-interested report on Mr. Zimmerman’s case, we recommend the Reuters news story Pennsylvania lawsuit says drilling polluted water

Have an opinion you’d like to share on this topic? Use the opinion box below. If one isn’t open, click on the tiny ‘comments’ line below to activate it. You can remain anonymous, if you’d like, but signed comments are appreciated.

Related:
DEC extends Public Comment period for Marcellus Shale
Pipelines a must for Marcellus drilling to take place
State files show 270 drilling accidents in past 30 years
New York proposes Marcellus Shale drilling rules
Bad economy? Not in the Marcellus Shale

Our most recent posts:
Delaware: First to sign and the first to spin?
Radioactive news on Marcellus Shale water
Enviros (and business) split over climate bill
Politics by the pound in New Jersey
NY/NJ Port shippers see wolf in ‘green’ costume

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Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics

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Law firm trolling for Marcellus water cases Read More »