Week’s top environmental & political news


Some of the top stories appearing in EnviroPolitics from Aug 27-31. Captured from newspapers and other information sources in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and beyond.

New Jersey Environment

DEP orders work to stop on strip mall planned for Highlands In one of the first enforcement cases of the Highlands statute, a notice of violation has been issued to the developer of the proposed Liberty Square mall in Independence Township, Warren County. Developer Liberty Square 517 LLC missed an Aug. 10 deadline to build a foundation on the project in the strict Highlands preservation area, and a cease-and-desist order has been issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection, officials said. (Star-Ledger)

Sparta approves $2.1M for reservoir Despite the prospect of a lawsuit, the Sparta Township Council has adopted a $2.1 million bond ordinance to buy nearly one-third of a quarry founded by Thomas Edison that contains a vast spring-fed reservoir. (Star-Ledger)

Smoke at chemical fire sends 15 to hospital A small chemical fire broke out Tuesday at the Permacel Inc. building in the Industrial Park, forcing several people to the hospital with respiratory problems. About 60 employees of the plant at 1990 Rutgers University Blvd. and workers in the surrounding complexes were evacuated about 10:15 a.m. as firefighters spent about 20 minutes putting out the blaze, authorities said (Asbury Park Press)

Sayreville told about Superfund cleanups Twenty-five years ago, an abundance of toxic chemicals was found buried beneath the Sayreville landfill, seeping into the soil and poisoning the groundwater with pesticides. In the years that followed, state officials began a gradual cleanup of the site, removing drums of hazardous waste and installing systems to block the pollution from spreading. On Wednesday, representatives from the state Department of Environmental Protection told a room of Sayreville residents their work on the landfill is nearly done. (Star-Ledger)

Somerset parks employees repay county $1,697 Somerset County parks employees have reimbursed the park commission for several expenses criticized as unrelated to their jobs, but most were legitimate or judgment calls, county officials said last night.After reviewing expense vouchers cited as “questionable” by an outside law firm, county Treasurer Brian Newman said there were no clear prohibitions against some of the payments (Star-Ledger)

Proposed power plant switching from coal to natural gas LS Power Company plans to put its Delaware River power plant online four years sooner than anticipated now that it proposes to use natural gas rather than coal to fuel the operation. (Courier-Post)

Eagles and hawks are migrating south The autumn hawk-watching season takes off Saturday as thousands of raptors begin their annual southern migration. Bergen County’s prime viewing spot is in Alpine, where broad-winged hawks and bald eagles can be seen flying down the Hudson River. The viewing area, the State Line Lookout, is just off Exit 3 of the Palisades Interstate Parkway (Bergen Record)

Clean Water New Jersey to honor excellence in stormwater pollution control Polluted runoff is a major threat to New Jersey’s water quality, and municipalities and other government agencies that have excelled in managing it are now eligible for special Clean Water New Jersey awards (NJ-DEP)

New Jersey Politics

Democrats seek to unload contributions from fugitive Some top New Jersey Democrats scramble to divest themselves of at least $51,000 in campaign contributions from a donor whose fugitive status also caused embarrassment this week for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (Star-Ledger)

Nursing home fixing the AC after a roasting from Codey A Newark nursing home where state Sen. Richard Codey found sweltering conditions during a surprise inspection earlier this month will replace its sputtering air conditioners (Star-Ledger)

Ex-mayor gets harsh term in graft case For nearly five years after pleading guilty to corruption charges, former Ocean Township Mayor Terrance Weldon remained a free man by quietly cooperating with investigations against others. But when his day of reckoning came yesterday, Weldon caught the wrath of a federal judge fed up with the seemingly endless parade of New Jersey politicians “hell-bent on corruption.” For nearly five years after pleading guilty to corruption charges, former Ocean Township Mayor Terrance Weldon remained a free man by quietly cooperating with investigations against others. But when his day of reckoning came yesterday, Weldon caught the wrath of a federal judge fed up with the seemingly endless parade of New Jersey politicians “hell-bent on corruption.” (Star-Ledger)Could it be Lautenberg vs. Booker? With Democrats Rob Andrews, Frank Pallone and Steve Rothman unwilling to mount a primary challenge against the 83-year-old incumbent, could Booker be the guy who runs Wally Edge Blog

Wesley Lance dies, shaped constitution Former Republican state Sen. Wesley L. Lance of Hunterdon County, the last survivor of the 81 delegates to the historic NJ Constitutional Convention of 1947 that created the state’s modern constitution, died Saturday. He was 98. (Star-Ledger)

Pennsylvania Environment

DEP fines Hercules Cement The Department of Environmental Protection announced today it has issued a $174,604 civil penalty against Hercules Cement Company in Stockertown Borough, Northampton County, for air quality violations between 2003 and 2006 (PA-DEP)

PPL Gas Utilities Announces Decrease in Gas Supply Rate PPL Gas Utilities’ 76,000 customers will see a decrease in their bills this fall. The company announced Friday (8/31) a3 percent reduction in the rate customers pay for the gas supply portion of their bill. (PPL)

Hundreds protest wind turbines — Accusations flew and tempers flared Tuesday as hundreds of residents in Bedford and Somerset counties ordered Gamesa Energy to keepwind turbines off Shaffer Mountain. (Altoona Mirror)

Cleaning up coal’s bad rap Is coal becoming a dirty word? It’s vilified as a contributor to global warming, risky to get out of the earth — as recent deaths in a Utah coal mine have reminded us — and responsible for destroying streams and valleys in Appalachia, where mountaintop removal mining remains extremely controversial. Meanwhile, pressure from environmental groups worried about climate change has forced utilities from North Carolina to Oregon to drop plans for about two dozen coal-fired power plants. NRG Energy CEO David Crane says that ‘clean coal’ has a future, despite what critics say. NRG Energy is looking to build the country’s first big coal plant to capture and store carbon dioxide.

Pennsylvania Politics

Democratic offices searched in Harrisburg State investigators last week executed a search warrant on the Capitol basement headquarters of the Democratic Office of Legislative Research in a broadening investigation into whether state employees were used to run several political campaigns last year. (Post-Gazette)

Judge: Fumo can keep Sprague as lawyer A federal judge ruled today that State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, who faces 139 charges of federal fraud and obstruction of justice, can keep Richard A. Sprague as his lawyer. The decision means the scheduled trial of one of Pennsylvania’s most powerful politicians, who had been represented by one of Philadelphia’s most prominent lawyers, is likely to proceed as scheduled for February. (Inquirer)

Future of Pa. six-pack sales is now a case for justices The state Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Pennsylvanians will be able to walk into their local grocery or corner store and pick up a six-pack of beer along with toilet paper and a carton of milk (Inquirer)

New York/Region/World

California aims to save fish via poison The state’s latest plan to rid Lake Davis of northern pike – and protect species downstream – raises concern.(Christian Science Monitor)

Sony Develops Bio-Battery Powered by Glucose Sony’s new bio-battery that uses the sugar in carbohydrates to generate electricity — as an example, the company demonstrated using a sports drink to power a small fan or a Walkman. (GreenBiz.com)

German Biodiesel Industry Peaks, Trouble Ahead Germany’s biodiesel production capacity is set to rise to a record 5 million tons in 2007, but analysts have warned that the boom in the country’s biodiesel industry is coming to an end after the industry failed to block the government from rolling back a key tax relief scheme in court this July. (Renewable Energy Weekly)

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Recycling under cost pressure in Delaware

The state of Delaware’s curbside and drop-off recycling program is attracting more users but it’s also approaching a budgetary shortfall of $9 million which has officials looking at ways to streamline costs without cutting existing programs.

Among the options under review is a move to biweekly instead of weekly curbside collections and a shift to a “single stream” system which would eliminate the need for separate containers for various types of recyclable materials at drop-off locations.

For more details, see today’s News Journal story.

Recycling under cost pressure in Delaware Read More »

Are the answers blowing in the wind?

It was quite an interesting juxtaposition in time.

The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported Monday that the Corzine administration is:

“quietly taking the first steps toward creating an array of giant windmills off the South Jersey coast to turn ocean breezes into electricity. It could involve as many as 80 wind-powered turbines towering 30 stories high over the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere between southern Ocean County and Cape May.”

That’s certainly an ambitious undertaking. But what makes the timing of the story so interesting is that it comes just days after the chairman of the Long Island Power Authority in neighboring New York announced the authority was dropping plans for the construction of a wind farm off Jones Beach because of escalating projected costs.

Newsday reported that the decision followed on the heels of a study by Pace Global Energy Services which found that:

“the premium for wind-generated power from the Jones Beach project, over a 20-year period, would translate to about $2.50 per month to the typical residential consumer bill, or a total $66 million per year for all of LIPA.”

PACE arrived at the figure, according to Newsday, by comparing the cost of electricity produced in a combined-cycle natural gas power plant on Long Island, which is about $137 per megawatt hour, and a megawatt hour of power produced by the wind farm, which it said “could be $291.”

So, what does New York’s findings mean for New Jersey’s project? So far, potential environmental concerns seem to be the primary stumbling blocks, not costs. The environmental community is split on the prospect of an offshore wind farm, with the American Littoral Society opposing the idea, while the Audubon Society and Sierra Club support it.
But the debate is in its early stages, as the state’s Board of Public Utilities is only beginning to solicit proposals from potential developers to determine what it would take to actually build an offshore wind farm.
One interested New Jersey firm is Hoboken-based Bluewater Wind, which plans to build a 200-turbine wind farm off Delaware in 2012 at a cost of $2 billion.
Affordable in Delaware but not New York? Why?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind. Stay tuned to what should be a very interesting policy debate.

***************************************************
Sidenote: New York leads the tri-state region with eight wind-power installations generating a total of 390 mega watts of wind energy . Pennsylvania is second with 179MW and New Jersey’s only wind farm–in Atlantic City–generates 8 MW. The largest wind states are Texas (3352 MW), California (2376) and Iowa (976).

Are the answers blowing in the wind? Read More »

Week’s top environmental & political news

Some of the top stories appearing in EnviroPolitics from Aug 20-24. Captured from newspapers and other information sources in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and beyond.
New Jersey Environment

The cost to NJ if nuclear reactor is retired Retiring the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey would cost NJ more than $300M a year in higher electricity prices and lost economic activity, says a report funded by the plant’s parent AP Press

Wastewater plant fined $30,000 The government agency that operates Bergen County’s wastewater treatment system is fined for emitting more sulfur that permitted Bergen Record

Codey wants a say on NYC traffic fee Senate President calls on New York City officials to add NJ representatives to a newly formed commission that will study a plan to charge motorists fees to enter parts of Manhattan Bergen Record Star-Ledger

NJ moves to head of Marcal claim line In its effort to emerge from bankruptcy protection, Marcal Paper Mills struck a deal last month with federal environmental officials regarding the manufacturer’s responsibility to help clean up the polluted lower Passaic River. Now, it’s time to deal with the state Star-Ledger

Water rules in the works The public comment period has closed and state officials are moving forward with the expansion of water protection rules that would likely curb development. If adopted, the change would limit where sewer and septic systems are placed and expand the number of streams that require 300-foot buffers from development. Express-Times

New Jersey Politics

Torricelli using campaign funds to lobby When he was last running for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 2002, Robert G. Torricelli collected donations from thousands of people who apparently wanted to see him re-elected. They might be surprised to see how he spenta portion of their money—on politicians with an influence over Mr. Torricelli’s, or his clients’, business interests New York Times

Battle looms on stadium expansion Rutgers is raising tuition and cutting other sports programs but wants to cash in on football team’s popularity with a $116 million stadium expansion Star-Ledger
> Editorial: Football uber alles? Bergen Record

James: I cannot pay my attorneys Federal prosecutors have accused former Newark Mayor Sharpe James of bilking the city to subsidize a lavish lifestyle, including trips to Martha’s Vineyard when he allegedly shipped his Rolls-Royce along at taxpayers’ expense. Now James claims he doesn’t have the cash to pay a law firm representing him to fight those charges Star-Ledger

Ex-commerce official: Family woes inspired corrupt acts Devereaux apologizes for “really bad judgment” in finding state work for her relatives and conducting her law practice on state time, but says she never intended to commit a crime Star-Ledger

Two of Newark’s triple-slay suspects caught In series of raids, task force catches up to brothers near Washington, planning to escape to El Salvador Star-Ledger NY Times
> ‘How did you catch me?’ Hard work and MySpace Star-Ledger

Pennsylvania Environment

Ethanol plant in the works Northeast Ethanol is evaluating four sites in northeast PA for construction of a plant, including a 100-acre property in Mayfield owned by Carrier Coal Enterprises Times-Tribune

DEP leans toward auto club permit; neighbors fear pollution PA regulators are leaning toward approval of a permit for a four-mile high speed driving course on 360 wooded acres at the foot of Blue Mountain Inquirer

Fines a possibility in fish-kill spill DEP says Aug. 10 spill from a meat rendering plant in Franconia that killed 10,000 small fish in a mile-long stretch of the Skippack Creek is “ripe” for a penalty The Reporter

Its bats and birds versus energy blades The Pennsylvania Biological Survey has gone to bat for the bats in a swirling policy debate over whether commercial wind power development should be permitted in state forests Post-Gazette

High tension Proposed power line through region sparks concerns. Imagine a new interstate highway, six to eight lanes wide, slicing across the landscape of Northeastern Pennsylvania Times Tribune

Pennsylvania Politics

Taxpayers poised to pay $2 billion for pensions Legislature let state, school boards shortchange funds by not contributing enough Morning Call

Lawmakers blast PHEAA bonuses “The interests of struggling students are once again overshadowed by the interests of those who occupy PHEAA’s executive suite,” says governor’s spokesperson Patriot News

Foxwoods casino advances, under fire, in Philadelphia To shouts of “Shame!” and “The people want a say!” from more than 100 onlookers, the City Planning Commission votes unanimously to give the go-ahead to the Foxwoods riverfront casino in South Philadelphia Inquirer

Indicted judge won’t seek retention Michael Joyce was indicted last week on nine counts of money laundering and mail fraud related to two insurance claims he filed after a 2001 car accident Post-Gazette

New York/Nation/World

GOP consultant resigns amid ‘phone’ uproar Roger Stone Jr., accused of threatening Gov. Spitzer’s father, quits campaign job with the Senate GOP, claiming he is the victim of a “dirty trick” by gubernatorial aides “capable of wire tapping” Newsday

Con Ed: Echo Bay cleanup is finally done Twenty-six years after a transformer fire spilled oil laden with a suspected carcinogen near Echo Bay, Consolidated Edison says it has finished its cleanup of the 2.6-acre site Journal News

LIPA chief kills wind farm project Long Island Power Authority chairman says he will “terminate” a controversial project to install 40 wind turbines off the coast of Jones Beach Newsday

Enviros decry talk of new Tappan bridge Bloomberg.com —————————————————————————
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New Jersey governor signs 4 environmental bills

New Jersey legislators may be on summer recess, but they’re keeping Governor Jon Corzine’s legal staff busy reviewing scores of bills passed in a flurry of voting sessions prior to the break.

Among them are four environmental bills (below) that Corzine signed into law yesterday.

Each bill number also functions as a link that you can activate to read the entire bill.

A-2693
Wisniewski, J.S. ; Johnson, G.M. ; Steele, A.E
Provides that certain industrial use chemicals are not controlled dangerous substances.

A-2853
Chatzidakis, L. ; Bodine, F.L. ; Van Drew, J.
Limits homeowners’ association regulation of solar collectors on certain roofs.

A-3983
Chatzidakis, L. ; Stender, L. ; Chivukula, U.J. ; Rooney, J.E. ; Van Drew, J.
Requires State to replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs; requires BPU to educate public on benefits of compact fluorescent light bulbs.

S-2581
Smith, B. ; McKeon, J.F.
Authorizes Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission to charge project application review fees and issue general permits for certain projects.

Subscribers to EnviroPolitics get to follow levery piece of environmental legislation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania–from introduction, through committee and floor action, all the way to the governor’s desk. Get yourself a free, 30-day, no-obligation subscription at: Free Trial

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Two more electric cars to fantasize about

We don’t want this blog to turn into an endless rhapsody over electronic cars, but interesting prototypes keep popping up. Here are two more:

The Lightning GT, scheduled to roll off the assembly line later this year, is touted as the first electric car that can be fully charged in roughly the same amount of time it takes to fill up a tank of gas. The manufacturer says it will only take 10 minutes of plug-in time and you’ll be set for 250 miles of driving.

SciFi Tech reviewer Charlie White drools:

“This 700-hp high-tech beast can accelerate from zero to 60 in less than four seconds, beating that other sexy electric car, the Tesla Roadster, by a few tenths. The Lightning GT’s designers paid special attention to safety, too, placing honeycomb crushable impact cells between you and 130 miles per hour’s worth of inertia. Pricing will be around $300K for this electric supercar, supporting the observation that whenever car wonks put the words “super” and “car” together, you’re probably going to be shelling out a super price. “

If you don’t have a spare $300 grand , try this ride.

It’s a car. No, it’s a motorcycle. No, it’s both–and it’s neither. It’s Venture One, a three-wheeled electric hybrid that resembles the cockpit of a fighter plane and “flys the road” at up to 100 mph and an astounding 100 miles per gallon.

Neither the picture nor any words we might add can do this creation justice. You simply must take it for a spin via one of the videos available at Venture’s web page to get an idea of what the Venture One really looks like and the wow-inspiring way it maneuvers.

Once you do, we venture you’ll find yourself dreaming about how much fun it would be to pilot one down New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway or across Pennsylvania’s I-80 (at least until Governor Rendell installs his revenue-raising tollbooths).

The price tag on the Venture One is expected to be around $20,000. If you’re an urban dweller who has no need to transport landscaping ties or a gaggle of kids to soccer practice, this could be a really fun way to help save the planet.

Two more electric cars to fantasize about Read More »