EnviroPolitics Blog

California to use federal funds to test solar canopies over canal

The Delta-Mendota Canal (left) and the California Aqueduct east of Tracy, California.

By NATALIE HANSON, Courthouse News Service

LOS BANOS, Calif. (CN) — Canals in California may soon feature a new look — solar panel canopies, designed to stop evaporation and soak up the sun’s rays, created under a new project funded with help from the federal government to boost green energy infrastructure.

Governor Gavin Newsom joined staff from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday to highlight a new “solar-over-canal” project along one of the state’s primary aqueducts. The pilot project proposes placing a solar canopy to “float” over a major waterway as a source of renewable energy that can also prevent the loss of precious water through evaporation.

Adam Nickels, Deputy Regional Director at the Bureau of Reclamation, said that the Biden Inflation Reduction Act helped make it possible to pick a portion of the Delta-Mendota Canal for placement of a solar panel in Merced County.

About $19 million from Biden’s fund is designed to help fund solar projects, with $15 million going toward making “floating solar” research happen.

Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton of the Bureau of Reclamation said that researchers hope to identify the best design for floating solar projects and what will work to pair with existing waterways.

Representative Jim Costa, a Democrat from Fresno, praised Biden for investing in infrastructure while criticizing the former Trump administration for making promises to do so “that never happened.”

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New Jersey shore town Avalon spent $1M to fix its beach last spring only to see nearly all of the sand washed away

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By Steven Rodas | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A Jersey Shore town is once again dipping into its own pockets to keep the beaches sandy in time for the summer.

Avalon, which is flanked by Stone Harbor and Townsends Inlet, needs sand — although a $37.7 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project dropped loads of it there and in Stone Harbor just last spring.

Scott Wahl, business administrator for Avalon, told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday that of the more than 550,000 cubic yards of sand the town received last spring: “Very little of that sand is left.”

“The volume of sand for a hydraulic beach fill is driven by two factors: Sand availability, and money availability,” Wahl said.

Avalon, he noted, is no stranger to replenishing its beaches with more sand ahead of the busier months.

The town restored beaches with 700,000 cubic yards of sand in 2015 and north of 940,000 cubic yards two years later.

Last year’s Army Corps project was initially estimated to be $28 million but that cost later ballooned during contract negotiations, an Army Corps spokesman said. That work, part of a years-long plan to periodically replenish those slices of the Jersey Shore every two to four years, also benefited Stone Harbor.

Avalon paid $1.1 million for that larger shore project work last year, Wahl confirmed. The rest of the cost was covered by other sources including state and federal taxpayers.

In the end, Stone Harbor, the town next door, received more than 700,000 cubic yards of sand as well.

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New Jersey shore town Avalon spent $1M to fix its beach last spring only to see nearly all of the sand washed away Read More »

Seven states regulate the use of PFAS in cosmetics, not NJ, NY, or Pa

By Robert G. Edwards, Ph.D. of ArentFox Schiff LLP

Cosmetics and personal care products in which PFAS historically have been used include foundation; blush and highlighter; eyebrow products; eye makeup (mascara and other lash products, eyeshadow, eye cream); moisturizers, cleansers, and other creams and lotions; shampoo and hair conditioner; lipstick and lip balm; nail polish; sunscreen; shaving cream; and dental floss.

Intentionally added PFAS may appear on a product’s ingredient list, but not always. Some PFAS may be present in cosmetics unintentionally as the result of raw material impurities, contamination from processing equipment, carryover from processing aids, or the breakdown of other, intentionally added, PFAS ingredients.

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) requires the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assess the safety of PFAS in cosmetics and publish its results by the end of 2025.

In the meantime, however, seven states have taken matters into their own hands, enacting laws that ban or restrict the use of PFAS — usually all PFAS but occasionally a few specific PFAS — in cosmetics and other personal care products.

In general, they ban the manufacture, sale, distribution for sale, or offering for sale of such products to which PFAS have been intentionally added to provide a specific characteristic or perform a specific function in that product.

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Seven states regulate the use of PFAS in cosmetics, not NJ, NY, or Pa Read More »

Fracking company’s plan to tap Pa trout stream raises concern

By Danish Bajwah, Allegheny Front

A fracking company’s plan to withdraw water from a Western Pennsylvania trout stream is causing concern among biologists and local activists about its potential impact on a Pennsylvania-threatened species that depend on the stream for breeding.

Findlay, Pa.-based PennEnergy Resources received approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for a water withdrawal permit on January 29th. The permit will allow the company to extract 1.5 million gallons of water per day from Big Sewickley Creek. The DEP had previously rejected a plan to withdraw 3 million gallons a day from the stream.

Big Sewickley Creek is a trout-stocked stream that runs through Allegheny and Beaver counties. The company’s permit allows it to withdraw water from a point in Economy Borough, Beaver County.

Brady Porter, an associate professor of biology at Duquesne University, worries the water withdrawal plan will harm the creek’s threatened redbelly dace. “These are really spectacular, colored minnow,” Porter said.

Porter said he is worried withdrawing water will make the stream more turbid, which would harm the dace’s ability to find a mate.

“They have a beautiful red belly, as their name might imply, and golden black stripes on their side,” Porter said. “They obviously use those in their mating rituals and if they cannot see because turbidity’s kicked up, that can impact their breeding.”

Why not from the Ohio River?

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Mazza Recycling acquires fellow New Jersey recycling company

New Jersey-based Liberty Waste & Recycling has been acquired by fellow New Jersey company Mazza Recycling.

jimmy dominick mazza recycling — *Left to right: Mazza Recycling President and CEO Jimmy Mazza and Executive VP Dominick Mazza*

By BRIAN TAYLOR, Waste Today | MARCH 31, 2024

Tinton Falls, New Jersey-based Mazza Recycling has acquired Liberty Waste & Recycling of Moorestown, New Jersey. Mazza Recycling, which operates in east central New Jersey, says the acquisition “will serve as a platform for the Mazza family of companies to expand their market area to the Philadelphia suburbs.”

“We are excited to be able to acquire a company of Liberty’s reputation and caliber and we look forward to building on what they have already accomplished,” Mazza Recycling President and CEO James Mazza Jr. says.

“We welcome Steve Dickey, Rick Jenkins and the rest of the crew to the Mazza team. Now it’s our job to spread the Liberty brand across South Jersey, the Mazza way.”

Mazza Recycling says its acquisition of Liberty Waste & Recycling aligns with its strategy to build relationships and expand its service areas across south and central New Jersey. The acquisition also positions Mazza Recycling “as an attractive partner for potential acquisitions down the line,” according to the company.

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A jury awards NJ residents $21M for flood damage

The borough of Haddonfield in Camden County will be forced to pay nearly $21.8 million to residents who had homes severely damaged by flooding after a storm, a New Jersey jury ruled.

[Editor’s Note: We won’t be surprised if residents of other towns, also periled by inadequate stormwater control systems, file similar legal suits.]

After a 10-day trial in the Camden County Superior Court, the jury reached a unanimous decision on March 21, determining Haddonfield’s stormwater management system was unsafe.

By Nyah Marshall | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The jury also found the municipality failed to address its stormwater runoff issue, causing “stormwater, fecal matter, and other wastewater materials” to enter and destroy four homes in the borough, according to court documents.

“These are very good people who had their lives turned upside down by what happened to them,” Robert D. Sokolove, the attorney representing the impacted homeowners, said in a statement.

“Their lives were decimated, and they are still fighting to regain the normalcy they had before the flood,” Sokolove added.

A spokesperson for Haddonfield said on Thursday that the borough’s administration had no comment about the ruling.

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A jury awards NJ residents $21M for flood damage Read More »

California to use federal funds to test solar canopies over canal

New Jersey shore town Avalon spent $1M to fix its beach last spring only to see nearly all of the sand washed away

Seven states regulate the use of PFAS in cosmetics, not NJ, NY, or Pa

Fracking company’s plan to tap Pa trout stream raises concern

Mazza Recycling acquires fellow New Jersey recycling company

New Jersey-based Liberty Waste & Recycling has been acquired by fellow New Jersey company Mazza Recycling.

A jury awards NJ residents $21M for flood damage

The borough of Haddonfield in Camden County will be forced to pay nearly $21.8 million to residents who had homes severely damaged by flooding after a storm, a New Jersey jury ruled.

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