NJ lawmakers introduce aid bill for farmers hurt by Spring freeze

NJ State Senator Parker Space, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, and Assemblyman Michael Inganamort (all R-Morris, Sussex, Warren) are introducing legislation to provide direct financial assistance to New Jersey farmers devastated by the historic April 2026 freeze.

The legislation would establish a one-time Emergency Crop Loss Relief Program within the Department of Agriculture to provide grants or reimbursements for verified crop losses resulting from the freeze. The bill includes a streamlined application process, a per-farm funding cap, and authorizes the NJ Department of Agriculture to adopt emergency regulations to expedite relief.

The bill responds to the unprecedented weather event that struck between April 19 and April 22, 2026, when unseasonably warm temperatures caused crops to bloom early before a sudden hard freeze destroyed blossoms and developing fruit across the state, causing an estimated $300 million in agricultural losses.

“New Jersey’s farmers are why we earn the nickname the ‘Garden State’, and they experienced catastrophic losses through no fault of their own,” said Senator Space. “Many invested an entire season’s worth of labor and resources only to see their crops destroyed by a single weather event. This legislation will provide the emergency assistance they need to recover and continue feeding New Jersey.”

“In talking with farmers from District 24 and throughout the state, the need for direct financial assistance is crystal clear,” said Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, a member of the Assembly Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee. “The spring freeze produced devastating agricultural production losses and the legislature needs to step in to help ensure the viability of our farms.”

The April freeze placed an immediate financial burden on New Jersey farmers, who had already made their annual investments in labor, fertilizer, equipment, and irrigation expenses before their crops were destroyed. Many now face debt, property taxes, insurance premiums, and payroll costs despite having little or no harvest to sell. Although the State did successfully secure a Secretarial Disaster Designation from the US Department of Agriculture which enables impacted farmers to apply for emergency low-interest loans through the federal government, direct financial assistance from the State will help fill in the gaps.

“These are hardworking families and small businesses that had already invested heavily in this year’s crop, only to watch months of work disappear in a matter of hours,” said Assemblyman Michael Inganamort. “We cannot undo the freeze, but we can make sure a temporary disaster doesn’t become a permanent loss for the farms and communities that depend on agriculture. This legislation is about giving New Jersey farmers a fighting chance to recover and plant again next season.”

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Hochul steamrolled New York’s climate movement. How will they react? NJ green groups face a similar dilemma

By Marie J. French, Politico,8/10/2026 

But Hochul (D) — who hammered on cost concerns tied to the 2019 law — isn’t likely to pay a tangible political price. A left-flank primary challenge collapsed after she was endorsed by the state’s most prominent progressive, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and she’s now facing off against a pro-fracking Republican opponent opposed to renewables.

That leaves environmental advocates in New York split over what to do next: keep fighting Hochul over her energy agenda, or work with her and try to shape what she’s still willing to do to slow climate change.

Despite their bitter defeat, many institutional green groups are picking the latter as she faces voters in November.

“I certainly wouldn’t call it a breakup over the [climate law]. I see this a bit as a spat, someone sleeping on the couch, but definitely not a divorce. So there is a way back,” said Eric Miller, regional director for the Northeast and mid-Atlantic with Evergreen Action.

The “spat” included harsh words from the governor’s spokesperson about “head in the sand” advocates and scathing criticisms of Hochul. The moderate Democrat, who regularly touts her environmental credentials, said delayed deadlines for emissions-reduction targets in the climate law were necessary to address rising costs and federal headwinds.

Read the full story here

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A Generation of Workers Is Left Behind as Trump Throttles Offshore Wind

Building trades spent the past five years preparing for an offshore wind boom that went bust. Now, U.S. workers mourn the well-paying careers they don’t see coming back.

By Ajani Stella, Climate News, 

When Gerard Mullin decided to train in offshore wind, he didn’t know what to expect. But on his first long-term project in Massachusetts, he immediately relished the consistency of the work, the good pay and the novelty of laboring at sea.

“I thought it was the best thing in the world,” he said.

In his first eight weeks working offshore, Mullin made more money than he had saved in the previous five years.

But the industry was on shaky ground. Mullin had his bags packed for five weeks offshore with Empire Wind in New York when President Donald Trump’s stop-work order last year stranded him at home in Boston. Trump—who had railed against the industry in his 2024 election campaign—halted all future permitting last year and canceled 12 offshore wind leases this spring and summer.

Thousands of workers like Mullin who were promised steady, well-paying careers in offshore wind now find themselves racing to secure the few positions left or returning to their prior work. Meanwhile, the supply chain that emerged to support offshore development has been left adrift, including in towns in need of a promised economic boost.

The full story here

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ICE detainees health care threatened by federal payment breakdown

Records obtained by American Oversight show outside medical providers have gone unpaid since October, raising concerns about detainees’ access to lifesaving care.

 

By Krystal Knapp, The Jersey Vindicator, August 10, 2026

A breakdown in the federal government’s medical payment system has left outside providers unpaid for treating immigration detainees since October, raising concerns about access to necessary care, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.

For years, a Department of Veterans Affairs unit processed medical claims for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The VA ended that work Oct. 3, earlier than initially planned, but the private contractors hired to replace it have not begun reimbursing hospitals, clinics, dentists, and pharmacies. ICE has instructed providers to hold their claims while the new system is set up.

Related: Man dies in ICE custody at Delaney Hall in Newark

Federal records show that ICE itself warned that unpaid providers could stop accepting detainees, delaying dialysis, chemotherapy, prenatal care, and other potentially lifesaving treatment. The agency originally expected claims processing to resume by April 30, but the replacement system was still not operating in early August.

Read the full story here

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Trump buys off a major wind developer but federal court offers industry some good news

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor

The Trump administration’s escalating campaign to dismantle offshore wind development hit another major milestone this week — and encountered a significant legal setback — as one of the world’s largest renewable energy companies agreed to abandon its U.S. offshore wind leases in exchange for a massive payout.

RWE Accepts $1.22 Billion to Exit U.S. Offshore Wind
German energy giant RWE, one of the largest offshore wind developers globally, announced it will relinquish its rights to build wind farms off the coasts of California, New York, and Louisiana. The company will receive $1.22 billion under a settlement with the Trump administration, despite having already invested more than $1 billion in U.S. offshore wind planning and development.

The deal is part of a broader pattern: the administration has been paying companies to surrender offshore wind leases, effectively unwinding years of federal planning and billions in private investment. Several firms have already accepted similar agreements.

RWE says it will redirect its U.S. energy investments toward natural gas, including:

$900 million for a 16% stake in a Louisiana LNG project

$300 million for gas turbine‑related deals

Critics, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, blasted the arrangement as “corruption at your expense,” arguing it will raise utility bills and shrink domestic clean‑energy supply. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum countered that the deal uses no taxpayer money, claiming it simply repurposes RWE’s own investments and supports “affordable, reliable, secure American energy.”

Federal Court Orders Pentagon to Resume Wind Project Reviews
In a major legal rebuke, a federal judge ordered the Pentagon to lift its freeze on reviewing offshore wind projects for national security concerns. According to The Washington Post, the Defense Department had stopped processing required reviews in May, despite a law mandating completion within 75 days.

Judge Karin J. Immergut granted a preliminary injunction sought by renewable‑energy groups, ruling that the freeze violated federal law and could not continue while litigation proceeds.

The decision restores a critical permitting pathway that the administration had used to stall offshore wind development. It also signals that courts may be increasingly skeptical of efforts to block or unwind previously approved renewable‑energy projects.

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$10 million fund is ‘first step’ for Pa. recovery after crop freeze

Some cherries were still growing in May at Highland Orchard in West Chester after Pennsylvania fruit farmers lost nearly $200 million in crops due to a late-April freeze that hit 13 states on the East Coast.

By Natalie Javitt, Philadelphia Inquirer 

 

For the second time in five years, a freeze wiped out all of Morgantown farmer Ed Weaver’s peaches this spring.

What was an unassuming late April frost for most Pennsylvanians this year created devastation for farmers across the state. High temperatures at the beginning of the month accelerated orchards’ blooming process. But an ensuing sudden drop below freezing quickly killed what had grown. The freeze hit 13 states on the East Coast, costing Pennsylvania fruit farmers almost $200 million.

Along with the peaches, the cold decimated nectarines and cherries at Weaver’s Orchard in Berks County. Now, just 15% of the apples and pears there remain, and about half of the berries are gone. Weaver estimates the freeze caused him to lose between 70% and 80% of his orchard’s revenue this year.

Weaver is not alone. A surge in extreme weather has taken a toll on fruit farmers’ crops across the state, in an industry growing increasingly sparse from rising costs.

Weaver — who has overseen his family’s nearly-100-year-old business for four decades — said many farmers are starting to question whether losses from extreme weather are a new standard and are determining the best next steps to maintain stability.

“How do we move forward? How are we going to mitigate these risks? And is this a new type of normal for us?” he said.

Attempting to reclaim some of the lost money from the frozen crops, Weaver plans to apply for a Freeze Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant — a $10 million initiative approved last month in the Pennsylvania state budget to assist farmers who have lost 30% or more of their crops.

Read the full story here.

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