New Jersey gets juiced, officially

A worker helps corral the floating crimson cranberry haul in an area of Double Trouble State Park in Ocean County . Photo by Marc Steiner/Agency New Jersey

By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

You might want to pair your next pork roll — or Taylor ham — sandwich with a glass of cranberry juice. It’s now formally the state juice of New Jersey.

And make sure to thank the fourth-graders from Burlington County who helped make it happen.

The sweet red liquid, used as a cocktail mix in some cases and drank straight in others, has been designated the Garden State’s official juice of choice under a law state Senate President Nick Scutari signed Monday.

Scutari is serving as acting governor because Gov. Phil Murphy is on vacation in Italy and Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver died last week.

The law acknowledges that New Jersey didn’t have a state juice, but this designation is “fitting and proper” because of the “significance of cranberries to the history and culture” of the state and its people.

This all started as a civics project from fourth-grade classes at Eleanor Rush Intermediate School in Cinnaminson in 2020. They proceeded to lobby for the law with letters to state legislators in Trenton.

It’s common for school children to learn about government and how bills become law by having them push for measures they think deserve to join the state’s law books.Get politics news like this right to your inbox with the N.J. Politics newsletter. Add your email below and hit “subscribe”

And cranberries are a very Jersey target. As the legislation (A2271) notes, they were harvested by the Lenni Lenape people in South Jersey, commercial cranberry farming began here in Burlington County in 1835, and Elizabeth Lee of New Jersey was one of the first to create jellied cranberry sauce, in 1917. She later joined other farmers in starting the company that became Ocean Spray.

New Jersey is now the third-largest producer of cranberries in America, behind Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

“Our history is rife with the love of cranberries,” one student told the state Senate earlier this year. “For this reason, we think that cranberry juice is the right juice to be the state juice.”

The state Legislature overwhelmingly approved the bill. It passed the Assembly 75-1 in February and the Senate 35-1 in May.

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EPA Releases New Framework Addressing New Pfas and New Uses of Pfas in The Market

Graphic by Water Online

By Cliff L. Rothenstein, Dawn M. Lamparello, B. David Naidu, and Julia A. McGowan, K&L Gates

On Thursday, 29 June 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new framework (Framework) that will impact manufacturers across the country. The Framework lays out a new process for reviewing and assessing the potential environmental risks posed by new and new uses of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). 

This PFAS Framework establishes more stringent pre-market screening procedures for certain PFAS chemicals that may be harmful to human health or the environment. Under the Framework, the EPA will review and take appropriate action for new PFAS or significant new uses of existing PFAS through pre-manufacture notices (PMNs) and significant new use notices (SNNs) through the EPA’s authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 

Background

PFAS are a class of fluorinated chemicals used in various consumer products and are commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to their high resistance to degradation. There are thousands of different PFAS, and only a small fraction of them have been well studied. In October 2021, the EPA announced a broad “PFAS Strategic Roadmap” aimed at researching and regulating the presence of PFAS in the environment. According to the EPA, this new PFAS Framework advances the EPA’s Roadmap through the “New Chemicals Program” mandated by TSCA Section 5.

The New Chemicals Program regulates “new chemicals” by requiring anyone who plans to manufacture them to provide the EPA with a PMN at least 90 days prior to manufacture, subject to certain exemptions. Under TSCA, a “new chemical” is any chemical that is not currently on the TSCA inventory, which is a list of chemicals that are already deemed “existing” in US commerce. Therefore, when new chemicals are created, the EPA reviews them under the New Chemicals Program to ensure their entrance into the market will not pose significant health concerns or dangerous environmental releases. Manufacturers are also subject to a 90-day notice requirement if they wish to engage in the use of a chemical that the EPA has deemed a “significant new use” from what had previously been approved by the agency under a prior PMN submission, by way of a SNUN submission.

Read the full story here

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It’s lights-out time for your incandescent bulbs

PA retailers are prohibited from selling light bulbs that do not match the new national standard.

Retailers cannot sell light bulbs that don’t meet the new standards as of Tuesday, as the DOE said it will begin enforcing the rule with both businesses and manufacturers. People with incandescent bulbs at home may still use them.
Retailers cannot sell light bulbs that don’t meet the new standards as of Tuesday, as the DOE said it will begin enforcing the rule with both businesses and manufacturers. People with incandescent bulbs at home may still use them. (Shutterstock)


By Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, Patch Staff

PENNSYLVANIA — Shopping for light bulbs today? You won’t see certain kinds on Pennsylvania shelves any more, as a Department of Energy rule against incandescent bulbs takes effect on Aug. 1 in favor of more energy-efficient lighting.

Retailers cannot sell light bulbs that don’t meet the new standards as of Tuesday, as the DOE said it will begin enforcing the rule with both businesses and manufacturers.

Keystone State residents who purchased standard incandescent bulbs in the past may still use them to light up their homes, but officials put standards in place last April to begin phasing them out.

The maximum penalty for manufacturers who violate the ban is $542 for every light bulb made out of regulation, according to a report from Nexstar.

“DOE’s enforcement office is committed to enforcing DOE’s regulations in a fair and equitable manner,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told Patch.

The rule on “general service lamps,” one of two adopted by President Biden’s administration last April, says that light bulbs must emit a minimum of 45 lumens (a measure of brightness) per watt.

This is a more energy-efficient measure than incandescent bulbs provide: Most light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs provide about 75 lumens per watt, according to a CNN Business report. In contrast, traditional incandescent bulbs provide 15 lumens per watt, according to light bulb manufacturer Philips.

Department of Energy officials said this move will help consumers save on their energy bills, and also conserve energy while reducing carbon emissions. Residential LED lightbulbs use at least 75 percent less energy than conventional incandescent bulbs, and also last up to 25 percent longer, said the DOE.

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NY Activists Descend on the Hamptons to Protest the Super Rich Fueling the Climate Crisis

From the airport to a golf course, museum gala and private mansions, activists confronted the extreme wealth driving global warming, and the challenges facing grassroots organizations that stand up to billionaires.

Police officers saw the PVC pipe off Sophie Shepherd's arm that connected her with other demonstrators blocking access to the East Hampton Town Airport. Shepherd is an organizer with Planet Over Profit who said she was a "rule follower" before she started risking arrest in climate demonstrations. Credit: Keerti Gopal
Police officers saw the PVC pipe off Sophie Shepherd’s arm that connected her with other demonstrators blocking access to the East Hampton Town Airport. Shepherd is an organizer with Planet Over Profit who said she was a “rule follower” before she started risking arrest in climate demonstrations. Credit: Keerti Gopal

By Keerti Gopal, Inside Climate News

Sophie Shepherd has always described herself as a “rule follower,” but days before her 22nd birthday, she chose to face arrest in the middle of a Long Island driveway. Under a blazing hot July sun, two police officers sawed through the PVC pipes that connected her arms to the 13 other protesters blocking the entrance to a private airport.

“What I love about direct action is you’re actually getting in people’s faces and disrupting their way of life,” Shepherd said. “That push is what’s necessary to change the temperature in the room.”

Last month, Shepherd and around forty other climate activists from New York City and Long Island descended on the East Hampton Town Airport to heat up the conversation on how the super rich drive global warming.

As police separated and arrested the demonstrators blocking the driveway, other activists in the group surrounded them carrying plastic pitchforks and posters that read “tax the rich.” Their bright red t-shirts read, “billionaires, what are you saving up for, hell?” above a graphic of cash burning. A five-year-old holding a pitchfork and a homemade poster started a chant: “stop private jets, stop funding oil!” Behind them, in the distance, sat a few rows of private planes and helicopters.

Among those arrested for blocking the driveway to the East Hampton Town Airport was Abigail Disney, 63, great-niece of Walt Disney and an outspoken critic of the climate impacts of private aviation. Credit: Keerti Gopal
Among those arrested for blocking the driveway to the East Hampton Town Airport was Abigail Disney, 63, great-niece of Walt Disney and an outspoken critic of the climate impacts of private aviation. Credit: Keerti Gopal

The airport blockade was only the first of eight actions that weekend organized by New York Communities for Change (NYCC), Planet over Profit and Sunrise Movement NYC. In addition to shutting down the airport—for which Shepherd and 13 other protesters were arrested—the activists marched for a wealth tax with leaders from the Shinnecock Indigenous nation, crashed an exclusive golf course, stormed a museum gala, demonstrated outside the private homes of a Citibank chairman and a private equity billionaire and stirred up climate conversations at two high-end restaurants.

The racially and socioeconomically diverse coalition of activists sought to draw attention to the disproportionate role the ultra-wealthy play in filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses, advocate for a wealth tax to fund climate justice initiatives and pressure top fossil fuel beneficiaries to stop funding climate-warming activities. During their weekend together, the activists also grappled with what it takes to win lasting change in a stubborn world.

Read the full story here

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How clean is the surf at the Jersey shore?

Water quality testing (Cape May County)

Spencer Hughes, water sampler collector for the Cape May County Department of Health, takes samples at the beach in Wildwood Crest on Monday, July 31, 2023, as part of the county’s weekly water quality testing. The county, like others throughout New Jersey, partners with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to keep residents informed on health advisories and other information tied to the testing.Steven Rodas | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

By Steven Rodas | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The few beachgoers on the shores of Wildwood Crest at daybreak barely notice as a pair of county health workers stop their white Ford Explorer.

In short order, the two take a water sample at the beach, put a stopper on the sterile plastic bottle, plop it into a cooler and head to the next spot.

Nine down.

More than 20 to go.

“People don’t see it, but we’re helping to protect them,” says Maryanne Mathis, a registered environmental health specialist trainee with the Cape May County Health Department, just after 6 a.m. on Monday, noting that “it feels good.”

“We’re doing the South run,” adds Spencer Hughes, a water sampler collector for the county. “We take samples from North Wildwood all the way to Cape May Point and we have another team today that’s doing our North run.”

In all, staff members in Cape May County will take small amounts of water at 61 guarded ocean beaches and 2 guarded bay beaches early Monday morning as part of weekly water quality testing. That’s part of a larger set of water samples collected at more than 200 beaches — including river and bay beaches in Cape May, Atlantic, Monmouth and Ocean counties — along New Jersey’s nearly 130 miles of coastline.

Read the full story here

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