New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy Signs Executive Order Allowing Extended Rule-Making Deadlines at NJDEP to Expire and Setting Deadlines for Soil and Fill Recycling Activities and A-901 Licensing
Executive Order (EO) 263, effective September 17, 2021, provides for the expiration of extensions of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) rule-making deadlines that were instituted in EO 127 (2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
EO 127 provided an extension for any rules or emergency rules that would have otherwise expired during the public health emergency for 90 days following the end of the public health emergency.
The public health emergency ended on June 4, 2021, as discussed below.
EO 263 provides, in relevant part: “All rules of the DEP…that were scheduled to expire prior to the effective date of this Order but were extended pursuant to Executive Order No. 127…shall expire on the effective date of this Order.”
What You Need to Know:
The public health emergency ended on June 4, 2021, but a state of emergency remains in New Jersey.
The tolling of timeframes governing public notice, review, or final action on NJDEP applications has ended.
The extension of deadlines for public comment on applications for certain NJDEP permits and approvals has ended.
Extensions of NJDEP rule-making deadlines have expired.
There are new deadlines for complying with N.J.S.A. 13:1E-127.1, the Dirty Dirt law. Read the full post here
Yesterday we reported on environment bills scheduled for action in the NJ Assembly. Below is a combination of bills appearing on upcoming committee agendas and board lists in both the NJ Assembly and Senate. Again, we caution that bill additions and deletion are subject to frequent change during the sometimes tumultuous lame-duck session.
A1212 AcaSa (2R) McKeon (D27); Gusciora (D15) Clarifies intent of P.L.2007, c.340 regarding NJ’s required participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 11:00a Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session. 12/16/2019—Senate, 11:00a Party Conferences; 12:00p Party Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session.
A4267 Aca (1R) McKeon (D27); Space (R24); Wirths (R24) Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
A4382 Aca (1R) Pinkin (D18); Lopez (D19); Kennedy (D22) Requires paint producers to implement or participate in a paint industry-sponsored stewardship program. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
A5518 Aca (1R) Benson (D14); Karabinchak (D18); Pinkin (D18) +1 Establishes “Alternative Fuel Vehicle Transportation Financing Commission” to examine the manner in which alternative fuel vehicles may be taxed to contribute to cost of maintaining the State transportation system. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session
A5854 Aca (1R) Pintor Marin (D29); Speight (D29); Schaer (D36) +5 Allows municipalities to adopt ordinances to enter properties to perform lead service line replacements. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session
A5971 Mukherji (D33); Pintor Marin (D29); Spearman (D5) +21 Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to expend additional sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2020. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
A6014 Aca (1R) Vainieri Huttle (D37); Pinkin (D18) Establishes NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University, appropriates up to $500,000. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
S611 ScsSa (SCS/1R) Sweeney (D3); Smith (D17); Bateman (R16); Greenstein (D14) Clarifies intent of P.L.2007, c.340 regarding NJ’s required participation in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 12/16/2019—Senate, 1:00p Voting Session.
S874 Sweeney (D3); Smith (D17) +3 Requires State’s full participation in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 12/16/2019—Senate, 11:00p Voting Session.
S1683 ScaSaAca (3R) Smith (D17); Greenstein (D14) +2 Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. 12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 1:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
S3215 Sca (1R) Greenstein (D14); Singleton (D7) +1 Requires State to use a 20‐year time horizon and most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report when calculating global warming potential to measure global warming impact of greenhouse gases. 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session.
S3457 Sweeney (D3); Andrzejczak (D1) +5 Appropriates $450,000 for Hooked on Fishing‐Not on Drugs Program. 12/16/2019—Senate, 1:00 p Voting Session.
S3985 Smith (D17) Expands the definition of “qualified offshore wind project” to include “open access offshore wind transmission facility.” 12/16/2019—Senate, 11:00a 1:00p Voting Session.
S4162 Sca (1R) Smith (D17) Establishes NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University, appropriates up to $500,000. 12/16/2019—Senate, 1:00p Voting Session.
SCR180 Sca (1R) Sacco (D32); Stack (D33) +2 Urges NJ Sports and Exposition Authority and DEP to take immediate action to close and cap Keegan Landfill. 12/16/2019—Senate, 100p Voting Session.
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Currently scheduled environment bills. Subject to frequent change in this fast-moving lame-duck session.
Bill: A4267 Aca (1R) McKeon (D27); Space (R24); Wirths (R24) +1 Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. (‘Dirty Dirt’ Bill) Related: 2018:S1683; 2016:A1352; 2016:S2306; 2014:A1581; 2012:A2580; 2012:S1351 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session. ____________________________________________________________
Bill: A4382 Aca (1R) Pinkin (D18); Lopez (D19); Kennedy (D22) +3 Requires paint producers to implement or participate in paint stewardship program. Related: 2018:S2815; 2016:A1373; 2016:S986; 2014:A1603; 2014:S1420; 2012:A4470; 2012:S2958 History: 11/14/2019—Reported out of committee, 2nd reading in Assembly. Scheduled:12/16/2019—Assembly, 1 pm Voting Session. _____________________________________________________________
Bill: A6014 Aca (1R) Vainieri Huttle (D37); Pinkin (D18) Establishes NJ Climate Change Resource Center at Rutgers University, appropriates up to $500,000. Related: S4162 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 11:00a Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session. ___________________________________________________________
Bill: A5971 Mukherji (D33); Pintor Marin (D29); Spearman (D5) +21 Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to expend additional sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2020. Related: 2018:S4202 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee, referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 11:00a Caucus; 1:00p Voting Session. |__________________________________________________________
Bill: 5854 Aca (1R) Pintor Marin (D29); Speight (D29); Schaer (D36) +5 Allows municipalities to adopt ordinances to enter properties to perform lead service line replacements. Related: 2018:S4110 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session. ___________________________________________________________
Bill: A5518 Aca (1R) Benson (D14); Karabinchak (D18); Pinkin (D18) +1 Establishes “Alternative Fuel Vehicle Transportation Financing Commission” to examine manner in which alternative fuel vehicles may be taxed to contribute to the cost of maintaining State transportation system. Related: 2018:S4090 History: 12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00a, 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00p Voting Session. ____________________________________________________________
Bill: S1683 ScaSaAca (3R) Smith (D17); Greenstein (D14) +2 Concerns regulation of solid waste, hazardous waste, and soil and fill recycling industries. Related: 2018:A4267; 2016:A1352; 2016:S2306; 2014:A1581; 2012:A2580; 2012:S1351 History:12/09/2019—Reported out of committee with committee amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee. Scheduled:12/12/2019—Assembly Appropriations Committee, 11:00 am 4th Floor, Committee Room 11, Annex. (Revised 12/10/2019) 12/16/2019—Assembly, 1:00 pm Voting Session.
MOHAVE VALLEY (ARIZONA)– At the corner of King Street and Aquarius Drive, on a dilapidated structure used for farmworker housing, a piece of a particle-board sign patches up a hole in one window where an air conditioning unit likely used to be. What’s left spells out the words “Energy Efficient.”
This building nestled among dusty alfalfa fields is now the closest residence to the new proposed location for the Mohave Energy Park, Mohave Electric Cooperative’s natural gas peaker plant project that has been fueling unrest across Arizona’s Mohave County since the beginning of the year.
Last December, senior residents of the Sunrise Hills neighborhood in nearby Fort Mohave found out about plans by local electricity distributor MEC and its regional provider AEPCO, the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, to construct two quick-start turbines half a mile from their homes. The retirees spoke out against what they saw as deceitful skirting of zoning and notification procedures that left them mistrustful of the utilities’ intentions.
MEC vowed to search for another location. But on March 18, the cooperative’s CEO, Tyler Carlson, told the Mohave County Board of Supervisors they had been unable to find a suitable alternative site for the peaker plant, which the utility partners say is essential to maintaining energy reliability as this rural desert region south of Las Vegas continues to grow.
Weeks later, after coverage of the dispute by The Arizona Republic following months of interviews and inquiries, MEC pivoted and announced on April 12 to an invite-only group of member ratepayers and elected leaders that they had shifted plans for the natural gas facility to a site a few miles away.
Now, people living near the new proposed location — a lower-income agricultural area close to tribal lands and several schools — are echoing Sunrise Hills residents’ concerns about how the peaker plant may endanger human and environmental health, but fear they’re up against an energy Goliath with renewed determination.
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The Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee and the Senate Environment and Energy Committee will meet jointly on Monday, April 22, 2024, at 10:00 AM in Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey.
The committees will meet to discuss the issue of plastic pollution. They will jointly receive testimony from invited guests on the extent of plastic pollution in the State, its potential and actual effects on human health, and methods that may be used to protect against or to mitigate, the negative impact of plastic pollution on human health and the environment.
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With their roaring diesel engines, tugboats push, pull, and guide much larger vessels into port and out to sea. They are small but mighty — and incredibly dirty, spewing huge amounts of toxic exhaust and planet-warming emissions every year.
Now, however, the humble harbor craft is going electric.
America’s first fully battery-powered tugboat recently docked at the Port of San Diego, where officials are working to decarbonize tugs, diesel cranes, and trucks. The electric tug was built over three years at an Alabama shipyard and then moved through the Panama Canal before arriving in Southern California earlier this spring.
“We’re ecstatic,” Frank Urtasun, the port’s chairman, told Canary Media. “This electric tugboat is a real game-changer that I think will have ramifications across the country.”
The 82-foot-long vessel is set to begin operating within the coming weeks, as soon as the shoreside charging infrastructure is completed, said Crowley. The Florida-based company owns and operates the electric boat — named “eWolf” in honor of Crowley’s first tug, the 1965 Seawolf — and everything that’s needed to keep it running.
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When Rumpke Waste & Recycling set out to design its latest recycling center, the company planned to have the latest technology to pick out extremely specific items — partly in response to rising demand for “hard-to-recycle” materials.
Rumpke expects more chemical recycling companies will express interest in buying those hard-to-recycle materials once their plants come online in the next few years.
Under its current operations across its multiple MRFs, Rumpke is not yet baling and selling any material to chemical recyclers but it recently signed an agreement to send bales of colored PET to Eastman’s planned facility in Kingsport, Tennessee, in the coming months.
Eastman says it plans to turn the material it receives from Rumpke into “virgin quality polyesters” to be used in packaging applications. Rumpke’s 200,000-square-foot facility in Columbus, Ohio, is expected to have 19 optical sorters and other artificial intelligence-assisted technology that could help with the process.
Chemical recycling proponents are investing in major projects to scale up the technology. Yet lingering policy and business factors will affect the trajectory of this fast-developing recycling sector.
Some chemical recyclers have already announced agreements with major brands to use chemically recycled plastic in everything from reusable water bottles to food packaging, and some of those items are already available on store shelves in limited applications.
At the same time, chemical recyclers are continuing to ink deals with MRF operators, private companies, and specialty collection partnerships to source enough material to fulfill their production promises.
Such partnerships could soon represent a turning point for how MRFs and other collectors process, market, and sell plastics that are currently considered waste or have very limited markets, said Jeff Snyder, Rumpke’s director of recycling.
A suite of clean energy bills would transition the state to clean energy by 2040. It counts an existing facility in Kent County as clean while also supporting the use of landfill and AD systems.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at an announcement for an electric vehicle battery plant in February. The clean energy bills passed in November also include battery storage provisions. Bill Pugliano via Getty Images
By Jacob Wallace, Waste Dive
A suite of clean energy bills that passed the Michigan legislature last week aims to move the state to 100% clean energy by 2040. It includes provisions allowing “incinerator” facilities to count toward local clean energy goals until 2040, setting the waste management strategy up as an interim measure.
SB271, part of a package of five bills approved by the legislature, also counts landfill-gas-to-energy and “methane digester” facilities as clean energy, but it excludes fuels made frompost-use polymers, tires, tire-derived fuel, and plastic, among other fossil fuels.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign the bill. Her office did not provide a date for the signing.
Many states have debated the inclusion of combustion facilities in their renewable energy portfolio standards over the years, with operators touting the technology’s potential greenhouse gas benefits over landfilling and environmental advocates raising alarms about pollution concerns.
Debates continue in states such as Maryland, where Gov. Wes Moore floated the idea of removing incineration from renewable portfolio standards in his transition documents, but the state failed to pass a bill doing so this year.
Michigan’s SB271 instructs electric utilities to transition to renewable or clean energy programs while pursuing energy savings initiatives. Incineration is included in the definition of a renewable energy system, but the bill only includes facilities that were generating power before the start of this year
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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
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.
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Don Sanderson, a Republican city councilman who might well be unable to win a primary election in today’s GOP, pushed hard for the program, citing both the need to preserve disposal space and the waste of tossing reclaimable glass, paper, and metals into ordinary garbage. Even 42 years ago, there was political pushback for requiring that households separate reusable items from regular trash.
The rest, as they say, is history, and mandatory recycling later became the law all over New Jersey and elsewhere.
Recycling soon became more sophisticated. Sorting centers allowed for “single stream” pickups. Participation rates improved, since metals, glass, paper, and plastic didn’t need to be separated at home.
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