On December 9, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its risk management rules for trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) under the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) amendments. The chemicals, used in cleaners, lubricants, sealants, adhesives, paints, and other commercial applications, are believed to cause cancer, affect reproductive systems, and compromise immune systems. According to the EPA, safer alternatives are readily available for the majority of uses.
The new EPA rules will completely ban TCE over time, with the “vast majority of identified risks eliminated within one year.” Meanwhile, PCE is banned for “all consumer uses and many commercial uses, while allowing some workplace uses to continue only where robust workplace controls can be implemented.”
Years of toxic waste dumping in a Jersey Shore community where childhood cancer rates rose caused at least $1 billion in damage to natural resources, according to an environmental group trying to overturn a settlement between New Jersey and the corporate successor to the firm that did the polluting.
That site became one of America’s worst toxic waste dumps and led to widespread concern over the prevalence of childhood cancer cases in and around Toms River.
Save Barnegat Bay says the settlement is woefully inadequate and does not take into account the scope and full nature of the pollution.
The state Department of Environmental Protection defended the deal, saying it is not supposed to be primarily about monetary compensation; restoring damaged areas is a priority, it says.
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Exempts community gardens operating on-site composting systems or other systems of managing organic waste from certain DEP permits under certain conditions.
[bill added] Requires DEP to prioritize funding for certain projects for acquisition of lands for recreation and conservation purposes and certain environmental infrastructure projects that include, or allow for, flood mitigation projects.
[bill added] Requires disclosure of lead drinking water hazards to tenants of residential units; prohibits landlords from obstructing replacement of lead service lines; concerns testing of residential units for lead drinking water hazards.
Requires electric public utilities to implement certain improvements to interconnection process for certain grid supply solar facilities and energy storage facilities.
[bill added] Authorizes certain types of permanent structures, recently constructed or erected on preserved farmland, to be used, in certain cases, for purposes of holding special occasion events thereon.
[bill added] Appropriates $60 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues for recreation and conservation purposes to DEP for State capital and park development projects.
[bill added] Appropriates $18,518,738 from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to NJ Historic Trust for grants for certain historic preservation projects and associated administrative expenses.
[bill added] Appropriates $49.5 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to DEP for State acquisition of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, including Blue Acres projects, and Green Acres Program administrative costs.
[bill added] Amends lists of environmental infrastructure projects approved for long-term funding by DEP under FY2025 environmental infrastructure funding program.
[bill added] Amends list of hazard mitigation and resilience projects approved for funding by NJ Infrastructure Bank under FY2025 Community Hazard Assistance Mitigation Program.
Requests that federal government offer legal remedies to victims exposed to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and incentivize research into effects of those substances.
Requires electric public utilities to implement certain improvements to interconnection process for certain grid supply solar facilities and energy storage facilities.
Senate, 12:00 Party Conferences; 1:00p Party Caucus; 2:00p Voting Session.
Appropriates $128.241 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to State Agriculture Development Committee for farmland preservation purposes.
Amends list of hazard mitigation and resilience projects approved for funding by NJ Infrastructure Bank under FY2025 Community Hazard Assistance Mitigation Program.
Appropriates $18,518,738 from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to NJ Historic Trust for grants for certain historic preservation projects and associated administrative expenses.
Appropriates $60 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues for recreation and conservation purposes to DEP for State capital and park development projects.
Appropriates $49.5 million from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues to DEP for State acquisition of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, including Blue Acres projects, and Green Acres Program administrative costs.
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Leave it to a former a former Navy helicopter aircraft commander to concoct a plan to identify the pesky unidentified flying annoyances responsible for so many New Jersey residents casting their eyes skyward at night.
NJ 101.5 reports that U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J. 11th District, a former Navy helicopter aircraft commander, has called for the federal government to use the MQ-9 Reaper drones used by Customs and Border Protection to identify the source of unmanned aircraft systems causing a public frenzy.
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The mysterious, flying objects, spotted recently over New Jersey, made scattered appearances in southeastern Pennsylvania last night
By Justin Heinze, Patch Staff
SOUTHEASTERN PA — Drones were spotted throughout the greater Philadelphia area on Thursday night, perhaps the most widespread night yet of the unexplained sightings of aerial objects in the local area.
While sightings have been going on for weeks in New Jersey, there had only been scattered and intermittent reports around Philadelphia and the five county suburban area until Thursday night.
“We don’t live near an airport,” one Pottstown resident shared on X. “We never see this many airplanes. And they’re too low and slow and too close together to be airplanes. What the hell is going on? It feels like an invasion.”
The drones — so named for lack of a better word, though they truly are unidentified flying objects — come in multiple sizes, but some are as large as SUVs, residents report. Many have blinking, multi-colored lights. They look similar to drones, and some of them may be drones, but that has never been definitively confirmed.
