Tree huggers come together on many (but not all) recommendations for keeping NJ forests green and growing. Presenters at hearing split over tree cutting

By EnviroPolitics Editor Frank Brill

NJ Spotlight was all over a joint legislative hearing in Trenton yesterday where a task force of some 50 environmental organizations, deputized by Senate Environment and Energy Chairman Bob Smith, presented 16 key recommendations from their 270-page report on forest stewardship.

If you think that environmental groups all think alike, you’d be wrong. Although the report shows a consensus on many points, like putting deer and invasive species in the crosshairs, the group’s unanimity came asunder over tree-cutting’s role in proper forest maintenance.

Watch Spotlight’s video reporter Ted Goldberg cover the hearing in the clip above.

Print reporter Tom Johnson gives us: Task force delivers tome on best-practices forest management

Watch it? Read it? I prefer to do both. How about you?

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Adirondacks man is counting on solar to keep his dairy farm going. Neighbors not so sure

Jon Close, a farmer from Mayfield with a long beard and wearing a purple sweatshirt, stands outside the Mayfield Fire House.
Jon Close, owner of the Close Brothers Farm in the Town of Mayfield on Great Sacandaga Lake, stands outside the town fire house on Feb. 15 where a public informational meeting on a proposed solar facility on his property took place. Photo by Gwendolyn Craig

By Gwendolyn Craig, Adirondack Explorer

Nearly 100 people attended an open house Wednesday night about a proposed 40-megawatt solar array in the town of Mayfield in Fulton County. If built, it will become the largest solar project in the Adirondack Park to date. The facility plans are an example, too, of some of the park’s remaining dairy farmers looking for a new cash crop to make ends meet.

Solar developer Boralex Inc. is looking to place 200 acres of panels on the Close brothers’ family dairy farm. Fifth-generation farmer Jon Close, 64, said the family owns about 800 acres total, including a bucolic hillside on Great Sacandaga Lake that he will leave undeveloped so as not to ruin the view.

It has been a struggle to keep the farm, Close said, between the stagnant price of milk and trouble finding employees.

“This opportunity came along, so we’re going to take advantage of it,” Close said. “The money that we’ll receive for the panels will keep things going and down the road, it’s our hope that it will be returned to farming, whereas if it goes into homes, golf courses, condos or whatever, it will be gone forever.”

The solar farm is more than double the size of the largest project approved in the Adirondack Park so far. Gov. Kathy Hochul first announced the facility in June, part of a round-up of 22 large-scale renewable energy projects.

Read the full story here

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EPA orders Norfolk Southern to take on the Ohio toxic train cleanup and threatens consequences

By Meridith Edwards, Holly Yan, and Nouran Salahieh, CNN

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is ordering Norfolk Southern to handle all necessary cleanup after its train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, more than two weeks ago.

The agency said it intends to force Norfolk Southern to pay and if it falls short, the company will be significantly fined, the agency said.

If the company fails to complete any actions as ordered by EPA, the agency will immediately step in, conduct the necessary work and then seek to compel Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost, the agency said.

The EPA said it will exercise its strongest authority against the train’s operator under CERCLA – the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

Related:
What to know about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio
Ohio train derailment fact check: What’s true and what’s false?

The announcement came shortly after EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited an East Palestine home, drank the tap water with Gov. Mike DeWine and updated the community on the government’s response.

Read the full story here

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Donald Trump and Erin Brockovich will descend upon East Palestine as residents plead for help

A former president and a celebrity environmental advocate will each visit the Ohio town reeling from a train derailment and its aftermath.

By JORDAN ANDERSON, Pittsburg Post-Gazette

Two weeks after a catastrophic train derailment unleashed toxic materials on a small village near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, the attention being showered on East Palestine by politicians and activists is reaching a fever pitch.

Former President Donald Trump plans to visit the Ohio town on Wednesday. Pennsylvania state lawmakers will scrutinize railway company Norfolk Southern during a hearing Thursday in Beaver County. And celebrity environmental advocate will host a town hall Friday in East Palestine. 

“The people of East Palestine need help,” Mr. Trump said on his social media network Saturday. “I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Trump’s visit, as he ramps up his comeback presidential campaign, is likely to bring the crucible of national politics to a village where residents are increasingly fearful of the derailment’s immediate and long-term health consequences. His administration rolled back Obama-era safety regulations on high-hazard cargo trains. But that rule would not have applied to the train that derailed in East Palestine, since it wasn’t classified as high-hazard. 

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‘How long is this going to last?’: East Palestine residents fear for their health

On Thursday, a public legislative hearing will examine Norfolk Southern and the response to the Feb. 3 derailment. Pennsylvania lawmakers sounded off on the railroad company last week, slamming Norfolk Southern as “ignorant” and greedy. 

The hearing, being held Thursday morning by a Senate committee at Community College of Beaver County, will include testimony from state and local officials, as well as citizens. 

Read the full story here

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Our Second-Largest Reservoir Is Going Dry

Wahweap Bay, located in Lake Powell along the Arizona and Utah border, has low water levels on June 9, 2021. (Ross D. Franklin/AP)

By Anumita Kaur, The Washington Post

Water levels in the nation’s second-largest reservoir dropped to a record low last week, raising the alarm that major changes are on the way for the seven states — and millions of Americans — relying on that system, experts say.

Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir that sits along the Colorado River on the Arizona-Utah border, generates electricity for about 4.5 million people. It is also a key part of the Colorado River Basin system, which supplies water to more than 40 million people. As of last week, its water levels fell to 3,522 feet above sea level, which is the lowest seen since the structure was filled in the 1960s. It’s now just 22 percent full, and unprecedented cuts in states’ water usage are necessary to avoid dire consequences.

Related:
‘Dangerous Heat’ and ‘Extreme Drought’ Pummel Much of West
Colorado River: The beating heart of the American Southwest

“There’s too little supply and too much demand,” said Brad Udall, a water and climate scientist at Colorado State University. “Ultimately, I think what we’re going to see here is some major rewriting of Western water law.”

“We’re seeing a collision right now between 19th-century water law, 20th-century infrastructure, and 21st-century population and climate change,” Udall added. “And how this works out is anybody’s guess.”

Read the full story here

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