Why a trailblazing Assemlywoman won’t return after one term

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[EP Editor’s Note: Another example of hate driving out the good]


By Hannan Adely, NorthJersey.com

She was the first female Muslim mayor in the United States. Then she was the first of two Muslims — both women — elected to the New Jersey State legislature.

Now, Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer, D-Montgomery, has decided that she will not seek reelection after just one term.

In an interview with The Record and NorthJersey.com, Jaffer said she had face sustained harassment both online and in opponents’ attack ads because of her religious background. She will not seek re-election because she doesn’t want her family to put her family, including her young daughter, through another ugly election cycle.

Jaffer’s experience underscores a larger problem of harassment and bigotry that Muslim women in the public eye often face. The Assemblywoman, in her interview, talks about ways to make the journey easier for other women as they run for and serve in office.

Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer, PhD, who represents New Jersey’s 16th Legislative District is a Princeton University Researcher and Lecturer in South Asian Studies. Passionate advocate for racial, economic, and gender justice.

Every campaign is a commitment. It is a sacrifice for family. I just decided this was best in terms of being able to focus on my daughter and, you know, not having to subject myself and my family, including my daughter, to the type of harassment I get as a Muslim official, as a woman of color running for office.  

What type of haassment did you face?

It’s a slow drip of messages, comments, emails, tweets, Facebook comments that give the impression that my participation is not welcome. There are questions about my intentions. Unfortunately, my political opponents have also used that type of messaging against me in the campaign for assembly last year. My opponents had television ads, text messages, everything saying Sadaf Jaffer is a radical, reject extremism don’t vote for her, that sort of thing.

We all know it just takes one person to have a negative reaction to that sort of messaging and someone can get hurt. When I was making my decision there had been a series of state legislators whose homes had been shot into, including one where a 10-year-old girl was sleeping. Just thinking about that environment, I decided to focus on keeping my family safe and protected both emotionally and physically.

Read the full story here

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EPA Overrules Texas Plan to Reduce Haze From Air Pollution at National Parks

Critics called the state’s plan, which rejected a request to cut sulfur emissions at coal plants, a “do nothing” strategy. The EPA now wants six power plants to slash emissions by 80,000 tons.

The view from Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, is often obscured by haze from both local and regional air pollution sources. Credit: Martha Pskowski/Inside Climate News.

By Martha Pskowskids, Inside Climate News

The National Parks Conservation Association Texas Young Leaders Advocacy Council and other environmental groups are pushing state and federal regulators to take aggressive action to eliminate air pollution at national parks through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Haze Rule. Issued in 1999 under the Clean Air Act, the rule calls for state and federal regulators to work together to improve visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. 

States submit progress reports every five years and update their action plans, known as implementation plans, every 10 years. Each plan is divided into an initial phase that covers the largest individual polluters and a second one that focuses on ongoing emissions reductions from a range of sources.

In July 2021, Texas submitted its updated implementation plan to the EPA. But in April 2023, 

the EPA announced that the plan’s first phase was inadequate because it did not include the best available technology for reducing sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. 

Members of the National Parks Conservation Association Texas Young Leaders Advocacy Council visited Guadalupe Mountains National Park in June from San Antonio. They summited Guadalupe Peak and learned about sources of regional air pollution. Credit: Courtesy of NPCA.
Members of the National Parks Conservation Association Texas Young Leaders Advocacy Council visited Guadalupe Mountains National Park in June from San Antonio. They summited Guadalupe Peak and learned about sources of regional air pollution. Credit: Courtesy of NPCA.

The agency proposed a new strategy for Texas that would require six coal plants, all major contributors to haze, to reduce their emissions of sulfur dioxide. The public comment period on that proposed rule closed on Aug. 2. The EPA has not announced when it will release the final rule. 

Environmental advocates are calling on the EPA to similarly reject Texas’s plan for the second phase of the haze rule, submitted in July 2021. They also want Texas to implement more pollution controls in the second phase for the numerous oil and gas drilling sites contributing to air pollution at national parks.

Read the full story here

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Cold weather surfers face microbial danger at Jersey shore

Surfers at beaches where stormwater drainage pipes discharge into the ocean risk catching more than waves on a rainy day.

By Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute

Monmouth University researchers studying the influence of weather and ocean conditions on microbial pollution found that within 6-24 hours of moderate rainfall, enterococcus bacteria levels exceeded state health safety standards about half the time at tested beaches. While rain is a known driver of illness-causing microbial pollution at New Jersey beaches, this was the first peer-reviewed study to formally investigate the linkage.

Endowed Professor of Marine Science Jason Adolf and Specialist Professor Jeff Weisburg of Monmouth University’s Biology Department collected water samples with students on dry days and following storms at five Monmouth County beaches with outflow pipes in 2019 and 2020. The research was conducted both in the summer bathing season when the state monitors pollution levels weekly, and in September-May, which is not regularly monitored by the state. Although the throngs of beachgoers largely vanish after Labor Day, the fall and winter months are considered prime surfing season for the Jersey Shore and its waters remain crowded with riders taking advantage of hurricane swells.

“Without a system on the beach to warn them, surfers could unknowingly be exposed to bacteria that can cause respiratory infections, nausea, abdominal pain, and fevers,” said Dr. Weisburg, whose research focus is immunology and disease. “Since the restrictions on which beaches you’re allowed to surf at are lifted in the offseason, surfers should take advantage of the other beaches open to them and steer clear of outfall pipes during and after rains.”

The samples were tested for enterococcus levels and checked for relationships with data for three important drivers: precipitation, which transports animal waste and other pollutants to beaches via stormwater discharges; water temperature, which determines how easy it is for bacteria to thrive; and tide stage, which can control whether the pollutants are diluted or concentrated.

The research found that rainfall within 6-24 hours of sampling and higher water temperatures were the best predictors of high enterococcus counts, although exceedances of the state regulatory threshold of 104 colony-forming units (CFU) per 100 mL seawater were found in all seasons – even in seas as cold as 44 degrees, following rainy periods. Although not an explicit part of this study, observations during sampling suggested that these bacteria spikes subsided quickly at these sites, within one or two days of occurring.

The researchers created a model that could predict the likelihood of bacteria spikes at the sampling sites with accuracy based on data for rainfall accumulations, water temperature, and water levels. When the model focused on sites having stormwater drainage in the surf zone, its predictions that levels would exceed the state threshold were correct 69 percent of the time; it was a perfect 100 percent when it predicted levels would stay safely below the threshold.

Read the full story here

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Ban on semiautomatic weapons upheld by Illinois Supreme Court


By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld the state’s ban on the sale or possession of the type of semiautomatic weapons used in hundreds of mass killings nationally.

The law bans dozens of specific brands or types of rifles and handguns, .50-caliber guns, attachments and rapid-firing devices. No rifle is allowed to accommodate more than 10 rounds, with a 15-round limit for handguns. The most popular gun targeted is the AR-15 rifle, which can be found in at least 25 million American households, according to 2021 research by Georgetown University.

In a 4-3 decision Friday, the high court found that the Protect Our Communities Act does not violate the federal Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the law nor the state constitution’s bar on special legislation.

The court also decreed that state Rep. Dan Caulkins, a Decatur Republican, and like-minded gun-owners who brought the lawsuit had earlier waived their claims that the law infringes on the Second Amendment to own firearms and could not raise it before the Supreme Court.

The Second Amendment claim is alive, however, in several federal lawsuits filed in southern Illinois, later consolidated and awaiting appeals court action.

Read the full story here

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Estimated cleanup cost soars $24.6M for N.J. Superfund site

But EPA says the previously chosen cleanup method is still the best choice for Woodbrook Road Dump in South Plainfield

From the Environmental Protection Agency

NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended the public comment period for its proposed changes to address contaminated soil and debris at the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site in South Plainfield, New Jersey to September 13, 2023. EPA held a public meeting at the South Plainfield Township Courtroom on July 27, 2023, to explain the proposed changes to the public.

The proposed changes that are being announced today document that the estimated cost of the selected cleanup rose from $45.4 million in 2018 to $70 million in 2023 due in part to inflation and increased construction costs. In addition, in 2021, New Jersey created the Peter J. Barnes III Wildlife Preserve which includes the Woodbrook Road Dump site.

In 2020, EPA reviewed the selected cleanup plan for the site. The results of EPA’s review, carried out in coordination with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, confirmed that the 2013 selected cleanup plan remains the best option.

EPA’s cleanup plan for the site was originally documented in a 2013 Record of Decision and modified in a 2018 Explanation of Significant Differences. The cleanup plan includes:

  • Removing an estimated 4,000 cubic yards of soil and debris that contains capacitors, capacitor parts and PCB-contaminated soil and debris with PCB concentrations greater than 100 parts per million (ppm) to an approved off-site disposal facility.
  • Removing an estimated 143,000 cubic yards of soil and debris that contains PCBs at concentrations greater than 1.1 ppm to an approved off-site disposal facility.

Written comments on the proposed Explanation of Significant Differences may be mailed or emailed to Diane Salkie Sharkey, Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway – 18th Floor, New York, NY 10007, Email: salkie.diane@epa.gov.

For additional background and to see all changes in the proposed Explanation of Significant Differences, visit the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site profile page.

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Metals company to pay $103M for contaminating properties in Carteret, NJ

By Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A metals refinery company that operated in Middlesex County for decades has agreed to a $103 million settlement for the wrongful emission of toxic wastes from smelting operations, according to court documents.

United States Metals Refinery Co., of Delaware, owned a smelter from the early 1900s to 1991 on Middlesex Avenue in Carteret that discharged a by-product known to cause cancer and other health issues affecting adults and children, according to lawsuits filed in state and federal courts.

“The contaminants primarily consisted of lead, copper, arsenic, benzene, and other chemicals and heavy metals,” said Boris Shmaruk, one of the attorneys representing Carteret residents.

The total settlement of $103 million will be broken down into two categories – $61 million for cleanup, remediation, community outreach and additional sampling and analysis. The other $42 million will be paid to about 1,200 affected property owners in the “zone of contamination.”

Each property owner will receive about $18,000, according to the Vlasac & Shmaruk law firm.

Read the full story here

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