EnviroPolitics Blog

Can novel methods restore the ailing salt marshes of New Jersey and Delaware?

Standing water will be helped to escape more rapidly, restoring the marshes to their natural state

Large storms can devastate coastal communities when no buffers exist to protect them.

But salt marshes, which are coastal wetlands flooded and drained by salt water from the tides, can shield buildings and homes.

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“When Hurricane Sandy hit, if we didn’t have salt marshes there, a lot of homes would actually be more damaged,” said Emmy Casper, a wildlife biologist with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. “They’re like little sponges that absorb a bunch of water that would otherwise be flooding houses.”

However, coastal towns are at greater risk of flooding today. That’s because salt marshes have been degraded by farming methods, and even historic practices meant to prevent mosquito breeding. Sea-level rise caused by climate change puts more strain on the marshes.

“We’re really realizing the importance of saving our salt marshes, and realizing we need to do something now,” said Kaity Ripple, a fish and wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

So, the environmental group Ducks Unlimited is using more than $500,000 in funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other donors to restore salt marshes in Delaware and New Jersey. The organization is partnering with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and other local groups such as the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

Ducks Unlimited will dig shallow channels called “runnels,” allowing standing water to escape more rapidly and restore the marshes to their natural state. This project uses a technique that’s low-cost and could potentially decrease the need for large-scale projects. The technique is new to the mid-Atlantic region but has already shown success in New England.

“If you look at an unhealthy salt marsh, it’s very saturated. You’ll see a lot of bigger pools,” said Joe Genzel, a communications coordinator for Ducks Unlimited. “With a healthy salt marsh, you’ll see a lot of interconnected smaller pools. And so that’s what runnels do.”

Read the full story here

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Alabama landfill fire still burning after three months

Fire burns beneath a landfill in St. Clair County, Alabama, in a photo released by Moody Fire Department on Dec. 19, 2022.

By Hadley Hitson, Montgomery Advertiser

The underground landfill fire in St. Clair County is almost out — over three months since it started burning and disrupted the lives of families in Moody and surrounding areas.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management reports that no smoke has been seen at the landfill since Feb. 28, and the “prevalent” odor faded over the last week. Still, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it “could be several more weeks before the fire is completely out.”

Now, state and local leaders are looking to learn from the shortcomings that the fire exposed across all levels of government. ADEM announced last week that it established a working group to examine the response to the fire and make recommendations on how to improve the statewide response to emergency situations like the fire in the future.

“The one thing we’ve got to work on is: How do we make this go faster? Because we cannot put citizens through this again,” State Sen. Lance Bell said at an ADEM press conference last week. “We were all talking on the phone, working through the different channels, but when you have a property that’s owned by an individual and an unregulated landfill in an unincorporated county, it becomes a nightmare.”

The fire at Environmental Landfill, Inc. started burning in late November. The Moody Fire Department responded immediately but was unable to reach the underground source. From there, authority over the response shifted several times before ADEM called in the EPA for help.

Read the full story here

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Bee-boosting bill buzzes through NJ Senate panel

Legislation sponsored by NJ State Senator Anthony M. Bucco that encourages homeowners and businesses to make their property more bee-friendly has cleared the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.

“New Jersey is the Garden State, but gardens don’t flourish without pollinators including bees,” said Bucco (R-25). “Unfortunately, our bee populations continue to fall at an alarming rate, which puts everything from home gardens to commercial agriculture at risk. This legislation encourages homeowners and businesses to install bee-friendly habitats to help stop the decline.”

Researchers at Rutgers University recently published a study that highlighted concerns about the sharp decline of bee populations in New Jersey. The lack of bee habitats can have severe impacts on the ecosystem, as bees, certain insects, and even birds account for pollinating more than 80% of all plants.

Sen. Bucco’s bill, S-3643, establishes a pilot program within the New Jersey Department of Agriculture to offer reimbursement to homeowners and businesses for certain costs associated with converting their lawns and gardens into bee-friendly habitats.

The program would offer eligible homeowners up to $250 in reimbursement while businesses could receive up to $500. Under the bill, the state Agriculture department would be required to develop a webpage with information about the pilot program and a list of plants that qualify homeowners and businesses to receive reimbursement.

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Philly’s Chinatown, split by Vine Street Expressway, could be reunited by a cap

“This community never gave up the fight for ways to mitigate the expressway,” said John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp.

The Vine Street Expressway at Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pa. on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The city plans to cap the Vine Street Expressway to reconnect Chinatown, from Broad Street to Eighth Street. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

By Jeff Gammage, Philadelphia Inquirer Mar 8, 2023

They’re calling it the Chinatown Stitch, a modest name for a massive construction project that would reconnect the north and south sides of the neighborhood by physically capping the below-ground Vine Street Expressway.

City officials and neighborhood leaders said Wednesday that they’re newly hopeful that, finally, it can be done. If all goes as planned — and that’s a big if — groundbreaking could come in 2028.

“This community never gave up the fight for ways to mitigate the expressway,” John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., said at a media briefing.

A website has been launched to gather ideas and opinions from area residents, and the first community-engagement meeting is set for April 26.

The study area would be from Broad Street to Eighth Street.

A cap would reduce noise, create green space, and become a platform for the construction of homes and businesses. Officials had no estimate of the total cost but said that capping a single city block could be $25 million to $30 million.

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Architects’ group will put solar on dozens of Habitat for Humanity homes

The District of Columbia-based American Institute of Architects is offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from a major renovation with a $500,000 donation that will cover the cost of solar panels on an estimated 72 homes.

By Elizabeth McGowan, Energy News Network

Virtue Solar operations manager Kim Monge Fera, center, directs high school classmates Ashton Wisecarver, left, and James Jackson as they hoist a solar panel in Warrenton, Virginia. Credit: Courtesy

Renovating a 50-year-old landmark structure in the heart of the nation’s capital is expected to save dozens of low-income Virginia families thousands of dollars on their electric bills.

It’s possible because of a new green pledge between neighboring entities that is simple yet trailblazing.

The District of Columbia-based American Institute of Architects (AIA) will offset greenhouse gas emissions generated from its major modernization by funding the bulk of 360 kilowatts of solar power on the roofs of Habitat for Humanity Virginia homes.

Jeff Heie, who directs the nimble startup Give Solar, will coordinate the installations over the next two years. AIA’s $500,000 donation will cover enough panels for 72 houses, he estimated.

“It’s huge,” the solar champion said about the gift’s role in crushing barriers to renewable energy.

Two years ago, he initiated a Give Solar-Habitat Virginia partnership via a pilot project with the housing nonprofit’s Central Valley affiliate. Both organizations are based in the Shenandoah Valley’s Rockingham County.

Since then, due to Heie’s doggedness, more than half of the 39 Habitat Virginia affiliates have either completed solar conversions or expressed interest in doing so.

Read the full story here

If you liked this post, you will love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation

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Nine Mile Point nuclear plant in New York becomes the first to produce green hydrogen

From Renewable Energy World

Clean hydrogen production is underway at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Oswego, New York. The facility is the first of its kind in the United States to generate clean hydrogen using nuclear power.

This nuclear milestone is part of a $14.5 million cost-shared project between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Constellation to demonstrate how nuclear power plants can help lower the cost and scale up the production of clean hydrogen.

Constellation will use the hydrogen generated on-site to help cool the power plant.

DOE supported the construction and installation of a low-temperature electrolysis system at the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant that leverages the facility’s existing hydrogen storage system.

Constellation’s new Hydrogen Generation System produces hydrogen without emissions by using electricity generated at the plant to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The system started producing clean hydrogen in February to supply hydrogen for plant operations—a process that was previously dependent on trucked-in deliveries of hydrogen made from fossil fuels.

Read the full story here

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