EnviroPolitics Blog

NJ bill to prohibit sale of gas-powered leaf blowers clears committee

From The New Jersey Senate Democrats

TRENTON – The Senate Environment and Energy Committee advanced legislation sponsored by its Chair, Senator Bob Smith, which would prohibit the sale and use of gas-powered leaf blowers, except under certain circumstances. As defined in the bill, a “gas-powered leaf blower” has a two-stroke or four-stroke engine and uses gasoline or a gasoline and oil blend as fuel.

     “Gas-powered leaf blowers have for years been a scourge on the local environment. Not only are they massive polluters, but they are also a nuisance to people trying to enjoy the outdoors,” said Senator Smith (D-Middlesex/Somerset). “There are an abundance of cheap electric alternatives, which are quieter, safer to operate, and less harmful for the environment.”

     Gas-powered leaf blowers emit high rates of pollutants. The amount of carbon monoxide emitted from a typical backpack gas-powered leaf blower for just one hour is equal to the amount of carbon monoxide emitted from the tailpipe of an automobile operating for over eight hours, and, for the other pollutants, the amounts are even greater.

     In addition to environmental consequences, gas-powered leaf blowers are also associated with occupational health concerns. They generate noise at a decibel level capable of causing hearing loss in a short amount of time, and send dust and other small particles into the air for considerable distances.

     Under the bill, S217, the sale or distribution of gas-powered leaf blowers with a two-stroke engine would be prohibited two years after the bill’s effective date, while their use would be prohibited four years after its effective date. The use of gas-powered leaf blowers with a four-stroke engine would be prohibited four years after the bill’s effective date, with certain exceptions for municipal use and during peak seasons.

     Any person who violates the bill’s provisions would be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 for each offense.

     The bill was advanced in a 3-2 vote.

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NJ-NY rail service getting back on track after long, hot interruptions

The last few days have been an overheated nightmare for thousands of rail commuters trying to travel between New Jersey and New York.

NJ Transit, Amtrak service resumes after suspension due to power issues, large fire near NJ Turnpike

By Jacob Flanagan, FOX 5

NJ Transit and Amtrak service along the northeast corridor resumed Thursday evening after power issues caused by a nearby brush fire had caused a suspension.

A power failure that Amtrak attributed to a malfunctioning circuit breaker somewhere along the tunnels under the Hudson River caused the original suspension, leaving passengers stranded for hours.

A brush fire in the vicinity of County Road in Secaucus, New Jersey had also impacted wire repairs, but the fire was extinguished by early Thursday evening.

Emergency crews are working to extinguish the flames.

Meanwhile, Amtrak said that service had been temporarily disrupted between Philadelphia 30th Street Station and New Haven Union Station due to a malfunctioning circuit breaker that had caused a loss of power on the tracks between Penn Station and Newark Union Station.

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George Norcross indictment: The continuing story

The Democratic power broker and co-defendants are also accused of bending state law to serve their own interests

By JOHN REITMEYER, NJ Spotlight News

Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III and several co-defendants, including a former Camden mayor who served in the state Senate, are facing first-degree racketeering and other charges related to allegedly corrupt real estate dealings in Camden under an indictment announced by the state attorney general’s office.

The bombshell, 13-count indictment unsealed Monday also alleges Norcross and several co-defendants influenced the drafting of an important state tax-incentive law over a decade ago to serve their own interests.

Attorney General Matt Platkin, speaking during an afternoon news conference — which Norcross himself attended as an apparent uninvited guest — accused Norcross, a long-standing figure in state politics, of “running a criminal enterprise in this state for at least the last twelve years.”

“On full display in this indictment is how a group of unelected, private businessmen used their power and influence to get government to aid their criminal enterprise and further its interests,” Platkin said.

“The alleged conduct of the Norcross Enterprise has caused great harm to individuals, businesses, nonprofits, the people of the State of New Jersey, and especially the City of Camden and its residents,” Platkin said.

Read the full NJ Spotlight story here

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EPA explains changes to cleanup plan for S. Plainfield Superfund site

Today’s news from your EnviroPolitics Blog

(June 18, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the final Explanation of Significant Differences that explains changes to the cleanup plan to address contaminated soil and debris at the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site in South Plainfield, New Jersey.

“Today, we are announcing our update to the cleanup plan for the Woodbrook Road Dump site, which confirms our original plan to remove the contaminated soil to an approved off-site disposal facility,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “This plan will protect the health and environment of the people and wildlife living near the site, which is now part of the Peter J. Barnes III Wildlife Preserve.”

The update to the final cleanup plan being announced today documents that the estimated cost of the original cleanup rose from $45.4 million in 2018 to $70 million in 2023 due in part to inflation and increased disposal costs. In addition, EPA updated the cleanup goal to 1.1 parts per million (ppm) for the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in the soil and debris at the site. The cleanup plan update also recognizes that in 2021, New Jersey created the Peter J. Barnes III Wildlife Preserve which includes the Woodbrook Road Dump site.

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.

In 2020, then-Administrator Andrew Wheeler asked EPA Region 2 to review 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, but the costs had increased due to inflation and increased disposal costs.

The final 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 ppm for disposal at 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 for disposal at an approved off-site disposal facility.
Establishing restrictions to prevent a change in land use, such as residential development.

For additional background and to see the final Explanation of Significant Differences, as well as EPA’s responses to the public comments that were received on the proposed Explanation of Significant Differences, visit the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site profile page.

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100 blocks along NY’s Gowanus Canal being tested for toxic vapors

By Rich Calder, New York Post

The state is quietly investigating roughly 100 blocks in and around Brooklyn’s toxic Gowanus Canal to determine how many are contaminated with cancer-causing vapors and other hazardous substances, The Post has learned.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation began its probe in September following public outcry over reports it waited nearly two years to alert the public that cancer-causing vapors nearly 22 times the amount considered safe escaped from polluted soil and into a popular shuffleboard club.

Records show recent air-quality tests inside the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club on Union Street have since come back as “safe” once steps were taken to reduce harmful fumes by venting underground contaminants — but many other properties in the testing area, where thousands of people live and work, continue to show high traces of toxicity.

One building, which DEC refused to publicly identify, had air levels of the chemical trichloroethylene, or “TCE” — an industrial solvent linked to cancer, Parkinson’s disease and other ailments — 450 times above acceptable levels, according to tests taken last year.

Martin Bisi (left) and Seth Hillinger of the grassroots group Voice of Gowanus say the state DEC should be doing a better job informing the public that many sites along he canal could be hazardous for occupants.

Similar tests conducted in 2023 at 543 Union St., a massive 19^th Century-era building occupied by 22 businesses, also found TCE fumes on site dozens of times, including one reading 255 times above “safe” levels.”

Over the past century, much of the coal tar – dubbed “black mayonnaise” by longtime residents — also seeped into the canal, which is one of the nation’s most polluted waterways and undergoing a massive federal Superfund cleanup.

Read the full story here

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