Truckers block traffic for days last month in Ottowa, Canada. A similar protest is planned for Washington, D.C.
Freshman Republican State Senator Edward Durr said Governor Phil Murphy’s plan to send New Jersey National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. for a rally planned by truck drivers is a waste of resources when many State services remain inaccessible to New Jerseyans.
“A peaceful truck rally in Washington is where Governor Murphy thinks he should dedicate State resources while unemployment offices remain closed, the MVC is still a mess, and thousands of Corrections Officers and health care professionals are on the verge of losing their jobs due to unnecessary vaccine mandates,” said Durr (R-3), the career truck driver who won a stunning upset in November over Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney.
“It’s another example of Governor Murphy focusing on Washington instead of helping people here in New Jersey. It’s beyond offensive,” Durr said,
The Murphy administration announced that more than 100 troops from New Jersey’s National Guard will be sent to Washington in advance of the planned truck convoy.
“The governor may have reveled in the images of peaceful protesters being hauled off to jail in an authoritarian manner by Justin Trudeau in Canada, but that’s not how we do things in the United States,” added Durr. “If Governor Murphy wants to be President, he should know that.”
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has completed the sale of its fossil fuel generation portfolio, including 6,750 MW in New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and New York. That leaves the company more than 90% regulated and focused on reaching net-zero emissions by 2030, company leaders said Thursday during PSEG’s Q4 2021 earnings call with analysts.
PSEG is now focused on “clean energy and infrastructure investments to drive regulated utility growth ” PSEG CEO Ralph Izzo said. The company owns three nuclear units in New Jersey and expects they will remain in operation for almost 30 more years, he said.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) in April extended zero-emission credit (ZEC) subsidies for the state’s nuclear plants. The ZEC process runs every three years, but Izzo said he expects the cycle to be lengthened rather than run through the same debates repeatedly.
The court could handcuff President Biden’s climate change agenda — and restrict federal agencies from enacting new regulations governing health, workplace safety, and more.
WASHINGTON — In the most important environmental case in more than a decade, the Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments in a dispute that could restrict or even eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to control the pollution that is heating the planet.
A decision by the high court, with its conservative supermajority, could shred President Biden’s plans to halve the nation’s greenhouse emissions by the end of the decade, which scientists have said is necessary to avert the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
“They could handcuff the federal government’s ability to affordably reduce greenhouse gases from power plants,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University.
But the outcome could also have repercussions that stretch well beyond air pollution, restricting the ability of federal agencies to regulate health care, workplace safety, telecommunications, the financial sector, and more.
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Gov. Phil Murphy announced a series of staff moves on his communications team following the departure of Dan Bryan from the governor’s office today, including the promotion of Alex Altman to deputy communications director.
Also moving up is Megan Coyne, whose management of the state’s official Twitter account has received national attention, and Michael Zhadanovsky.
Bryan is moving over to Murphy’s political team as executive director of a non-profit advocacy group and a political action committee led by First Lady Tammy Murphy.
“Dan Bryan has been a senior member of the Administration since day one, and I am thankful for his unwavering commitment to our mission of making New Jersey stronger and fairer for the working families who call our state home,” Murphy said. “Dan has long served as the Administration’s point person for strategic communications and, more importantly, he has been a friend. I know I am not alone in saying that he will be missed as a member of the Murphy Administration.”
Altman had served as deputy press secretary will now play a senior role in a communications group led by Mahen Gunaratna and Alyana Alfaro Post, the governor’s press secretary. She had initially joined the Murphy administration in 2018 as a public information officer at the Department of Corrections before moving to the governor’s office later that year.
“Alex Altman has been a critical member of our communications team for over three years, and I am thrilled to have her continue serving the Administration in the new senior role of deputy communications director,” Murphy said.
Coyne, the governor’s new social media director, joined Murphy’s office as a communications intern in 2018 and later worked as a digital assistant and social media manager. She grew up in Livingston, which has produced a disproportionately high number of state and national political leaders, including three governors, two of them popular ones.
Zhadanovsky also began as a communications intern after Murphy became governor in 2018 and was hired as a press assistant immediately following his graduation from Rutgers in 2019. He will now serve as deputy press secretary.
Murphy also announced the hiring of two new communications staffers: Christi Peace will also serve as a deputy press secretary. She’ll move over from her current post in the Assembly Majority Office; and Natalie Hamilton, a recent University of Delaware graduate who worked as a communications intern, will serve as a press assistant.
“Alex, along with Mahen, Megan, Christi, Michael, Natalie, and the rest of our communications team, will continue building on our Administration’s commitment to keeping the public well-informed,” Murphy said.
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PENNSYLVANIA — A new drinking water health standard has been proposed in Pennsylvania that officials are hopeful will protect residents from PFAS, long-lasting chemicals used in certain products that leak into the groundwater. The step is described as “unprecedented” as Pennsylvania has never set a state-level specific limit for a substance in drinking water.
The new rule would set a maximum contaminant level of 18 parts per trillion for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and 14 perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Both are stricter than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling of 70 ppt.
Pennsylvania leaders say they are at the forefront of limiting PFAS in drinking water.https://293baf1e9e16382e14bec7326f5d42a2.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
“Since Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order in 2018, DEP has worked tirelessly to protect Pennsylvanians from these chemicals,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a statement.
A 60-day public comment period began on Saturday for residents to evaluate the new proposal.
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