It has been nearly a week since a massive cargo ship with thousands of containers on board got stuck in the Chesapeake Bay. And officials say it could be another 10 days before the ship is able to float again because it is a rare, complex mission.
On Friday morning, CBS Baltimore‘s Ava-Joye Burnett traveled out onto the bay with U.S. Coast Guard engineers and investigators as they tried to bring the vessel afloat.
“It’s rare for a vessel to run aground in the Chesapeake Bay,” Captain David O’Connell, the section Sector Commander of the Maryland-National Capital Region, said ahead of the excursion. He leads Coast Guard operations in the coordination of all maritime safety, security and environmental missions in the region.
“I’ve been here a year and it’s the first major incident we’ve had in the port. You’ll see when we go out there that it is an impressive sight to see and because of its size, it’s a very complex operation,” he said.
“With beachfront views, two pools, two elevators, gas fireplaces, and attached garages, how can you go wrong?
The condo duplex on Wesley Avenue in Ocean City also has 12 full bathrooms and two half-baths and is billed as “the most prestigious home built on the Goldcoast.”
New Jersey officials have found “forever chemicals” at above state health limits in water systems serving two schools and in more than 40 private wells in Mercer County.
The Department of Environmental Protection detected the chemicals at the schools and in another local public water system during tests at three sites in the Pennington/Hopewell area, the agency told NJ Spotlight News. Those discoveries have so far led to tests of 142 private water wells, 42 of which contained the chemicals at levels that exceeded newly enforced regulatory limits.
The DEP is currently sampling residential and commercial private wells for PNFA, PFOA and PFOS, the three kinds of PFAS chemicals for which New Jersey has set strict health limits in drinking water over the last few years.
The DEP said Monday it is also investigating whether private wells are contaminated with PFAS in other parts of the state but did not immediately identify them.
The agency said it is working with property owners to install point-of-entry water systems that filter out the chemicals. It urged homeowners whose water exceeds the state limits to switch to bottled water and seek reimbursement for the cost of installing treatment systems from the New Jersey Spill Fund, a state fund that compensates householders for damage to property from hazardous substances and pays for their cleanup. It has not yet identified the source of the contamination.
In what is turning into a hugely competitive bidding process, 13 developers have submitted proposals for 80 transmission projects to bring power from offshore wind farms to New Jersey customers.
The bids involve a range of projects dealing with upgrades to power lines on land, beach crossings, and efforts to connect offshore wind farms and facilities. The 80 projects are being reviewed jointly by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and the nation’s largest grid operator, the PJM Interconnection.
Upgrading the transmission grid is potentially one of the most critical components in whether the state succeeds in achieving the Murphy administration’s goal of having enough offshore wind turbines to generate 7,500 megawatts of electricity by 2035.
“Transmission is never the sexy part of energy, but it’s the most critical. It is hugely important to make offshore wind work,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey and a strong supporter of developing more offshore wind farms.
The transmission upgrades are expected to be costly. In 2020, the Business Network for Offshore Wind projected that if all the offshore wind farms proposed by New Jersey and four other coastal states are built, it could result in offshore transmission costs of between $15 billion and $20 billion.
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A mayor from the Jersey Shore has been charged with official misconduct and theft for pocketing parking meter money and selling borough furniture, authorities said.
Authorities did not detail the value of the cash and other proceeds allegedly stolen by Paul Kennedy, 66, who serves as the mayor of Ocean Gate.
These charges are the result of an extensive investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Professional Standards/Corruption Unit and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad, according to Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.
NEW YORK (March 17, 2022) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is adding 12 sites and proposing to add another five, including the Brillo Landfill, an inactive hazardous waste disposal facility in Victory, New York, to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The federal NPL includes sites where releases of contamination pose significant human health and environmental risks.
“A proactive approach in addressing the lingering contamination at the former Brillo Landfill is needed to safeguard local wetlands and mitigate the potential impacts on private drinking water wells,” said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “With this proposal, EPA is showing the Victory, New York community that historical contamination will not sit idle in their backyards and threaten their wetlands.”
“I’m pleased to see the EPA propose adding the Brillo Landfill in Victory, New York to the Superfund National Priorities List,” said Representative John Katko. “This move would provide federal funding to address legacy pollution in Cayuga County and was made possible by investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which I strongly supported. This cleanup effort would provide a long-term solution for our community and I’m glad to see the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law making a positive impact in Cayuga County.”
“New York State welcomes U.S. EPA’s proposed addition of the Brillo Landfill site and finalization of the Meeker Avenue Plume site to the Federal Superfund Program’s National Priorities List,” said New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos. “Working collaboratively with DEC, our federal partners will deploy the best available science and resources to protect the Greenpoint and East Williamsburg communities by addressing the soil, soil vapor, and groundwater plume in the vicinity of Meeker Avenue, and continue the critical work of preventing potential exposure to the public. DEC remains committed to partnering with the Biden Administration and EPA Administrator Regan to advance the cleanup of former industrial sites in Brooklyn, the town of Victory, and statewide to protect public health and the environment.”
Now closed, the Brillo Landfill accepted a variety of industrial and sanitary wastes, as well as paint and wastewater treatment sludge. As a result, it is currently contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals such as lead and mercury in numerous waste disposal units and surrounding soil. Further NYSDEC investigations in 2021 found similar contamination and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the nearby wetlands, which border Little Sodus Creek.
EPA conducted an immediate removal action to protect public health in June 2018, removing approximately 2,000 intact drums and drum carcasses, including about 8,000 gallons of liquid waste and 782 tons of contaminated soil and other solid debris. However, the site still requires a long-term cleanup to address the remaining contamination. Groundwater sampling results from facility monitoring wells show site-related contaminants above federal and state groundwater standards. NYSDEC has tested private drinking water wells within a one-mile radius of the site and has not identified impacts to these wells at this time. NYSDEC continues to monitor the groundwater for potential effects on these wells.
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