This update focuses on continuing the State’s mission of sustainably managing the more than 807,000 acres of state forests under its stewardship, while also providing safe, inclusive areas for people to recreate outdoors, economic benefits for local communities, and protection for wildlife and their habitats.
Ensuring that our State’s forests remain resilient in the face of a changing climate was a major consideration for this update as well. In addition to guiding management decisions on state forests, the plan also serves as the General Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for the work done on state forests, multiple-use areas, and unique areas.
The GEIS satisfies the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act to ensure no negative environmental impacts occur as a result of the management actions DEC undertakes.
Trenton – Senator Bob Smith has announced the formation of the Forest Stewardship Task Force.
“Forests are critical to the environmental welfare of our State,” said Senator Smith (D Middlesex/Somerset), Chair of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.
“They can play a major role in mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide; providing habitats for endangered wildlife; helping clean and protect drinking water sources; and stabilizing soils. Proper management of forests is also necessary for preventing wildfires which are becoming more frequent and intense.”
The purpose of the task force, Smith said, will be to study and identify ways in which the State can best manage its forests in order to fight climate change, prevent forest fires, improve ecosystems, and protect soil and water quality, among other things. The task force will take feedback from interested parties and then compile a report on consensus and non-consensus issues with respect to forest stewardship for submission to the Committee.
“For decades, we have been debating what proper management of the State’s forests should look like, and what the State’s policies for forest stewardship should be,” said Senator Smith. “We’ve assembled this task force in order to identify and debate the major issues and ultimately develop consensus solutions which could form the basis for future legislation.”
The task force will be led by the following four co-chairs:
Eileen Murphy, Vice President of Government Relations, NJ Audubon
Andy Bennett, Board Member, NJ Forestry Association
Tom Gilbert, Co-Executive Director, NJ Conservation Foundation
The Senate Economic Growth Committee today advanced legislation sponsored by Senator Troy Singleton that would address energy resource distribution and installation through the Board of Public Utilities (BPU).
“Energy reliability and efficiency are the goals of these proposals,” said Senator Singleton (D-Burlington). “By implementing advanced smart meter technology and by updating antiquated electric utility infrastructure in our communities, we can better protect New Jerseyans from power outages during storms and other inclement weather. In addition, expanding clean and renewable energy within the state using microgrids and other infrastructure will help with long term sustainable efficiency.”
The first bill, S-339, would require an electric public utility to file an updated plan with the BPU for the procurement and installation of smart meter infrastructure, to measure and record electricity usage data, at a customers’ premises.
The second bill, S-341, would require the BPU to adopt rules and regulations requiring an electric public utility to establish a timeline for the replacement of the utility’s backyard distribution equipment within the portion of a residential property.
The final bill, S-787, would require the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and the BPU to develop a request for a proposal to determine the eligibility for the establishment of microgrids in six regionally diverse locations throughout the state. The microgrids are to be used to power medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles.
The bills were voted out of committee by a vote of (5-0), (5-0). and (5-0), respectively.
The resumption of human waste shipments halted in 2018 after a train became stuck near West Jefferson, Alabama, has residents raising a stink. WVTM’s Sarah Killian reports.
Robert E. Mulcahy III, a former Mendham mayor who became one of the most powerful political insiders of his generation as the chief of staff to Gov. Brendan Byrne, died on February 8. He was 85.
He served as the president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority for 19 years and as the Rutgers University Athletics Director for a decade. In his later years, Mulcahy was the chairman of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
Mulcahy was the top gubernatorial aide to use the title of chief of staff when he assumed the post at the start of Byrne’s second term in 1978. Before that, the job title was typically executive secretary to the governor.
He came from a political family: his father, Robert E. Mulcahy, Jr., was a Millburn school board member who was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for State Assembly in 1938.
At age 27, Mulcahy became a candidate for the Mendham Borough Council in 1963. At the time, Mendham was all-Republican and Mulcahy was the lone Democratic candidate against incumbents Andrew Fletcher and Francis Hewens. Mulcahy defeated Hewens.
In 1969, he won a three-way seat for Democratic state committeeman. Mulcahy also served as the Morris County chairman for former Gov. Robert Meyner’s unsuccessful bid to return for a third term, and on the County College of Morris Board of Trustees from 1966 to 1970.
Mulcahy endorsed Assemblywoman Ann Klein (D-Morris Township) for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1973. After the primary, Mulcahy took an active role in Byrne’s campaign against Republican Charles Sandman.
He resigned as mayor in 1974 to join the Byrne administration as deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Institutions and Agencies, now known as Human Services. Byrne had named Klein, who gave up her Assembly seat to run for governor, as commissioner.
Byrne later assigned Mulcahy to take an active leadership role at the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) as the governor began to increasingly rely on him as a troubleshooter for his administration.
After the creation of a new state Department of Corrections to run the prison system – the role had formerly been part of Institutions and Agencies, Mulcahy was nominated as the first commissioner. At age 40, he became the youngest member of the cabinet.
Byrne was re-elected to a second term after tough primary and general election battles. His top aide, former Parsippany Mayor Henry Luther III, had left to run the re-election campaign, and after a brief return to state government, he decided to return to his law practice.
Just before Christmas 1977, Byrne announced that his chief counsel, John Degnan, would become attorney general and that Mulcahy would be chief of staff.
In 1979, Mulchay left the Byrne administration to take over the Sports Authority. He succeeded Robert Harter at a time when the Meadowland Arena (it was the Brendan Byrne arena for a while until Gov. Christine Todd Whitman approved a sale of the naming rights to Continental Airlines) and the Pegasus Racetrack were under construction.
Kevin J. O’Toole was unanimously re-elected to a 6th term as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday.
O’Toole, a former Republican state senator originally named to the bi-state post by Gov. Chris Christie, has outmaneuvered any hope of replacing him over the last four years through close relationships with his former colleagues on the Democratic side.
The agency also retained Rick Cotton as executive director. Cotton was a longtime ally of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but his successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, announced her intention to keep him on at a dinner celebrating the Port Authority’s centennial at Cipriani last fall.
One New Jersey seat on the Board of Commissioners has been vacant since September when Raymond Pocino announced his retirement after 19 years in office. One of the most influential union officials in the state, Pocino is the eastern regional manager and vice president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
There has been speculation since last fall that Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage is under consideration for that seat. Union County is the only county with a major Port Authority facility that has no representation on the board.
