For Democrats, infrastructure bill is a down payment on climate

A bipartisan package includes the largest-ever federal spending for electric vehicle charging stations, public transit, and clean water.

The bill would spend $7.5 billion on the first federal effort to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations around the country.
The bill would spend $7.5 billion on the first federal effort to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations around the country. Credit…Philip Cheung for The New York Times

By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman NY Times, July 28, 2021

WASHINGTON — The $1 trillion infrastructure deal reached by a bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday would make a significant down payment on President Biden’s ambitious environmental agenda, including the first federal expenditure on electric vehicle charging stations and the largest investment in public transit and clean water systems in the nation’s history.

The plan also includes the first federal spending designated for “climate resilience” — to adapt and rebuild roads, ports, and bridges to withstand the damages wrought by the rising sea levels, stronger storms, and more devastating heat waves that will come as the planet continues to warm.

But the money for provisions to cut the pollution fueling climate change is a fraction of the $2 trillion that Mr. Biden once vowed to spend. The White House sees the bipartisan measure, which includes $550 billion in new spending, as a first step toward passing a separate $3.5 trillion bill that Democrats hope to push through this fall on a party-line basis, over the objection of Republicans.

Democrats intend to build significant climate programs into that second bill, including a provision that would essentially pay electric utilities to generate energy from nonpolluting sources and tax incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles.

The Transition to Electric Cars

“As climate policy, this is an appetizer,” Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, said of the package unveiled on Wednesday. “It’s not the main course.”

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Watch out Jersey Shore, there’s a bad moon rising

Climate change and rising seas are trouble enough. Now, factor in the lunar wobble

AP Photo/Wayne Parry


By ANDREW S. LEWIS NJ Spotlight 

Flooding from storms and rising sea levels are always at the top of the minds of planners and residents along the New Jersey coastline. But a NASA report published last month in the journal Nature Climate Change has heightened worries about another, unexpected threat for shoreline communities: the lunar wobble.

The report highlighted a common phenomenon that humans have known about for centuries — that the moon’s orbit around the Earth is tilted at about 5 degrees, and that path fluctuates over time.

“It’s a wobble in the sense that, if you spin a top, as it starts to slow down it begins to wobble,” said William Sweet, an NOAA oceanographer and one of the report’s authors. “And that’s what we call a declination of the moon’s nodes, which affects the angle at which it is to the Earth.”

Related environmental news story:
Jersey Shore towns see more ‘sunny-day floods as seas rise
High-tide flooding worsens, more pollution carried to sea
Superfund sites are in danger of climate-change flooding

The cycle of that wobble is 18.6-years, and for half of that period the gravitational pull of the moon suppresses regular daily tides — high tides are lower than normal and low tides are higher than normal. During the other half, it’s the opposite: High and low tides are amplified.

“The moon is in the tide-amplifying part of its cycle now,” NASA wrote in a synopsis of the report. “However, along most U.S. coastlines, sea levels have not risen so much that even with this lunar assist, high tides regularly top flooding thresholds. It will be a different story the next time the cycle comes around to amplify tides again, in the mid-2030s.”

Another recent report from NOAA found that New Jersey experiences an average of just over eight days of sunny-day, or nuisance, flooding a year. However, if global fossil-fuel emissions continue at the current rate, and more robust flood mitigation infrastructure is not built, the annual rate of nuisance flooding will likely be two times to three times greater.

When lunar wobble gets serious

Such an increase in nuisance flooding driven by sea-level rise will make what was once an inconspicuous episode — the lunar wobble — into a serious issue with serious implications.

One of the primary reasons for the study was to tease out specific stressors in the environment to get a clearer picture of the myriad factors that play into sea-level rise, Sweet said. It’s important for people to understand, Sweet continued, that a flooded street at the Shore might be due to a single thing, like wind direction, the full moon, a global weather pattern like El Niño, or something else — or any combination of them all.

“We’re trying to increase awareness and preparedness so communities have the resources in hand or budgeted so they can respond appropriately,” Sweet said. “It’s not to scare people; it’s to inform them that, unless you change, here are some pretty good estimates of your risk.”

In New Jersey, virtually every stretch of shoreline is impacted by nuisance flooding, from Trenton south, around the Delaware Bay, and up the coast to Hoboken. And with the very likely chance that sea level will be a minimum of three inches higher by 2030, an additional inch or two of standing water, thanks to the lunar wobble, could translate into costly damages for the lowest-lying municipalities.NASA report signals a flooded future for New Jersey amid increased signs of climate change

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New Jersey agrees to new, long-debated solar incentives

Subsidies for developers needed, state says, to boost green energy

File photo: Rooftop solar panels at Newark Liberty International Airport


By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight

State regulators on Wednesday formally adopted a new solar incentive program with the aim of developing 3,750 megawatts of new solar generation by 2026, a target that would double New Jersey’s solar capacity.

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso described the new program, approved after three years of discussion and debate with executives in the solar sector, as a monumental change and one that will help advance the Murphy administration’s goal of 100% clean energy by mid-century.

Solar energy is one of the cornerstones of that strategy and is projected to provide 34% of New Jersey’s electricity by 2050. Once the new program is fully implemented, solar energy is expected to generate roughly 10% of New Jersey’s electricity needs, up from a little more than 5% currently.

Related environmental news story:
N.J. takes steps to double its solar power
New Jersey regulators adopt new net metering incentives
California’s plans to change incentives for rooftop solar draw backlash

In unanimously approving the new program, the BPU touted the incentives — markedly lower than the past subsidies, which were frequently criticized as overpaying for new projects — as minimizing the cost to ratepayers at the same time as encouraging growth in the solar sector.

The sector, once one of the fastest-growing industries in New Jersey, now employs 5,384 in the state, a drop from a high that once topped 7,000 workers. Solar advocates hope the increased number of solar projects expected to be built each year will maintain a robust sector in the state.

Installing at a fast pace

Under the new program, 750 MW of new solar arrays are projected to be built each year, nearly double what has been built in the past. To get to those numbers, the state needs to expand the rate of installations, Fiordaliso said.

Whether the new incentives will rein in costs to ratepayers remains to be seen. The new program scraps key provisions of a cost cap imposed by the Legislature to reduce subsidies paid by utility customers.

“I do think the staff is trying to reel in the industry and reel in the prices,’’ said Rate Counsel Director Stefanie Brand, who argues revisions to the cap could raise the cost to ratepayers from $800 million to $1.2 billion a year. “I don’t think you can say this is really reducing costs.’’

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If you liked this post you’ll love our daily 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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Plant a tree, get air for free


Photo of a majestic swamp white oak by maggie_and_her_camera.

NOTE: As we scrolled through the seemingly endless list of messages in our computer’s in-basket this morning, the headline above forced us to slightly lift the ever-ready finger poised over the delete key. ‘Plant a tree and get air for free.’ As with all clever ad copy, it encouraged us to read its message below from Sustainable Princeton. We found it interesting. You might, too. –Editor

Trees are vital. As the largest plants on the planet, trees are entwined with our lives in more ways than you can imagine. They create the air we breathe, soak up stormwater, and provide cooling shade, just to name a few.

With so many trees recently lost to storm damage or disease, it’s important to replant with native species that are well-suited for our region. Check out Princeton’s native tree list to find ones that work. Take the New Jersey Invasive Species Do Not Plant list to the nursery so you can be sure to avoid invasives, like the Japanese or Norway maples.

Looking to alleviate flood conditions in your yard or neighborhood? Consider trees that soak up a ton of water, like a beech, elm, or oak tree. For example, a mature swamp white oak, Princeton’s tree of the month, can absorb an impressive 16,000 gallons of stormwater runoff in a single year. 

Calculate stormwater statistics for your trees or potential new trees, as well as air quality benefits and property value impacts, using the National Tree Benefits Calculator.

Have fun learning all about the value of your trees and make a plan to plant a new one today!

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Will feds pay compensation to fishermen for wind farm losses?

Power-generating windmill turbines are seen at the Eneco Luchterduinen offshore wind farm near Amsterdam, Netherlands September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman/Files
A crane hangs over the first jacket support structure installed to support a turbine for a wind farm in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Block Island, Rhode Island July 27, 2015. Deepwater Wind, a planned five-turbine, 30-megawatt wind farm off the coast of Block Island, would be North America’s first offshore wind farm, a milestone the company says could pave the way for an industry long established in Europe but still struggling with opposition in the United States. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoRead

By Nichola Groom, Reuters

July 28 (Reuters) – The Biden administration is considering ways to ensure the U.S. commercial fishing industry is paid for any losses it incurs from the planned expansion of offshore wind power in the Atlantic Ocean, according to state and federal officials involved in the matter.

Discussions between state and federal officials, which participants described as being at a very early stage, are aimed at addressing the top threat to President Joe Biden’s efforts to grow offshore wind – a centerpiece of his clean energy agenda to fight climate change.

Commercial fishing fleets have vehemently opposed offshore wind projects, labeling them a significant threat to catches of crucial stocks including scallops, clams, squid, and lobsters, by interfering with navigation and altering ecosystems.

That opposition has contributed to delays in permitting the nation’s first commercial-scale projects and is among the reasons the U.S. has lagged Europe in offshore wind development. Minimizing those conflicts could speed the lengthy federal permitting process as Biden seeks to add 30 gigawatts of offshore wind to the nation’s waters in just nine years.

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U.S. government researchers estimate that offshore wind projects could displace some commercial fisheries by as much as a quarter.

The administration’s new effort was prompted in part by a letter to Biden from nine coastal states last month urging the federal government to lead the way in crafting “mitigation frameworks for demonstrated negative impacts” on fisheries from offshore wind projects, according to the officials.

Related fishing industry news:
Group wants approved boundaries for offshore wind turbines shifted to protect scallop fisheries
Maine governor signs law banning offshore wind farms in state waters but encourages them farther offshore
The fishing industry feels stranded as the offshore wind gathers momentum

“Building on the request made in the multi-state Governor’s letter, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has had preliminary discussions with counterparts in other signatory states on engaging the federal government to advance an equitable mitigation framework for potential impacts to the commercial fishing industry from offshore wind projects,” the state said in an emailed statement. “While in early stages of development, NJDEP anticipates more to be shared in the coming months.”

The United States has yet to install a major offshore wind farm, yet developers pursuing those projects have spent years hashing out potential fishing industry compensation schemes with states and the fleets. Until now, the federal government has not pursued a federal approach.

Brian Hooker, a marine biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), said at a June meeting of a regional fishery management body that “compensatory mitigation is something that we’re taking a very serious look at” and cited the June letter from states as a reason, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by Reuters.

The June 4 letter to Biden was signed by the governors of New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland and New Hampshire – all states with sizable fishing fleets.

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