The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy will house the new State Policy Lab that is being funded with $1 million from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.
In New Jersey political news today, Rutgers University has received $1 million from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education to create The State Policy Lab, which will be a space where scholars, community members, and policy experts can work to solve issues facing New Jersey, according to an article from Rutgers Today.
The lab will be housed in the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and will be managed alongside the Rutgers—Newark School of Public Affairs and Administration. It is being funded through Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D-N.J.) 2021 state budget.
“Rutgers—New Brunswick and its Bloustein School have always focused on serving the people of New Jersey,” said Rutgers—New Brunswick Chancellor Christopher J. Molloy. “We are proud to collaborate with the state on this partnership, which provides another important venue by which our world-class research will help enhance the quality of life in the Garden State.”
Some of the lab’s main purposes involve giving policymakers enhanced access to research on state and local governance and creating data modeling for policy recommendations that will allow them to test various budgeting and legislative situations, according to the article. Additionally, the lab will help build coalitions across various groups in support of evidence-based policy initiatives.
“We look forward to providing our expertise with policy research, big data analytics and community engagement (toward) evidence-based decision-making in critical areas of policy and operations within the state of New Jersey,” said Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah, dean of the Bloustein School. “I am particularly excited to be working with the School of Public Affairs and Administration in Rutgers—Newark and a wider network of academic and policy collaborators throughout the University (as well as)statewide, nationally and even internationally to solve grand policy challenges.”
The lab will use an equity framework when examining policies and programs with the aim of determining improvements that will benefit all residents, specifically those who are from low-income backgrounds or have been historically disadvantaged, according to the article.
Other partners of The State Policy Lab will include the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers—New Brunswick and the Cornwall Center at Rutgers—Newark as well as the Walter Rand Institute and the Center for Urban Research & Education, both at Rutgers—Camden.
The Rutgers Law School Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity, Kean University and New Jersey Institute of Technology will also be involved.
Five months before Exelon was awarded nearly $1 billion in subsidies to keep its South Jersey nuclear power plants afloat, more than two dozen company executives and employees donated more than $37,000 to Gov. Phil Murphy’s reelection campaign.
The contributions, which ranged from $500 to $4,800 and included employees from Exelon as well as subsidiaries Pepco and Atlantic City Electric, were made between Dec. 4 and Dec. 9, 2020, according to filings with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
Most of the donors live out of state and most had never before contributed to a New Jersey campaign.
The contributions were made through a virtual fundraising event for the governor in December.
In a statement, Exelon spokesperson Bill Gibbons said that Murphy “shares many of our priorities with respect to addressing the climate crisis.”
Pipes used in the oil business sit in a yard Vernon Mount Vernon, Ohio. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By Ellen M. Gilmer, Bloomberg Law
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a case pitting states’ rights advocates against energy companies.
New Jersey and backers of the $1 billion PennEast natural gas pipeline face off over developers’ effort to seize state land along the project’s route.
It’s the latest in a series of pipeline cases to reach the Supreme Court in the past year, an outgrowth of sweeping litigation surrounding a nationwide expansion of oil and gas infrastructure over the past decade. The justices heard an Atlantic Coast pipeline case a year ago, and fielded a flurry of filings involving Keystone XL last summer.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s Paul Clement, a former solicitor general and powerhouse Supreme Court advocate who successfully argued the Atlantic Coast case, represents PennEast. The Biden administration is maintaining Trump-era support for PennEast’s arguments, a decision that disappointed many pipeline opponents.
Some justices might find it challenging to weigh New Jersey’s asserted state property rights against pipeline lawyers’ claims of broad industry impacts in the case, University of Minnesota energy law professor Alexandra Klass said.
“It tees up that issue directly in a way that some of these other cases have not,” she said. “Here is a situation where you have a state who is opposed to this particular pipeline and has actual land, saying a private party can’t use delegated eminent domain authority to take state land.”
Backed by Enbridge Inc., Southern Co., and other companies, PennEast would stretch 116 miles across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Construction hasn’t started, and PennEast faces other permitting and legal hurdles even if it prevails at the Supreme Court.
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Pricing and the Advanced Disposal acquisition were key first-quarter boosts. Executives also announced a new chief sustainability officer and discussed Biden policy effects.
Waste Management took what executives and analysts described as a rare step of raising guidance after the first quarter, due to ongoing pandemic recovery trends and higher projected benefits from the Advanced Disposal Services acquisition.
Annual revenue is now expected to be up by 12.5% to 13%, compared to original guidance of 10.75% to 11.25%, as local economic activity continues to rebound.
“Volumes really have not recovered fully, especially in those three high margin lines of business – commercial, landfill and industrial,” said CEO Jim Fish during the company’s Tuesday earnings call. “Pricing, and landfill pricing in particular, we think is a strength for the quarter and will continue to be in the next couple of quarters.”
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Recovery update
Collection and disposal volumes were down 2.3% year over year, an improvement from a 2.7% decline in the fourth quarter. Executives said most of the volume headwinds were offset by pricing and yield increases.
Chief Operating Officer John Morris reported an estimated 72% of the commercial yards lost due to the pandemic have now been recovered and net new business turned positive in the quarter.
Waste Management also reported its highest residential yield since 2008 at 4.2%, as the company continues renegotiating contracts to more favorable terms. This happened even as pricing indexes used in some contracts declined, but Fish said a potential rise in inflation could boost those arrangements in the future.
After passing the anniversary of initial pandemic effects on first quarter earnings in 2020, Waste Management is sticking with its bullish outlook as economic activity expands around the country.
Earth Day projects part of ongoing work to protect horseshoe crab habitat
Volunteers and staff from the American Littoral Society conduct an Earth Day dune grass planting and cleanup on South Reed’s Beach in Middle Township.
Cape May Court House, N.J. – Each spring, the American Littoral Society takes the lead on the intricate work of protecting Middle Township beaches for residents – and not just the human ones.
The environmentalists blend innovative strategies and manual labor in the fight to protect the beaches’ horseshoe crab habitats. Red knots, one of the furthest-migrating bird species in the world, rely on the precarious supply of the crab eggs. The shorebirds stop at Middle Township beaches each spring on their 9,000-mile trip from South America to their breeding grounds in the Arctic.
“A healthy ecosystem is the Delaware Bay’s foundation of economic well-being. People come to see the natural phenomenon from all over the world.” said Tim Dillingham, the executive director of the American Littoral Society. “Supporting habitats is in everyone’s best interest.”
The nonprofit conservation group plans a variety of cleanup projects and pursues grants to fund sand replenishment. Middle Township government also embraces the “tremendous responsibility” of caring for the area’s natural resources, Dillingham said.
Partners in preservation
“It’s important to protect our natural resources,” noted Larry Niles, a wildlife biologist who works with the Littoral Society and this month oversaw the addition of just under 5,000 tons of sand to repair breaches at Reed’s Beach, Pierce’s Point and Kimbles Beach.
Flooding causes the breaches in the sand, creating conditions where crabs can get stranded and die. Replenishing the sand and rebuilding dunes is essential to saving crab habitats.
On Earth Day, Middle Township Mayor Tim Donohue and Business Administrator Kim Krauss put their hands in the sand, joining the society in planting dune grass along South Reed’s Beach to protect the horseshoe crab habitat. The day also included a beach cleanup, with Township staff hauling away the trash.
“We want to thank Larry Niles and the team from the American Littoral Society, including Tim Dillingham, Quinn Whitesall and Shane Godshall, for their years of hard work to protect the fragile ecosystem on our Delaware Bay shoreline,” Donohue said. “Administrator Kim Krauss and I were honored to join a great group of volunteers for some Earth Day dune grass planting in support of this good work.”
The Township has provided logistical support to help the conservationists in their mission.
Township Committee passed an ordinance in April 2020 to prohibit driving on the shoreline and beaches along the Delaware Bay, including Cook’s Beach, Norbury’s Landing, Pierce’s Point, Reed’s Beach and Sunset Beach. There are select exceptions, such as for NJ Department of Environmental Protection staff and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Environmentalists had supported the measure to prevent beach damage and protect migrating birds.
The Township also has helped secure permission from local land owners for the Littoral Society to work on their bay shore property.
Red Knot Tagged CREDIT: Jan van de KAM – Atiny tracking device on the leg of a red knot weighs about as much as two squares of toilet paper. But inside all in extreme miniature were a clock, a microprocessor, a memory and a battery. And it gave scientists their first intimate view of a year-long journey
Edge of extinction
While federal and state support is critical to environmentalists, local municipalities can become closely involved with the cause, Dillingham explained.
“We see the communities as stewards of these animals that have been around for 450 million years and the birds that have been stopping here on this migration for thousands of years.”
But after 450 million years on earth, horseshoe crabs’ numbers have dwindled on Middle Township beaches. Overharvesting in the late 1990s dramatically reduced the crab population. Then, in 2012, Hurricane Sandy wiped out much of the crab spawning habitat. Niles said blustery storms over last winter had similar effects to Sandy.
Warming temperatures also have left the beach line more vulnerable, he said. “The bay isn’t freezing anymore, so there’s a lack of ice to shield the shoreline.”
The horseshoe crab numbers are still about half of what they once were, but conservationists say having the Township’s full support has helped them expand the habitats – and save the birds that feed on the crabs’ eggs.
“The partnership is key to the success that we’ve had to keep the red knots from going over the edge of extinction,” Dillingham said. “Middle Township has been such a leader in collaborating with everything we do. “
Tons of sand, endless dedication
The constant addition of sand requires a steady influx of funding. The Littoral Society joins forces with Niles’ Wildlife Restoration Partnerships and Stockton University’s Coastal Research Project to pursue grants in support of their work.
The conservationists received a $250,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation last year and this year is seeking cash from the state to match grants.
In the meantime, the work continues. The environmental advocates are now experimenting with breakwaters – barriers made of stone with oyster shells backing them – to tame waves and protect the beach.
“Our projects are trying to bring serious science to this. It’s adaptive management. We’re monitoring everything so that whatever we do will inform the next project,” Niles said.
The team is also committed to involving the community.
A breakwater project is planned for Pierce’s Point and the process will include a stakeholder meeting, Niles said.
A breakwater in Long Beach, California pictured in 2019
The conservationists’ research to provide better habitats for crabs can get down to minute details, such as measuring eggs and checking the coarseness of sand. But there’s a payoff for those who love to see nature in action, Niles said.
“Because of the protection that we provide, people who want to see the migration can come to see the red knots.”
