Jupiter and Saturn have been moving closer together in the nighttime sky and will appear as one very bright star over New Jersey on the night of the winter solstice. (Michal Kata/Shutterstock)
NEW JERSEY — There’s no question: What happens in the sky the night of the winter solstice is sure to bring some joy in a year when it’s been hard to find in the Garden State.f Jupiter and Saturn will dance in a planetary conjunction, lining up perfectly to create the illusion of a “Christmas star.”null
The two bright planets have been visible in the evening sky for the past several nights as they move closer together, culminating on the night of Dec. 21, the winter solstice.
But if the solstice and the “great conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn aren’t enough to get you outside, the Ursid meteor shower will offer a show of shooting stars at the same time.
Vanguard Renewables, a Massachusetts-based anaerobic digestion company, has launched the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance (FPSA) with the goal of rapidly scaling up organics recycling in the United States. Initial members include Unilever, Starbucks and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA).
The FPSA’s goal is to organize and advocate for best practices around reducing food waste, digesting “unavoidable waste” with animal waste at farm-based sites, and creating and utilizing biogas from the process.
What is anaerobic digestion?Anaerobic digestionis a sequence of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.[1] The process is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste or to produce fuels. — Wikipedia
“It’s a supply agreement and it’s an offtake agreement,” said CEO John Hanselman, noting members signed separate contracts with the company.
Vanguard has seven operational facilities in the Northeast, including a new depackaging facility in Massachusetts with 250 tons per day of capacity. More than 20 new facilities are also in development, with a near-term focus on metro areas around New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
Vanguard has seen steady growth since it was founded in 2014, with a portfolio of sites across Massachusetts and Vermont, but this latest announcement is a sign of its ambition to have a national footprint.
“Our intent is to take our first mover advantage and really be the premier food waste recycler in the U.S.,” said Hanselman.
Vanguard’s existing operations have seen success by co-locating with farms in a symbiotic relationship. The company gets favorable terms on using the land for its facilities and a steady supply of animal waste to mix with inbound food scraps. The farms get free organic fertilizer and energy for their operations, with the resulting biogas also often being used by local communities in various ways.
While these facilities have become key elements of processing infrastructure in New England, a region known for an array of state and local policies mandating or encouraging organics recycling, Hanselman said there have been other factors limiting their scalability. In his view, separating organics at the generator level has still been viewed as too complicated or time-consuming even among companies that support the concept.
Vanguard’s recently opened depackaging facility in Agawam, Massachusetts – known as an ORF (organics recycling facility) – can handle just about any type of food product unless it’s packaged in glass. While the concept itself is not new, Hanselman described the ORF as an evolutionary step for the industry. Main features include a fully automated and contained process, with a complex air handling system to prevent odors. The ORF also allows Vanguard to create custom blends based on the needs of its digesters throughout the region.
The property at 5000 Richmond St. was put up for sale earlier this year by Dow Inc., CBRE
By Natalie Kostelni – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal Dec 18, 2020, 2:35pm EST
DH Property Holdings of New York has acquired 67 acres in Philadelphia and plans to develop 733,000 square feet of industrial space in a project that will represent a $115 million investment.
The property at 5000 Richmond St. in the city’s Bridesburg section was put up for sale earlier this year by Dow Inc. Forty-six acres of the property are paved and currently being used to store vehicles for Carvana and other users. The site is zoned industrial and sits in a Federal Opportunity Zone.
The property’s proximity to I-95 and Center City was expected to attract developers of warehouse-distribution facilities. DH Property, which is run by Dov Hertz, plans to develop a two-building campus that will serve as last-mile distribution. One building will total 351,800 square feet and the other will total 382,000 square feet.
The property has industrial roots dating to the early 1700s, when tanneries relocated to the area from Center City, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which had overseen remediation of the site. A chemical plant that was once on the site dated back to 1847, according to information provided by Dow. Rohm and Haas acquired the property in 1920 from Charles Lenning and Co., which was at the time one of the oldest chemical manufacturers in the country.
Additional Acreage Will Be Protected from Urban Sprawl
More of the state’s dwindling agricultural land would be protected from development under a pair of bills approved by both houses of the New Jersey Legislature this week.
“In the nation’s most densely populated state, the preservation of farmland is vital,” said Senator Kip Bateman (R-16), the prime sponsor of both bills.
“New Jerseyans have overwhelmingly supported efforts to save farms from development, recognizing the importance of agriculture to our state legacy. This legislation will allow future generations to appreciate the many contributions of farmers and the impact of farms and open space on the quality of life in our communities,” Bateman said.
S-3227, co-sponsored by Senator Richard J. Codey, D-27, would help a series of qualifying nonprofit organizations complete projects for a dozen farms with voter-approved funding from the Corporation Business tax.
S-3226, co-sponsored by Senator Dawn Addiego (D-8) appropriates money for farmland preservation purposes to the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC).
“When farmland is preserved, it helps protect our water supply, continues the Garden State’s farming traditions, and limits over-development,” Bateman said. “These bills represent an investment in New Jersey’s future that will pay dividends for generations to come.”
Lawmakers send measures to Murphy after heated on-line debate
By Sam Wood STAFF WRITER, PhiladelphiaInquirer
New Jersey legislators approved three bills Thursday that radically change how the state approaches drug use involving marijuana.
The state’s Senate and Assembly voted first to create a new and legal marijuana industry from scratch and called for new regulations to be written within six months.
Both houses also approved a bill that decriminalizes possession of up to six ounces of cannabis. That second bill is designed to stop arrests and expunge criminal records of low-level marijuana offenses.
The third bill, meanwhile, will reduce penalties for possessing psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, from a felony charge to a disorderly persons offense.
“This is an historic day, the culmination of years of work,” said Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey, on the vote to legalize marijuana for all adults. “The decriminalization bill is among the most progressive in the country.”
Gov. Phil Murphy, who campaigned on a platform to legalize marijuana, is expected sign the bills into law as soon as next week.
Voters on Nov. 3 overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana in the Garden State for all adults.
New Jersey is expected to save about $127 million per year on enforcement costs with the expected enactment of the new laws. None of the bills, however, addresses home cultivation of marijuana. Growing weed without a state-issued permit still can result in felony charges for gardeners or basement growers.
Though the bills passed with significant margins, some lawmakers in the Senate assailed the lack of measures in the bills to ensure greater social justice and reparations, while others said the measures were laden with too many regulations and taxes.
The session, held on a conference call because of the COVID-19 pandemic and several inches of snow on the ground, erupted at one point into a squall of insults and recriminations.
State Sen. Ronald L. Rice (D., Newark), who opposed the bill, angrily rebuked its sponsor, State Sen. Nick Scutari (D., Linden), for not including stronger social justice measures in the proposed law. The attack provoked a furious rebuttal from Scutari. As the two lawmakers yelled at each other over the phone lines, Senate President Steve Sweeney (D., Gloucester) threatened to mute both of the warring lawmakers.
“I’m the one who’s legalizing it so Black and brown people don’t get arrested and he’s hollering at me?” said Scutari, minutes after the historic vote. “He’s lucky I’m not Donald Trump. I’d have called him a loser.”
A study produced by the ACLU of New Jersey found Black and brown people were over three times more likely to be arrested for marijuana crimes than white people, even though they consume cannabis at similar rates.
Scutari, who also serves as a full-time Linden County prosecutor, called passage of the legalization the “greatest achievement of a career’s worth of work.”
“People now have the opportunity to get jobs and go to college who might not have been able to because they’d been arrested for marijuana in their younger years,” Scutari said. “It’s a significant accomplishment for New Jersey and is likely the most significant piece of legislation we’ve passed in my lifetime.”
