Biden’s tightrope: The Green New Deal

By Dino Grandoni with Alexandra Ellerbeck, Washington Post

Joe Biden walked a fine line on the Green New Deal during the first presidential debate – first touting the sweeping climate change plan embraced by liberal activists as a job creator and then disavowing it. 

Fox News host Chris Wallace put the former vice president on the spot about the plan that has earned rapturous support among some younger voters animated by the issue of rising global temperatures – a group Biden has struggled to recruit. Biden emphasized that he has his own plan for tackling climate change separate from the outline put forward last year by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). 

“I don’t support the Green New Deal,” Biden said when pressed by Wallace. “I support the Biden plan I put forward.” 

While Biden has managed in the past to praise the Green New Deal without fully endorsing it, his most recent comments in front of a live television audience have the potential to reopen old intraparty wounds. Sensing a weak spot, President Trump sought to turn the exchange into a wedge between Democratic Party’s liberals and moderates. 

“Oh, well, that’s a big statement,” Trump responded, talking over Biden as he often did during Tuesday evening’s ugly and rancorous event. “That means you just lost the radical left.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at the first presidential debate against President Trump in Cleveland. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Joe Biden during last night’s presidential debate. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Biden has spent months reconciling the climate demands of his party’s liberal and moderate wings. 

Over the spring, Biden revamped his climate plan after it failed to impress young climate activists. The youth-led Sunrise Movement, which backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the primary, gave his initial proposal an “F.” 

Biden’s pivot to the left, unusual for a candidate who just locked down his party’s nomination, resulted in a more extensive plan that called for spending $2 trillion over four years to eliminate carbon emissions from the power sector by 2035 through a set of mandates.

Aiming to own the issue during the debate, Biden vowed to rejoin the Paris climate accord and to pressure Brazil to stop the destruction of the Amazon. He promised transitioning to cleaner energy would be an economic boon and would creating “hard, hard, good jobs by making sure the environment is clean.”

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California governor signs recycled-content bill

(c) Jonas Marcos San Luis | Dreamstime.com
Gov. Newsom vetoed a previous version of the bill

By DeAnne Toto, Recycling Today

California’s AB 793, which would require manufacturers to include recycled materials when making plastic beverage bottles, was approved by the state legislature in early September and was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 24. The legislation sets a phased-in timeline of when companies must meet minimum content standards, ultimately achieving 50 percent recycled content, surpassing the 30 percent mandate in the European Union.

“The time has come for shared responsibility,” says California Assemblymember Phil Ting, one of the bill’s sponsors. “Our environment suffers when companies keep making new plastic every time they need a drink container. They need to reuse what they’ve already made. If we don’t make this shift, we will have more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050.”

AB 793 is designed to bolster the market for recycled polyethylene terephthalate in the state. Manufacturers must meet a number of deadlines for recycled content, achieving 15 percent by 2022, 25 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2030.  

“Assemblymember Ting and I worked extensively with the industry stakeholders to ensure that this bill is both bold and workable,” says California Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin. “The result is the most aggressive recycled content mandate in the world for plastic bottles.”

AB 793 is Ting’s second attempt at recycled-plastic content in bottles. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year because of cost concerns, which Tsing says have been addressed this year.By signing AB 793, Newsom has made California the first state in the nation to establish minimum recycled content requirements for plastic beverage containers. 

 “California has long led the way on bold solutions in the climate space, and the steps we take today bring us closer to our ambitious goals,” Newsom said upon signing the bill. “I thank the legislature for taking these important steps to protect the planet and public health.”

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NY adds southern tier to drought watch list

Five Regions Now on Statewide Drought Watch List 

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced that the State has expanded its Drought Watch to the Southern Tier drought region, which includes Cattaraugus, Alleghany, Steuben, and Chemung counties. A drought watch remains in effect for Long Island, Upper Hudson/Mohawk, Adirondacks, and Great Lakes/St. Lawrence since Governor Andrew M. Cuomo directed DEC to issue the watch in July after consulting with experts from the State Drought Management Task Force. 

DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said, “DEC urges water users in the Southern Tier and previously designated Drought Watch regions to monitor usage and avoid wasting water. While the watch is just the first stage, it provides New York State agencies and emergency responders advanced notice of a developing drought. We can all do our part to conserve water now by taking simple steps. Minor changes in your everyday routine can go a long way in helping prevent increased drought levels.”     

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A “watch” is the first of four levels of state drought advisories (“watch,” “warning,” “emergency,” and “disaster”). There are no statewide mandatory water use restrictions in place under a drought watch or warning. Local public water suppliers may impose water use restrictions depending upon local needs and conditions and New Yorkers are strongly encouraged to voluntarily conserve water. 

Since spring, dry conditions have been documented in most of New York State and reduced precipitation has resulted in reduced water availability and below-average streamflow with many streams seeing record lows for this time of year. Many lake levels are lower than usual and groundwater levels are reduced due to the prolonged dry spell. Some areas have had water shortages with suppliers issuing water use restrictions and supplementing normal sources.   

Conservation tips for homeowners to reduce outdoor water usage include:   

  • Fix dripping and leaking faucets and toilets. A faucet leaking 30 drops per minute wastes 54 gallons a month;  
  • Raise lawn mower cutting height. Longer grass needs less water;  
  • If the community allows watering, water lawns and gardens on alternate mornings instead of every day. Less frequent watering will develop grass with deeper roots, and early morning watering minimizes evaporation;  
  • When using automatic lawn watering systems, override the system in wet weather or use a rain gauge to control when and how much water to use. A fixed watering schedule wastes water. Irrigate only when needed to save water and improve the lawn’s health; and 
  • Sweep sidewalks and steps rather than hosing them. Eliminating a weekly, five-minute pavement hose-down could save between 625 and 2,500 gallons of water per year depending on the flow rate.

For more water saving tips, visit DEC’s webpage. 

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Quantifiable levels’ of coronavirus found in wastewater at NY college dorm

Siena College researchers have found “quantifiable levels” of COVID-19 in wastewater at the dormitory that hosted a raucous Derby Day party earlier this month.

Roughly 20 students at Siena College were “temporarily dismissed” from campus housing last week in Loudonville, NY, after school officials caught wind of the Sept. 5 event celebrating the Kentucky Derby horse race on the lawn of the MacClosky Square Townhouses, which students say drew a crowd of 80 to 100.
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How much help on waste and recycling problems can two NJ advisory panels recommend without any members?

Governor Murphy and state legislators are making significant progress on enery and climate change but there are other environmental problems that need front-office attention

A recycling facility | Getty Images
New Jersey’s $3.9 billion recycling industry represents more than 17,000 jobs, nearly $1.3 billion in wages and more than half a billion dollars in tax revenue. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images

By SAMANTHA MALDONADO, Politico

Two groups tasked with tackling New Jersey’s recycling and waste problems remain dormant and without members, in part due to inaction by the Murphy administration.

Gov. Phil Murphy in January signed into law a bill to create a recycling market development council, but has yet to appoint anyone to it despite a March deadline to do so. The council is supposed to study bottlenecks in the recycling process and provide suggestions for overcoming related challenges. Under the law, the council is slated to issue a report on its findings by January 2021, but that seems all but impossible.

Meanwhile, the 14-member Advisory Council on Solid Waste Management created within the Department of Environmental Protection in 1970 to improve solid waste management policy has been inactive for years. Members who were appointed previously have seen their terms expire.

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“We would encourage the governor to make those appointments,” said Steve Changaris, northeast region vice president of the National Waste and Recycling Association, noting that the industry will continue to work on the issue regardless of governmental activity.

During a Senate environment committee hearing earlier this month, Sen. Bob Smith said both groups “need to be active for us to get our solid waste problem under control.”

Christine Lee, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, wrote in an email that the administration is “working on finalizing members” to appoint to the recycling market development committee.

New Jersey’s $3.9 billion recycling industry represents more than 17,000 jobs, nearly $1.3 billion in wages and more than half a billion dollars in tax revenue. In 2017, the last year for which figures are available, New Jersey recycled 5.3 million tons of material, which avoided more than 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

That was the same year China stopped accepting plastic recyclable exports from the U.S., a decision that has had adverse effects on recycling in New Jersey, including increased recycling costs for residents and landfills that are overflowing with recyclable material. Sending the material overseas was so cheap that the domestic arm weakened.

“The industry is changing faster than before, and a market development council would be able to keep up with that,” said Marie Kruzan, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers, or ANJR. “We need to focus on bringing markets back into the United States and to New Jersey. The [recycling market development]council has a charge to look at that, to make New Jersey attractive.”

Preventing materials from ending up in landfills where anaerobic decomposition produces methane, reducing the energy it takes to manufacture the materials and moving away from reliance on the petrochemicals are important steps in mitigating climate change.

“Recycling is a core element of sustainability [and] in the hierarchy — even before you get to recycling — is waste reduction,” said Gary Sondermeyer, vice president of operations at Bayshore Recycling Corporation in Woodbridge. “The stuff the Murphy administration has done on climate change is off the charts. It is phenomenal. Do I wish there was more done on recycling? Of course.”

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