The New Jersey Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved (74-0) legislation to allow certain farms to hold special events on their property, including weddings, lifetime milestone celebrations and cultural or social events.
Currently, preserved farmland is only allowed to be used for agricultural reasons. The legislation (A2773), sponsored by Republican Ron Dancer (R-Ocean) and Democrats Vince Mazzeo (D-Atlantic), Eric Houghtaling (D-Monmouth), Joann Downey (D-Monmouth) and Carol Murphy (D-Burlington), would create a three-year pilot program in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem Counties to allow an owner of preserved farmland host special events.
Farms considered “residentially-exposed,” defined as being on a residential road, or which have event space located within 200 feet of a residential road, would be permitted to have seven events per year. Other farms would be allowed 14 events annually.
The sponsors said the legislation would support New Jersey agriculture by providing owners of preserved farmland with an added way to make money while marketing their agricultural products.
The bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
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OCEAN CITY — Independent stakeholders in one of two offshore wind projects appear to have little concern with the significantly larger turbines selected, according to briefs filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission following a hearing last month.
In June, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) held an evidentiary hearing on the proposed change in wind turbine size for Orsted’s Skipjack project off the coast of Ocean City. The evidentiary hearing was called when Skipjack announced its intention to switch from the previously proposed eight-megawatt turbines to the much larger 12-megawatt turbine, now believed to be the largest commercial wind turbine available.
When Skipjack moved to the 12-megawatt turbine, the Town of Ocean City urged the PSC to hold an evidentiary hearing on the proposed turbine change. After a well-attended public hearing in Ocean City in January, the PSC agreed to hold the evidentiary hearing and it took place virtually in early June.
Last week, several weeks after that evidentiary hearing, the interested and participating parties filed post-hearing briefs with the PSC outlining their positions on the issues at hand. Naturally, the Town of Ocean City and Skipjack stuck to their long-held positions, but perhaps the most interesting conclusions came in the briefs filed by neutral third parties. For example, in its brief filed last week, the staff of the PSC agreed with Skipjack’s contention moving to the larger turbines will result in fewer turbines moved further out in the approved Wind Energy Area (WEA).
“The decision to increase the size of the wind turbines from eight megawatts to 12 megawatts will reduce the number of wind turbines needed for the 120-megawatt project from 15 to 12 or fewer turbines,” the brief reads. “By reducing the number of turbines, the distance from the Maryland shoreline to the nearest turbine could be increased from 19.5 miles to 22.7 miles.”
In its brief, the PSC concluded despite the proposed change in turbine height, the Skipjack project still met the standards laid out in the state’s legislation approved seven years ago.
“The increase in wind turbine size thus is not only consistent with the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013, but it would also reduce the impact upon the environment and should reduce total costs of the project to Maryland ratepayers,” the brief reads.
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A group of Democratic senators on Thursday introduced companion legislation to the House’s “Environmental Justice for All” bill aimed at addressing environmental inequalities faced by low-income and nonwhite communities.
The legislation, unveiled by Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), would require the government to consider the cumulative effects of certain permitting decisions, meaning they would have to consider how a new permit would interact with existing sources of nearby pollution.
It would also prohibit discrimination based on disparate impacts, reinforce parts of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that require community input, and support workers whose communities are transitioning away from fossil fuel-dependent economies.
“Confronting generations of systemic racism to achieve true justice will require us to recognize the role environmental racism has played and redress that by investing in long-term, sustainable environmental justice solutions to center and empower communities that have for far too long been excluded,” Harris said in a statement.
In an unexpected setback, lawmakers yesterday failed to act on a bill touted by Gov. Phil Murphy as key to helping to curb pollution problems in environmental-justice communities.
The legislation (S-232) is viewed by advocates as establishing a national model for giving minority and low-income communities more tools to block new projects that could worsen air and other pollution in their neighborhoods.
But a last-minute lobbying blitz against the bill by business interests and labor groups led the Assembly to hold off voting planned for Thursday. The bill had been expected to pass and then be approved by the Senate and sent on to Murphy for his consideration.
Big thumbs-up from Murphy
Murphy heartily endorsed the bill last month at a news conference, one of the rare occasions when he backed a measure still pending in the Legislature. The governor has made environmental justice a priority during his term, backing up his pledge by committing more funds to so-called overburdened communities to reduce pollution there.
Kim Gaddy, a Newark native and member of Clean Water Action, said she was disappointed Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) did not post the bill for a vote, saying advocates were confident they had the 41 votes to send it on to the Senate.
“It would have been a great opportunity to demonstrate Black lives and people of color lives matter,’’ said Gaddy, noting it would have occurred on the day when civil rights icon John Lewis was buried.
The bill, long sought by environmental justice advocates, would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to consider the cumulative impacts of locating new power plants or major manufacturing facilities where residents already suffer from pollution from incinerators, hazardous-waste sites, or large factories.
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Bill would support solar arrays that feed utility companies, not homes or businesses
Proposed legislation aims to expand utility-scale solar projects by using the state’s existing farmlands.
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight
The state wants to sharply ramp up efforts to build utility-scale solar projects in New Jersey, a strategy that could result in opening up existing agricultural land to huge new solar farms.
Under a bill (S-2605) now under consideration by lawmakers, a policy initiated during the Christie administration of steering new solar projects away from farmland would be scrapped. That would open up land to accommodate large solar projects that supply power directly to the grid.
Without more utility-scale solar projects that provide at least 10 megawatts (MW) of solar power and the land to locate them, the state will not achieve its goal of transitioning to 100% clean energy by 2050, according to proponents of the bill.
“It ain’t going to happen unless we change our policies,’’ said Sen. Bob Smith, the sponsor of the legislation and chairman of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, which kicked off debate on the issue during a hearing in Trenton. No action was taken on the bill Wednesday.
“It is complicated,’’ Smith (D-Middlesex) conceded.
Utility-scale solar projects are widely viewed as the most cost-effective way of delivering solar power, largely because of the economies of scale associated with building bigger projects rather than putting solar panels on a residence or on warehouse rooftops.
The Murphy administration’s energy master plan identifies solar energy as one of the primary ways New Jersey can convert to using cleaner energy. By mid-century, that plan suggests 34% of the state’s energy needs will be produced by solar. Today, solar accounts for only 5% of its power.
The legislation aims to expand utility-scale projects by using existing farmlands where such projects might be more easily located in the nation’s most densely populated state. It probably would require roughly 25,000 acres to achieve the 3,000 MW of utility-scale projects the bill projects to build by 2030, according to Smith.
Why many environmental groups are opposed
Many environmental groups oppose opening up farmland to big solar projects, calling the bill premature and unnecessary, given that the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is currently engaged in an extensive discussion with solar advocates over how new solar projects will be financed going forward.
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Gov. Phil Murphy announced 16 new coronavirus deaths and 261 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours on Thursday as the rate of transmission of the virus remains above 1, a key benchmark in determining the spread of the disease.
The latest update brings the death toll to 15,809 known and probable deaths and 180,970 total confirmed positive tests since the outbreak began nearly five months ago. That includes 13,934 lab-confirmed deaths and 1,875 probable fatalities.
The state hit a one-day high in deaths, 468, on April 30 and a one-day high in new cases, 4,305, on April 3.
The rate of transmission reported Thursday remained steady at 1.14, above the key benchmark of 1. That means that each new case is leading to more than one additional infection and the virus is spreading. The rate of transmission had been below 1 for weeks during the strictest parts of New Jersey’s coronavirus lockdowns, but has wavered above and below 1 in July as more reopening steps have occurred.
Murphy has said the increase above 1 is cause for concern.
The state hit a one-day high in deaths, 468, on April 30 and a one-day high in new cases, 4,305, on April 3.
The rate of transmission reported Thursday remained steady at 1.14, above the key benchmark of 1. That means that each new case is leading to more than one additional infection and the virus is spreading. The rate of transmission had been below 1 for weeks during the strictest parts of New Jersey’s coronavirus lockdowns, but has wavered above and below 1 in July as more reopening steps have occurred.
Murphy has said the increase above 1 is cause for concern.
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