“This is a momentous day for the state because we are creating jobs for the future right now,” said Gov. Phil Murphy as he stood between massive steel supports and praised an agreement to boost financial support for a Paulsboro plant that builds monopiles for offshore wind turbines. The Paulsboro plant is scheduled to supply 98 of the gigantic 400-foot-long pylons for developer Ørsted’s first wind farm off the South Jersey coast. A new law Murphy signed Thursday guarantees that Ørsted will get federal tax credits and in return put up $200 million for South Jersey wind manufacturing facilities.
“They’re making this huge investment, and we’re doing it to capture manufacturing jobs which we would have lost to other states if this hadn’t been done,” said former Senate President Steve Sweeney. His think tank published a report, warning that fierce competition for wind industry business threatened to blow New Jersey away. Ørsted, which underwrites NJ Spotlight News, claimed rising costs threatened to cripple the project.
“The reality is, steel doubled in price, interest rates went up, so at the end of the day, we had to do something,” Sweeney said.
But if Ørsted gets federal tax credits, why not New Jersey’s other major offshore wind energy developer? Atlantic Shores said it wants the same deal that Ørsted got, stating, “We need an industry-wide solution, one that stabilizes all current projects, including Atlantic Shores Project 1.” That project sits right beside Ørsted’s two wind farm tracts. Murphy said, “We’re open-minded, absolutely open-minded. We want to make sure taxpayers get a good deal, jobs are created, that the corporates do what they say they’re going to do. Are we open-minded trying to figure out some common ground with the other offshore sequences? Absolutely.”
There’s backlash as Republicans call this a bailout. And some coastal towns object, worried that wind farms will harm marine mammals and spoil their view. New Jersey’s Division of Rate Counsel is also concerned because Ørsted will be optioning tax credits that otherwise would have gone to ratepayers. But environmental advocates emphasized that offshore wind energy helps address the climate crisis.
Ørsted also just received final federal approval for the project with construction slated to begin this fall.
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Settlements of big environmental damage cases in New Jersey can boomerang for victims — all of us, really — of poisoned air, soil and water.
The foul taste of the “pennies-on-the-dollar” 2015 agreement between the state Department of Environmental Protection and ExxonMobil Corp. for a wide range of contamination across the state continues to linger.
DEP analysts claimed the company and its predecessors caused $8.9 billion in damages, but the settlement, brokered by the Christie administration, had the energy giant pay just $225 million to make the litigation disappear. It’s a rounding error in ExxonMobil’s profits, which were $11.4 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
Pragmatically, it’s likely DEP never could have proven the $8.9 billion figure, but the paltry settlement called into question the ability to remediate pollution linked to the former Mobil refinery in Greenwich Township and a neighboring storage site in Paulsboro. State experts put that cost at $80 million — more than a third of the entire state settlement. (Separately, ExxonMobil reached a $9.5 million settlement in 2019 to pay for pollution at a 1950s dumpsite in Paulsboro and East Greenwich Township.)
So, what to make of last week’s settlement in another case involving roughly the same stomping grounds as ExxonMobil’s in Gloucester County? Solvay Specialty Polymers, with a plant in West Deptford, will pay $393 million to deal with contamination from so-called “forever chemicals” that the facility formerly
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Evansburg State Park 851 Mayhall Rd Collegeville, PA 19426
This late spring outing will be focused on nesting birds. Birds will be singing on their territory, building nests, and feeding young. This 2 to 3 hour field trip will begin on a grass trail along the wooded edge and circle back on an earthen woodland trail. We will be meeting at Pavilion A on May Hall Rd, which is on the right (across from Pavilion B) before the visitor center. Note that Pavilion A is not well-marked.
New birders are welcome at VFAS programs. Children are welcome if accompanied by an adult. This outing will be on trails that may be uneven and muddy, so please wear sturdy waterproof shoes. Bring binoculars if you have them. The leaders will have an extra of binoculars to share. Restrooms are available at Pavilion A.
Leaders: Tony Nastase & Pat Nastase (patnastase@gmail.com)
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has issued an air quality alert set to be in effect until 11 p.m. Friday. NJDEP says certain parts of the region – across Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union and eastern Passaic counties – may approach unhealthy standards. A number of factors could contribute to this.
Officials say air pollution concentrations could become unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, people suffering from asthma heart disease or other lung diseases, and older senior citizens.
A wildfire continues to burn at Bass River State Forest in southern New Jersey. People have reported seeing and smelling smoke as it’s reached at least 5,000 acres. This may also cause some air quality issues.
By the end of this year, the EPA will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for emissions standards related to municipal solid waste incinerators under the terms of a draft consent decree reached with environmental groups. The decree was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 23.
Groups, including Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and Ironbound Community Corp., sued the EPA in January 2022 over its alleged failure under the Clean Air Act to revisit the rules every five years. The decree would require EPA to finalize a new rule by November 30, 2024.
Environmental groups hope the draft decree could tighten federal emissions standards for 68 MSW incinerators, leading to tighter regulations for nine pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, dioxins, and nitrous oxides. The suit is part of a broader effort by environmental groups who say the EPA is behind the times in regulating several categories of waste incinerators, including MSW and medical waste.
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New York Projects Slated to Get Over $6M for Cleanup and Tech Assistance at Polluted Brownfield Sites
The so-called Winkelman property in Syracuse is the most tax-delinquent parcel in the city, with an outstanding bill of $2.6 million.
From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
NEW YORK (May 25, 2023) – TheU.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that 7 selectees from New York will get $6.4 Millionfrom President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in New York while advancing environmental justice. Thanks to the historic boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this is the largest-ever funding awarded in the history of the EPA’s Brownfields MARC Grant programs.
These investments are part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to grow the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure to driving over $470 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom powered by good paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, to building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.
“We’re working across the country to revitalize what were once dangerous and polluted sites in overburdened communities into more sustainable and environmentally just places that serve as community assets. Thanks to President Biden’s historic investments in America, we’re moving further and faster than ever before to clean up contaminated sites, spur economic redevelopment, and deliver relief that so many communities have been waiting for,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This critical wave of investments is the largest in Brownfields’ history and will accelerate our work to protect the people and the planet by transforming what was once blight into might.”
Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping more communities than ever before begin to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges caused by brownfields and stimulate economic opportunity, and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.
State Funding Breakdown:
EPA announced 262 communities that have been selected to receive 267 grants totaling more than $215 million in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Programs. This represents the highest funding level ever announced in the history of the Brownfields Program.
The following organizations in New York have been selected to receive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Programs.
Greater Syracuse Land Bank, NY has been selected to receive $1,000,000. Grant funds will be used to update an inventory of brownfield sites and conduct 20 Phase I and 18 Phase II environmental site assessments, and develop eight cleanup plans and four reuse plans. Grant funds also will be used to update an inventory of foreclosable brownfield sites and support community engagement activities. Assessment activities will focus on the South Avenue Corridor, the Near Eastside Neighborhood, the 15th Ward, and the Hawley-Green Neighborhood in the City of Syracuse, all within the city’s urban core. Priority sites include a former dry cleaners and gas station, four vacant and abandoned former automobile repair shops, a vacant commercial building, and an auto garage and junkyard.
Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, NY has been selected to receive $800,000. Grant funds will be used to conduct one Phase I and three Phase II environmental site assessments of sites in the target area and to clean up the 341 Peat Street site. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community engagement activities. The target area for this project is the Near Eastside neighborhood in the City of Syracuse, which is just 1.4 miles east of downtown Syracuse with dilapidated buildings, piles of illegally dumped trash and debris, and associated blight that is highly visible from Highway 690 as people travel into the city. Priority sites include the 341 Peat Street site, which was first developed in the 1890s and historically operated as a structural steel works facility, a forge and a foundry for an iron and steel company, a machine shop, an equipment repair facility, and a varnish supplier. Other priority sites are located on Greenway Avenue and include the 79,600-square-foot Winkelman property, a 0.93-acre former industrial site, and a 0.29-acre site consisting of an abandoned roadway.
Wayne Country Regional Land Bank Corporation, NY has been selected to receive $800,000. Grant funds will be used to conduct six Phase I and four Phase II environmental site assessments, prepare two cleanup plans and one site reuse plan, update the county’s site inventory, and conduct community engagement activities. Grant funds also will be used to clean up four sites on Canal Street. The target area for this project is the Canal/Geneva Street Corridor in the City of Lyons’ historic downtown district, which sits along the Erie Canal. Priority sites include five properties on Canal Street, a property at 30 Geneva Street, and one property at 1 Clyde Road. These properties include former mixed commercial row-style buildings, a former gas station, a former fueling station and convenience store, and a former restaurant and bar.
Wayne County, NY has been selected to receive $1,000,000. Grant funds will be used to conduct 15 Phase I and 14 Phase II environmental site assessments and develop eight cleanup plans, two site reuse plans, and one area-wide plan. Grant funds also will be used to update a brownfield inventory and support community outreach activities. Assessment activities will focus on the Village of Newark and the Towns of Lyons, Sodus, and Wolcott. Priority sites include an underutilized industrial property, a 13,000-square-foot abandoned former two-story medical office, and a formerly occupied photo etching company in the City of Newark; a former coal-fired electric generation plant located on the Erie Canal and a 21-acre former warehouse and shipping facility in the Town of Lyons; a 3.5-acre former malt house for the Genesee Brewing Company and a 4.25-acre water treatment plant in Wayne County; and the 200-acre Former Butler State Prison in the Town of Wolcott. Non-lead coalition members include the Town of Lyons, the Village of Newark, and the Greater Rochester Enterprise.
Mohawk Valley Economic Development District Inc., NY has been selected to receive $1,000,000. The grant will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from which the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District, Inc. will provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community engagement activities and market the fund. RLF activities will focus on the Utica Industrial Central Corridor Brownfield Opportunity Zone (BOA), the Gloversville BOA/Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) area, and the Ilion LWRP area.
Sullivan County, NY has been selected to receive $800,000. The grant will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from which Sullivan County will provide ten loans and ten subgrants to support cleanup activities. Grant funds also will be used to market the RLF program. RLF activities will target the entire county with a focus on housing projects and the multi-owner Turick site. Priority sites include vacant homes in the Towns of Bethel, Liberty, Thompson, and the Village of Monticello.
Syracuse Economic Development Corporation, NY has been selected to receive $1,000,000. The grant will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from which the Syracuse Economic Development Corporation will provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities. Grant funds also will be used to conduct cleanup planning and community engagement activities and market the fund. RLF activities will focus on the East Adams and Hawley-Green neighborhoods, which are in some of the City of Syracuse’s densest urban areas.
You can read more about this year’s MARC selectees, here
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Wind turbines located off of Block Island in Rhode Island. Eversource Energy officials announced Thursday, May 25, 2023 that they are selling the company’s 50 percent ownership stake in 175,000 acres ton which a wind farm can be developed that are located 25 miles off the southern coast of Massachusetts Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images
Eversource Energy took its first steps Thursday to getting out of the wind farm development business, selling its 50 percent ownership stake in a 175,000- acre site located 25 miles off the southern coast of Massachusetts.
The company sold its ownership stake for $625 million to its joint venture partner, the wind farm developer Orsted, Eversoujrce officials said. The Danish energy company currently owns the other 50 percent of the joint venture.
The deal between the two companies is expected to close by the end of the third quarter this year. Because Orsted is a Danish company, the lease sale will require the approval of the U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment.
At the same time that Eversource is selling its ownership stake in the uncommitted wind farm site, the company has also signed a letter of intent with Orsted to buy tax credits that the Danish company has in the South Fork Wind project. The two companies are currently equal partners in that project, which is under construction 35 miles east of Montauk Point on Long Island and is scheduled to begin operating this fall, producing enough electricity to power 70,000 average homes.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available recordings of four webinars on $16 million in pollution prevention (P2) grant funding opportunities for potential applicants and interested stakeholders. The webinar recordings cover general information about P2 and the grant application process.
The two grant opportunities will fund state and Tribal programs to help businesses adopt pollution prevention practices to advance environmental justice:
P2 Grant: Environmental Justice in Communities will support technical assistance for businesses to target and improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities. Applications are due by June 6, 2023.
Eligible applicants include states, state entities such as universities, U.S. territories and possessions, and federally recognized Tribes and intertribal consortia. Individual grant awards may range from $100,000 to $800,000 for the funding period, or up to $1.2 million for multi-state or multi-Tribal projects.
EPA encourages applicants to partner with other P2 stakeholders and community organizations. The new P2 Grant Partners Connection List will include information about a range of potential P2 partners. Sign up by April 21, 2023, to add yourself or your organization to the list.
More tools and resources are available online including additional webinar recordings, writing guidance, helpful templates, and a networking tool.
Contact the P2 Hub Helpline for additional information or assistance: p2hub@epa.gov or (202) 566-0799.
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Authorities confirmed Wednesday night that a brush fire in West Milford, NJ that initially appeared contained had grown to 250 acres in size.
Nearly a dozen homes or other structures were threatened by what was dubbed the “Kanouse Wildfire,” which ignited off Route 23 near the Charlotteburg Reservoir shortly before 2 p.m.
Members of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service were working throughout the night building fire lines, authorities said.
West Milford Mayor Michele Dale insisted there was no reason for concern.
“The State Forest Fire Service is on-site to backburn to contain the fire and prevent further spread, which is why residents are still seeing and smelling smoke,” Dale said shortly before 8 p.m.
Northbound Route 23 remained closed between Germantown Road and Union Valley Road. Echo Lake Road was closed between Rt. 23 and Macopin Road, which itself was open to through traffic, the mayor said.
“The only homes currently in a potential risk area are located on Blakely Lane, but a team of engines from West Milford Volunteer fire companies are on-site for structural protection,” Dale said. “All horses have been evacuated from Echo Lake Stables.
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