NJ Infrastructure Bank bills signed into law

TRENTON – A package of legislation sponsored by Senate Environment and Energy Chair Senator Bob Smith, Senator Linda Greenstein, and Senator Richard Codey, which will work with the Infrastructure Bank on a number of appropriations for environmental infrastructure projects, was signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy.

     The first law, originally S3818, will revise the pre-conditions for the disbursement of transportation loans to concurrence from the Department of Transportation and certification in writing from the bank, to make the pre-conditions consistent with the actual roles and responsibilities of the partnership.

     The law will also revise the Department of Transportation Loan Original Fee Fund to the “Transportation Loan Origination Fee Fund.” This is to reflect that the bank’s transportation loans are actually issued by the bank, rather than the department. The revision will allow the bank to impose loan origination fees on borrowers of transportation loans, and then allow those loan origination fees to be used to reimburse the bank and the department for their administrative costs in administering the transportation loan program.

     “The New Jersey Infrastructure Bank is key to funding infrastructure projects around the state,” said Senator Smith (D-Middlesex / Somerset). “We need to rebuild and reinforce infrastructure throughout this state. Today, no projects are more important than environmental ones. It is imperative that we fund environmental infrastructure projects that help to repair and improve the resiliency of our environmental infrastructure systems.”

     The second law, originally S3819, will authorize the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank to expend up to $655.04 million and any unexpended balances from previous authorizations to provide loans with an interest rate at or below the prevailing market rate to project sponsors of environmental infrastructure projects for fiscal year 2020. These loans are for a portion of or total cost of 117 eligible environmental infrastructure projects across the state.

     “Since its creation in 1985, the Infrastructure Bank has worked in partnership with the Department of Environmental Protection to provide low-cost loans for the construction of environmental infrastructure projects that enhance and protect both ground and surface water resources,” said Senator Greenstein (D-Mercer / Middlesex). “These loans have ensured the safety of drinking water supplies throughout New Jersey. This has made possible responsible and sustainable economic development.”

     The third law, originally S3820, will appropriate certain federal and State funds to the Department of Environmental Protection for the purpose of implementing the State Fiscal Year 2020 New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program, which is expected to finance approximately $655.04 million in Storm Sandy and other environmental infrastructure projects for State Fiscal Year 2020.

     “We are in desperate need to make investments in our environmental infrastructure. And there are numerous locations around the state that are in desperate need of repair,” said Senator Codey (D-Essex / Morris). “We saw the destruction that came from Superstorm Sandy, we have to be prepared for the next time a storm of that magnitude comes to New Jersey. Due to Climate Change, storms like Sandy and stronger are bound to happen more and more frequently.”

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Star-Ledger Editorial: Heed the slimy siren from New Jersey’s algae blooms

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

It’s mid-July, and Lake Hopatcong has been desecrated by huge splotches of green slime that you keep at a safe distance, one measured by your tolerance for a horrid stench.

The largest lake in New Jersey is usually filled with swimmers, boats, jet skis, and fishing lines. Now it’s an untouchable vacation fantasy — yes, during the hottest week of the year, and the hottest year ever recorded — because you can’t tip a toe in it without risking a skin rash right now.

A harmful algal bloom has forced the Department of Environmental Protection to shut down all activity on the lake since June 17 (except for boating), and maybe it’s something you could endure if this slop had an expiration date. But the truth is, nobody knows. The DEP cannot even guarantee that the lake will be swimmable before summer’s end, though it seemed to be making progress in the most recent water sampling.

But that’s only one problem area: On Thursday, Greenwood Lake also got a no-swim advisory after tests registered levels of cyanobacteria that were 10 times higher than our health standard. Blooms have also appeared in four smaller lakes.

So this is no longer an anomaly for New Jersey.

This is manmade damage created by environmental apathy — a foul-smelling ooze that kills marine life, chokes ecosystems, ruins vacations, kneecaps businesses, sickens pets, and wrecks home values.

And it demands an aggressive response on state and local levels, because when you ask DEP Deputy Commissioner Debbie Mans whether this is the new normal, she replies, “Well, we’re not sure.”

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We can be sure about this: Even if Mother Nature lifts this stain in her own time, preventing its recurrence will require effort from every stakeholder – the DEP, the four communities around the lake, and the property owners.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are triggered by phosphorus, a nutrient that generates algae. During heavy rain, the phosphorus leaches into the runoff from home septic systems and lawn fertilizer and ends up in the watershed, so with virtually every inch of Lake Hopatcong’s shoreline developed, it tends to proliferate.

So this is no longer an anomaly for New Jersey.

This is manmade damage created by environmental apathy — a foul-smelling ooze that kills marine life, chokes ecosystems, ruins vacations, kneecaps businesses, sickens pets, and wrecks home values.

And it demands an aggressive response on state and local levels, because when you ask DEP Deputy Commissioner Debbie Mans whether this is the new normal, she replies, “Well, we’re not sure.”

We can be sure about this: Even if Mother Nature lifts this stain in her own time, preventing its recurrence will require effort from every stakeholder – the DEP, the four communities around the lake, and the property owners.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are triggered by phosphorus, a nutrient that generates algae. During heavy rain, the phosphorus leaches into the runoff from home septic systems and lawn fertilizer and ends up in the watershed, so with virtually every inch of Lake Hopatcong’s shoreline developed, it tends to proliferate.

So this is no longer an anomaly for New Jersey.

This is manmade damage created by environmental apathy — a foul-smelling ooze that kills marine life, chokes ecosystems, ruins vacations, kneecaps businesses, sickens pets, and wrecks home values.

And it demands an aggressive response on state and local levels, because when you ask DEP Deputy Commissioner Debbie Mans whether this is the new normal, she replies, “Well, we’re not sure.”

We can be sure about this: Even if Mother Nature lifts this stain in her own time, preventing its recurrence will require effort from every stakeholder – the DEP, the four communities around the lake, and the property owners.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are triggered by phosphorus, a nutrient that generates algae. During heavy rain, the phosphorus leaches into the runoff from home septic systems and lawn fertilizer and ends up in the watershed, so with virtually every inch of Lake Hopatcong’s shoreline developed, it tends to proliferate.

Climate change is a major factor. More rain means more runoff, and higher temperatures can make algae turn into a toxic bloom within days.

It hardly matters now whether the state provided adequate funding for lake maintenance (short answer: no), whether the towns were alert to root causes, or whether property owners act responsibly. What matters is what happens next.

Read the full editorial


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Philadelphia oil refinery files for bankruptcy, again

Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in Southwest Philadelphia with Center City in the background

By Michelle Caffrey  – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal

Philadelphia Energy Solutions is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday for the second time in less than two years, court filings show, after an explosion and fire-ravaged its already financially struggling oil refinery complex in South Philadelphia last month.

The newest attempt to restructure the refinery’s heavy debt load comes on the heels of both PES’ decision to close the complex entirely after the fire, laying off more than 1,000 workers, and efforts by elected officials and union leaders to keep the plant open for a potential sale, although analysts doubt there will be buyer interest.

The two refineries that make up PES’ operation are Point Breeze and Girard Point, which combined make up the largest oil refinery on the East Coast. The explosion occurred at the Girard Point refinery.

In a statement, PES said the company’s entered into a “proposed debtor-in-possession financing agreement with holders of the company’s outstanding term loan debt” that provides up to $100 million in new funding. That funding will make it possible for the refinery to “safely wind down our refining operations and, with the support of our insurers and stakeholders, best position the company for a successful reorganization, the rebuilding of our damaged infrastructure, and a restart of our refining operations,” CEO Mark Smith said in the statement.

Both PES’ assets and liabilities are between $1 billion and $10 billion, the bankruptcy documents show. Its largest unsecured creditor listed is Trinity Industries Leasing Co., which it owes roughly $4 million and CSX Transportation Inc., which is owes about $3.8 million. The full list of the top 50 unsecured credits is largely made up of other industrial vendors. PES states funds will be available to distribute to unsecured creditors.

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New York climate plan sets a 30-year goal for 100% renewable energy

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Al Gore

By ASSOCIATED PRESS JULY 20, 2019 4:47 PM

NEW YORK —  Solar panels on every roof. Parking meters that double as car chargers. Wind turbines towering above farm fields and ocean waves. Cars, home furnaces and factories converted to run on electricity from renewable sources.

A new law signed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sets the nation’s most aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions and is intended to drive dramatic changes over the next 30 years. It calls for all the state’s electricity to come from renewable, carbon-free sources such as solar, wind and hydropower. Transportation and building heating systems would also run on clean electricity rather than oil and gas.

But while the goals of the legislation signed Thursday are clear, details on how to achieve them are undetermined. It isn’t clear how much all this change will cost, or even whether it is all technically feasible.

Some critics call the plan impractical.

“It would require massive deployment of both onshore and offshore wind, which is going to be enormously costly,” said Robert Bryce, an energy specialist at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. “You already have local opposition to onshore wind that has stymied the state’s ability to build any new capacity.”

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The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requires the state to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 and offset the remaining 15% with measures such as planting forests and capturing carbon for storage underground.

A new 22-member New York State Climate Action Council will have three years to come up with a “scoping plan” to recommend mandates, regulations, incentives and other measures.

The law will require utilities to get 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Last year, 26.4% came from renewables, according to a report by New York Independent System Operator, the nonprofit corporation that runs the state’s power grid.

“The legislation is going to shape the way we live, work and play going forward,” said Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, which supports the plan. “It transitions New York state’s economy entirely off fossil fuels to one powered by renewable energy.”

Massive wind farms off the coast of New York City and Long Island are planned to help the transition to green energy.

Combined, the two wind farms will have a 1,700 megawatt capacity, enough to power about 1 million homes, Cuomo said at the signing, where he was joined by former Vice President Al Gore.

“This is the most ambitious, the most well-crafted legislation in the country,” Gore said of the state’s new targets.

The bill calls for 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2035. It also calls for 6,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2025, five times the current amount, and 3,000 megawatts of energy storage capacity by 2030.

The Climate Action Council will likely call for new building codes to increase energy efficiency and require heating and cooling systems using electric heat pumps that transfer heat between indoors and outdoors. There may be incentives to retrofit existing homes and buildings. The New York City Council this spring passed an aggressive climate bill of its own that would require energy-efficient building retrofits, with hefty fines for landlords who don’t comply.

Since transportation makes up a third of the state’s emissions, the climate council will likely call for an expansion of mass transit and an accelerated shift to electric vehicles, which the state now promotes with rebates and investments in charging infrastructure.

Ken Girardin, a policy analyst at the Empire Center for Public Policy, a spinoff of the Manhattan Institute, calculates the offshore wind buildout will cost more than $48 billion upfront and $1 billion in annual operating cost. At least 56 square miles of solar panels would be needed to hit the 2025 goal of 6,000 megawatts of solar capacity, Girardin said.

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Turtle returns to Wetlands Institute in New Jersey 19 years after it saved her

A female terrapin similar to this one was found crossing a street in Stone Harbor, NJ on July 12 and brought back to the same conservation institute that rescued her as an egg, almost 19 years later to the day.

Brianna Kudisch reports for NJ.com

STONE HARBOR — Call it serendipity.

That’s the only way to explain how a female terrapin was found crossing a street in Stone Harbor on July 12 and brought back to the same conservation institute that rescued her as an egg, almost 19 years later to the day.

A concerned woman found the turtle on Second Avenue between 102nd and 103rd Street and brought her to The Wetlands Institute, a nonprofit coastal and wetlands conservation organization, which returned the turtle to the marsh. The Institute made a post on its Facebook page Monday to celebrate the turtle’s resiliency.

It’s a mystery how the terrapin got on the road, said Devin Griffiths, a marketing and communications specialist at the Institute.

“When she was found, there was no obvious access to the marsh on either side of the road,” he said. “So we’re not sure why she was there. She was in a really odd place.”

Griffiths said he thinks the unusual location is why the woman brought her in, since most people in the area know what to do if they find a terrapin on the road — gently pick up the turtle and put them in the direction they were headed, since “(the turtles are) very specific about where they want to go.”

However, the turtle was not new to the Institute. She was a head-starter turtle, which are typically hatched from eggs that were recovered from a road-kill female on her way to lay her eggs, Griffiths said.

The conservation organization incubates and hatches the rescued eggs, keeping them for a year. They receive PIT tags, or Passive Integrated Transponder tags, which are placed under the skin to be read. The tags help researchers know the turtle’s age and other information and helped identify this recent female turtle as a former head-starter.

“And after a year, when they grow a bit and get stronger, we release them back into the marsh,” he said. “We give them a head start into their journey into the marsh.”

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Have you ever saved an injured or endangered animal and taken it to a rescue center like the Wetlands Institute? Please share your story in the comment box. We’d love to hear it.
–Editor

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Report could pave the way for chemical plants in Texas to emit more hazardous air pollutants

A new assessment from the agency downplays the risks of ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen.

An oil refinery in Port Arthur.
An oil refinery in Port Arthur. AP PHOTO/DAVID GOLDMAN

Amal Ahmed reports for the Texas Observer Jul 18, 2019

When the wind blows across Port Arthur, a predominantly African American city on the Gulf Coast, it’s likely carrying toxic gasses like carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and benzene into residents’ lungs. Bordering the city are two sprawling oil refineries, one of which is the largest such facility in the United States. Activists here helped establish tighter national limits for pollution from refineries and plants. Now, Port Arthur might be the site of yet another fight for clean air.

Last month, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality released a scientific assessment that justifies an increase in the amount of ethylene oxide that petrochemical plants can legally emit. TCEQ’s assessment is the first step toward increasing the amount of legally acceptable ethylene oxide emissions to 1,000 times the current rate. Ethylene oxide, which is used to create products like antifreeze and adhesives, is a known carcinogen linked to lymphoma, leukemia and breast cancer.

“Southeast Texas, in particular, is a home and refuge for oil and gas. TCEQ is working hard to lift these regulations.”

TCEQ’s report asserts that Environmental Protection Agency models overestimate the number of cancer deaths that can be linked to the chemical. Environmental advocates from the Sierra Club, Environment Texas and other groups wrote a letterto TCEQ last week requesting a 45-day extension to review the agency’s methodology and findings, citing a 2018 EPA report that found that “communities nationwide, including in Texas, are facing extraordinarily high cancer risk due to this exposure.” Two experts told the Observer that they can’t reasonably review the agency’s complex assessment by the current deadline of August 12, particularly when the stakes are so high given existing research around ethylene oxide’s carcinogenic effects. The letter says that the agency is “attacking and proposing to ignore EPA scientists’ evaluation” of health risks.

In a statement provided to the Observer, TCEQ stood by its findings, saying that the assessment was “consistent with standard scientific practices, as well as with the agency’s own peer-reviewed methods.”

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