EnviroPolitics Blog

For an entire year, Trenton NJ’s drinking water went untested

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The drinking water in New Jersey’s capital city and some surrounding communities went largely untested for more than a year, the utility belatedly told roughly 200,000 affected customers, noting that it fired a worker who falsified the relevant reports.

Trenton Water Works said in a letter to customers last week that it became aware of the problem a year ago and that an investigation determined that the water sample collector fudged reports meant to monitor for disinfection byproducts, E. Coli and other things from October 2022 through last December. A majority of the water samples taken by the utility during that time were deemed to be invalid, it said.

The worker, who wasn’t named in the utility’s letter and who hasn’t been charged, was put on leave and then fired.

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The utility said the water is safe now and that customers don’t need to take any action.

Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora called the falsification of reports “inexcusable.” He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the matter was referred to state environmental officials, who passed it along to the state attorney general’s office.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to prosecute the bad guy,” he said.

He added that the utility has more than 100 employees.

“One of them did something extremely bad we’re extremely upset, and it’s embarrassing. At the same time, there were other water samples taken not indicating any sounding of alarms.”

Asked why it took a year to tell the public about the false reports, the mayor said the city followed state Department of Environmental Protection regulations.

“The notice itself is required by DEP,” he said. “But there was no indication of an imminent threat.”

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BOEM identifies enviro measures for NY Bight wind energy

offshore wind farm — *BOEM continues its efforts for offshore wind as the industry faces uncertainty under the new administration (file photo)*

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today issued a Record of Decision identifying environmental measures expected to be applied to future wind energy development of the six lease areas offshore New York and New Jersey in an area known as the New York Bight. The bureau continues to push forward offshore wind projects with some experts saying the goal is to secure as much of the development before the end of the Biden administration in January 2025.

The six lease areas in the New York Bight cover over 488,000 acres and were sold in a record auction at the peak of interest in offshore wind energy receiving total bids of over $4.3 billion. BOEM continues to estimate that full development of the six lease areas could generate up to 7 GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power up to two million homes.

For the first time, BOEM conducted a regional analysis of offshore renewable energy development and operations over multiple lease areas designed to expedite the projects in the NY Bight. BOEM reported in January 2024 that it decided to take this step to complete a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) because of the close proximity of the six lease areas and the timing of when BOEM expects to receive future project plans for review.

The Draft PEIS analyzed programmatic avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures that BOEM may require as conditions of its approval for any proposed offshore wind projects in the New York Bight. It was followed in October with the completed environmental review to assess potential wind development activities within six wind lease areas. The Proposed Action for the PEIS identified avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures that BOEM reported it may require as conditions for approval for activities proposed by lessees in the individual construction and operations plans submitted for these six lease areas. Additional environmental analyses specific to each proposed project would build on the PEIS.

Today’s record of decision identifies 58 previously applied avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures BOEM plans to apply across the six lease areas. To reduce potential environmental impacts, developers can consider these measures in the Construction and Operations Plans they submit to BOEM for subsequent review.

Read the full story here

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First-Ever Permit for Solar Panel Recycling issued by NJDEP

By Commercial Solar Panel Recycling, December 03, 2024, 12:00 GMT

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ, UNITED STATES, December 3, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — (Phillipsburg, NJ – December 3, 2024) – A significant milestone has been achieved in New Jersey’s commitment to sustainability and clean energy. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has granted the first-ever permit for solar panel recycling to Commercial Solar Panel Recycling, located in Phillipsburg’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ).

New Jersey, as a national leader in renewable energy, has a responsibility to ensure the environmentally responsible development of the infrastructure that will help us reduce climate pollutants,” said New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “This Research and Development permit is the first step in ensuring that New Jersey will have the appropriate protocols in place to sustainably process end-of-life solar panels.”

This groundbreaking RD&D permit, Certificate of Authority to Operate (CAO) a Research, Development & Demonstration Project to Manage Non-Hazardous End-of-Life Solar Panels, issued by NJDEP’s Bureau of Recycling & Hazardous Waste, Division of Sustainable Waste Management will enable Commercial Solar Panel Recycling to process end-of-life solar panels, recovering valuable materials such as glass, aluminum and silicon. By recycling these materials, the company will help to reduce waste, conserve resources, and promote a more circular economy.

“The NJDEP’s RD&D certification for solar panel recycling marks a critical step in advancing long-term solutions outlined in my newly introduced New Jersey Senate Bill 3399, which mandates end-of-life recycling for solar and photovoltaic energy facilities and structures. This milestone and CSPR’s initiative as the first solar panel recycling operation in New Jersey are an exciting start toward a greener, more sustainable future,” affirmed New Jersey State Senator Bob Smith, a key supporter of renewable energy initiatives in New Jersey.

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Sea level rise could bring worse problems than flooding to NJ cities

Camden flooding — *Rainwater remains on East State St. in the Cramer Hill neighborhood in Camden, NJ on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.*

By Steven Rodas | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The forecasted rise of sea levels throughout New Jersey keeps putting residents in difficult positions.

It’s already meant potentially coughing up millions in tax dollars to build a massive concrete wall in Highlands, adding structure elevations to building blueprints at the Jersey Shore and handing over the keys to environmental regulators statewide to move to non-flood zones.

There’s another factor that merits much consideration, according to researchers at Drexel University.

The combined sewer system.

And how not just rising ocean levels but more intense rainfall will make managing more water so much harder.

This older method of dealing with combined sewage — wherein rain and what you flush down your toilet at home end up in the same treatment plant — can mean that during storms or noteworthy downpours, this wastewater can back up in to homes and onto the streets.

Climate change causing the seas to rise — affecting water levels at the Delaware River and fueling frequent harsh rainstorms — will translate to more water which complicates the matter.

For Camden, the latest projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which also consider notable greenhouse gas emission levels, show parts of the city likely being inundated by roughly 2.5 and 3.5 feet of increased ocean levels by 2100. Some Rutgers University projections point to as much as 5 feet of sea level rise by the end of the century if measures aren’t taken to cull the amount of harmful gases.

Read the full story here

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Offshore wind developer to sit out NJ/NY plan for Trump’s term

A French energy company has paused its plans to build an offshore wind farm off New York and New Jersey for the duration of President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term.

A French energy giant is halting a plan to build an offshore wind farm near the New York-New Jersey coastline following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory earlier this month.

TotalEnergies SE, the Paris-based oil and gas conglomerate, said it would halt the project in what industry observers say is a sign of things to come under a second Trump administration.

“Offshore wind, I have decided to put the project on pause” with Trump’s return, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne told a conference in London on Tuesday. His comments were reported by Bloomberg News.

A French energy giant said it would pause plans to develop offshore wind farms near the New York-New Jersey coastline.Bloomberg via Getty Images

Pouyanne said that the company plans to revisit the project in four years, when political winds in the US could shift once again.

Total’s subsidiary, Attentive Energy, was one of six companies that committed a total of $4.37 billion in 2022 to build offshore wind farms in New York Bight — the body of water that hugs the coastline stretching from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to the Montauk Point on Long Island’s eastern tip.

The planned project is still in the early stages as the companies recently obtained leasing rights from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management — the federal agency which operates under the auspices of the Department of the Interior.

Many of the largest offshore wind companies put a brave face on the election results, pledging to work with Trump and Congress to build power projects and ignoring the incoming president’s oft-stated hostility to them.

Read the full story here

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Wyoming’s lamb herders losing out to Australia

The Wyoming Sheep Industry is facing stiff competition, with 70% of America’s lamb and sheep meat imported from Australia and New Zealand. Wyoming sheep herders are selling direct to consumers to try and gain market share.

By Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily

Winter’s arctic winds will soon be blowing over Wyoming, and, in preparation, the sheep herds have all been divided out along the plains. 2,000 ewes will be wintering in Brad Boner’s pastures in Converse County, waiting to give birth in the spring and start the cycle all over again.

Boner is a fourth generation Wyoming sheep herder, who has set aside approximately one third of his sheep herd for breeding stock. The rest of the lambs have been sold for meat. As he prepares to ship out his lambs this coming Monday for production, Boner said he is aware of the disadvantage Wyoming sheep herders have compared to their counterparts from Down Under.

“About 70% of the lamb sold or consumed in the U.S. is Australian and from New Zealand,” Alison Crane, the Wyoming Wool Growers Association director, said. “We import a ton. It’s a major discussion happening in the sheep industry nationally about how we got here. There’s just been a steady decline and inventory across the country since 1960. It is partly due to the Wool Act and the trade agreements that we had and tariffs.

“If you look at federal legislation and how our federal grazing has been managed since the 1960s, you can see how things have changed drastically,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “It opened up the floodgates for Australia and New Zealand to start importing lamb. Then we have continually decreased our inventory and opened up a bigger market for them.”

“It comes back to the food security issue,” Boner said. “If we aren’t producing the sheep here, we’re dependent on somebody else to provide it for us. The Australian market share has continually grown over the last 20 years. Their dollar is weaker than ours and so we have a 35% disadvantage against them in just in the exchange rate which is very hard to compete against. They also have lower production costs than us. They have no predators and all this combined makes them very difficult to compete with.”

Read the full story here

Wyoming’s lamb herders losing out to Australia Read More »

For an entire year, Trenton NJ’s drinking water went untested

BOEM identifies enviro measures for NY Bight wind energy

First-Ever Permit for Solar Panel Recycling issued by NJDEP

Sea level rise could bring worse problems than flooding to NJ cities

Offshore wind developer to sit out NJ/NY plan for Trump’s term

Wyoming’s lamb herders losing out to Australia

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