Assembly Republican News

TRENTON, N.J. – Soil conservation districts would be allowed to have more than five supervisors under a bill passed by the General Assembly on Thursday.

The bill (A5545), sponsored by Assemblymen Donald Guardian (R-Atlantic) and Antwan McClellan (R-Cape May), aims to improve environmental protection and streamline development by enabling greater regional collaboration among local soil conservation districts.

 “Mother Nature doesn’t recognize county lines, and the local conservation districts working to protect her shouldn’t be limited by them either,” said Guardian. “This will allow districts that share watersheds, coastal waters, aquifers, transportation corridors, and state regulatory boundaries to partner together for the implementation of smart, coordinated conservation practices.”

New Jersey has 14 soil conservation districts—semi-autonomous bodies responsible for enforcing the Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Act, passed in 1975 in response to rising levels of soil erosion, flooding, and topsoil loss caused by rapid suburban and urban development.

A key requirement of the act is that builders and developers must obtain soil erosion control permits as part of the overall development process. Currently, each district is made up of five volunteer supervisors, appointed by the State Soil Conservation Committee under the Department of Agriculture, serving three-year terms. The districts are funded by a combination of local and state dollars, service fees, and grants.

The legislation would remove the cap on the number of supervisors per district and allow for consolidation or cooperation among districts, particularly those with shared environmental concerns.

“Rain doesn’t ask for permission to cross from Cape May into Atlantic, and neither do the environmental challenges that follow,” said McClellan. “This bill allows districts to merge while keeping dedicated volunteers in place. It also opens the door for them to access new federal conservation grants and operate more efficiently across the region.”

By aligning efforts regionally, the bill seeks to improve conservation outcomes, streamline permitting, and reduce costs associated with environmental management and development oversight.

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TRENTON – The Senate Environment and Energy Committee advanced a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz and Senator Renee Burgess that requires owners or operators of data centers to submit a report to the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) detailing the data center’s water and energy usage, performance calculations and indicators, and sustainability indicators.

 “Data centers consume an extraordinary amount of energy and water, using as much in a single day as hundreds of homes,” said Majority Leader Ruiz (D-Essex/Hudson). “As their growth continues to surge, we must be diligent in assessing their environmental footprint and economic impact. Requiring reporting on the water and energy consumption of these facilities will increase oversight, accountability, and give us the data necessary to create equitable policies that protect consumers and our environment.”

 “As more data centers move into our region, the strain on our electric grid and environment will grow. Effective assessment and monitoring of these facilities is crucial to manage resources and energy costs for residents,” said Senator Burgess (D-Essex/Union). “Tracking energy and water consumption at data centers is key to ensuring this new technology does not place an undue burden on New Jersey communities.”

 The bill, S4293, is in direct response to mounting concerns over surging electricity demand driven in part by the rise of data centers across the region.

 The report requires the owner or operator of a data center to submit a water and energy usage report to the BPU within 6 months after the bill’s effective date, or 3 months after the bills effective date for data centers that have been operational for at least 1 year. Data centers would be required to submit a report quarterly thereafter. It would include basic information such as the name and address and the data center, along with specific information related to energy and water consumption. This would include the name of the utility provider serving the data center and any agreements between the parties, the total energy consumption for information technology and equipment cooling at the data center in kilowatt hours, and the source of water for the data center along with the total water input in cubic meters.

 The report would also include key performance details, such as the temperature range of the air used to cool computer systems and the average temperature of the heat the data center gives off. It would also cover how much of the electricity comes from renewable sources and how much waste heat is reused.

 Once the BPU gets the report, they must post it on their website within 30 days and keep it updated. If a data center plans to make major changes to how it runs or what technology it uses, it must let the BPU know at least 60 days before making those changes.

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Original plan contemplated the shuttering of 13 regional campus locations

By Wyatt Massey of Spotlight PA State College

Penn State’s Board of Trustees approved the closure of seven campuses Thursday, putting into motion a process that will impact thousands of students and more than 500 employees, as well as the communities where they are located.

Citing declining enrollments and financial challenges, the university will close the DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre, and York locations after May 2027.

Ahead of the vote, President Neeli Bendapudi told the board that closing the locations was a strategic and humane decision.

“We are spreading our students, faculty, and staff so thin that we jeopardize the quality of education and the support that we can offer,” Bendapudi said. “We are subsidizing decline at the expense of growth.”

The board passed the president’s closure plan by a vote of 25 to 8.

Read the full story here

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