A big question: Who will get offshore wind energy to New Jersey customers?

As state BPU mulls three wind-farm projects, feds move to gauge industry interest in building a regional transmission system

Offshore wind
Photo credit Shaun Dakin/Unsplash

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight

The federal government wants to gauge the level of interest in developing a regional wind-power transmission system off the coasts of New Jersey and New York, a proposal kicked around in the past but never seriously pursued.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced late Monday it will publish a “request for competitive interest’’ in building a transmission line after a company, Anbaric Development Partners, LLC, requested a right-of-way to build a 185-nautical mile submarine version of such a system offshore.

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The announcement comes as the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is scheduled Friday to decide which of three developers, or a combination thereof, will build up to 1,100 megawatts — and possibly more — of wind farms off the Jersey coast.

The action by the state board is significant in that it would mark the first approval of any offshore-wind capacity in New Jersey, a top priority of the administration of Gov. Phil Murphy, which aims to develop 3,500 megawatts of offshore-wind energy by 2030. The BPU expects to award additional contracts of 1,200 megawatts of capacity in additional solicitations in 2020 and 2022.

The three developers vying to build offshore wind farms are: Ørsted North America, a Danish developer proposing a project 15 miles off of Atlantic City; EDF Renewables/Shell New Energies, a French company seeking to develop a wind farm about eight miles north of there; and Equinor, a Norwegian firm pushing to build wind turbines 20 miles off the coast of Monmouth County.

Interest in future of wind power grows

There is intense interest in the BPU’s decision for many reasons, including whether it signals a major step forward in the governor’s goal to establish New Jersey as the pioneering hub of an emerging offshore-wind sector as states along the eastern seaboard race to develop wind farms. Only one small project is currently operating off Block Island in Rhode Island.

In recent days, the anticipation over which projects will be selected has led to speculation among clean-energy advocates that the state may expand the solicitation beyond 1,100 megawatts — a move that would allow the agency to award projects to more than a single developer.

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Meadowlands dump that Trump once tried to make a golf course now seen as a future e-commerce mecca

The 718-acre site in the Meadowlands will be redeveloped into an e-commerce industrial park with six buildings.
The 718-acre site in the Meadowlands will be redeveloped into an e-commerce industrial park with six buildings.

By Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A big garbage dump in the Meadowlands is going to be developed into an e-commerce industrial park.

Companies, such as Amazon and other online retailers, use these specialized warehouses to move their goods out to the consumer. And strong internet sales are driving double-digit growth in this sector of the real estate market.

The 718-acre Kingsland Tract, a former landfill that stretches into Lyndhurst, Rutherford and North Arlington, was purchased for $42.5 million by Russo Development and Forsgate Industrial Partners.

The two buyers won a competitive bidding process in June 2015 to be able to buy the site. Their plan is to build Kingsland Meadowlands, a new logistics e-commerce development of up to six buildings totaling more than 3 million square feet of industrial space.

The property, which was owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, has been the subject of redevelopment for decades. It even had the attention of Donald Trump, who in November 2007 promised to build a world-class golf course there.

The property then was known as EnCap, and its redevelopment plan consisted of a mix of residences and the golf course. Trump stepped in to bail out EnCap after it became mired in financial troubles. But the project fell apart anyway in May 2008 when the NJSEA terminated its agreement with EnCap Golf Holdings because it missed clean-up targets.

Now, 11 years later, the site finally has another plan in place for redevelopment.

“Back when the EnCap project was proposed it was hard not to support a project that was transforming closed old landfills into golf courses with a resort style conference hotel,” said Jim Kirkos, president of the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce.

“In order to make the economics of their investment work, the developer wanted to build a significant amount of residential housing which eventually was not approved because those units would be built on the landfills.”

“Fast forward to today where a very reputable partnership of developers…will build warehouse and logistics facilities on the Kingsland Property that are currently in very high demand for this region,” Kirkos said.

Russo and Forsgate are both already invested in the Meadowlands. Russo has completed more than 8 million square feet of industrial projects in the Meadowlands. And Forsgate owns and manages more than 3 million square feet of industrial buildings in the area.

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After saying no to plastics, Trudeau says yes to the Trans Mountain gas pipeline

Editor’s Note: Environmentalists cheered last week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would follow the EU in adopting a ban on single-use plastics. Those cheers turned to jeers today with the announcement below. – FB

Trans Mountain pipeline opponents rally in advance of Trudeau’s announcement

By Amanda Connolly and Jesse Ferreras of Global News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday afternoon that the federal cabinet has approved the expansion of the existing pipeline, which the government bought for $4.5 billion last year after regulatory and political uncertainty led Kinder Morgan to abandon the project.P

“Our government has newly approved the Trans Mountain pipeline going forward. The company plans to have shovels in the ground this construction season,” Trudeau told reporters, adding that “every dollar” earned from the pipeline as well as the future sale of it will be invested in clean energy projects.

READ MORE: 5 things to know about the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project

The project will proceed under the TransMountain Corporation, the Crown corporation that will be responsible for securing the permits needed to move forward with construction, though the timeline is uncertain — all existing approvals were quashed when the Federal Court issued an injunction last summer.

“It’s likely there will be challenges,” officials acknowledged during a technical briefing on the decision on Tuesday.

Officials say the situation is “unprecedented” but that there will be shovels in the ground this year along parts of the route.

Among the permits the corporation still needs to secure are: approvals from the National Energy Board to authorize construction, authorizations under the Fisheries Act, permits under the Species at Risk Act, approval under the Indian Act, authorization under the Canadian Transportation Act, and approval and licensing under the Explosives Act.

WATCH: Liberals give Trans Mountain pipeline expansion a re-start after review

The approval suggests that the government believes it has met the criteria laid out by a Federal Court judge last year in a ruling that slapped an injunction on the construction, which had only just begun.

It also means the government is confident the court will deem it has done adequate consultations with Indigenous stakeholders and also taken measures to mitigate the marine impact of the expansion if the approval is challenged in court.

Trudeau also said the government will be launching a new round of consultations on how Indigenous communities can get benefits from the project, including how they can get involved in the ownership and financial stakes in the project.

He added he knows the approval will raise a lot of questions for those with concerns about spills and the environmental impact of the project.

“To those who want sustainable energy and a cleaner environment, know that I want that too,” Trudeau said., noting there will be demand for Canada’s existing natural resources even as the world transitions to cleaner forms of energy.

“But in order to bridge the gap between where we are and where we’re going, we need money to pay for it … we should harvest some of what we have and invest the projects in what comes next, building the clean energy future that is already at our doorsteps.”

Owning the pipeline is expected to bring in $200 million in earnings per year for the federal government.

Earlier this year, the government delayed its approval of the pipeline after it did not complete its renewed consultations with Indigenous communities along the pipeline route in time to meet the deadline for cabinet approval of the project.

Following the ruling from the Federal Court, the government restarted consultations with 117 Indigenous stakeholders but refused to set a public timeline for when those talks would wrap up.

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Maine and Vermont governors sign plastic bag bans on same day

Cole Rosengren reports for WasteDive / June 18, 2019

Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill Monday (LD 1532) that will ban single-use plastic bags across the state by April 22, 2020. Reusable plastic and paper bags will be permitted for at least $0.05 per bag.

Shortly after, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill (S.113) that will ban single-use plastic bags by July 1, 2020 and require a fee of at least $0.10 for paper bags. Reusable bags will be encouraged as an alternative.

In addition, Vermont’s law goes a step farther by banning polystyrene foam containers, plastic stirrers and plastic straws (with certain disability-related exceptions) in what has been described as the “toughest” and most expansive state plastics policy yet.

These two developments bring the tally of states with official plastic bag bans up to four, including California and New York. Counting Hawaii, which has bag bans in every county, the total reaches five. Pending expected approval in states such as Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon — as well as ongoing efforts elsewhere — that number can be expected to rise within the next month.

Following passage of the nation’s first two statewide bans on polystyrene foam containers — in Maine and Maryland — 2019 may well become an inflection point for plastics policy.

Canada’s government announced plans for its national plastics policy last week — a development precipitated by rising cultural attention to the environmental effects of plastics production, as well as pollution from potential mismanagement.

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Elcon appeals Falls Township’s rejection of its proposed hazardous chemicals treatment plant

Kyle Bagenstose reports for the Bucks County Courier-Times

Elcon Recycling Services has filed an appeal with the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas after Falls supervisors voted to reject its application on April 30.

A company seeking to build a hazardous waste treatment facility on former U.S. Steel land in Falls has filed an appeal in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, after the township’s supervisors voted April 30 to reject a land development application. The appeal, filed June 13, is a sign that the project’s applicant, Elcon Recycling Services, intends to continue fighting for the controversial facility despite recent setbacks.

Since 2014, Elcon has sought to build a plant capable of treating between 150,000 to 210,000 tons of chemical and pharmaceutical waste annually, located on a 23-acre plot in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex in lower Falls. But the effort has suffered multiple recent blows, as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on May 15 released a draft “intention to deny” the application following a 10-month review process.

The DEP decision is currently in a public comment period that runs through July 15, through which Elcon could potentially submit alterations to its application and still win approval. But county court is the venue of recourse for Elcon on Falls’ decision. Joel Bolstein, an attorney with Fox Rothschild representing Elcon, said in a statement the company believes township officials acted in “bad faith.”

“The appeal speaks for itself. For all the reasons set forth in the appeal, Elcon strongly believes that the township acted in bad faith when it voted to deny Elcon’s preliminary land development plan,” Bolstein wrote in an email. “Elcon intends to continue its efforts to obtain all of the permits and approvals needed for its proposed facility.”

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Philadelphia’s trash is Chester’s air pollution

By The WHY, podcast of WHYY

Listen 10:53

The smokestack of the Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility looms over a residential street in Chester. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

About one-third of Philadelphia’s garbage goes to a facility in Chester, Pa. where the waste is burned and converted into energy. But that incinerator also pollutes the air Chester residents breathe and researchers say it’s one of the dirtiest in the U.S

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Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility at 10 Highland Ave, Chester, Pa. (Google Maps)

Incinerators in Camden, Chester among nation’s most polluting, report finds

Minority communities, like those near incinerators in Camden and Chester, are disproportionately affected by emissions such as lead and particulates, a new study finds.

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