EnviroPolitics Blog

Climate activists again voice frustration with NJ’s proposed energy plan

Editor’s Note: The original version of the NJ Spotlight story incorrectly identified the Rev. Ronald Tuff as Rev. Ronald Tubbs.

TOM JOHNSON reports for NJ SPOTLIGHT
AUGUST 9, 2019

Climate-change activists fault Murphy administration’s draft plan for not imposing immediate moratorium on fossil-fuel projects

Fossil-fuel moratorium — Credit: NJTV News

New Jersey needs a bold and aggressive plan to tackle climate change, but the Murphy administration’s draft energy master plan fails to deliver on the governor’s promises, according to climate-change activists and clean-energy advocates.

In a third public hearing on a draft plan unveiled this past June, many of the speakers faulted the document, primarily for not imposing an immediate moratorium on all fossil-fuel projects in the state that will increase, not reduce, greenhouse-gas emissions contributing to global warming.

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The omission threatens to deepen a rift between the environmental community — that largely backed Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, in his gubernatorial bid — over the administration’s reluctance to halt several new natural gas pipelines in New Jersey as well as four new gas-fired power plants. A huge coalition of environmentalists wants an immediate moratorium on all new fossil-fuel projects.

Almost on cue, the PennEast Pipeline project yesterday filed applications with the state Department of Environmental Protection seeking crucial water quality and wetlands permits in New Jersey for its controversial 120-mile new pipeline project from Luzerne County, Pa. to Mercer County. The project is among the more contentious of about nine new pipeline and/or compressor projects pending in the state.

Natural gas: Bridge or gangplank?

“It is disappointing you completely ignored the moratorium issue,’’ said Ted Glick of 350 NJ, sharply criticizing state officials for describing natural gas as a bridge fuel in the draft plan. “Natural gas is not a bridge fuel. It is a gangplank to a catastrophic future.’’SUBSCRIBE TO NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWSLETTERS Today’s Spotlight Weekly Editor’s Picks

BPU meeting, August 8, 2019 — Some of those attending yesterday’s Board of Public Utility hearing. NJTV News

“This is no time to think small,’’ agreed Kevin Brown, New Jersey state director of 32BJ SEIU. “The EMP does not think big or bold enough.”

Others defended the plan, saying its goals of 100 percent clean energy by 2050 are not only achievable, but affordable.

“It would be a mistake to view New Jersey’s climate goals as radical, risky or expensive,’’ said Barb Blumenthal, research director for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. She noted that Indiana shifted from providing power to customers from five coal plants to solar, wind and other projects to curb costs to ratepayers by $4 billion over the next two decades.

“We can either embrace clean energy pathways to reduce energy costs and the risks to the globe’s critical climate system, or spend much more money on yesterday’s dirty, unsafe and costly solutions without solving tomorrow’s problems.’’

Others, however, faulted the draft plan as not doing enough to address pollution in environmental justice communities, like Newark, home to a recently built new gas-fired power plant, a garbage incinerator, and one of the nation’s biggest wastewater treatment plants.

Calls for the governor to act

“What we need from the governor is transformational change,’’ said Kim Gaddy, an environmental justice organizer in Newark. Of the pollution that envelops the city, Gaddy said “we can’t escape it.’’ She, and others called for mandatory air-pollution reductions in emissions — from power plants and the 8,000 vehicles coming in and out of the port of Newark daily.

Rev. Ronald Tubbs, a member of GreenFaith, urged the state to set aside dollars to train low-and moderate-income people so they can take advantage of the switch to a green economy, one powered by cleaner technologies like plug-in electric vehicles.

Some speakers argued the state should drop any plans to adopt carbon neutrality proposals, a system they claimed would allow gimmicks to increase greenhouse-gas emissions under the pretense of offsetting the pollution with carbon credits or carbon-capture technology, still not commercially deployable. Others called for a tax on carbon, something this and previous administrations have shied away from.

The overriding message remained, however: Act quickly because the state, as well as the rest of the globe, is running out of time to halt global warming.

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New owners for Gannett newspapers. Heavy influence in NJ, NY, PA, and DE

Editor’s Note: The Gannett newspaper chain, purchased this week by New Media Investment, but retaining its name, is an important provider of daily news to residents in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware–and especially New Jersey. See the list of its holdings in these four states at the bottom of the following post.

Sections of a USA Today newspaper. GateHouse Media, a chain backed by an investment firm, announced that it is buying USA Today owner Gannett Co. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Rick Edmonds is the media business analyst for Poynter

When GateHouse and its parent company, New Media Investment, completed the deal Monday to acquire Gannett, the expectation was that the GateHouse crew would be running the new company, instituting their systems across the board.

Not so fast.

Two of the top three executives of the merged company (to be called Gannett rather than GateHouse) are from Gannett, including a new operating CEO from outside the industry.

And now that the agreement is public, several executives who I respect tell me that they do not foresee scorched earth for the Gannett papers.

George Stanley, editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, one of Gannett’s largest and most decorated metros, wrote me in an email exchange:

“I tend to be optimistic because each new leadership team has placed a high value on doing great reporting that’s unavailable from other sources and worth the price of a subscription. They’ve encouraged us to continue to be us. Experienced, professional media executives will be in charge of the new Gannett, running it as an independent news company, seeking to build out a business model that supports the reporting of local news essential to our democracy. They’re saying the right things in a way that makes sense. They’re emphasizing the unique combination of national with local markets. They’re looking for growth and see consumer revenue — reader revenue — as a key growth area.”

Like other metro editors — including those at independent papers like the Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Seattle Times — Stanley said he thinks the Journal Sentinel is making good progress on its paid digital subscription base, which could be the cornerstone of stronger business results.

“We’ve learned — thanks to best practices shared by Lenfest, API, Poynter and our Table Stakes colleagues — how important it is to serve and gain that next generation of subscribers. Since we launched our digital circulation growth initiative two years ago, we’ve nearly tripled our digital subscriptions.

“Folks who say digital subscriptions will only work at the national level, due to the success of The (Washington) Post and (The New York) Times, aren’t considering how recently regional news organizations began focusing on growing them — we’re several years behind the Times and Post but on the same trajectory. The Boston Globe started from scratch a few years before us and now makes enough money through digital subscriptions to support one of the nation’s best regional newsrooms.”

Stanley stayed on when Gannett acquired the Journal Sentinel in April 2016. Its staff is now smaller than then, but the Journal Sentinel has not lost its investigative bite. Stanley also speaks with some authority for the industry as vice chair of the American Society of News Editors.

Another of my sources, a former editor who still keeps a close eye on the industry, emailed to suggest I should rethink my prediction in a piece Sunday evening that the Gannett executive team would be washed away.

New Media Investment chairman and CEO Mike Reed has the top job in the new company. But Gannett chief financial officer Alison Engel stays on (GateHouse’s CFO left abruptly in February). And a new Gannett hire, Paul Bascobert, will run the operating company for 250-plus dailies.

Bascobert has deep marketing and publishing experience earlier in his career at Bloomberg and Dow Jones, but not, as far as I can tell, in newspapers. His most recent job was as president of XO Group, a vertical for weddings, which has also operated as The Knot.

I have not been able to schedule an interview with Bascobert (or other busy top execs), but his background fits with a digital transition push and may be a particular match to USA Today sports verticals and others at both companies.

The new company’s choices for other slots on the top management team have not yet been announced. But it may be if Gannett is stronger in a given function, its managers will be assigned the lead.

In writing about completion of the deal yesterday, I failed to mention the financing, including a $1.79 billion loan from Apollo Global Management, a private equity fund, at (ouch) 11.5% interest. Even with the $300 million a year savings Reed expects, interest and principal will be formidable to pay down, while simultaneously reserving capital to invest in new digital revenue streams.

Other big qualifiers for the likely success of the deal would be that both companies reported Monday yet another quarter of deep revenue losses.

Wall Street did not stand up and cheer for the merger, either. New Media shares were down 18.6% for the day and Gannett’s down 7.6%.

_____________________________________________________________________

Gannett’s holdings include:

New Jersey

New York

Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton
Star-Gazette, Elmira
The Ithaca Journal
Poughkeepsie Journal
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester (original flagship newspaper)
The Journal News, Westchester County

Pennsylvania

Delaware

The News Journal, Wilmington

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Give a dam about this beaver spotted swimming in the Hudson River

Jen Chung reports for the Gothamist

Beaver in the Hudson River RALPH STONE / COURTESY OF WEST SIDE RAG

Twelve years ago, when a beaver was discovered in the Bronx River, it was a big deal because it was the first one spotted in NYC in 200 years. Now, beavers are apparently moving further downtown—because one has been discovered swimming in the Hudson River near the Upper West Side on Monday morning.

West Side Rag reported that a man walking his dog in Riverside Park noticed the beaver in the river around 71st Street, just north of Pier I. They wrote, “Ralph Stone took the photos… just after 10 a.m. as he walked his dog. He said he’s never seen beavers before in the area.”

New York City was essentially built on the back of the beaver, as beavers were plentiful in colonial New York and the fur trade fueled the city’s growth (the beaver is on the New York City’s seal). From the city’s wildlife site:

Overtrapping, deforestation, and habitat loss caused by New York’s rapid growth led to a sharp decline in their local populations over the decades. Just two centuries after European settlers first arrived, the number of beavers in New York State fell from an estimated 60 million to almost none at all. However, efforts in the early 1900s to reintroduce beavers by releasing them in the Adirondacks have been largely successful. By 1924, upstate beaver populations were thriving again. And in 2007 a beaver was spotted in the Bronx River, marking the first beaver sighting in New York City in over 200 years. Beavers are now present on Staten Island as well, and have been spotted in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The beaver is also the official New York State animal, “To provide beaver pelts to European markets in the early 1600s, fur traders settled near the present capital, Albany, to trade with Indians.”

*Beaver in the Hudson River (Ralph Stone / Courtesy of West Side Rag)*

While many consider beavers pests, because they love to chomp on trees, they have also been called an “essential ecosystem engineer,” because they can, according to a 2008 study, “create ponds and stimulate growth of diverse streamside vegetation critical for birds, including many migratory songbirds in decline.” In Washington State, a project relocated “problem beavers” to new areas to help restore the upper Yakima River Basin.

Anyway, yet another reason to rejoice in the revival of wildlife in the Hudson!

Update: The beaver was spotted in the Hudson by 59th Street just before 2 p.m.

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First legal hemp crop in Alabama growing well, near harvest, farmers report

Fran Summerlin checks the hemp crop with her two dogs. A five-acre hemp field grows at the base of Chandler Mountain. This is the first year farmers can legally grow hemp in Alabama.
(Joe Songer | jsonger@al.com).

Greg Garrison reports for al.com

One of the first industrial hemp fields planted in Alabama in mid-May, just below Chandler Mountain in St. Clair County, has an herbal scent, almost like a hint of basil.

Its neat rows of mostly thriving plants range from two feet to four feet tall. They appear almost jolly.

“It looks like a field of 3-foot-tall Christmas trees,” said Ed Glaze, who oversaw the planting of the crop. “They look very cute.”

Fran Summerlin, owns the former horse farm that now has a five-acre hemp field, walks through the rows with her dogs, Zella and Zeke. Deer prints are evident in the dirt between the plants, but there’s no evidence that they’ve eaten any of the leaves.

“Deer don’t like hemp,” Glaze said. “We can’t see where they have eaten anything.”

Nor have bugs noticeably bothered the plants. No pesticides are allowed on the hemp.

“We’ve had no issues with pests,” Summerlin said.

The hemp farmers are more than halfway through the growing season for the first legal crop of industrial hemp, which looks like marijuana but is a species of cannabis that lacks anything but the tiniest trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient that gets people high.

They are farming hemp for CBD oil, or cannabidiol, which is purported to have a variety of positive health effects and is now widely legal.

Glaze and Summerlin are learning to grow their first crop. Many of the farmers across the state who have been licensed to grow hemp are experienced at growing cotton, soybean and other crops.

“We’ve got some really good farmers in the program that we know can grow anything,” said Alabama Department of Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate.

“I think people seem pretty pleased,” Pate said. “Most of them think they’ll have a crop. There are smart people hoping they can make a little money. With CBD oil taking off, there are plenty of people wanting to buy it.”

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Recycling is the topic of the NJ Senate and Assembly environment panels’ joint summer hearing

Joint Senate and Assembly environmental committees’ summer hearing in 2018.

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor

A trivia question for you fellow-followers of environmental issues in the New Jersey Legislature: How many years have the Senate and Assembly environmental committees been holding their joint summer hearing at the Jersey Shore?

My guess would have been seven. It turns out I wasn’t even close. The first joint hearing took place in August of 2008 in Toms River.

Our official source? Veteran Office of Legislative Services aide Carrie Anne Calvo-Hahn who just happens to have a file on her desk containing every single agenda for those get-togethers.

Carrie Anne also can tell you what the subject was for each. Among them were: Barnegat Bay protection, the state’s energy master plan, beach access, and plastic bag recycling.

This year’s focus will be the broader topic of recycling, as in what impact China’s import ban on U.S. recyclables has had on New Jersey county and municipal recycling programs, and how the state might help to stabilize the disruption and stimulate markets for recyclable materials and recycled products.

The hearing is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 15, in the LMH Room, Toms River Municipal Complex, 33 Washington Street, Toms River, NJ.

See you there?

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