Tips from the NY Department of Environmental Conservation
Free Whiteface-Lake Placid Hiker Shuttle on Weekends through Columbus Day Weekend Avoid parking shortages at trailheads in the Adirondacks this fall, and use the new free shuttle service. Leave your car at home or your hotel, and ride the shuttle to six nearby family-friendly hiking trails near Lake Placid. Beginning September 13 through October 6, and Friday through Monday during Columbus Day Weekend, Essex County will offer complimentary rides to and from Whiteface Landing Trailhead, Copperas Pond Trailhead, Whiteface Mountain Ski Lodge and Bear Den Trailhead at Whiteface Mountain.
The shuttle service has two departing locations in Lake Placid: the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort (Shuttle stop 1) and Mirror Lake Park, across from the High Peaks Resort (Shuttle stop 2). Service runs each day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Shuttles are scheduled approximately every 60 minutes. The shuttle will stop transporting riders from Lake Placid after 2:47 p.m. to ensure hikers have enough time to enjoy their hike and not miss the last shuttle back to Lake Placid. The shuttle is part of DEC’s ongoing, comprehensive efforts to promote sustainable tourism in the High Peaks region and protect this irreplaceable resource.
Experience Leaf Peeping on a Guided Catskill Hike Want to explore the Catskills as the leaves are changing and as the foliage starts to fall? Sign up for a guided hike as part of the Hike With Us – Catskills program. See the Catskills like never before, and enjoy the sights of Onteora Lake, Vernooy Kill Falls, North Point, Trout Pond & Overlook Mountain Fire Tower. A special thank you to our partners – Catskill Center,Catskill 3500 Club, Catskill Mountain Club, Catskill Country Walks & Hike on Guides – for leading hikes and collaborating to introduce more New Yorkers to the outdoors.
Ready for the next level? Take the Catskills Fire Tower Five Challenge and receive a set of finisher pins, as well as be entered to win other great prizes.
Book One More Camping Trip this Year It’s not too late to get in one final camping trip before the cold weather settles in. Make Frontier Town Campground, Equestrian and Day Use Area your base camp for your autumn Adirondack adventure. North Hudson is a prime location to explore all that the area has to offer and take in the great views of the fall foliage. Campers can book reservations at the state’s newest campground now through October 13th. As a bonus, campers who book a reservation at one of DEC’s facilities open through Columbus Day will be entered to win one of 25 $25 camping gift cards.
New Jersey now has about 25,000 electric cars, but plans are moving forward to dramatically increase that number over the next several years.
Doug O’Malley, the director of Environment New Jersey and president of ChargEVC, an electric vehicle coalition, said the Garden State’s network of 350 electric vehicle charging stations must be dramatically increased in order to expand the number of electric vehicles.
He said in addition to increasing the number of electric vehicle chargers, “we definitely want to have a network of fast chargers on the 50 most-traveled roads across the state so if you are running low on juice, you have a place to recharge.”
Newer direct current chargers are much faster than the old ones, charging a vehicle in as little as 15 minutes.
O’Malley said legislation advancing in the state Senate and Assembly, S2252 and A4819, would establish goals and programs to support the expansion of electric vehicles in New Jersey.
The measures call for the creation of an Electric Vehicle Working Group, which would develop and update a Statewide Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Plan in order to minimize what’s known as “consumer range anxiety.”
The proposed legislation also calls for the creation of a New Jersey Light Duty Plug-in Electric Vehicle Rebate Program to encourage Garden State residents to purchase electric vehicles.
He said when electric cars first came on the market they had a range of about 100 miles, but now “the typical new electric vehicle on the road will get you over 200 and there are many that will get you over 300 miles.”
O’Malley pointed out most electric charging takes place overnight at a person’s home, “but just like a gas station, you want the security of having a place to top off that’s nearby.”
He said the goal is to get more than 300,000 electric vehicles on the road in New Jersey by 2025 and “the best way to do that is to make it really easy to find a place to charge whether it be downtown or off the Turnpike or Parkway.”
The measures call for the creation of an Electric Vehicle Working Group, which would develop and update a Statewide Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Plan in order to minimize what’s known as “consumer range anxiety.”
The approval could cut the cost of linking offshore wind farm to the region’s energy transmission system
Credit: U.S. DOE Installation of offshore wind turbine
Ocean Wind LLC, the developer of the state’s first offshore wind farm, has secured the rights to bring power ashore at the former Oyster Creek nuclear station, a move advocates say could reduce the project’s costs to connect to the region’s transmission system.
Ørsted, the owner of Ocean Wind, won approval from the New Jersey Board of Utilities this past June to build a 1,100-megawatt, $1.6 billion offshore-wind facility about 15 miles from the coast of Atlantic City.
The state agency last week approved Ocean Wind’s purchase of so-called capacity interconnection rights to bring the power from the wind farm to the nuclear power station in Lacey Township. Exelon, the former owner of the plant, gave its OK to the scheme.
The precise cost of the transmission grades and how much ratepayers will kick in are undecided. That’s because the exact nature of the improvements to the transmission system has not been determined, according to Cam Stoker, communications manager for Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind.
Total costs in question
In a BPU order in June, the state said the company projected the costs of the transmission upgrades would run from $36 million to $130 million, but could go as high as $174 million. Those costs were not factored into the subsidy utility customers will pay to Ocean Wind.
Ocean Wind will pay the first $10 million of transmission costs. From there to $130 million, Ocean Wind will incur 70 percent of the costs with 30 percent recovered from ratepayers. From $130 million to $174 million, the costs will be split between the developer and ratepayers. After $174 million, ratepayers will pay 100 percent of the costs.
Both the BPU and New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel said securing interconnection rights at Oyster Creek, where existing transmission capacity already exists, is a good deal for ratepayers. In a board order last week, the agency said obtaining the rights has the potential to “yield significant economic benefits for New Jersey ratepayers through lower transmission system upgrades.’’
Ocean Wind agreed. It estimated the difference between the cost of the rights at the price indicated and any remaining upgrade costs would be approximately $25 million less than the estimated upgrade costs without their purchase of those rights.
Rate Counsel Stefanie Brand said there is a good chance the formula and cost allocation will save money. “Overall, I think it will be cheaper for the ratepayer,’’ Brand said.
The board will still retain oversight of the “true-up’’ costs related to the final transmission expenses.
This is the first offshore-wind project, expected to be online in 2024, approved by the state, although it intends to hold further solicitations next year and 2022 to help achieve Gov. Phil Murphy’s goal of 3,500 megawatts of offshore-wind capacity by 2030.
The state has yet to decide whether to build an offshore wind-transmission backbone to wheel power among New Jersey and other states trying to build offshore wind farms.
Linda Lindner reports for NJBIZ September 11, 2019 2:40 pm
Hollister Construction Services filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 11, a move the company says will allow it to continue operations.
“The company is working with its bank and bonding company to obtain financing to continue work on most jobs, and the current leadership team will remain in place during the court-supervised reorganization,” Hollister said in a statement to NJBIZ.
Ahead of the filing, the company cut approximately 46 of its employees on Friday saying that the decision was difficult, but one its leadership felt confident would allow the company to reorganize.
Parsippany NJ-based Hollister said it will remain open for business throughout the reorganization process and will continue to conduct business.
According to the petition filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of New Jersey in Trenton, Hollister will be represented by Kenneth A. Rosen of Lowenstein Sandler in Roseland.
The company said its assets and liabilities each totaled between $100 million and $500 million and that it counts 200 to 999 creditors.
Hollister’s current leadership team will maintain management control of the company during this reorganization; however, the bankruptcy court will hold final review and oversight over all significant business decisions outside the ordinary course of business.
It’s often our duty to report bleak news on climate and the environment. But let’s not skimp on the good news—like the continued momentum of clean energy
After years of promise and halting progress, wind and solar energy have simply, undeniably, irrefutably arrived.
A report from the Rocky Mountain Institute foresees a world that, by the year 2035, has wind and solar energy positively crushing the reigning champ, natural gas. Touted as a “bridge fuel,” advocates of gas—and of the hydraulic fracturing used to extract it—have told us that fracked natural gas, while still a fossil fuel, is measurably cleaner than oil or coal.
The reality is that fracking has brought us previously-unheard-of problems with methane releases, not to mention rampant use of water, sand, and a mix of chemicals and real estate shenanigans similar to a 19th Century gold rush.
A bridge fuel it’s not. Fracking has also vaulted the U.S. into the world leadership of oil and gas production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Cheap, abundant natural gas has largely priced coal and nuclear out of the electricity market. So, fracking’s got that going for it, which is nice. Nevertheless, the RMI “bridge backward” study, if validated, can move markets and bring investment in new natural gas plants to a halt, and turn the controversial buildout of gas pipelines into a costly bust.
Not that the markets aren’t already moving: Another report, released last week by the UN Environment Programme, charted a quadrupling of clean energy investment in the past decade. China leads the world in such investment, with the U.S. a distant second.
When an idea moves from visionaries, entrepreneurs and advocates to investors, it has indeed arrived.
Solar arrays are covering Carolina farmland. After years’ worth of delays, offshore windmills are taking root, or are poised to jump off the drawing boards.
It’s all within reach. If you don’t believe me, believe the parting speech of the most recent Governor of Texas: “You can be proud that Texas produces more energy from wind turbines than all but five countries.”
Well, that 2015 speech was from Governor Rick Perry. Since he became Trump’s obedient Secretary of Energy, we don’t hear such encouraging words. But the wind power success remains.
Solar isn’t far behind, with some of the gaudiest progress happening on the vast roofs of big box stores, of all places.
These are victories, but they’re not even a small fraction of what’s needed for humanity to get a grip on itself. Avoiding a beef burger, taking public transit, buying a Prius, planting a few trees – these may do as much to assuage our eco-guilt as they do to fix what’s broken.
It’s late in the game. Wind, solar, storage batteries, carbon-free energy and dozens of other ideas, virtues, policies, and gadgets all need to show up – and soon.
Finally, we need to run those who deny science and block policy implications out of office and far from influence. There will be a time to engage them, and a time to ignore. A time to inform, and a time to ridicule.
Bills were closely watched amid a growing global problem
Recently retired U.S. Border Patrol Agent Christopher Harris stands next to a pit of plastic debris that got washed into an area neat Imperial Beach in San Diego on Monday, Mar 12, 2018. He says the area was recently cleaned. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
In a setback for environmental groups, California lawmakers early Saturday morning ended the 2019 legislative session without passing two bills that would have been the most ambitious effort in the nation to reduce the massive amounts of plastic pollution that are washing into oceans, rivers and lakes around the world.
The bills, which each cleared one house but not both chambers as required, would have required companies that sell products widely found in grocery stores and fast-food restaurants to reduce plastic pollution 75% by 2030. That could have come through recycling, composting or reduction in the amount of packaging.
In addition, the bills would have required that starting in 2030, all single-use packaging and food products — including plates, straws, forks, spoons, knives, cups and bowls that are offered for sale, sold, or imported into California — would have had to be recyclable or made of materials that decompose when composted.
“It’s very disappointing that with such a clear crisis facing our oceans, the environment and the recycling infrastructure, that the governor and Legislature couldn’t get a solution past the interests of the plastics industry,” said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, a non-profit advocacy group. SKIP AD
Lawmakers did send a third plastics recycling bill to the governor, AB 792, by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco.
If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, that measure will require plastic beverage containers sold in California to contain 10% recycled plastic by 2021, 25% recycled plastic by 2025, and 50% recycled plastic by 2030.
“This is the most aggressive recycled-content mandate not only in the United States but in the world,” said Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks.
But the two other recycling bills, Assembly Bill 1080, by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, and Senate Bill 54, by state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, never came up for a vote before the Senate and Assembly adjourned for the year around 3 a.m.
The bills, which were among the most high-profile environmental measures in California’s state capitol in 2019, are eligible to be considered again next year.
“We weren’t able to get the votes necessary this late hour,” said Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, in a tweet at 3 a.m. Saturday. “But rest assured, we will be back in January.”
Exactly why the bills’ backers couldn’t secure the votes for a landmark environmental law in a Democratic-controlled Legislature with a history of passing major environmental laws was not clear early Saturday.
Several politically prominent groups, including the wine industry, opposed the bills, saying they would have given too much power to state bureaucrats at CalRecycle, the agency that would have been charged with writing specific rules to implement the law by 2024.
Other opposition in recent weeks came from Waste Management and recycling and refuse industry companies and trade groups, particularly in Southern California, who worried that if the packaging industry was forced to create a broad new recycling system, it could cut into their businesses.
Among the supporters of the bills were most of California’s major environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Audubon California, Natural Resources Defense Council and Oceana. The proposals also were endorsed by the California Coastal Commission, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and numerous cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Half Moon Bay, Alameda, and others.
Opponents included the California Chamber of Commerce, the Chemical Industry Council of California, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Plastic Shipping Container Institute, and other industry groups.
Critics said many of the large companies already are working toward the bills’ goals. They also called the measures overly broad and potentially costly. Eighty percent of the 25 largest consumer packaging companies have committed to making 100 percent of their packaging recyclable or compostable by 2030, industry officials noted, including the five largest — Nestle, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Unilever and Anheuser Busch — which have set 2025 as their target date.
Amid the political stalemate, a relentless number of scientific studies and news accounts have established plastic pollution as a growing and serious environmental problem.
Sorted cubes of recyclable plastics numbers 3,4, 6 and 7 at Republic Services in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, May 17, 2019. The cubes of plastic will be sent to the landfill since China no longer buys this type of material. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The facts are daunting. Half the plastic that has ever existed on Earth was made in the last 13 years. Only 9% of the plastic sold every year in the United States is recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Up to 13 million metric tons of it ends up in the world’s ocean each year — the equivalent of a garbage truck-full being dumped into the sea every minute — where it kills fish, birds, sea turtles, whales and dolphins that eat it or become entangled by it.
Because plastic, which is made by petroleum products, lasts hundreds of years, it does not decompose, but instead breaks down into trillions of tiny pieces, some microscopic. Studies have shown they end up in fish, in rain, and in food that humans are consuming, including fish.
A study published in 2015 by the non-profit San Francisco Estuary Institute found that at least 3.9 million pieces of plastic pour into the bay every day from eight large sewage treatment plants — leaving the bay with higher concentration than the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and other major U.S. bodies of water.
Another study published last month by the Desert Research Institute in Reno found for the first time the existence of microplastics in Lake Tahoe’s famed blue waters, with many pieces so small they are barely visible. Scientists said they don’t know for sure how the plastic particles got into the lake. But they noted it comes from synthetic clothing, Styrofoam packaging, food containers and other litter, which once broken down can be moved miles by wind, rain and snow.
In California, plastics that once were recycled now are not.
Last year, China announced that it would no longer accept large amounts of plastic and other materials recycled in the United States for processing.
That caused a huge glut of waste plastic and other materials in California and other states. A few other Asian countries began buying more, but overall prices fell. With fewer markets, some cities that collect plastic in blue recycling bins at the curb have had to pay to get rid of it. Others have put the materials into landfills.
In August, rePlanet, one of California’s largest recycling businesses, closed 284 collection centers across the state.
In this 2015 photo, plastic debris is strewn on the beach on Henderson Island in the South Pacific. (Jennifer Lavers via AP)
