PADEP rejects proposed Elcon chemical waste plant, citing deficiencies

The DEP issued a draft decision Wednesday to reject a controversial application to build a hazardous waste treatment facility near the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.

Kyle Bagenstose reports for the Doylestown Intelligencer

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Wednesday rejected a proposal to build a hazardous waste treatment center located across the Delaware River from Burlington County.

The decision appears to be a significant setback for Elcon Recycling Services LLC, which has been working for years to try and win approval for the controversial facility. According to the company, the facility would process between 150,000 and 210,000 tons of chemical and pharmaceutical waste each year, on a 23-acre plot of land in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex, formerly the footprint of U.S. Steel.

“After a rigorous review of the application, supplemental materials submitted by the company, and input from the public, DEP will not approve this application in its current form,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a prepared statement. “Unless the company can address these outstanding deficiencies, DEP will have no choice but to move forward with a full application denial.”

As alluded to by McDonnell, the decision is not a final blow. Virginia Cain, regional spokeswoman for the DEP, said the notice was only a “draft” decision that noted 18 deficiencies in Elcon’s application to treat hazardous waste. There will be a 45-day comment period from June 1 to July 15, at which time Elcon could potentially submit materials to correct the deficiencies.

“If Elcon doesn’t satisfy that, then we would move forward with the denial,” Cain said, adding that DEP could also choose to accept the changes and put forth a draft permit.

A DEP statement accompanying the draft denial lays out the deficiencies. Among the issues are Elcon’s final plans having a large footprint than was laid out in an initial site review, omissions of pertinent documents in its application, the proposed pathways for vehicles to navigate the property, and concerns over environmental monitoring.

Detailing one deficiency, the DEP said it wanted Elcon to conduct quarterly groundwater sampling, as opposed to Elcon’s proposal it only conduct such sampling in the event of a spill. Such monitoring would “provide the best assurance of the earliest detection of any releases from hazardous waste management units,” the DEP wrote.

The DEP also wants assurances that Elcon has identified appropriate hazardous waste landfills to dispose of solids left over after treatment, clarification on whether or not it would accept PCB-contaminated wastes, and a correction that estimates show the facility will hire 55 employees, not 120. DEP said Elcon estimated the higher number based on a theoretical future expansion.

Fred Stine, citizen action coordinator for the Bristol Borough-based nonprofit Delaware Riverkeeper Network, cheered the decision.

“The sun is out, both literally and figuratively,” Stine said. “I think it’s another nail in the coffin … but it’s not the final denial.

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How healthy is water at NJ surfing beaches after storms flush sewers?

Monmouth U. to study water pollution at surfing beaches

(From a Monmouth University press release)

Surfing at the Jersey Shore – Asbury Park Press photo

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Monmouth University scientists and students have begun a yearlong study on the linkage between rainfall and microbial pollution at surfing beaches in New Jersey including Asbury Park, Deal and Long Branch. The work will be conducted through a $30,000 contract with the Surfers’ Environmental Alliance [1] (SEA).

Microbial pollution, the contamination of water with pathogens that can make people sick, is a problem in densely populated coastal areas around the world. At some of Monmouth County’s most popular surfing beaches, municipal storm drains and outflow pipes discharge directly into the surf zone.

“We’ve heard stories from surfers about how the water sometimes smells and looks different at these beaches after heavy rainstorms,” said Endowed Associate Professor of Marine Science Jason Adolf of Monmouth University’s School of Science and Urban Coast Institute. “However, no data have been gathered to back up the anecdotal evidence about the magnitude of the problem.”

Monmouth University Specialist Professor Jeff Weisburg, the project co-lead, added that there is a significant gap in the state’s sampling program because it is primarily focused on the busiest bathing beaches in the summer tourism season.

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Forsythe Wildlife Refuge celebrates 80 years of nature on the wing

Marjorie Preston reports for the Atlantic City Press

Visitors to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville will find lots of airborne companions: flocks of water fowl and warbling songbirds, egrets and eagles, hawks and hummingbirds.

This unspoiled sanctuary — more than 47,000 acres of it, stretching from Atlantic County to Brick Township — offers a glimpse of what local coastal landscapes may have looked like a century ago, before the region was developed (and overdeveloped).

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Season to season, the vast expanse of saltmarshes, isolated shores, and wooded trails is a favorite stopover for migratory birds like snowy owls, snow geese, Canada geese, mallards and others, some of which flock here by the tens of thousands to rest and feed before taking flight again.

Naturalist Kyle Chelius of Mullica Hill, who leads bird walks at the refuge every Friday morning, says Forsythe is “one of the greatest places in New Jersey to see birds,” as popular among avid birders as its friendly rival, Cape May. Both are key links in the 3,000-mile Atlantic Flyway, a sort of expressway for migrating birds that ranges from the Arctic tundra of Baffin Island to the fair climes of the Caribbean.

Walk on the wild side

Conveniently located along Route 9 in Galloway Township, Forsythe Wildlife Refuge—part of the National Wildlife Refuge System — is remarkably untouched by the tumult of modern life. This is a world of shimmering waters, waving grasses, native greenery and abundant wildlife, in the air, on foot and in the water. There’s a kind of hush about the place, punctuated only by birdsong and the occasional rustle of wings.

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May Heat Shrinks Washington Snowpack, Raising Risk for Tight Water Flows for Fish and Farmers

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing surging spring heat that is prompting red-flag warnings for fire risks in southwest Washington. With statewide snowpack only 58 percent of the median, state officials are preparing for summer drought, which can raise the potential for wildfires, reduce irrigation flows to farmers and make life difficult for salmon.

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Rutgers students vote to slash funding for student paper. Daily Targum could shut down.

Editor’s Note: As a former student journalist, I find the headline to be disturbing. But I’m too far removed from any college campus–in age or location–to understand how this happened. So, we’re asking Rutgers students, recent grads, and faculty for their opinions. Why has the student newspaper lost the support of its readers? Inferior or irrelevant product? A generation of students disinterested in print news? A reaction to college fees? Please click on the ‘comment’ line or use our Facebook page to respond. We also welcome comment from students at other colleges and universities–Frank Brill

By Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The future of Rutgers University’s independent student newspaper is in question after losing all of its funding from student fees, the primary source of revenue for the 151-year-old The Daily Targum.

Not enough students voted to continue supporting an $11.25 student fee in a recent campus referendum, gutting the paper of its largest and most reliable source of revenue, the paper announced on Monday night.

“It’s kind of up in the air right now,” Sandy Giacobbe, The Daily Targum’s business manager, said of the future. “The Targum is in uncharted territory.”

Giacobbe, a junior, wouldn’t say what percentage of total revenue will be lost or speculate about whether the paper may reduce its current five-day print schedule.

The failed referendum is the the first complete loss of student fee funding since the paper became independent of the university in 1980, he said.

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In a statement, The Daily Targum pledged to continue serving the Rutgers community.

“We do not know what the future holds, but the Targum Publishing Company’s Board of Trustees and staff will be working to address this funding crisis,” the paper tweeted.

The paper began printing at Rutgers in 1869 and has been a training ground for thousands of professional journalists ever since. But many independent college newspapers, like media companies, have struggled to stay afloat amid declining print circulation and advertising revenue, leading them to scale back print operations and focus on their websites.

Some college papers have recently turned to students fees as a solution, asking the student body to vote to approve new fees to support campus journalism.

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Eight states now have used-paint recycling laws. NJ governor urged to join them.

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Blog Editor

Last week Washington became the eighth state to adopt a law that makes paint manufacturers responsible for the cost of collecting and recycling leftover house latex and oil paints.

“This new law will help protect the environment by making it easy for Washington residents and businesses to recycle leftover house paints that pile up in our basements, garages, and storage facilities,” said sponsor State Rep. Strom Peterson. “The program also will save money for towns and taxpayers by freeing up resources currently dedicated to processing unused paint through local household hazardous waste programs.”  

The Association of New Jersey Household Hazardous Waste Coordinators (NJHHWC), which has been the lead organization pushing similar legislation in New Jersey, seized on news of the Washington State enactment. In a letter, Association president JoAnn Gemenden urged Governor Phil Murphy to endorse the ‘paint stewardship’ legislation that now is law in the eight other states.

New Jersey’s current paint bills, S2815, and A4382, offer a “vast improvement over the current disposal options of landfilling, incineration at waste-to-energy facilities, or the exorbitant expense of county household hazardous waste collection programs,” Gemenden wrote.

Angela Anderson, president of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR) which also supports the legislation, agreed. “The beauty of the legislation is that paint manufacturers would be able to utilize a voluntary network of retailers for used-paint collection and/or New Jersey’s established system of municipal and county recycling centers, she said.

Model paint legislation, supported by the paint industry, has been enacted in Oregon, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia. 

In New Jersey, the legislation has been heard and released by the environmental committees in the both the Senate and Assembly and currently sit in the finance committees in both houses.

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