Offshore drilling: What Trump’s tweets don’t mention
Signe in the Philadelphia Inquirer
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Mystery water invades a New Jersey home, 500K gallons and counting in less than five months
Gerard and Penelope Garcia stand on their front lawn in February 2019. They posted a sign that asks for help to stop water coming into their home.
Every 50 seconds, for nearly a year, about 2.5 gallons of water has flowed into Gerard and Penelope Garcia’s Summit home.
You read that right: about 2.5 gallons of water every 50 seconds. Rain or shine.
The Garcias have become water detectives, but their sleuthing hasn’t solved the problem.
Neither have attempts from the couple’s water company, New Jersey American Water (NJAW), nor have efforts from elected officials, inspectors and engineers from Summit, Gerard Garcia said.
The water just keeps flowing into their basement, spewing from a source no one can find.
“It’s costing us our home. Right now our home is worth nothing,” Penelope Garcia said. “There’s no way we can sell it. We can’t even leave it for long periods of time because we don’t know what will happen to the basement.”
The first water invasion
The Garcias purchased their home in 2012, and the first sign of trouble came in April 2014.
During a powerful rainstorm, the couple’s sump pump – which they never needed before – failed. The basement flooded with several inches of water, Gerard Garcia said.
The couple assumed the water came from the heavy rains, so they fixed the sump pump.
But that didn’t correct the water problem. Instead, days after the rain stopped, the sump pump kept pumping water. Instead of the basement, the water now flooded into Garcia’s and a neighbor’s yard.
Garcia contacted NJAW, the water company.
NJAW didn’t find a line break at the Garcia home, but it did find one at a nearby condo development.
Garcia said he learned from NJAW that the home flooded in 2008 after a similar line break at the condos.
Over the next several weeks, Garcia said and records show, fixes were made to multiple pipes at the development, but that didn’t stop the water flow into Garcia’s basement.
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Suez to remove 50,000 feet of lead pipes this year in NJ
Scott Fallon reports for the North Jersey Record
About 25 percent of the lead pipes in Bergen and Hudson County will be replaced this year under a plan unveiled Thursday by Suez water company to help reduce high lead levels found in water pouring from the taps of homes last year.
The $15 million project will remove 50,000 feet of lead pipes – the equivalent of 34 Empire State Buildings laid end to end – in more than a dozen towns and cities served by the Paramus-based division of the worldwide company.
“It was important to us to make sure that our customers in these homes know we are doing everything we can for them,” Mark McKoy, vice president and general manager, said in a statement.
In what it calls a “sweeping attack,” Suez will replace more than 9 miles of pipes beginning with eight towns that have the highest number of lead service lines – the pipes that connect the water main to the property line. They are:
Teaneck
Rutherford
Hackensack
Ridgefield Park
Bogota
North Bergen
Union City
West New York.
The announcement comes a month after officials in several towns complained that Suez was moving too slowly to replace its lead lines at the minimum-mandated rate of 7 percent a year.
Oradell Council President Tracy Schoenberg, who lead the fight to get Suez to increase its replacement efforts, said she was pleased with both the announcement and the choice of towns because they have some of the oldest and most widespread lead lines.
But Schoenberg said she wants to know what Suez’s plan is beyond 2019.
“It’s great that they’re doing 25 percent this year, but will they be able to keep up that pace in the next three years so they can get all of their lead out of the system,” she said. “It puts communities like mine on the back burner without any firm idea of when they’re going to start work here.”
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Bill to ban foam containers advances in Maryland
Katie Pyzyk reports for WasteDive
Maryland’s House of Delegates has advanced legislation (HB109) that would prohibit food service providers from selling food and drinks in single-use containers made from expanded polystyrene — commonly referred to as foam. Related legislation (SB285) advanced in the Maryland Senate earlier this month.
Covered establishments would include restaurants, grocery stores, food trucks, schools, movie theaters and publicly- or privately-owned cafeterias. The most recent bill language would include cups, plates, trays, take-out containers and egg cartons. Containers for meat, poultry or seafood would be excluded.
If the bill passes, food service providers would be forced to stop offering foam containers by July 1, 2020. Violators would be notified and receive three months to correct their behavior — continued non-compliance after that period would subject them to a penalty of up to $250.
If this legislation becomes law, Maryland will be the first state in the country to ban foam food and drink containers.
The bill includes provisions stating the Maryland Department of the Environment will be responsible for spearheading public education campaigns about the ban before and after it takes effect. As the legislation currently stands, the department would have the authority to grant waivers for up to one year on a case-by-case basis if it determines that certain entities would suffer undue hardship by complying with the ban.
While Maryland would be the first state to implement a foam ban, a number of local municipalities have already done so: Baltimore passed a foam ban in 2018 (set to take effect later this year), while other cities across the country including Seattle, San Francisco and New York — have enacted similar bans.
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NY lawmakers pass bill to block waste incinerator
Cole Rosengren reports for WasteDive
The New York Senate has unanimously passed a bill (S2270A), known as the “Finger Lakes Community Preservation Act,” designed to effectively block plans for a new incinerator by prohibiting certification under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. Following the passage of a matching bill (A5029A) in the state Assembly, the decision now rests with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Plans for the estimated $365 million facility, 2,640 ton-per-day facility from Circular enerG have faced vociferous opposition from local groups. “We urge Governor Cuomo to sign this bill so we can put this outrageous proposal behind us and go back to growing the Finger Lakes economy,” said Seneca Lake Guardian President Joseph Campbell in a statement.
“The bill is a real step back for the environment. It would just encourage landfilling, which is the worst option for waste disposal,” said Alan Knauf, an attorney for Circular enerG, via email. “Circular will continue to pursue approval from local authorities, and is awaiting a decision on its Article 78 proceedings challenging rezoning decisions.”
Similar legislation came close to passing both chambers last year, but fell short when the Assembly didn’t bring it to a vote in June prior to the end of its 2018 session. Gov. Cuomo is already on the record opposing the project as of a May 2018 statement, which called it “not consistent” with state public health and environmental goals. He promised to “consider all options” in stopping it from coming to fruition.
Since it was first proposed for the town of Romulus in 2017, the Circular enerG project has become a lightning rod for a variety of larger issues playing out in upstate New York and the U.S. at large. Pitched as a way to develop the former Seneca Army Depot parcel and provide more revenue to local governments, the project has since taken on a different reputation.
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Green building and sustainability projects win awards in NJ
Nine projects in New Jersey that demonstrated outstanding achievement and best practices in green building and sustainability in 2019 have been selected for awards by the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s New Jersey Chapter (USGBC NJ).
The honorees will be recognized at the organization’s Annual Awards Gala from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, at the LEED-registered Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, NJ.
“This year’s winners are exciting and inspiring. They range from corporate campuses, higher education facilities, sustainably built residential projects, a comprehensive green cleaning initiative, and an urban resiliency park,” said USGBC NJ Board Chair Daniel Topping, Principal with NK Architects.
This year’s award winners are:
- LEED Project of the Year: Residential Community Inclusiveness – 913 New York Ave, Union City, NJ
- LEED Project of the Year: Residential Passive House – Candela Lofts
- LEED Project of the Year: Commercial – Unilever’s Project Unify
- Innovative Practices/ Innovative Project of the Year – Achievement in Sustainability Through Janitorial Services (SBM Management Services)
- LEED Project of the Year: Schools – Frank J. Gargiulo Campus, Hudson County Schools of Technology
- Honorable Mention: Commercial Community Dedication – Subaru of America Headquarters
- Honorable Mention: Commercial LEED Zero Initiative – Colgate-Palmolive Burlington Driving Towards LEED Zero
- Honorable Mention: Sustainable Practices Storm and Public Space Resiliency – 700 Jackson Redevelopment & Resiliency Park, Hoboken
- Honorable Mention: Sustainable Schools – Center for Environmental & Life Sciences, Montclair State University
Detailed descriptions of the projects are available online
List of previous winners (2007- 2018)
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