EnviroPolitics Blog

NJ students rally against controversial Meadowlands power plant project

A protest against a power plant project in the Meadowlands drew hundreds. *(Photo: Tom Nobile/northjersey.com)*

Tom Nobile reports for the North Jersey Record

A marching protest to “Save Our Lungs” by blocking a controversial power plant proposal in the Meadowlands drew hundreds of protesters to Ridgefield High School on Saturday, who sought to press Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration into rescinding permits granted to the project.

The march featured a strong contingent of local high school students from across the county, who partnered with environmental organizations such as the Sierra club and Food and Water Watch to rally against the gas-fired power plant in an area already graded an ‘F’ for clean air by the America Lung Association.

Federal data shows that the plant, slated for North Bergen, would likely pump millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, enough to become the highest emitter of carbon dioxide in the state, tied with the Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery in Linden.

“Today we live in a world where we have to fight for the privilege to breathe clean air,” Yoon Yung Kim, a high school student, said Saturday. “No amount of money is worth risking our lungs and our health.”

A collage of signs filled Ridgefield’s streets on Saturday as protesters embarked on a march from the high school to the plant’s proposed site less than a mile away. Horns honked and residents waved from their windows to chants of “It’s not fair, we need clean air” and “Hey Governor Murphy, don’t do us dirty.”

“Speak now or forever hold your breath,” one sign read.

“I am committed to protesting and marching until this project is finally rejected,” said Arturo Garcia, a Ridgefield student who helped organize the march.

The plant, dubbed the North Bergen Liberty Generating station, is proposed by Diamond Generating Corp, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi.

To date, more than 40 towns have passed resolutions against it, including mayors of many Meadowlands communities along with the Bergen County League of Municipalities.

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NJ bill aims to encourage private investment in public energy projects

Lawmakers warm to prospect of private investment in long-neglected projects, including in renewable energy

princeton microgrid — Microgrids are being considered; the microgrid at Princeton University kept the lights on during superstorm Sandy

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight

With an aging and often obsolete energy infrastructure in government-owned facilities in New Jersey, lawmakers are pushing a bill that would allow the private sector to invest in energy-related projects at those facilities.

The bill (S-2958)/(A-4535) won approval from committees in both houses last week, a sign that legislators are warming to the idea of private investments funding long neglected projects because of increasing constraints on local and other government entities.

To advocates, the concept represents a cost-effective way to fund projects that could help governments reduce energy costs, improve resiliency and develop cleaner ways of meeting government facilities’ energy needs.

“There is a large amount of aging and obsolete energy infrastructure,’’ Steven Goldenberg, a lawyer representing the New Jersey Distributed Energy Coalition, told the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, noting that government entities have consistently put off upgrades because of budgetary constraints. “Projects are not happening in the current environment.’’

Tax abatements

If the bill is enacted into law, Goldenberg argued it could lead to governments developing a wide range of projects, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and storage, and even microgrids. The latter could help critical facilities, like hospitals, keep their lights on even during failures of the conventional power grid.

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Shuttered steelmaker’s 21-story headquarters implodes

By the Associated Press

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Sixteen thousand tons of Bethlehem Steel collapsed in a matter of seconds Sunday as a demolition crew imploded Martin Tower, the defunct steelmaker’s former world headquarters.

Crowds gathered to watch the demolition of the Pennsylvania area’s tallest building, a 21-story monolith that opened at the height of Bethlehem Steel’s power and profitability but had stood vacant for a dozen years after America’s second-largest steelmaker went out of business.

Explosives took out Martin Tower’s steel supports and crumpled the 47-year-old building, which had earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places despite its relatively young age. The implosion, which took 16 seconds, created a thick plume of dust that lingered for several minutes.

Tyler Kent, whose father worked at Bethlehem Steel for 46 years and raised 11 children, said his “heart stopped” as he watched the building fall. His father and other relatives took pride in working at the industrial behemoth that armed the U.S. military and helped shape skylines across the country,

“To see it come down brought a tear to my eye. I didn’t think it was going to affect me emotionally like it did, but I just can’t imagine it’s gone. It’s so sad,” said Kent, who could see the tower from his house.

Martin Tower’s current owners spent years trying to redevelop the 332-foot (101-meter) structure — the tallest in a heavily populated region of Pennsylvania that includes the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton — but ultimately concluded it made more economic sense to knock it down and start over. Plans call for a $200 million development with medical offices, retail stores, a restaurant, a convenience store, a hotel and 528 apartments.

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A singer and a sportswriter: Saviors of the Hudson

“America’s first river” is a long way from total salvation, but 50 years ago, two men stepped up to rescue it.

Peter Dykstra writes for Environmental Health News

On April 1, 1969, a garrulous sportswriter released a book about his true passion. A month later, a smiling folksinger launched a refurbished boat – his true passion.

Robert Boyle and Pete Seeger never saw eye-to-eye on many of the details, but both men played key roles in launching one of America’s most storied conservation efforts.

Boyle, who penned many classic Sports Illustrated stories since the magazine’s first year in 1954, was an avid fly fisherman who wrote The Hudson River: A Natural and Unnatural History. Seeger, blacklisted during the McCarthy era and arguably the most unlikely member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, launched the Clearwater, a Hudson River sloop that became an icon of conservation and activism.

In the unusual venue of SI, Bob Boyle wrote about his beloved river, and was among the first to cover the Northeast’s acid rain epidemic. His stories on widespread PCB contamination in the Hudson from two General Electric factories far upstream helped spur a billion-dollar cleanup, and the eventual ban on PCB’s in the 1970’s. Thus, a magazine known for covering football, golf, boxing and swimsuits became an environmental leader.

In the mid-60s, Boyle got involved in opposing the Storm King project. Con Edison, New York City’s utility, planned to hollow out Storm King Mountain, 60 miles north of the city, to build a pump storage power facility.

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Environmentalists triumphed in a lengthy court battle, and Con Ed abandoned the project in what is considered an early landmark in environmental law.

The compulsively genial Pete Seeger helped build an organization that captured the imagination of millions who lived in the Hudson watershed. The Clearwater sailed the mighty river from Albany to the Statue of Liberty, giving kids and adults what was often their first exposure to environmental values.

Two of the early Clearwater crewmembers went on to skipper their own eco-boats: Peter Willcox was captain of the Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior, for years; and John Cronin became the first Hudson Riverkeeper.

Cronin dogged factories, railroad yards, municipal sewer systems, and other polluters for years, scoring impressive successes with the help of Boyle and environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

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Fire damages Burlington County, NJ recycling center in Westhampton

Firefighters and other first responders were called to the Robert C. Shinn Jr. Recycling Center shortly before 10 a.m. and found parts of the building well involved, according to police radio reports. All employees have been accounted for, officials said around 11 a.m.

David Lewinsky reports for the Burlington County Times:

WESTAMPTON — A three-alarm fire damaged the county recycling center off Hancock Lane on Saturday morning.

Eight workers were in the building at the time the fire began, but all exited unharmed, said a county spokesman. He said officials believe a conveyor belt caught fire, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Burlington County fire marshal is expected to clear the building Sunday.

The fire was contained to two conveyor belts, officials said. Recycling collection will not be interrupted, but operations at the center will be down until at least Monday, a spokesman said.

The county opened its renovated single-stream recycling center in 2015. Officials spent just under $15 million on modifying the 100,000-square-foot recycling center to allow it to accept single stream.

The Burlington County Regional Recycling Program provides recycling and collection services to all 40 municipalities in Burlington County and some contracts with the state and military installations. It’s operated in partnership with the Occupational Training Center, a nonprofit that offers vocational rehabilitation, job placement programs, day programs and housing for adults with disabilities.

Each weekday, the recycling program, which began in 1982 at OTC uses a fleet of about 20 recycling trucks to gather about 195 tons of recyclables from about 161,000 households across the county, according to the nonprofit.

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Carbon Pricing Reaches U.S. House’s Main Tax-Writing Committee

Less than a year ago, the House voted to denounce carbon taxes. Now, it’s discussing a carbon pricing plan supported by some Republican Party luminaries.

The U.S. Capitol, framed by power plant smokestacks. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images — A few carbon pricing plans have drawn attention in recent months. One plan, support by some prominent Republicans and several major oil companies, calls for removing greenhouse gas regulation in exchange for a carbon fee-and-dividend system. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Marianne Lavelle reports for Inside Climate News

A coalition of business and environmental groups, working with the support of some major oil companies, took a carbon pricing plan to the U.S. House’s main tax-writing committee on Wednesday. It was the Ways and Means Committee’s first climate-related hearing in a dozen years, and members of both parties treated the topic with kid gloves.

For the panel to be talking at all about climate change is momentous—it signals that carbon taxing has moved into the realm of the possible. But members were cautious to avoid endorsing any specific idea.

The Democrats, now in control of the House, weren’t there to back any particular legislative plan, but they called the group to make its pitch as part of an effort to explore “the economic and health consequences of climate change.” Committee Republicans, meanwhile, sought to convey serious concern about the costs of global warming, even though they opposed any solution that included a tax.

“Our plan is not a carbon tax. It is a dividend,” said Ted Halstead, chairman, and CEO of the Climate Leadership Council, a group whose members include BP, Exxon, and ConocoPhillips, as well as The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Federation and World Resources Institute.

Halstead called the proposal a “grand bargain” for the companies, in which they accept an escalating fee on the carbon emissions they produce in exchange for a rollback of regulations on greenhouse gases.

The plan, developed by GOP luminaries including former Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz, would return all revenue to U.S. households in the form of dividends. The quarterly payments, which the group estimates would amount to $2,000 a year for a family of four, would outstrip the increased cost of energy for the vast majority of households.

“I think there is a unified voice coming from corporate America, which is that a price on carbon is the most cost-effective solution,” Halstead said. “There are two approaches to solve climate change—you can regulate or you can price carbon. The members of our coalition, including the fossil fuel members, by joining our effort are saying they would prefer a high price on carbon in exchange for regulatory certainty.”

Persuading members of the House Ways and Means Committee will be crucial for any carbon pricing initiative since any congressional bill that raises revenue has to start here.

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