EnviroPolitics Blog

Camden settles with recycler EMR for $6.7M after huge February fire

By Alexandra Simon, CBS News

Nearly two months after a massive four-alarm fire broke out at the EMR Metal Recycling facility in Camden, New Jersey, the company has committed to investing millions of dollars back into the community.

“Let’s be clear, EMR is being held accountable,” Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen said.

Carstarphen detailed the new agreement between the city and EMR after the inferno raged out of control, sending toxins into the air. The mayor says EMR will now invest $6.7 million into the community, $4.5 million will be committed this year and $450,000 will be paid annually over the next five years.

“EMR will reimburse the city for losses fighting the fire, they will invest $3 million back into the waterfront south neighborhood,” Carstarphen said.

The fire broke out on Friday, Feb. 21, around 5 p.m. at the EMR scrap metal plant on the 1500 block of South 6th Street in South Camden, and burned for more than six hours before crews from nearly 20 departments brought the blaze under control. Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

EMR says it will now reduce its footprint in the city by nine acres, limit materials and increase inspections at the site. It will also install an aerial fire suppression system that includes heat detection cameras to identify potential hot spots and develop a text notification system for residents.

Read the full story here

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NJ lawmakers to examine food waste reduction and processing

The New Jersey Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee and the Senate Environment and Energy Committee will meet on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 10:00 AM in Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey.

The committees will receive testimony from invited guests on the topic of food waste reduction and food waste disposal methods in the State, and how State policy can support sustainable and environmentally friendly food management practices.

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Federal Cuts Shrink Heating and AC Aid Program, Leaving New Yorkers in the Cold

By Samantha Maldonado, The City

Mike Knerr was excited to move into his Washington Heights apartment in September 2023, but coming off a hot summer, he faced a looming problem: his building didn’t have central air conditioning, and he didn’t have an AC unit — or the money to buy one.

Knerr, who is HIV-positive, was out of work as his health took a nosedive. But the 42-year-old receives benefits through the the city’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration, which is how he found out he might be eligible to receive a free air conditioner from the federally funded Home Energy Assistance Program, or HEAP, which helps New Yorkers pay their heating bills in the winter and provides air conditioning units in the summer.

Knerr applied last April, and became one of the more than 10,000 households in New York City authorized to receive the cooling benefit. With his AC unit installed before summer, he felt relief.

“It would have taken all my expenses for the entire month to try to buy even a small air conditioner that wouldn’t have been able to cool the apartment very well,” said Knerr. “The medications and things cause me to sweat a lot so it’s helpful for me to stay healthy.”

Applications for this season’s HEAP’s cooling assistance opened Tuesday. But the future of the program is uncertain: the Trump administration in early April fired all the federal staff that ran the program as part of wider layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services. And states are millions of dollars short in promised federal funding, having still not received about 10% of the $4.1 billion Congress approved. That means New York has yet to receive about $36 million of its expected $360.2 million for HEAP, which helps over 1.5 million households across the state each year.

With the heat of summer approaching and utility bills mounting, consumer advocates and government officials are sounding the alarm.

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Big changes ahead for NJ’s former B. L. England site?

Development plans will include a 180-room hotel and hundreds of condominium units, as well as extensive retail space

From the A.C. Press

UPPER TOWNSHIP — Other than the trill of redwing blackbirds and the call of innumerable frogs announcing the spring, the site of the former B.L. England power plant on the banks of the Great Egg Harbor Bay is deeply quiet.

For now.

In the coming weeks, the township will receive a formal proposal for extensive residential and commercial development for the sprawling site, and the developers plan to submit permit requests under the state Coastal Area Facility Review Act, which governs development near the waterfront.

Those plans will include a 180-room hotel and hundreds of condominium units, as well as extensive retail space.

The project is at least a year away from the start of construction, and completion could take about a decade.

For decades, the B.L. England power plant used coal and diesel to generate electricity at the site and served as a landmark that could be seen for miles. Operations ceased in 2019.

Read the full story here

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Sewage discharge forces emergency closing of NY clam beds

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced shellfish harvesting in the Port Jefferson Harbor Complex, including the tributaries of Setauket Harbor, the Narrows, and Conscience Bay, within the town of Brookhaven, is designated as uncertified (closed) for shellfish harvesting effective immediately Monday, April 14, 2025.

DEC implemented this temporary closure due to a sewage discharge event which occurred in the town of Brookhaven that resulted in a release of partially treated waste without disinfection into Port Jefferson Harbor in the morning of April 14, 2025. The incident lasted for approximately 2 hours and discharged approximately 30,000 gallons. DEC’s Division of Water is communicating with Suffolk County and confirmed the plant is now operating normally.

Effective immediately, and continuing until a determination is made that conditions no longer exist that may make shellfish hazardous for use as food, the following areas are designated as uncertified, and the harvest of shellfish is prohibited until further notice:

Town of Brookhaven (North Shore): Port Jefferson Harbor and its tributaries.

This action affects approximately 1,639 acres of shellfishing beds in the NS5 harvest area and is necessary to protect public health. Without disinfection, partially treated sewage effluent carries high levels of pathogenic bacteria and viruses. When water quality in the enclosed harbors and bays is adversely affected by sewage, shellfish in these areas have an increased potential to be hazardous for use as food.

A recorded message advising harvesters of the status of these shellfish areas may be heard at (631) 444-0480. The message will be updated throughout the temporary closures. For a more detailed description of the closed areas, call DEC’s office of Marine Resources during normal business hours at (631) 444-0492. Additionally, information about temporary closures is available on DEC’s website.

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Documents reveal Trump’s plan to gut funding for Nasa and climate science

Critics say Nasa faces ‘extinction-level event’ with budget plan, with climate research funding also to be slashed

By Gabrielle Canon, The Guardian

Donald Trump shows no signs of easing his assault on climate science as plans of more sweeping cuts to key US research centers surfaced on Friday.

The administration is planning to slash budgets at both the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (Noaa) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), according to internal budget documents, taking aim specifically at programs used to study impacts from the climate crisis.

Craig McLean, a longtime director of the office of oceanic and atmospheric research (OAR) who retired in 2022, told the Guardian that the cuts were draconian and would “compromise the safety, economic competitiveness, and security of the American people”.

If the plan is approved by Congress, funding for OAR would be eviscerated – cut from $485m to $171m – dismantling an important part of the agency’s mission.

All budgets for climate, weather and ocean laboratories would be drained, according to the document reviewed by the Guardian, which states: “At this funding level, OAR is eliminated as a line office.”

“The elimination of Noaa’s research line office and all of its research capabilities is a crushing blow to the ability of our country to protect our citizens and also to lead the world,” said the former Noaa administrator Rick Spinrad, adding that the document included “an extraordinarily devastating set of recommendations”.

Read the full story here

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