New spark for energy-saving measures in New Jersey

For years, energy conservation has been a state priority more in theory than in practice. The Murphy administration has set new goals, but there’s disagreement about how to achieve them

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Steve Gabel

More than a decade ago, New Jersey ranked among the nation’s ten best states in promoting energy-saving actions for its residents and businesses.

Not anymore. A recent ranking by the respected American Council for Energy Efficiency Economy put New Jersey in the middle of the pack at 23rd — despite energy conservation repeatedly being cited as a top priority in the state’s energy master plans as long ago as 1978, according to Steven Gabel, president of Gabel Associates, an energy consulting firm.
Now, a law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy this spring establishes new goals to cut energy use and, for the first time, mandates New Jersey’s gas and electric utilities to curb customer consumption.
For clean-energy advocates, utilities, and others who participated in an NJ Spotlight roundtable in Newark this past Friday on energy efficiency, it is well past the time to get the show on the road.
“Customers want to use less energy because they want to save money,’’ said David Daly, president and COO of Public Service Electric & Gas, the state’s largest utility. “It’s their number one issue for them.’’

Mixed results

It may be a top priority of both customers and policymakers, but the results have been mixed, at least by some advocates’ perspective.

Mary Barber

Mary Barber
In the state’s fiscal year 2018, the New Jersey Office of Clean Energy projected 0.36 percent in annual energy savings, according to Mary Barber, New Jersey clean-energy director for the Environmental Defense Fund. The new state law requires electric utilities to cut consumption by 2 percent and gas companies to cut it by 0.75 percent. “Based on the results, we need change,’’ said Barber.
“We’ve really scratched the surface in New Jersey despite very great efforts,’’ agreed Adam Procell, president and chief executive officer of Lime Energy, a Newark company involved in energy conservation.
During a wide-ranging discussion, participants were more optimistic the new law could push the state into a leadership role in energy conservation, with some debate over the role of the state’s utilities and how much they should be rewarded.

Brand: ‘The utilities are fine’

Several speakers argued utilities — with well-established relationships with customers — ought to be the focus on bringing energy-efficiency to residents and businesses.

Stefanie Brand

Stefanie Brand
But Stefanie Brand, director of the Division of Rate Counsel, disputed the prospect of allowing utilities to recover lost revenue from sales by incenting customers to use less energy — a provision called “decoupling’’ in energy jargon that’s used in more than half of the other states in the country.
“The entire energy efficiency discussion cannot be about how are we going to pay utilities,’’ Brand said. “This is crazy. This is why nothing has happened. I see their books. The utilities are fine.’’
Others disagreed on whether the state can move forward with aggressive energy-efficiency goals without decoupling.

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Environmental bills set for votes in NJ Assembly on Sep. 27


The New Jersey Assembly has scheduled the following bills for consideration when it holds its next voting session at 1 p.m. on Thursday, September 27, 2018:

A1053 (Houghtaling / Taliaferro / Andrzejczak) – Revises and expands laws on trespass and vandalism on agricultural and horticultural lands.


A3676 (Mazzeo / Armato / Giblin) – Creates Garden State Growth Zone at Atlantic City International Airport and the surrounding area; adjusts full-time employee designation requirements.


AJR150 (Johnson / Conaway) – Designates October 8 of each year as “Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day” in NJ.


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New Jersey bill addresses electric service to critically ill

Following the death of a New Jersey woman who died after PSE&G shut off her power, State Sen. Gerry Cardinale (R-39) has introduced legislation that would prohibit electric public utilities from discontinuing service in cases where doing so would put lives of seriously-ill consumers at risk.

“It is hard to imagine that a public utility company could be so callous, that they would put someone’s life in jeopardy, just to turn a profit,” Cardinale said. “Linda Daniels’ family pleaded with the electric company to restore her power, while she was gasping for air. My prayers are with her family. We can’t erase their pain, but we can take action to ensure this never happens to another terminally-ill customer again.”

Due to her battle with congestive heart failure, Linda Daniels was heavily dependent on an oxygen tank. On Thursday, July 5, 2018, Daniels’ power was cut off by PSE&G. Daniels was reportedly unable to breathe and passed away just a few short hours after PSE&G turned off her power.

The NJ Board of Public Utilities currently bars electric companies from shutting off power for customers with life-threatening medical conditions. Cardinale noted, however, that many customers often have difficulty reporting a condition in the first place, or find that when they do try to make the company aware of their medical circumstances, utility representatives are unresponsive to their needs, or flat-out ignore their request for accommodations.

Sen. Cardinale’s legislation, S2945, would establish a “medical customer” identification system that utility companies would be required to observe in order to ensure critically-ill customers do not have to cope with a sudden loss of service.

S2945 would also require an electric company, on a semiannual basis, to ask their customers if an individual in the household suffers a serious health condition.

Under the bill, a utility could require the “medical customer” to:

* Provide reasonable proof of an inability to pay a utility bill on or before the bill’s due date.

* Deliver a semi-annual written statement from a medical professional.

* Specify the nature of the medical condition, only if the disclosure is not prohibited by law.

“Public utilities must be held accountable for consumer safety,” Cardinale said. “By requiring an electric company to survey every residence they serve, we can ensure that critically-ill customers do not have to suffer the horrible fate that befell Linda Daniels. No one should have to spend their last moments gasping for air in the dark, because a power company refused to meet their needs. I have no doubt that this legislation will save lives.”

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Annual Forum Focus: Conservation of the Delaware River

The Cape May Herald reports:
The Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed, led by New Jersey Audubon and in partnership with National Wildlife Federation, will hold the sixth annual Delaware River Watershed Forum at the Grand Hotel Sept. 25-26, in Cape May. Register
According to a release, about 250 people are expected to attend the two-day event, which will provide a platform to share information and learn about a variety of efforts underway to protect the Delaware River Watershed. Annually the forum moves to another location within the basin. Last year’s forum took place in the Pocono Mountains.
The watershed is a four-state region that provides drinking water to over 15 million people (including New York City and Philadelphia), supports $25 billion in annual economic activity, and sustains valuable habitats for unique species like the Atlantic sturgeon and American horseshoe crab.
For other great events check out Enviro-Events Calendar
Speakers at the forum will include Wendi Weber, northeast regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Shawn Garvin, secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control; Debbie Mans, deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; and keynote speaker Tim Palmer, the author and photographer of 26 books about rivers, the environment, and adventure travel.
The Forum brings together organizations and individuals spanning the four watershed states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York, allowing for collaboration and providing capacity-building and outreach tools for conservation.
This year attendees will celebrate March’s historical win when $5 million in dedicated federal funds was appropriated for the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund, which will provide grants and technical assistance to on-the-ground projects that address issues facing the watershed.
The forum will also focus on how to mobilize around important issues and policies that impact the watershed to ensure a healthy river basin for future generations.
The Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed is a network of 131 organizations that unites nongovernmental organizations working throughout the four states of the watershed to share information and coordinate efforts and advocacy to promote a healthy Delaware River Basin. 

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Susquehanna riverkeeper trains retriever to detect sewage

Susquehanna, the dog training to sniff out sewage in the Susquehanna River, has some fun playing fetch in the water recently at the Susquehanna State Park in Williamsport. Cara Morningstar photo































Pat Crossley reports for the (Williamsport) Sun-Gazette:

Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Carol Parenzan uses many resources to aid her in patrolling the Susquehanna River watershed, but only one has a furry body and a nose that is being trained to sniff out the presence of raw sewage in the water.

Little Susquehanna, or “Sussey” as Parenzan affectionately calls him, is 3 years old this month. He is a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, an unusual breed she chose for two reasons.
“There are just a handful of dogs trained to do sewage, and he’s probably the only Nova Scotia duck toller right now being trained to do that,” Parenzan said.
One reason she chose the breed is that they are water dogs. In fact, Sussey has webbed feet.
“He swims like a little fish out there. He loves water,” Parenzan said.
She also selected him because he’s an unusual breed.
“When people see him, they say, ‘Wow what is that?’ Then I go through the story,” she said.
Parenzan said it opens up a conversation and she can explain why he has that particular name and the work he does for her and the environment.
“He was selected purposely to be a story,” she said.
Duck tollers are hunting dogs, she noted, so his sense of smell is intense. Although he is her pet, Sussey also is the official conservation canine for the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper.
“Dogs are trained to respond to a certain scent, whether it’s drugs or bed bugs, diabetes or cancer. His scent that he’s being trained to respond to is raw sewage. I actually go to the sewage treatment plant once a week and get it. Most people want to get rid of it there; I go get it and bring it home,”Parenzan said, laughing.
Although residents may like to think area waterways are free of sewage, Parenzan
cautioned that may not be the case, because there still are combined sewer overflow systems in use.
Right now, a move is underway to separate sewage and stormwater systems. In the past they have been combined, Parenzan said.
When a combined flow goes toward the sewage treatment plant, if it is under a certain level, it goes to the sewage treatment plant to get treated whether it is wastewater or stormwater. In this system, as it’s going underground, there’s a weir and as the water is coming down it comes up to the weir and if it’s below the top of the weir it goes to the treatment plant.
A problem arises when there is a storm event and the water coming into the system spills over the weir. Then wastewater and stormwater will both go into the river.
“But, there is also the issue of illegal connections, people who don’t want to pay for wastewater treatment who will illegally redirect their wastewater into the stormwater system” through catch basins, or storm drains, she said.
“(Sussey will) be able to detect that. He’ll be able to go by those storm drains and if there’s a scent of sewage, he’ll alert me,” Parenzan said. “We’ll be able to pop manholes that should just be stormwater going through and if there’s sewage in there, we’ll be able to detect that as well.”
Once the sewage reaches the river, Sussey still will be able to sniff it out, even though the river covers a large area.

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‘Hand in the cookie jar’ political consultant sentenced to four years in prison for her role in Watershed fraud

Karen Yi reports for NJ.com:

A former political consultant in Essex County was sentenced to four years in federal prison Tuesday for her role in defrauding the now-defunct nonprofit in charge of treating water for parts of northern New Jersey. 
Dianthe Martinez-Brooks, 48, of West Orange, previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud, admitting she submitted bloated invoices to the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. for work that was never performed and gave the money as kickbacks to top officials at the agency. 
“This is probably one of the worst days of my life,” Martinez-Brooks said before U.S. District Court Judge Jose Linares, as she wiped tears away with a tissue. 
“I’ve spent my life helping people stay out of trouble yet I find myself standing here … I’m sorry that I find myself before you today,” she said. 
Her sentencing Tuesday marks the latest in the corruption case against a roster of officials and consultants at the watershed corporation, who have been sentenced or charged in a million-dollar scheme that ultimately sunk the agency. 
Federal prosecutors said Martinez-Brooks was part of the inner circle at the watershed, serving as an advisor through her political consulting company, DMart127 LLC. Between May 2011 and March 2013, she recruited an unnamed relative of hers and West Orange businessman Kevin Gleaton to do work that was never performed. Altogether, she secured $226,666 in phony contracts — including money she paid out to herself.
Martinez-Brooks’ company received $131,000, of which only $43,000 was for work she did, prosecutors said. The rest was kicked back to the former director of the watershed, Linda Watkins Brashear, and Donald Bernard Sr., special projects manager for the watershed. Both are in prison. 
“This kind of corruption can’t be allowed to exist and can’t be allowed to permeate in the city of Newark,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacques Pierre said in court. He said Martinez-Brooks played a role in bringing the watershed “down to its knees.”
The watershed corporation dissolved in 2013 and filed for bankruptcy. 
Martinez-Brooks is the eighth person to be sentenced in the scheme; a former Newark police officer, Janell Robinson, of Newark, was indicted in March. Her case is still pending. 

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