NJ to solicit off-shore wind energy applications as developers play beat-the-clock on federal subsidies

Offshore wind

Credit: Creative Commons
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:



The Murphy administration will solicit applications for offshore-wind farms this fall, an important step that could help developers qualify for lucrative tax credits to defray the cost to consumers.



The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is expected to open a window to begin accepting applications at its monthly meeting Monday to build up to 1,100 megawatts of offshore-wind farms off the Jersey coast.



The move could mark the most significant step the administration has taken to implement its ambitious goal to develop 3,500 MW of offshore-wind capacity in the state — the most aggressive target in the nation.



The initial solicitation is critical because offshore-wind developers have spent months pressing the administration to speed up its review process, so they could qualify for federal tax credits to reduce project costs by 10 percent. The credits expire at the end of 2019.



“What the administration has demonstrated is a commitment by action to get the results they want,’’ said Scott Weiner, an attorney representing Deepwater Wind, which is seeking to build an offshore wind farm off Cape May.



Developers are happy



Fred Zalcman, head of government affairs for Ørsted, which has leases off South Jersey, agreed. “We’re pretty pleased with it. It’s a workable formula.’’



Precise details about the process, however, were not forthcoming. Peter Peretzman, a spokesman for the BPU, said only “I can’t go beyond the press release,’’ when asked when the solicitation would occur.



In Gov. Phil Murphy’s announcement, delivered in a press release at the Global Action Climate Summit in San Francisco, he called on the BPU to issue two additional 1,200-MW solicitations in 2020 and 2022, to achieve his 3,500-MW capacity target.



“Every day that we don’t act to reverse the effects of climate change is another day that we abandon our economic, social and moral obligation to create a safe, clean environment for future generations,’’ Murphy said in the statement.



Environmentalists welcomed the governor’s move to set a time frame for achieving the 3,500-MW goal by 2030.



“Gov. Murphy is moving to make New Jersey a national leader in offshore wind,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “This is a change from the Christie era.’’



Electric customers to bear most of the costs



Still, business interests are concerned about the projected costs of offshore wind, which largely will be borne by electric customers in New Jersey — already saddled with some of the highest energy bills in the nation.



The BPU is simultaneously moving to adopt a new rule that would establish a funding mechanism to funnel ratepayer funds to the offshore-wind farms to help make them economically viable. By most estimates, those projects will cost more than $1 billion.



Consumers in the state are facing huge increases in utility bills as companies move to upgrade aging power grids and make systems more resilient to extreme storm events from climate change.



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Who spends the most to sway N.J. politicians (and you). Unions? Big biz? Teachers?

Pile of money.JPG

Samantha Marcus reports for NJ.com:
Insurers, hospitals, telecommunications and energy companies, unions and industry associations spend big dollars each year to sway New Jersey residents and lawmakers.
The biggest among these — the top 25 — spent more than $74 million on campaigns and lobbying in 2017, according to a new Election Law Enforcement Commission report released Wednesday.
These top spenders accounted for 43 percent of all special interest spending in 2017, which came to $170.4 million, according to the report.
“This analysis seeks to measure the full cloud of the pressure groups by totaling their direct contributions and independent spending, which influence elections, and lobbying, which influences policy,” the report said.
The analysis reviewed spending in 2017, when the governor’s office and all 120 legislative seats were on the ballot.

Last year was also marked by some contentious debates over energy subsidies for PSEG’s nuclear operations and then-Gov. Chris Christie’s fight with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield over its reserves, which he wanted to tap for addiction treatment.
That dramatic fight between Christie and the health insurer contributed to a dramatic shutdown of state government over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The New Jersey Education Association, the largest public union in the Garden State, also spent record sums last fall to unseat Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester. A super PAC, New Jerseyans for a Better Tomorrow, spent millions in return backing Sweeney, who was re-elected.

Click to see 25 biggest spenders among NJ’s special interests.



 

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NYDEC expands General Permit for bulkhead projects

bulkheadNew permit streamlines approval procedure for areas throughout Long Island
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today that it has finalized the General Permit that establishes new guidelines for bulkhead replacement and repair projects throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos announced today.
Commissioner Seggos said, “After Superstorm Sandy, Governor Cuomo directed DEC to help New Yorkers build back stronger and better than before. To expedite storm recovery efforts, DEC issued a General Permit for bulkhead repair and we expanded this success in 2014. With the issuance of the updated 2018 General Permit, the permitting process will be further streamlined while still protecting the environment.”
The new General Permit builds upon the success of General Permit – Tidal Wetland Bulkhead with Dredging, which in 2014 established streamlined permit issuance guidelines for bulkhead projects on the south shore of Nassau and Suffolk counties, limited to the area west of the Robert Moses Causeway. Since its adoption, DEC has issued permits for more than 1,066 bulkhead replacement projects. In addition, DEC has reduced permit issuance time.
The new General Permit provides expedited permit procedures for bulkhead projects throughout all of Nassau and Suffolk counties, excluding coastal erosion hazard areas, high energy wave areas, areas within 10 feet of vegetated tidal wetlands and submerged aquatic vegetation, and marsh island communities within the bays of Nassau and Suffolk counties.
The permits allow for the removal and replacement of functional and lawfully existing bulkheads, including returns and parallel capping boardwalks in the same location; the replacement of a bulkhead 18 inches higher in elevation than the existing bulkhead; and limited maintenance dredging associated with the bulkhead replacement.
In addition, the new General Permit allows replacement of appurtenant bulkhead structures, such as mooring structures and stormwater infrastructure associated with bulkhead replacement, and the landward replacement and re-sheathing of bulkheads. The original permit only specified an in-place replacement. The 2014 permit only applied to the south shore of Nassau and Suffolk counties, west of the Robert Moses Causeway.
DEC will review and approve requests for authorization under the General Permit before activities can be undertaken.
The 2014 General Permit for bulkhead replacement and repair projects expires on March 11, 2019. Projects authorized under that permit must be completed by March 11, 2019. New Yorkers with projects authorized under the current permit that will not be completed by March 11, 2019, or who intends to modify existing plans, must seek DEC authorization.
The General Permit and the associated request for authorization form can be found on DEC’s website.

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Up to your tuchas in Atlantic City back-bay floodwater? The Army Corps is working on it. Can you wait until 2026?

Atlantic City floodingU.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers a range of defenses, including new floodwalls and storm-surge gates, but construction unlikely before 2026

Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:

Andrea Petinga never had flooding on her property in Atlantic City until Hurricane Sandy, but now it happens twice a month when there’s a full moon or a new moon, and she’s sick of it.
Petinga, who lives along the Intracoastal Waterway on the bay side of Atlantic City, took her concerns to a meeting held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Ventnor on Wednesday to update the public on its massive five-year study on how to defend New Jersey’s back bays from the bigger storms and rising seas that are forecast for coming decades.
Officials said they expect to publish draft recommendations in December but those won’t be finalized until 2021 and the construction of new floodwalls, storm-surge gates or any other defenses isn’t expected until 2026 at the earliest.
That’s too late for people like Petinga, 69, who told the meeting that she doesn’t have a decade or more to wait for the authorities to figure out a way of stopping rising seas from the back bays flooding people’s properties.
“Since Hurricane Sandy, every full moon, every new moon, I have water at my house, and if you don’t move your car you will lose your car,” Petinga said in an interview after the meeting. “My sidewalk is falling in, and there’s no help. There’s no money to do anything, is what I’m told.”

Forced to relocate?

With no solution in sight, Petinga said she has considered moving away from the house where she has lived for 46 years but doesn’t want to because she likes where she lives. Still, she accepts that she might eventually be forced to relocate if the waters continue to inundate her property.
“Yes, if the water keeps coming up and nobody does anything,” she said, showing a reporter pictures of her flooded yard on her phone. “The water comes through the bulkhead during high tide whereas it never did before. It’s rotting away and nobody takes care of it.”

Up to your tuchas in Atlantic City back-bay floodwater? The Army Corps is working on it. Can you wait until 2026? Read More »

Before you do an enviro-cleanup for a NJ county, read this

A Gibbons environmental attorney has some words of advice for any developer or other parties that might be planning to perform an environmental remediation on behalf of a New Jersey county. 


In an alert to the firm’s clients, 

Gibbons attorney Paul M. Hauge

Paul M. Hauge writes:

For purposes of obtaining financial assistance from the State, cleaning up environmental contamination for a governmental body’s benefit is not the same as cleaning it up on behalf of the government as its formal designee. That is the hard lesson that a former landowner learned in the New Jersey Appellate Division’s August 29, 2018 decision in In re Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund Public Entity Grant Application for Remedial Investigation and Remedial Action.
When Barry Rosengarten contracted to sell a parcel of land in Perth Amboy to Middlesex County for use as open space, he agreed to remediate environmental contamination, and the County escrowed monies from the sale to be released to Mr. Rosengarten as he performed the cleanup. The County also agreed to cooperate in seeking State grants that could offset those costs and thus reduce Mr. Rosengarten’s net cleanup expenses.
Through Mr. Rosengarten’s counsel, the County applied to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for either a Brownfield Development Area Grant or a 75% Recreation and Conservation Grant. NJDEP denied the application after finding that the County was not performing the cleanup and that the contract did not provide that Mr. Rosengarten was doing the work on the County’s behalf.
On Mr. Rosengarten’s appeal, after initially holding that Mr. Rosengarten had standing to appeal even though he was not the applicant, the Court affirmed NJDEP’s denial of the application. The relevant statutory provision, N.J.S.A. 58:10B-6.a(2)(a), authorized grants to “municipalities, counties, or redevelopment entities,” making Mr. Rosengarten himself ineligible. Furthermore, the County was ineligible because it did not perform the remediation work, incur any cleanup expenses, or designate Mr. Rosengarten as a “redeveloper” or as its agent for purposes of the remediation. Nor was the County eligible for a recreation and conservation grant under N.J.A.C. 19:31-8.3(b)(2), as the parcel was not part of any comprehensive development or redevelopment plan.
With the best of intentions, the parties here sought to use the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund to advance the very purpose for which it exists – cleanup of environmental contamination on publicly owned land. Their contract, however, left too much of a gap between the private party doing the cleanup and the public entity that would benefit from that cleanup. Parties to similar arrangements in the future will do well to heed the lesson from this case.

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Local recycling starts to feel ripple effect of China ban

China will no longer accept some materials and wants others to be much cleaner. As a result, recycling has become more complicated and more expensive for communities across New Jersey


Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Recycling waste in China

Credit: Creative Commons
A child sits atop unusable recycled materials in China.
Recycling is getting a lot more complicated, a trend that is spiking costs and leaving reams of paper, plastics and other recyclables to pile up in warehouses, or worse, in landfills.
It is a problem occurring not only in New Jersey but across the nation as China, the biggest market for recyclables in the past, has essentially stopped accepting raw materials from foreign recycling businesses. The new policies this spring have disrupted a global market and left some communities with the unhappy prospect of paying to get rid of recyclables instead of selling the waste.
It is likely to get worse before it gets better, too, industry experts say. That means residents must adapt to tougher sorting policies when they attempt to dispose of plastics, paper, and other waste, often in the same recycling bin. That practice, dubbed “single-stream recycling,’’ is now being phased out in some cases. Instead, residents are being ordered to separate paper from cardboard, glass from plastic, food waste from other recyclables, and so on.

Millburn, Cranford, Westfield make changes

The change has led communities to educate the public to be more careful in what they throw in the recycling bin. Millburn, for instance, no longer accepts plastic bags in its curbside recycling. In Cranford, residents must rinse out containers and clean out any food waste. Westfield no longer accepts shredded paper.
“It is going to be two years of not so good times,’’ predicted Ann Moore, recycling coordinator for Burlington County. “Long-term, the outlook is good, but in the short term, it is going to be tough.’’
Like many other states, New Jersey has a big business in recycling; it employs more than 17,000 people here and generates $548 million in tax revenue, according to a study done by the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries. 


In Burlington, the county has seen its costs increase by 15 to 20 percent this year as it had to increase the number of employees from 24 to 32 to separate unwanted material from recyclables to meet tougher standards, Moore said.
Those costs have risen even though Burlington has been able to find markets for its recyclables, including plastics — probably the material most affected by the change in China’s policies, Moore said.

US exports massive amounts of scrap to China

Recyling in China

Credit: Creative Commons
Women sort plastics for recycling in Guangzhou, China.

In the past, the global recycling market revolved around China, according to Mark Carpenter, senior director of communications for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington, D.C. Last July, China announced new policies to ban some materials and to require what recyclables it accepted to be much cleaner.

For the U.S., which last year exported $5.6 billion worth of scrap commodities to China, the new policies quickly hit home. “China basically changed the market overnight,’’ Carpenter said.
“What it has done is stopped recycling in its tracks,’’ said Frank Brill, a lobbyist in Trenton who represents recyclers. “Recyclers are stockpiling materials by renting out space in warehouses. There are few places willing to take it.’’
It also has left towns facing higher and unanticipated costs, according to Marie Kurzman, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers.
“The economics are going to force the issue,’’ she said. “Now, the towns are finding it difficult to get the deal they were used to receiving.’’

Where will recycled material go?

Recycling Single stream

Credit: USEPA
Sorting through recycled items in Montgomery County, Maryland

Ultimately, it could force the recycled material to wind up in landfills because there is no place willing to take it, Brill said. Atlantic Coast Recycling in Passaic told News 12 that 10 to 25 percent of its collected material is now being recycled.

Recycling contractors also are getting squeezed. Their facilities are making not enough profit in selling the materials they collect, process and transport, Kurzman said.
Just how big an impact the Chinese changes will have on recycling in New Jersey is difficult to gauge, officials said. In 2015, the most recent year for which information is available, the state recycled about 43 percent of its municipal waste. That total increased to 63 percent recycled when commercial waste is included.
Eventually, domestic markets may develop to absorb some of the gap left by the disruption in the Chinese market. For instance, some manufacturers have expressed interest in opening up new mills to process cardboard and paper here in the U.S., according to Brill.
“There are some opportunities, but there also are some challenges,’’ said Carpenter.

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