‘Within this city…there is this beautiful river.’ South Jersey canoe program aims to expand horizons

Canoe on Cooper River - Photo by Maggie Loesch
Philadelphia’s
skyline is visible over trees from the Cooper River in Camden, NJ, on the
afternoon of Friday, June 29, 2018. Students enrolled in the UrbanTrekkers
program through Urban Promise Academy in Camden, NJ, led the canoe trip on the
river. These teens are employed as RiverGuides for the summer and are trained
in the ecology and history of the river, as well as canoe safety. (Maggie Loesch photo)Will Feuer reports for Philly.comDestiny Wilson spent the other day drifting down the languid Cooper River away from Camden, toward the Delaware, in a canoe that she built with her own hands. Excitedly, she identified a double-crested cormorant, then a bald eagle and a few blue herons as they dozed in the shade or soared above.It’s difficult to imagine that growing up in East Camden, Wilson, 18, once knew the Cooper River only in passing, her imagination stifled for years by Camden’s concrete confines. These days she’s something of an expert on the water, but her aspirations don’t end at the Delaware.“I always wanted to go places when I was a kid, but I just never put in the work to get there,” she said. Today Wilson talks seriously about traveling beyond the city of her birth to far-flung places like Greece and Switzerland. First her sights are set on college. If all goes according to plan, she said she’ll be her family’s first college graduate. She wants to study environmental science.Wilson is one of five Camden high school students who are spending the summer as “river guides” for the nonprofit RiverGuides program sponsored by UrbanPromise Ministries, a nonprofit that works with the city’s young people.Founded three years ago through a grant from the William Penn Foundation, the RiverGuides program pays students like Wilson to guide folks through the river. Camden residents paddle free of charge. Others must pay a small fee. Throughout the trip, the young guides narrate the local history of landmarks on the river and present ecological findings from their own researchRead the full storyLike this? Click to receive free updates

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NJDEP issues first permits for Meadowlands power plant

Groups from across New Jersey protest plans for the North Bergen Liberty Generating Project , a proposed 1,200-megawatt gas-fired power plant from being built on a tract of land adjacent to protected wetlands in the New Jersey Meadowlands District on Tuesday, May 8, 2018. Matt Smith, of Food & Water Watch, speaks during the protest.  (Photo: Michael Karas/NorthJersey.com)

James M. O’Neil reports for NorthJersey.com:


The Murphy Administration approved the first in a series of state permits needed by a company that wants to build a gas-fired power plant in the Meadowlands to provide energy to New York City.

The state Department of Environmental Protection approved freshwater wetlands, flood hazard area and waterfront permits for North Bergen Liberty Generating to build the power plant, and an underground cable line from the plant to the Hudson River and under the river to New York.

The company still needs to secure air quality and other permits, and approval from other agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, for the controversial project to proceed.

The first series of permits were approved June 26 and signed by Christopher Jones, manager in the DEP’s division of land use regulation.

A DEP spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the permit approvals.

The approvals generated angry comments from at least one environmental advocate.


“This is a big DEP misstep,” said Jeff Tittel, head of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This means this project is really heating up and the DEP is moving along with individual permits and not stepping back to ask the larger question of whether there should be a big power plant in the Meadowlands in the first place.”

Among other things, the initial permits allow the company to temporarily disturb nearly a half acre and permanently disturb a tenth of an acre of wetlands vegetation to build two stormwater outfall structures at the site of the new power plant in North Bergen.

It also gives the company the right to disturb a small area of vegetation to install underground cable lines in Edgewater.



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Inhofe’s climate-denial gang now in control of the EPA

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). Photo credit: Senate

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) has groomed the top leaders at EPA. Senate
Robin Bravender reports for E&E News 
It’s official: Alumni of the best-known climate skeptic in Congress are leading EPA.
Former aides to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) have helped shape President Trump’s energy policy agenda since even before he was elected. Many of them quickly landed top spots at EPA and in the White House, and Inhofe alumnus Ryan Jackson helped shepherd Scott Pruitt through the confirmation process before becoming his chief of staff at the agency last year.
But now an ex-Inhofe staffer is taking the reins as Pruitt leaves under a cloud of controversies.
Andrew Wheeler, who steps in as EPA’s chief on Monday, was staff director and chief counsel to Inhofe on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for much of the George W. Bush administration.
Jackson, a longtime friend of Wheeler, is expected to remain as EPA’s chief of staff after Pruitt’s exit. Jackson — a native Oklahoman — was an Inhofe aide who worked as EPW staff director and Inhofe’s chief of staff.
Brittany Bolen became the acting head of EPA’s policy shop after Samantha Dravis left earlier this year. Bolen was Republican counsel to Inhofe on the EPW Committee. Daisy Letendre, a communications adviser in the policy office, was Inhofe’s communications director.
And former Inhofe counsel Mandy Gunasekara is now principal deputy assistant administrator in EPA’s air office.

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‘Godfather of payday lending’ sentenced to 14 years, stripped of $64M, for preying on financially vulnerable

 Main Line payday lending pioneer Charles Hallinan. Maggie Loesch photo 















Jeremy Roebuck reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A former Main Line investment banker who made a career of flouting state laws and preying on cash-strapped people to build one of the nation’s largest payday-lending empires was sentenced Friday to 14 years in federal prison and stripped of more than $64 million in assets.

But Charles M. Hallinan, 77, of Villanova, remained unrepentant in the face of a prison term that his lawyers said might as well be a “death sentence” given his age and rapidly declining health.

Hallinan said nothing when given the chance to address U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno before his punishment was imposed. In interviews with probation officers before Friday’s hearing in Philadelphia, he said he was “exactly the opposite” of contrite.

Perhaps that was to be expected from a man whose colleagues dubbed him “the godfather of payday lending.” But it only cemented the judge’s decision to strip Hallinan of his vast financial holdings and freedom during the final years of his life.

“It would be a miscarriage of justice to impose a sentence that would not reflect the seriousness of this case,” Robreno said. “The sentence here should send a message that criminal conduct like [this] will not pay.”

Hallinan’s sentence came seven months after a jury convicted him of 17 counts including racketeering, international money laundering, and fraud in a case that cast doubt on the legality of many of the business tactics that have turned the payday-lending industry into a multibillion-dollar-a-year financial juggernaut.



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July 27 Deadline for 2018 NJDEP Recycling Award Entries

TRENTON – Nominations are being accepted for the state Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) annual recycling awards program that honors individuals, businesses, and governments for excellence in recycling, and inspires others to do the same, Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe announced.
Association of New Jersey Recyclers

The DEP, in conjunction with the Association of New Jersey Recyclers, annually recognizes excellence in recycling to highlight program successes achieved by agencies, businesses, individuals and others in keeping New Jersey communities clean and healthy.

“All across the state, there are many great things happening in recycling and waste reduction,” stated McCabe in a release. “This awards program recognizes these achievements, which help New Jersey remain a national leader in recycling.”
Nominations for the program are due July 27 and awardees will be notified in September. Award winners will be honored at the Association of New Jersey Recyclers Symposium and Awards Luncheon Oct. 17 in Neptune, Monmouth County.

“We encourage nominations that recognize people and organizations that make recycling a priority and are committed to keeping our environment clean and healthy,” stated Assistant Commissioner for Air Quality, Energy and Sustainability Paul Baldauf. “The results of their efforts should be highlighted to demonstrate to others how they are making a difference across the state.”

Nominations may be submitted in 10 categories: 
• Institution • Business • Retail Merchant 

• Government • Leadership • Rising Star
• Outstanding Education/Educational Program
• Recycling Industry 
• Source Reduction/Resource/Management/Sustainability
• Volunteer Citizen
The 2017 awardees included a diverse group of individuals, businesses, and organizations. Among them were a vocational-technical school in West Caldwell, Essex County; a government recycling program in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County; and a pharmaceutical company in Titusville, Mercer County.
New Jersey has a proud legacy of leadership in recycling, becoming the first state to require recycling by passing the New Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act in April 1987. Today, the Murphy Administration continues developing policies to further increase recycling rates, clean up the recycling stream, and to adapt recycling strategies to match current lifestyles.
To view the 2018 Recycling Awards application and information packet, visit  www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/recycling/awards.htm or www.recycle.nj.gov
For more details about the annual Recycling Awards Program, contact Steven Rinaldi at njrecycles@dep.nj.gov or (609) 633-0538.


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Thou shall not wed on this New Jersey beach

Beach wedding coupleThe Associated Press reports:The New Jersey shore community of Spring Lake has banned all weddings and celebrations from its boardwalk and beach, citing congestion and related issues.Spring Lake Borough Council recently enacted the ban that takes effect Nov. 1. Weddings planned before then will be allowed to proceed.The town’s previous policy allowed weddings to take place on the beach with no permit, though the wedding party and guests couldn’t kick other people out of gazebos or put up decorations. The frequent parties made it harder for other beachgoers to enjoy their visits, town officials said. On hot days in particular, beachgoers were seeking out gazebos for shade at the same time brides were arriving to meet their grooms.The gazebos, on Washington and Newark avenues, hold about 30 people, and overflow crowds would back up on the boardwalk, clogging the walkway.”The issue really was the boardwalk is so narrow, and it is so overcrowded when they were having weddings at 12 p.m. or 2 p.m.,” Borough Administrator Bryan Dempsey told the Asbury Park Press .

Neighboring beach towns, including Avon, Belmar and Bradley Beach, require everyone in a wedding party to have a beach badge if the ceremony takes place during beach hours.And while there’s no charge to use the beach in Avon, the borough does ask couples to coordinate with the police department over the location they intend to use. Officials note that last weekend, three weddings were hosted on the town’s beach the same day.Like this? Click to receive free updates

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