NYC commercial waste change leaves everyone unhappy

City wants collection zones, competition too

Matthew Flamm reports for Crain’s:
Three years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city
would look into a radical new system for the private pickup of commercial
waste. Exclusive collection zones, his plan suggested, might reduce the hazards
and pollution that come with scores of carting companies operating randomly
across the five boroughs.



The analysis, released a year later, forecast big benefits from
zones served by a single hauler, but it sparked fierce opposition from carters,
real estate interests and the wider business community. Now the Department of
Sanitation is floating a compromise: zones with two to five franchisees each,
perhaps with subcontractors as well.

The controversy didn’t die.


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Opinion: Why should NJ families subsidize nukes in PA?

PSEG's nuclear station in Salem County.

PSEG’s nuclear station in Salem County.

Columnist Tom Moran writes for The Star-Ledger:

New Jersey families and businesses are likely to be hit soon by a $300 million annual surcharge on electric bills to subsidize PSEG’s nuclear plants.

Now, we learn that a good chunk of that money could be exported to Pennsylvania, to support its nuclear plants.
That’s right. Pennsylvania would get the jobs. We would pay the bill. Ralph Izzo, the boss at PSEG, just confirmed that in a conference call with investors.
This is the worst bill to win approval in years. The cost could amount to $3 billion over the next decade, a staggering sum. And the money would be raised in the cruelest way possible, through higher electricity bills, not progressive taxation. The poor pay the same rates as the rich, and if they can’t keep up, PSEG can turn out the lights.
It was muscled through the Legislature by Senate President Steve Sweeney, D, Gloucester, whose district is home to the three PSEG nukes in New Jersey. He set up bogus hearings where legislators who barely understand the energy markets passively listened to a parade of compelling protests from businesses, environmentalists, consumer advocates, and PSEG’s competitors – all of whom are begging Gov. Phil Murphy to veto this bill.
How bad is it? For the first time in history, the Ratepayer Advocate, the one person whose job is to keep a lid on electric bills, would lose the right to be present when these subsidies are discussed at the Board of Public Utilities. She’d need special permission, which could be denied. That’s revealing.

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Parking near the beach? How about on the beach?

The Race of Gentlemen, vintage car and motorcycle racing on the beach in Wildwood, Saturday, June 10, 2017. (Lori M. Nichols | For NJ.com)

The Race of Gentlemen, vintage car and motorcycle racing on the beach in Wildwood, Saturday, June 10, 2017. (Lori M. Nichols | For NJ.com)(Lori M. Nichols)


By Frank Brill
EnviroPolitics Editor


Wildwood has one of the largest beaches you’ll ever stake your beach umbrella into. Unlike some wave-eroded Jersey resort towns,where things can get a little too cheek-to-cheek on  summer weekends, the continuous movement of coastal sands keeps adding to city’s beaches. So much so that Wildwood this summer will allow visitors to park on the beach.  


Well, make that a section of the beach. And only with a four-wheel-drive vehicle. But still. Parking on the beach will be quite the novelty for a major Jersey Shore destination. 


NJ.com’s Chris Franklin reports:

The parking area, situated near Baker Avenue, will be available for $10 a day, with prices increasing to $20 for special events such as concerts.
To park at the location, vehicles must have four-wheel drive, not all-wheel drive, and will be required to leave at 6 p.m. Visitors will be able to pay with a credit card and cash, and payment via a smartphone app will be made available later.  The lot will be accessible through a tunnel that runs under the boardwalk.
It could make the hike to your favorite spot along the surf — in some spots, 500 yards from the boardwalk — a little shorter. 

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Speedy and slow subjects before NJ enviro committee


By Frank Brill
EnviroPolitics Editor


Fast-moving vehicles and a slow-moving reptile are the subjects of legislation to be taken up on Thursday, May 10, by the New Jersey Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee. The panel will meet at 2 p.m. in Committee Room 12, 4th Floor, State House Annex in Trenton.

 On the docket are:

A1223 / S1793 (McKeon / Benson / Kennedy / Smith / Greenstein) – Concerns low emission and zero emission vehicles; establishes Clean Vehicle Task Force.

A1530 / S1925 (Zwicker / Bateman) – Designates Bog Turtle as State Reptile. (pending referral)

A2718 (McKeon) – Establishes public-private alternative fueling station pilot program and requires DOT to conduct study.

A2719 (McKeon) – Establishes public-private pilot program for level 3 electric vehicle charging stations.

A3688 (Benson / Pinkin / Zwicker) – Establishes State goals for adoption of plug-in electric vehicles and electric vehicle charging infrastructure; directs DEP and various other State agencies to develop programs to achieve those goals.

A3830 (Pinkin) – Directs BPU to develop and implement electric school bus pilot program. (pending referral)


(The public may address comments and questions to Carrie Anne Calvo-Hahn, Committee Aide, or make bill status and scheduling inquiries to Christine L. Hamilton, Secretary, at 609-847-3855, fax 609-292-0561, or e-mail: OLSAideAEN@njleg.org. Written and electronic comments, questions and testimony submitted to the committee by the public, as well as recordings and transcripts, if any, of oral testimony, are government records and will be available to the public upon request.)

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Lessons learned as NJ cuts backlog of enviro cleanup cases

Nine years into a program to cut down on New Jersey’s overload of chemically contaminated sites, the results have been impressive

John Oberer

John Oberer is a Licensed Site Remediation Professional, vice president with GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., and a former president of the NJ Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Association.
May 7 will mark the ninth anniversary of New Jersey’s adoption of a Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) program aimed at reducing a giant backlog of environmental remediation cases in the state while ensuring protection of human health and the environment. At the birth of the LSRP program almost nine years ago, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) had a backlog of more than 20,000 cases with more new cases pouring in every day.
This Op-Ed was published in NJ Spotlight on May 4, 2018
Drawing on aspects of a similar program in Massachusetts, in May 2009, the Legislature enacted, and then-Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law, the Site Remediation Reform Act. Its core mission was to empower a group of state-certified and -licensed remediation professionals to take remedial actions through to conclusion, without having to ask the NJDEP for sign-offs every step of the way.
The results have been enormous. In the coming weeks, the state’s LSRPs will issue their 12,000th Response Action Outcome certification, or RAO. After decades of inaction, delay, and indecision on remediating sites contaminated with hazardous and toxic chemicals, New Jersey is seeing comprehensive progress, thanks to a strong cadre of LSRPs who bring deep qualifications to the work —and are held to the highest standards of responsibility and ethical conduct.


Lessons learned

We’ve learned a lot in New Jersey about the positive impact that can be achieved when government gives the private sector the tools and accountability to take charge of remediating contaminated sites. I’d cite four particularly important lessons:

Read the full story here


 

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Jersey electric customers may help pay Pennsy’s bills

PSEG head acknowledges nuclear plants in Pennsylvania could benefit from subsidies awarded to his company

salem nuclear

Salem nuclear power plant


















:

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight

If and when Gov. Phil Murphy signs a controversial bill to subsidize nuclear power, out-of-state plants could be among the beneficiaries.
At least that is the view of Ralph Izzo, chairman, CEO, and president of Public Service Enterprise Group, the giant energy company that lobbied and pushed the subsidy bill through the New Jersey Legislature.
In a quarterly earnings call with analysts Monday, Izzo acknowledged out-of-state nuclear units would be eligible to receive the subsidies, a point critics of the bill occasionally made during the months-long debate on the legislation. They were largely ignored.
“The bill simply says that New Jersey wants 40 percent of its power supply by nuclear energy and it does not limit it geographically,’’ Izzo said, responding to a question from an analyst.
Among the nuclear units Izzo mentioned as potentially qualifying for the subsidies would be Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania, a unit half-owned by PSEG, as well as other nuclear plants in the state, Limerick and Susquehanna.
If so, it would mean not only would New Jersey ratepayers be paying for electricity that they subsidize in the state that is exported out-of-state, but also to companies located in other states.

Read the full story


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