Appeal delays Pinelands vote on fire-tower tree clearing

David Levinsky reports for the Burlington County Times:


The full 15-member commission was scheduled to vote on the application from the state Department of Environmental Protection to clear just over 16 acres of trees from around the tower during its meeting Friday, but the vote was postponed due to a third-party appeal filed by one of the plan’s opponents.
PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP — The New Jersey Pinelands Commission delayed a vote on a controversial proposal to clear more than 3,000 non-native trees that are impeding the views from the Bass River State Forest fire tower.
The full 15-member commission was scheduled to vote on the application from the state Department of Environmental Protection to clear just over 16 acres of trees from around the tower during its meeting Friday, but the vote was postponed due to a third-party appeal filed by one of the plan’s opponents.
Carol Bitzberger, a Bass River resident who testified against the tree clearing during a public hearing on the application on June 8, filed an appeal with the commission in response to the commission’s executive director and staff recommendation that the tree clearing be approved due to the safety risk the trees pose to operations at the 86-foot-tall fire tower, which is used by the state Forest Fire Service to spot smoke from forest fires and to report conditions to firefighters on the ground.
The white pines and other trees around the tower were planted in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and have now grown over 90 feet high, obstructing the views from the tower to the north, east and south.

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Ireland would be first country to divest from fossil fuels

Smokestacks loom over Bull Island, northeast of Dublin, in 2008. Dave Walsh/VW Pics/UIG via Getty Images
Colin Dwyer reports for NPR:
The Republic of Ireland took a crucial step Thursday toward becoming the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuels. Lawmakers in the Dail, the lower house of parliament, advanced a bill requiring the Irish government’s more than $10 billion national investment fund to sell off stakes in coal, oil, gas, and peat — and to do so “as soon as practicable.”
The bill now heads to the upper chamber, known as Seanad, where it is expected to pass easily when it’s taken up, likely in September. If the bill becomes law, as anticipated, it would rid the European nation of holdings valued at more than $370 million, according to Trócaire, an Irish Catholic aid organization that has pushed hard for the bill.
The principal force behind the bill, independent lawmaker Thomas Pringle, praised the move Thursday as a “moment where we commit to getting serious.”
“Let us show the Irish public and the international community that we are ready to think and act beyond narrow short-term and vested interests,” he told his fellow lawmakers, “and will take the opportunities that lie ahead of us to bring in real change.”

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NJDEP says: We can’t spot the fire from the forest
Observation deck on the fire tower in Bass River State Forest (NJDEP)















David Levinsky reports for the Burlington County Times:


The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is seeking Pinelands Commission approval to clear just over 16 acres of trees from around an 86-foot tall fire tower, which is being obstructed by trees planted in Bass River in the 1930s.
BASS RIVER — The next big decision by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission surrounds firefighters’ inability to see the forest for the trees.
White pines and some other non-native trees planted in Bass River in the 1930s have grown over 90 feet high and are now impeding the view from the Bass River State Forest fire tower. The obstruction prompted the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to seek Pinelands Commission approval to clear just over 16 acres of trees from around the 86-foot tall fire tower, which is used by the state Forest Fire Service to spot smoke from the start of forest fires and to report on conditions to firefighters on the ground.
But while the state has proposed replacing the trees with native species that won’t grow as high, the proposal has generated opposition from area residents upset about the potential loss of trees near a popular trail through the forest. They argue a better solution is for the state to replace the almost 80-year-old structure with a newer, taller tower or that more advanced technology such as drones and cameras be deployed to monitor the forest and detect fires.
There are also historical concerns since some of the trees were planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression-era New Deal recovery program. The CCC employed thousands of out-of-work men and is credited with building many trails, bridges, and roads in New Jersey, as well as numerous park projects such as the fire tower.
The full 15-member commission, which is charged with overseeing development and land use within the million-acre Pinelands, is expected to vote on the application during Friday’s meeting.

It could become a lively one, although public comment on the project has officially closed. Nearly a dozen people spoke about the project during last month’s June 8 commission meeting, and the commission also received 31 written comments, with the vast majority opposing the proposed tree harvesting. 

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Are you kidding? Trump helping off-shore wind energy?

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke at an offshore wind conference in New Jersey in April.

Editor’s Note: If you follow the normal course of politics, you can no longer doubt that our congress and president, returning from their annual campaign pilgrimages to the pay windows of Big Oil, Big Gas, and Big Coal, will fully renew their pledges to serve and protect the mighty, fossil-fuel gods–until the earth’s final, scorching or drowning days. But what’s this? Now we read (in the E&E News piece below) that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the Trumpsman who wants to drill every square foot of American coastal waters (save Greater Mar a Lago) is making nice in speeches about off-shore wind energy. Hmmm. Something’s not right here. Did a meteor slightly jar earth’s spin while we were all watching the World Cup? If you have a theory, mouse over to our Facebook page and share it. — Frank Brill 


Saqib Rahim reports for E&E News


In April, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke came to an offshore wind conference in Princeton, N.J., to give remarks on “energy dominance.”

It was a charged moment to be giving the speech. Three months prior, the Trump administration had proposed to open 90 percent of federal waters to oil and gas leasing. Zinke had offered to exempt Florida, prompting an outcry from liberal Northeast states like New Jersey that wanted to move away from fossil fuels.

What Zinke said, to many raised eyebrows in the audience, was that offshore wind, just like oil and gas, fit into the “energy dominance” framework. He said if a state chose wind, it had a friend in the White House.

One audience member said the tone was “almost apologetic.”

“Of the current energy portfolio, probably wind has the greatest opportunity for growth,” said Zinke. “Let’s make American energy great. Let’s make sure we make wind energy great.”

One could easily have imagined a different tone. Zinke, after all, worked for an administration that has cast doubt on climate science, rolled back Obama-era regulations on carbon pollution, and worked to subsidize coal and nuclear plants.

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Offshore wind, after more than a decade of development under Presidents George W. Bush and Obama, could hardly have been a juicier target. The young industry hadn’t yet found a footing in the U.S., and it will need heavy subsidies to get started. For the Northeast states advancing it, most of which had sued over Trump’s climate policies, climate wasn’t a side issue; it’s the point.

But instead of following the same pattern of conflict and lawsuits, offshore wind is on the brink of arrival. A year and a half into the Trump administration, with upheaval all around the U.S. energy world, offshore wind is benefiting from an oddly cooperative dynamic between states and the federal government. The projects envisioned under Obama are moving toward fruition, and if trends hold, the U.S.’s first utility-scale offshore wind project could be under construction by the end of Trump’s first term and operational in 2021.

In Maryland and Massachusetts, regulators have approved financing for two installations of 368 and 800 megawatts, respectively. New Jersey and New York are laying the policy groundwork for 5,900 MW more. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island and Virginia are exploring projects and policies of their own.

It’s happened not despite, but thanks to, the help of the U.S. government, offshore wind advocates admit.

“Yeah, I can’t explain it myself,” said Nathanael Greene, director of renewable energy policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “I think as a whole, this administration has a lot of people that are probably not actually anti-renewable as much as ‘all-of-the-above’ advocates … [t]hey don’t care about the environmental aspect of it. That’s not what’s driving them. But this is [potentially] a big American industry.”

“I think the administration rightly sees offshore wind as a power source that can help us achieve energy independence and security … and also dominance in the global economy,” said Stephanie McClellan, director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind at the University of Delaware. “I don’t want to say it’s not a surprise, but it’s fitting.”

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$40M tax break to drugmaker accused of pushing opioids

NJ Gives $40M Tax Break To Pharma Co. Accused Of Pushing Opioids

Eric Kiefer reports for the Bloomfield Patch

An international pharmaceutical company will receive a $40 million, performance-based tax break to move its U.S. headquarters from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, despite multiple lawsuits accusing it of contributing to the national opioid crisis.

Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, the North American arm of Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., will relocate its U.S. headquarters from North Wales, Pennsylvania to Parsippany-Troy Hills, bringing “more than 1,000 high-wage jobs to New Jersey.”

The governor’s press statement about the relocation didn’t mention that Teva USA was named alongside several other drug manufacturers in a 2017 lawsuit launched by the City of Newark, which accused the company – and 10 of its peers – of “hiding behind the scene as the connection/supplier to local drug dealers.”

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) approved $39.9 million in performance-based tax credits for the Teva relocation through the Grow New Jersey (Grow NJ) program at its June 2018 board meeting.
It’s estimated that the project will have a net benefit to the state of $247.4 million over a 20-year period, the EDA stated. (Read more about the company’s relocation plans and their tax break below)
“The presence of global life sciences companies like Teva Pharmaceuticals is critical to New Jersey’s ability to strengthen a thriving innovation ecosystem,” Gov. Phil Murphy said. “We are thrilled to expand our welcome to Teva, and its more than 1,000 employees, in the Garden State – the place to be for the world’s most competitive life sciences companies.”
Spokespeople for Murphy declined to comment for this article, deferring to the EDA’s statement on the pending litigation (read more below).
Teva Pharmaceuticals has nearly 550 generic medicines available. Currently, one in seven generic prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. is filled with a Teva generic product, according to the company’s website.
‘DECEPTIVELY MARKETING OPIOIDS’: A CITY’S LAWSUIT
In October 2017, officials with the City of Newark announced that the municipality launched a lawsuit against 11 opioid manufacturers, including Teva USA.
Named alongside Teva were other corporations including Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Pharma Inc., the Purdue Frederick Company; Cephalon Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc., and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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A power plant in NJ’s Highlands? On a pure trout stream?

DEP gives exemption to a proposed development in Highlands but also deems project inconsistent with water-quality regulations

























Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

A proposal to build a power plant on the Musconetcong River has obtained an exemption from Highlands rules but faces a bigger hurdle in complying with state water quality regulations.

The state Department of Environmental Protection approved the Highlands exemption for the Phoenix Energy Center to redevelop a 25-acre property along the river in Holland Township.
At the same time, however, the DEP found the project is inconsistent with the Upper Delaware Water Quality Management Plan, a verdict that means the agency cannot issue any permits for the plant until the applicant applies and amends the areawide plan.
The applicant, Abatis Advisors, is seeking to build a 663-megawatt power plant on the site of a former paper mill on the Musconetcong, one of the few rivers in the state classified as a Category 1 (C1) stream, the designation given to the most pristine waterways.
The project is located in the Highlands Preservation Area, but the state agency ruled it qualified for an exemption under the Highlands regulations governing redevelopment of former sites where building already has occurred.

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