Pompton Lake cleanup coming to an end; Was it enough?

Aerial photo of the dredging equipment set up to remove contaminated sediment from Pompton Lake that was laced with mercury from DuPont’s former munitions facility. (Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey.com)

James M. O’Neil reports for The Record:

Dump trucks loaded with sand have started to roll into Pompton Lakes for the final phase of a controversial cleanup of a contaminated lake that serves as a backup drinking water supply for North Jersey.

The three-year, $50 million project was designed to remove sediment from Pompton Lake that had been contaminated with mercury and lead from a former DuPont munitions facility nearby.

A dredging operation that started in 2016 continued through last summer to remove sediment from 36 acres of the 200-acre lake. This spring and summer, workers will spread a layer of clean sand over the dredged area to serve as a new habitat for aquatic life, and restore vegetation to the lake shoreline.


Controversial project

The project has drawn controversy because residents complained that a more thorough cleanup of the entire lake bottom should have been performed, and questions have been raised about whether the six-inch layer of new sand will be thick enough to protect wildlife from any residual contamination.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency wanted the sediment removed because a toxic form of mercury can build up in fish, posing a health risk to humans who eat them. Exposure to mercury can damage nervous systems and harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune system.

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
 See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —
>>
The lake is used by residents for skiing, boating and fishing, but it is so contaminated that fishermen are warned not to eat their catch.

Pompton Lake is also a backup source to replenish a key reservoir that supplies drinking water to towns in Bergen and Passaic counties.

“I hate when people call it a cleanup because it’s not,” said resident Regina Sisco of the project. “I’m happy they’re addressing 36 acres of the lake but what’s happening to the rest of the sediment? It’s a 200-acre lake. That’s really not a cleanup.”

Sisco said the dredging project seemed like a waste of money since significant contamination remains on the former DuPont property — the original source of the lake pollution.

“Who’s to say it’s not going to get recontaminated,” said Sisco, executive director of Pompton Lakes Residents for Environmental Integrity, a resident advocacy group.


Pompton Lake cleanup coming to an end; Was it enough? Read More »

In New Jersey, the $300M PSEG nuclear bailout bill is back



By Frank Brill
EnviroPolitics Editor


Three high-profile energy bills–including a $300 million safety net for PSEG’s nuclear power operations–will be considered by the New Jersey Assembly’s Appropriations Committee when it meets at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 5, in Committee Room 11, on the 4th Floor of the State House Annex in Trenton. 


The first bill, A2485, requires the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to approve an amended application for a wind energy project, the Fishermen’s Energy wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City. The venture was essentially deep-sixed by the BPU during former Governor Chris Christie’s two terms in office. 

A3723 would modify clean energy and energy efficiency programs, including the State’s solar renewable energy portfolio standards. Legislators pushing PSEG’s controversial request for guaranteed
earnings from its nuclear energy plants in the face of growing competition from less-costly, natural-gas suppliers (see A-3724 below) placed a number of the provisions favored by environmentalists in this bill in hopes of convincing the green community to drop its opposition to the bailout legislation. So far, it hasn’t worked.

A3724, far and above the most controversial of the three, establishes a “zero emission certificate program for nuclear power plants.” That’s the public relations description for giving PSEG–the state’s largest utility whose nuclear plants currently generate a tidy profit–up to $300 million in ratepayer money should their earnings go south. Wouldn’t all businesses love to count on such public largesse?


The bill is feverishly opposed by large energy users like chemical manufacturers whose operations would suffer a costly hit and, at least in the last headcount, both by environmentalists and by the state’s Rate Counsel.
Environmentalists oppose it because they see it delaying or preventing investments in the development of clean-energy solar and wind projects. The state’s Rate Counsel wants access to the company’s books to prove that the bailout is necessary. PSEG threatens to shut down its nukes if the legislation fails.
  

If the bill’s surface conflicts were not enough, it also is roiled by political subcurrents involving two powerful Democrats –Phil Murphy, the state’s new pro-environment governor, and pro-labor Senate President Steve Sweeney.


Sweeney represents the South Jersey district in which PSEG’s Salem Nuclear Generating Station and its nuclear employees are located. He tried to slip the bill through the legislature’s lame-duck session at the end of 2017 while a supportive Governor Christie, a Republican, was still in office and ready to sign it. Murphy’s incoming team rushed in and stalled the bill’s momentum. Since then, like two great white sharks, the pair has been warily eyeing each other while circling in and out of sub-surface negotiations and maintaining an almost eerie silence.


The bill has been modified extensively since January and could be changed again by its April 5 hearing date. It should be quite an interesting meeting.


Other voices, pro and con:
Sweeney: Preserving nuclear plants is critical for N.J.
We as consumers can’t afford PSEG’s nuclear bailout

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates

See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —
>>

In New Jersey, the $300M PSEG nuclear bailout bill is back Read More »

500 acres purchased to protect Lehigh River’s headwaters

A portion of the 500 acres containing headwaters of the Lehigh River acquired by the Wildlands Conservancy.

   
Frank Kummer reports for Philly.com:


You might know the Lehigh River as the whitewater that rushes through picturesque Lehigh Gorge State Park in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. But the gushing river actually starts as a series of tiny, pristine streams in what’s known as headwaters.


The Wildlands Conservancy just bought 500 acres of land containing headwaters to help protect the river’s source.


“This is a really important headwaters piece to protect the quality and quantity of clean water in the Lehigh,” said Dawn Gorham, director of land preservation at the Emmaus-based conservancy.  “It’s kind of a mix of protected lands and big development nearby.”


Gorham referred to the parcel, known as the Klondike Property, as “critical” and said it was immediately turned over to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.  It is the highest rated property for preservation in the Upper Lehigh River.


Gorham said the $2.5 million purchase from private land owners, Tighe and Neil Scott, took about four years to complete. It was funded with help from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the state Game Commission, the Palmerton Natural Resource Trustee Council, the Open Space Institute and the William Penn Foundation. Other groups also donated.


The state will use the land to expand Game Lands 312, roughly 3,962 acres that sprawl across Lackawanna, Monroe and Wayne counties. The terrain contains other headwaters of the Lehigh River and is noted for its wildlife including deer, turkey, grouse and waterfowl. Game Lands 312 will now total nearly 4,500 acres. The game lands are also adjacent to the Pinchot State Forest.


Read the full story

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —
>>

asdafsf

500 acres purchased to protect Lehigh River’s headwaters Read More »

NJ utility wants to help customers with energy efficiency

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
New Jersey Natural Gas yesterday filed an expansive six-year proposal to help its customers reduce their energy usage, seeking to invest more than $341 million in a wide array of programs to help lower bills.

The filing with the state Board of Public Utilities seems to align itself with the aggressive clean-energy agenda of the Murphy administration and its goal of ratcheting down greenhouse-gas emissions, as evidenced by bills now moving through the Legislature.













Essentially, the proposal builds on the Wall Township utility’s successful SAVEGREEN project, a comprehensive energy-efficiency program on which the company spent $150 million since 2009 trying to curb energy use. That program expires in December.


The initiative targets rebates, incentives, and special financing for residential customers, including low-income households, as well as public entities and commercial and industrial outfits.


Read the full story

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —
>>

NJ utility wants to help customers with energy efficiency Read More »

Maine In, N.H. Out for Energy Contract with Massachusetts

New Hampshire Public Radio reports:

CREDIT SAM EVANS-BROWN /NHPR
Massachusetts energy officials have announced they’re going with Plan B to bring Canadian hydroelectric power to the Bay State.
They’ve selected a back-up project that runs transmission lines through Maine, after New Hampshire state regulators refused to allow Plan A – the controversial Northern Pass project.
But the Maine project, known as New England Clean Energy Connect, also faces an uncertain future.
In Massachusetts, the announcement got kudos and criticism from those closely watching the state’s selection of a massive clean energy project:
“We’re pleased that the process is moving ahead and Northern Pass has been terminated,” says Brad Campbell, head of the Conservation Law Foundation.
CLF vigorously opposed Northern Pass, for many of the same environmental reasons that caused New Hampshire siting officials to reject the Eversource project in February.
That rejection threw a wrench in Massachusetts’ utilities’ negotiations of a 20-year contract to buy Northern Pass’ electricity.

Map of the New England Clean Energy Connects line.
On Wednesday, Massachusetts officials pulled the plug on the proposal, and went with Plan B – to bring hydroelectric power from Quebec through Maine.
Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities will begin hearings into the New England Clean Energy Connect project at the end of April.
Its developer, Central Maine Power or CMP, is a subsidiary of international energy giant Avangrid and is the largest transmission provider in Maine.
Campbell says CMP’s project also poses environmental concerns – but they’re manageable.
Read the full story 

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —
>>

Maine In, N.H. Out for Energy Contract with Massachusetts Read More »

New Facebook page for New Jersey’s recycling community



Dear Friend of Recycling,



The Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR) invites you to take a look and ‘like’ its new Facebook Page. The social media site is designed to keep you up to date with recycling news–and with ANJR activities and events.


It also offers a valuable platform on which you can share, with a wide audience, information and photos about your recycling business or your county or municipality’s recycling accomplishments.  

You also can find us at @ANJR2017 or by typing: ‘Association of New Jersey Recyclers’ into the search box at the top of your Facebook page.

Help us build the outreach of New Jersey’s recycling community by ‘liking’ our page and by sharing it with your colleagues and friends. 
And join in the fun by sending your news and photos to ANJR’s Facebook manager at: frankbrilljr@gmail.com 
Thanks for your time and support of recycling. 

New Facebook page for New Jersey’s recycling community Read More »