NJDEP planning ‘millionaire’s marina’ at Liberty State Park?

There’s been no official announcement, but some fear that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is about to enter into an agreement to turn the south end of Liberty State Park into a high-end marina off limits to common folk.


David Cruz has the story for NJTV News.


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U.S. Rep. Bob Brady’s emails searched in FBI probe

Rep Bob Brady, D-PA, addresses Democratic National Convention in 2016


Jeremy Roebuck reports for Philly.com

In their clearest language to date, federal authorities have accused U.S. Rep. Robert Brady of leading a criminal conspiracy to hide a $90,000 payment they say he made to persuade a 2012 primary opponent to drop out of the race, newly unsealed court records show.

The claim – tucked into a Nov. 1 search warrant affidavit unsealed Friday – alleges the congressman was an active participant in a scheme that has already elicited a guilty plea from Brady’s one-time challenger, former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore, and led to indictments against Brady aides Ken Smukler and Donald “D.A.” Jones.

Agents and prosecutors filed the affidavit to persuade a judge to approve a search of bobcongress@aol.com, a personal email account used by Brady. It also lays out the potential charges that Brady might face should he be indicted – a list that includes wire fraud, lying to the FBI and making an illegal campaign contribution.

“The investigation has uncovered evidence which indicates that Brady, Smukler and Jones utilized Smukler’s and D.A. Jones’ corporations to conceal payments from Brady’s campaign … for Moore to withdraw from the 2012 Democratic primary race,” FBI Special Agent Jonathan R. Szeliga wrote.

Still, it remains unclear if the unsealing of the affidavit indicates the probe is heating up or winding down — and if one of the state’s longest-serving members of Congress and chairman of the city’s powerful Democratic City Committee will be charged.

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NJ lawmakers get ready to override DEP Highlands rule


Legislators move to roll back rule, issue rare rebuke to executive branch that originally passed regulation

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Ignoring a plea from state environmental officials, lawmakers yesterday moved to rescind a new rule that would open up forested parts of the Highlands to more development.
The unanimous vote by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee makes it more likely the Legislature will act to revoke the regulation by the end of the lame-duck legislative session in January in what would be rare rebuke to the executive branch.
The dispute is the latest in what has been an ongoing battle between environmentalists and the Christie administration over the Highlands, a more than 800,000-acre region in central and northern New Jersey of forested hills, lakes and ample farmland.
The regulation, adopted by the state Department of Environmental Protection this past summer, allows for development in ecologically sensitive parts of the Highlands by increasing the density of septic tanks in those areas.
Much of the state’s environmental community and Democratic lawmakers view the new rule as inconsistent with the 2004 law creating the Highlands Act, a measure designed to preserve an area of wide biological diversity and a source of drinking water to millions of residents.

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Beekeepers buzz town officials about residential hives


In the last of our reports from the New Jersey State League of Municipalities 2017 Convention in Atlantic City, we chat with Jeffrey Burd of the NJ Beekeepers Association.


His organization was one of scores of exhibitors looking to introduce their issues and products to local officials.


In the case of the beekeepers, the twin messages were: the value of bees to New Jersey’s agriculture and the safety of beekeeping in residential areas.


Related:
Water quality rule changes keep NJ testing labs busy
Was every local official in NJ in AC this week?

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NJ looks to ban pesticide that EPA’s Pruitt approved

pesticide

Widely used on a variety of crops, chlorpyrifos has been linked to potentially harmful effects in people


Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:


The state is moving to ban the use of a pesticide linked to potential harmful effects in humans, a step considered but ultimately rejected by the Trump administration.

Under legislation to be taken up by the Senate Environment and Energy committee today, the use of chlorpyrifos (CPS) would be prohibited in New Jersey, seven months after the bill (S-3405) is enacted.
CPS, widely used on a variety of crops like apples, grapes, and soybeans, is now a restricted-use insecticide in New Jersey, which means it can only be purchased and used by certified and licensed pesticide applicators.
At the end of the Obama administration, scientists at the federal Environmental Protection Agency recommended the product be banned, but Scott Pruitt, the new administrator reversed the decision.
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