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Changes ahead for land-use planning in New Jersey

Land-use planning in a complicated business in New Jersey–a highly urbanized state with overlapping governmental units, big-league politics, and perpetual development vs. environmental tensions.

The planning process involves municipalities, counties, sewerage authorities, professional planners, consultants, attorneys and environmental organizations.

Representatives from all of those sectors filed into an auditorium yesterday morning at the College of New Jersey to learn, from a panel of experts assembled by PlanSmart NJ, about significant changes coming soon for Water Quality Management Planning.

Michele Siekerka, Esq., Assistant Commissioner, Economic Growth and Green Energy at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection provided a detailed but quick-paced summary of how the state’s almost-completed Strategic Plan will seek to balance new development with environmental protection.

The plan, she said, will employ an updated mapping of existing development and infrastructure to identify regional clusters to which future growth will be directed. Governor Christie, she noted, has directed all affected state agencies to eliminate conflicting regulations that block such growth.

Siekerka acknowledged that, even within a single agency like the NJDEP, conflicting rules can be encountered. She said her agency is working to ‘de-conflict’ department ‘silos.’

As the state develops its plan to guide overall development in New Jersey, each of its 21 counties also are working to meet a July 15 deadline to submit Water Quality Management Plans to the NJDEP that include maps of future sewer service areas.

Raymond Ferrara, PhD., a principal at of Omni Environmental, led the audience through a history of water quality management in New Jersey stretching back to 1977. He said that the
cost and complexity of developing the plans were responsible for numerous
missed deadlines in the past.

After the administration of Gov. Chris
Christie arrived on the scene in January of 2010, DEP Commissioner Bob
Martin granted a deadline extension to April 7, 2011. The state
Legislature subsequently gave the counties additional time, extending the cutoff to July 15, 2012. Roughly half of all counties now have submitted their plans and the DEP expects all counties to meet next month’s deadline.

Tim Dillingham, Executive Director of the American Littoral Society, raised concerns of the environmental community as the state begins to place a heavier emphasis on economic growth.

David Fisher, PP/AICP, Vice President of Governmental Affairs at K. Hovnanian Homes, discussed problems that home builders can encounter with county water quality management plans.

Neil Yoskin, Esq.a partner at Sokol Behot and Fiorenzo, added the perspective of environmental attorneys who represent business owners seeking to develop property in the state.

Following the discussion, EnviroPolitics caught up with PlanSmart NJ’s Executive Director, Lucy Vandenberg and her panelists for the video interviews above. Neil Yoskin managed to escape the premises before we could snare him. Sorry, Neil.

Note: PlanSmart NJ will post speaker slides from the event on its website next week.

Have an opinion on the State Strategic Plan or NJDEP’s Water Quality Management Plan? Use the box below. Signed submissions appreciated. Anonymous comments also accepted.

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For
thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and
regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a free, 30-day subscription to our daily
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Our most recent posts:

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No Senate vote on NJ waiver and permit extension bills
NJ Senate voting today on permit extensions and waivers
Bill to squash NJDEP ‘waiver’ rule set for Senate vote
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Ex-Saul Ewing chair named Pa Governor’s chief of staff

Changes ahead for land-use planning in New Jersey Read More »

What lies ahead for EPA’s resourceful Lisa Jackson?

Lisa P. Jackson – T. J. Kirkpatrick photo for the Star-Ledger

Like an NFL coach with a sub-par running/passing attack, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has been winning games for the environment by combining a tenacious defense with a crafty exploitation of the regulatory rulebook.

Her agency wears an enormous bulls eye on its back. Powerful industrial interests want to eviscerate it. The GOP right has blocked legislation that would allow it to regulate additional dangerous chemicals. Even her boss in the White House has not always had her back.

And yet, under Jackson’s leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency has forced the the coal energy industry to clean up its act and drove automakers to almost double the efficiency of their cars and trucks.

Will she be around for a second Obama term (if there is one)? If not, will we see her challenge New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as he preps for another four years in office?

The (Newark ) Star-Ledger‘s Tom Moran takes a break from editorial writing to produces a noteworthy profile in the Trials, triumphs and intriguing future of EPA head Lisa Jackson.

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Our most recent posts:
No Senate vote on NJ waiver and permit extension bills
NJ Senate voting today on permit extensions and waivers
Bill to squash NJDEP ‘waiver’ rule set for Senate vote
After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 2

Ex-Saul Ewing chair named Pa Governor’s chief of staff

What lies ahead for EPA’s resourceful Lisa Jackson? Read More »

No Senate vote on NJ waiver and permit extension bills

NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney

New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney pulled from yesterday’s voting agenda bills that would:

1. Extend expired development permits, and
2. Stop the NJDEP’s proposed waiver rule.
(See yesterday’s post on both)

Sources say that the sponsor of the permit-extension bill asked for a delay to consider changes sought by environmental groups. They want to limit the bill’s application in certain environmentally sensitive areas of the Highlands and Pinelands region.

To be sure, environmentalists will not support any bill extending building permits. They’re still pissed at God for granting the permit for the apple stand in the Garden of Eden. But they’ll be less opposed if the bill extends only permit dates and not geography.

[Related News: Attorney Michael Pisauro explains the environmental community’s position yesterday in his Green Pages NJ blog, while NJ Littoral Society exec Tim Dillingham ripped the legislation via an op-ed in yesterday’s Trenton Times.]

Why was the waiver bill (which the environmentalists support) also yanked?

You can expect to see it back on the Senate board when the latest version of the permit extension bill is ready for a vote. This way the Democratic majority can offer at least half-victories both to the greens and to the developers.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

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Our most recent posts:
NJ Senate voting today on permit extensions and waivers
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Ex-Saul Ewing chair named Pa Governor’s chief of staff
Envrios claim EPA is giving ‘dirty diesel’ a free pass
NJ Assembly voting on ‘waiver’ bill and a gas from past

No Senate vote on NJ waiver and permit extension bills Read More »

NJ Senate voting today on permit extensions and waivers

Vote yes–and no. That’s what environmental groups are urging New Jersey state senators to do today on bills to derail the DEP’s controversial ‘waiver’ regulation and to extend the lives of previously issued development permits.

We covered the first bill, SCR-59, on Tuesday in Bill to squash NJDEP ‘waiver’ rule set for Senate vote.

The second, S-743 (Sarlo/Oroho), would extend relief granted to the state’s development community in 2008 when the economic downturn dried up financing for construction projects.

At that point, the Legislature extended the expiration date of some previously issued local and state permits to Dec. 31, 2012, hoping the economy would recover by then. With little improvement since, lawmakers now are being asked to extend the life of those permits to Dec. 31, 2014.

Environmentalists claim the legislation not only extends the expiration dates but also slips in areas of the state’s environmentally sensitive Highlands and Pinelands regions that were off limits to permit extensions under the 2008 legislation. New Jersey Highlands Coalition Executive Director Julia Somers calls it a “free pass for developers.”

Related News:
Protect the Highlands planning area from developer freebies

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Our most recent posts:
Bill to squash NJDEP ‘waiver’ rule set for Senate vote
After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 2
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NJ Assembly voting on ‘waiver’ bill and a gas from past
After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 1
In Pa, a supreme court justice is hit with felony charges

NJ Senate voting today on permit extensions and waivers Read More »

Bill to squash NJDEP ‘waiver’ rule set for Senate vote

On Thursday, members of the New Jersey Senate will get their chance to follow the Assembly in passing a resolution requiring the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to rewrite (or withdraw) its controversial waiver rule.

Set to go into effect on August 1, the rule would allow the DEP to waive its regulations and award permits when applicants demonstrate that applicable regulations pose an undue burden, are in conflict with rules of other agencies, or when there is a public emergency or when the permit would result in a net environmental benefit.

DEP Commissioner Bob Martin argues that the waiver process will be transparent, with all
applications and actions posted prominently on the DEP’s web site. The rule will be judiciously applied and he personally will review each case, Martin says.

Builders, developers and major business organizations support the waiver
rule, but have as much chance of stopping it on Thursday as the Celtics
do against the Miami Heat.

Why? Both houses of the state legislature are controlled by the Democratic party which hasn’t had much luck in derailing any major parts of the Republican Gov.Chris Christie’s agenda so far.

The waiver bill gives them a rare chance to stop a key Christie initiative (recommended, no less, by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno‘s Red-Tape Commission).

Although they’ve been striving of late to appear more pro-business themselves, the Dems will argue that, in this case, the governor’s pro-business agenda is a bit too pro-business.

The majority party is spurred on by a host of environmental groups. They hate the waiver rule and have made news by going to court to block its implementation.

Never in danger of understating a point, Sierra Club leader Jeff Tittle declared, in an op-ed, that the waiver rule is “part of Christie’s national agenda to sell off New
Jersey’s environment to polluters and developers.”

Koch Brothers Charles and David

Wow. Is the rule that bad? Do the Koch brothers have Commissioner Martin on speed-dial?

Will the DEP be approving mountain-top coal mining?

Oh, that’s right, Jersey doesn’t have real mountains.

But don’t you get the feeling that there are bigger forces at work on this one?

It’s not really just a case of whether a builder can get a DEP pass to add units to his development by preserving adjacent acres of wetlands, is it?

And isn’t that true of almost all politics in 2012?

Tell us what you think in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link. Signed comments appreciated. Anonymous submissions also accepted.

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Our most recent posts:
After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 2
Ex-Saul Ewing chair named Pa Governor’s chief of staff
Envrios claim EPA is giving ‘dirty diesel’ a free pass
NJ Assembly voting on ‘waiver’ bill and a gas from past
After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 1
In Pa, a supreme court justice is hit with felony charges

Bill to squash NJDEP ‘waiver’ rule set for Senate vote Read More »

After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 2

How did New Jersey’s Department of Agriculture
ramp up recycling?
It started with prune pits.

Back in the days before recycling got its name, Agriculture Department staffer Karen Kritz received an intriguing tip from a farmer. Prune pits, which are hard as rocks, can sometimes be used in place of rocks.

Recognizing that “farmers are very creative,” Kritz ran with the idea. Before long, some state prisons were saving on paving costs by lining their roadways with…you got it…prune pits.

The NJ Department of Agriculture began to formally explore recycling ideas, which Kritz detailed last week for members of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee, when the state enacted the nation’s first mandatory recycling law in 1997.

See: After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 1

The recycling law focused on traditional household waste materials–paper, glass bottles and metal cans. Kritz was deputized by the then Agriculture Secretary to develop a recycling program for something the law did not cover–nursery and greenhouse film. About a million pounds of it was winding up in landfills every year.

Greenhouse film

She pulled together a group of nurserymen, county agricultural agents, county recycling coordinators and private recyclers to brainstorm the issue. They discovered that agricultural film is made from the same chemicals used in plastic grocery bags. Best of all, there was a way to recycle it.

That’s all Kritz had to hear. A program was established and some 300,000 pounds of greenhouse film was recycled in the first year. By 2011, the total had grown to 1.1 million pounds annually.

A recycling rate nearing 100 percent

NJ Agriculture Dept.’s Karen Kritz

What used to end up in state landfills is
now being dropped off by farmers at two South Jersey collection centers
in Atlantic and Cumberland counties. It eventually returns to commerce
in the form of plastic grocery bags,

Kritz estimates that New Jersey is now recycling close to 100 percent of the material used each year–the nirvana number for any recycler of any kind of material. The program’s astounding success has attracted interest–and imitation–nationally and abroad.

Cost to taxpayers for pesticide container recycling: Zero

The department (through its one-person recycling program–Karen Kritz) went on to establish a recycling program for plastic pesticide containers. Kritz was discouraged when only 676 of them were collected in the program’s first year, so she worked harder at getting the word out to the farming and recycling communities. Last year, 80,000 containers were collected at three locations in South Jersey. They are picked up by a Texas-based company and used to make parking lot bumpers and liners for tractor trailers.

Success breeds success. The department is now looking to expand the program by establishing collection sites for farmers in other parts of the state. Kritz (hint, hint) told the committee she could use $10,000 to purchase a grinder. Any interested donors out there?

L. Grace Spencer

Programs work when the people involved are dedicated. Driven might be the more operative word for Karen Kritz. Last year, for quality control purposes, she inspected every single one of those 80,000 containers herself.

Entire program cost to New Jersey taxpayer other than Kritz’s 276 pay hours? Zero.

Committee chairman Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer, a Democrat, congratulated the Agriculture Department on its recycling initiatives and saluted Kritz with this:

“If I had the ear of the (Republican) Governor (Chris Christie) when it comes to giving out raises, you’d be at the top of my list.”

NEXT: In Part 3 of our report, other recycling participants tell their stories

Does your community have a
recycling success you’d like to share? Your business? Organization? Have an idea on how to improve recycling rates in New Jersey, or in the state or country where you live? Tell us what you think in the opinion box below. If one is not visible,
activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line. Signed comments appreciated. Anonymous submissions accepted.

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Our most recent posts:
Ex-Saul Ewing chair named Pa Governor’s chief of staff
Envrios claim EPA is giving ‘dirty diesel’ a free pass
NJ Assembly voting on ‘waiver’ bill and a gas from past
After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 1
In Pa, a supreme court justice is hit with felony charges

After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 2 Read More »

Ex-Saul Ewing chair named Pa Governor’s chief of staff

** Updated to add related news stories on May 28, 2012**

Former Saul Ewing Chairman Stephen S. Aichele will move from his role as Pennsylvania’s general counsel to become Governor Tom Corbett’s chief of staff, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported today.

Corbett announced the change Thursday after nominating current chief of staff William F. Ward to fill a vacancy on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Aichele left Saul Ewing in January 2011 after 35 years at the firm
when Corbett nominated him general counsel. He will now succeed Ward,
effective this coming Tuesday.

Prior to joining the state government, Aichele had spent his entire
career at Saul Ewing. He has served in various leadership roles
including managing partner. As chairman, he served as its public
ambassador through participation and leadership in community affairs and
in the numerous business, civic and political organizations in which
the firm participates.
David Antzis replaced him as managing partner in early 2006.

Aichele also has been the driving force behind the firm’s real estate
practice for decades and spearheaded the opening of the firm’s
Chesterbrook, Pa., office.

Aichele’s wife, former Chester County Commissioner Carole Aichele, serves as secretary of state.

The Associated Press said the change comes as Corbett. a first-term Republican, battles criticism from opponents over
his cost-cutting agenda and from allies over his ability to forge policy
and broadcast a persuasive and strong public message

The governor held a brief meeting with Ward and other senior staff
members Thursday afternoon to announce the change and declined to
comment afterward. Spokesman Kevin Harley said Corbett is “a very
independent-minded man” who is not bending to pressure to make a change.

“Every administration is going to have critics,” Harley said. “However,
this is something that the governor and Bill have been discussing for
many months and the governor thought this was the right time to do it so
he could get confirmed before the (Legislature’s summer) recess.”

Related:
Corbett replaces his chief of staff
Corbett moves to fill Allegheny County court vacancy
Corbett taps top aide for judge, says it’s not shakeup

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For
thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and
regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a free, 30-day subscription to our daily
newsletter EnviroPolitics. We track environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.

***********************************************************************************************************

Our most recent posts:
Envrios claim EPA is giving ‘dirty diesel’ a free pass
NJ Assembly voting on ‘waiver’ bill and a gas from past
After 25 years, how’s recycling doing in NJ? – Part 1
In Pa, a supreme court justice is hit with felony charges

Solar energy industry rescue bill advances in New Jersey

Ex-Saul Ewing chair named Pa Governor’s chief of staff Read More »

NJ’s conditional fracking ban: A missed opportunity?

In a guest opinion column in this morning’s Trenton Times, environmentalist Tracy Carluccio writes that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie missed the boat by refusing to sign into law an outright ban on the controversial, natural-gas drilling technique known as hydrofracturing, or fracking for short?

Ms. Carluccio, who is deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, writes that New Jersey “could have been the first state in the nation to put clean drinking
water before a dirty method of natural gas drilling.”

Instead, she says, “the
governor has replaced a brilliant pro-active policy with a weak one-year
moratorium.”

Check out her arguments at: N.J. should ban fracking now to protect state’s water resources and let us know what you think in the opinion box below.

If on is not visible, activate it byclicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

Our most recent posts:
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NJ’s conditional fracking ban: A missed opportunity? Read More »

Gov: NJ’s pulling out of climate-change compact, RGGI

[Updated at 2:37 p.m. on Friday, May 27, 2011 to include related news stories]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pleased business groups but outraged the state’s environmental community today by announcing that he’s pulling the state out of RGGI,
the 10-state regional cap-and-trade system that charges industries for CO2 emissions
and funnels the money into renewable energy and energy-conservation programs.

At a news conference, Christie acknowledged the validity of climate change science but labeled the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative as a ‘gimmicky program” that had failed to combat the problem of global warming and was only driving up the cost of electric energy in the state. News conference video.

NJ Business and Industry Association President Philip Kirschner hailed the decision.

“RGGI’s cap-and-trade provisions increase costs to New Jersey businesses and consumers who are already paying some of the highest electricity rates in the nation,” he said. “New Jersey’s participation in RGGI, however, has virtually no positive impact on the environment. Even if the state meets its greenhouse-gas reduction goals, it would have an infinitesimal effect on the overall generation of greenhouse gases.”

Environmental and smart-growth organizations denounced the governor’s decision.

Peter Kasabach, executive director of New Jersey Future, said:

“Contrary to the governor’s assertion, there is no evidence that businesses have been negatively affected by New Jersey’s participation in RGGI. In fact, over the long run, RGGI
is expected to make our companies more competitive, by increasing the supply of electricity from alternative sources, reducing demand through energy efficiency measures and bringing down the price of electricity for all users. The proceeds from RGGI would also provide financially strapped municipalities with resources to plan for sustainable land-use and transportation projects that reduce carbon emissions and energy use.”

“I’m glad the governor went to global warming school but he didn’t learn his lesson,” said David Pringle, political director of New Jersey Environmental Federation, which backed Christie for the top office.

Matt Elliott of Environment New Jersey said the announcement “marks a grim day for New Jersey’s historic leadership on clean energy and global warming solutions.”

“For over a decade, New Jersey has lead the nation in the effort to fight global warming and promote clean energy. Governor Christie’s announcement today undermines a decade’s worth of progress and leadership in New Jersey, and, if he is successful, could set us behind our neighboring states working to end the dirty and destructive addiction to fossil fuels,” Elliott said.

The harshest remarks came from the Sierra Club‘s Jeff Tittle, a constant critic of the Christie Administration.

“Christie is taking the side of corporate polluters and the coal industry over the environment and health of the people of New Jersey,” said Tittel. “As part of his attempt to become a national politician he would rather pander to the National Republican Party then do what is right for the people of New Jersey.”

Tittel called the decision “a tax cut for corporate polluters” that was “pushed by the Tea Party backed Americans for Prosperity, a front group for oil and coal interests.”

There will be more reaction in the days ahead and it will be interesting to see how members of the state legislature react to the governor’s decision.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pulls out of greenhouse gas effort
Christie Pulls New Jersey From 10-State Climate Initiative
Gov. Christie Abandons Regional Clean Air Initiative
Climate initiative flip-flop in N.J. is troublesome
Delaware environment: N.J. nixes pollution caps
New Jersey to Exit Carbon-Reduction Program
Christie continues attack on climate, environment

What’s your take? Share your opinion in the box below. If one is not visible, click on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

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Gov: NJ’s pulling out of climate-change compact, RGGI Read More »

Follow NPR down New Jersey’s tragic Passaic River

National Public Radio’s Art Silverman locates the headwaters of New Jersey’s
Passaic River and follows the waterway to the sea, through its industrial history
and layer-upon-layer of environmental abuses.

It’s not a pretty story but it’s lively and instructive, and it introduces us to a song
or two about the river and to a few quintessential New Jersey characters.

Listen to the story here. Then check out its video companion below.

Our most recent posts:
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EPA stands up to Halliburton on fracking fluid disclosure

Halliburton objects, so PA limits fracking disclosure rules

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