NJ Green Building Council names new executive director

Award winning non-profit and government leader Marc Matsil to lead USGBC NJ to help transform state’s built environment.

The following is a from a USGBC NJ news release

Morristown, N.J. (June 5, 2017) The U.S. Green Building Council New Jersey Chapter (USGBC NJ) announced today the appointment of new Executive Director Marc Matsil.

From NYC’s stressed urban communities to NJ’s most populated cities and suburbs, and the far reaches of Juneau, Alaska, Marc has worked to advance resilience, conservation, and restoration strategies to reduce the Carbon footprint.

“In the advent of climate change— sea level rise and greater storm intensities, USGBC NJ’s mission is to transform the state’s built environment into an ecologically resilient and sustainable system, reduce energy consumption and carbon inputs, to result in healthier, greener communities. Through education, advocacy and growth of its LEED program, and collaboration with our partners, this can be achieved,” said Matsil, who said he is excited to work with USGBC NJ’s talented board and staff.

Matsil is an entrepreneurial, award-winning government and non-profit leader with experience developing urban and rural innovations that create resilient, livable cities and regions. He has a proven track record of creating strategic public-private partnerships that integrate the natural and built environment into the urban and regional fabric. Matsil is recognized as one of the nation’s leading urban ecologists. He has been awarded the Theodore Sperry International Award by the Society of Ecology Restoration, the coveted U.S. EPA/Environmental Law Institute National Wetlands Award, and two U.S. EPA Environmental Quality Awards, among others.

“We look forward to the next phase of our Chapter’s growth with Marc Matsil at the helm,” said Faith Taylor, SVP, Global Corporate Social Responsibility, Wyndham Worldwide and USGBC NJ’s Board Chair. “His wealth of knowledge, his experience, and his passion will be a great asset to the Chapter and Region.”

As Chief of the New York City Parks Natural Resources Group for 15 years, Matsil developed a strategic plan—working with multiple branches of government, businesses and non-profits to conserve and restore lands in the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. Matsil raised more than $200 million to execute the program. As Assistant Commissioner for Natural & Historic Resources for the State of NJ he had oversight of NJ State Parks; the Office of Coastal Engineering & Dam Safety; Division of Fish & Wildlife; Office of Natural Resources Damages & Restoration; and was NJ’s Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. He established, working with the NJ Board of Public Utilities, the Cool Cities Initiative to plant thousands of trees in NJ’s most underserved communities to reduce energy demands and heat island impacts. He also helped revive the State’s Natural Resources Damages and Restoration program. As Director of Parks & Recreation, City & Borough of Juneau, Alaska, he initiated the nation’s most protective riverine buffers for anadromous fish and had oversight of the nation’s first public aquatic facility to operate using sustainable ground source heat technology. He served as NYS Director at The Trust for Public Land for 5.5 years where he developed the NYS Climate Program.

Matsil has been appointed to boards and task forces including The German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Cities Forum; City of NY Water Infrastructure Task Force; Regional Plan Association’s 4th Regional Plan Committee; Land Trust Alliance’s NYS Board; Co-Chair; Jamaica Bay Science & Resilience Institute Stakeholder’s Council; and others.

USGBC NJ’s first executive director Florence Block passed away in September 2016. Block forged a path to help create a strong New Jersey green building community.

USGBC NJ was recently awarded a grant from the NJ Department of Labor & Workforce Development. This enables USGBC NJ to provide fully-funded training for employees of qualifying NJ businesses for increasing LEED expertise, as well as for credentials and/or CEUs.

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Phil Murphy, Asian slave labor, and Goldman Sachs

NJ Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy. Jon Corzine with a far-better smile? Star-Ledger montage

If Phil Murphy helped Goldman Sachs investors get rich off the backs of exploited Asian workers, why is he running for governor of New Jersey? Shouldn’t he be swimming in the Trump swamp with fellow Goldman sharks?

By Frank Brill

Democratic gubernatorial rival Jim Johnson raises the question of how much Murphy knew (or chose to ignore) when he was investing Goldman money with a Taiwanese shoe manufacturer that treated its workers likes slaves.

Nice try, Jim, but too late. Murphy’s personal fortune has enabled him to drown the competition, first by winning over (yeah, that’s a euphemism) party bosses who pray for rich guys to come along to pick up election tabs, and second by flooding the airwaves with TV ads like the one depicting poor young Phil being exploited by a boss who shorts the hard-working lad’s paycheck. How’s that for irony?

Hell, even the generally progressive Star-Ledger has climbed aboard the traditional-party bus with an endorsement and Cosmo-like photo display (above) that lets Murphy glide past inconvenient comparisons to another Goldman Sachs millionaire-turned-office-purchaser–Jon Corzine.

The question that nobody seems to be asking is what is this guy really after? Corzine and Christie both had the White House as their goal from day one. A stint as Jersey’s governor was strictly to build name recognition and an issues portfolio. Didn’t exactly work out as planned, did it?

The truth is that running a state government these days is not the ticket to anything but heartache.The fixed and growing costs of public employee contracts run smack into the problem of horrific property taxes, a shrinking middle class, reflexive political opposition to tax increases, ever-rising social program costs and now, far-less expected help from Washington.

The old path to the White House is filled today with pot holes. Better to be a slick, truth-averse, game show host promising swift miracles. Of course you can’t deliver. You know that, but you always can blame someone else… the Mexicans, followers of Islam, Hillary, Obama or your spokesman, Spicey.

Not too late to change course, Phil. And, coming soon, plenty of job openings in Washington.

Frank Brill is the editor of EnviroPolitics.

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Despite Trump, Pa and Philly to maintain climate efforts

EMMA LEE / WHYY

Solar panels are among Philadelphia’s ways of cutting carbon emissions to meet the goals of the Paris
climate accord, despite President Trump’s withdrawal from the pact..

Jon Hurdle reports for StateImpact:

President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate accord isn’t likely to derail Pennsylvania’s efforts to curb methane emissions, and it strengthens Philadelphia’s determination to set its own climate policy, officials said.

Trump’s rejection on Thursday of the historic agreement to stop global temperatures rising more than an average of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels prompted howls of protest from other signatory nations but is expected to result in business as usual in Pennsylvania.

State officials said the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, would press on with its efforts to cut escapes of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – from natural gas wells and pipelines. Philadelphia officials were expected to continue their drive to reduce carbon emissions and prepare for the higher temperatures and bigger storms that are forecast to come with climate change.

“Climate change is a global issue that needs cooperation at all levels, from international agreements down to local efforts to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gases,” said Neil Shader, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection, which implements climate policy. “While withdrawal from the Paris agreement will not directly impact specific DEP policies, climate change is still an issue that is already affecting Pennsylvania.”

In Philadelphia, Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney issued a statement saying that the city would continue its efforts to cut carbon emissions to match the requirements of the international pact.

“President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement goes against the interests of Philadelphians,” Kenney said. “My administration is now committed to upholding at the local level the very same commitment made by the United States in the Paris climate agreement — to reduce carbon emissions between 26 and 28 percent by 2025. This will ensure that we’re well on our way to meeting Philadelphia’s current long-term goal of reducing the city’s emissions 80 percent by 2050.”

Kenney said Philadelphia would be one of about 60 U.S. cities working to meet the standards set by the Paris agreement.

In a statement at the White House, Trump said the United States would immediately withdraw from the Paris accord but would try to renegotiate what he said was a better deal. He said other countries such as China and India would be allowed to exploit coal reserves under the Paris accord while the United States would be prevented from doing so.

“The bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair at the highest levels to the United States,” Trump said.

He said some of he other 194 countries that have signed the agreement would be able to gain financially, at the expense of the United States.

“This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries getting a financial advantage over the United States,” he said.

“We are getting out but we will start a negotiation and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair,” he said.

In Harrisburg, the Wolf administration’s climate efforts previously focused on a plan to cut power plant emissions, as required by the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era rule.

But compliance efforts halted after the U.S. Supreme Court halted implementation of the plan in February 2016, and Trump issued an executive order to review the rule in March this year. As a result, Pennsylvania’s climate policy is now focused on reducing methane leaks from natural gas operations.

That’s being opposed by some state lawmakers who want to ensure that Pennsylvania’s restrictions on methane leaks are no stricter than those required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Any tougher limits would reduce state competitiveness and cost jobs, according to supporters of SB 175, a bill that aims to lessen the impact of the methane rule.

Rep. Greg Vitali, a Delaware County Democrat, said many lawmakers in the Republican majority of both state houses already oppose the methane restrictions proposed by the Wolf administration, and so Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris agreement is unlikely to make a lot of difference.

“The resistance is there already,” Vitali said. “It’s difficult to get positive things done on climate.”

Read the full story here

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Christie’s chief counsel, Greg Aquaviva, headed to court?

Eric Strauss reports for NJBIZ:

Gregory Aquaviva

Just three months after being named Gov. Chris Christie’s chief counsel, Gregory Acquaviva appears to be changing jobs again.

Thursday afternoon, the former UnitedHealth Group executive’s name appeared on a list of nominees for the state Superior Court being sent by Christie to the state Senate for approval.

Acquaviva had been UHG’s vice president for state government affairs, before rejoining Christie’s administration in March as chief counsel. He had previously served in the governor’s administration in roles including chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

He was No. 28 on the NJBIZ Power 50 Health Care list for 2017, and a member of the NJBIZ Forty Under 40 list in 2016.

Christie announced eight names in total were submitted for judgeships Thursday. The governor’s office said, as a matter of policy, it does not comment further on nominations.

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‘Societal benefits’ and ‘dirty dirt’ bills clear NJ committee

Two high-profile environmental bills were released yesterday by the New Jersey Senate’s Environment and Energy Committee.

The first, SCR-151 (Smith/Bateman), would amend the State Constitution to require that ‘societal benefit’ charges on utility bills be used to fund energy-efficiency programs–and not to plug up holes in the state budget as has been the practice in recent years.

The second, S-2306 (Lesniak), would bring soils brokers, soils salesmen and Class B recycling facilities under the A-901 licensing law currently required for companies and facilities in the solid waste sector.

EnviroPolitics Editor Frank Brill asks the NJ Sierra Club’s Jeff Tittel and Environment New Jersey’s Doug O’Malley why they are pushing for passage of both pieces of legislation.

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NJ Ag and Environment bills in committees June 5

ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

1 P.M.

Room 15, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-1696 Dancer, R.S. (R-12); Conaway, H. (D-7);
Caride,
M. (D-36)

Authorizes prescribed burning in certain circumstances.

A-4558 Space, P. (R-24); Jones, P.E. (D-5); Dancer,
R.S. (R-12); Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Taliaferro, A.J. (D-3)

Establishes “Best Use of Ugly Produce Award
Program.”

A-4787 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Houghtaling, E.
(D-11); Taliaferro, A.J. (D-3); Mazzeo, V. (D-2)

Authorizes alternate members for farmers on State
Agriculture Development Committee.

A-4788 Houghtaling, E. (D-11); Taliaferro, A.J.
(D-3); Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Mazzeo, V. (D-2)

Creates alternate voting members on county agriculture
development boards.

__________________________________

Bill monitoring by BillTrak

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A-4844 Mazzeo, V. (D-2); Houghtaling, E. (D-11);
Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Taliaferro, A.J. (D-3)

Authorizes temporary members to fill certain vacancies
on Fish and Game Council.

A-4846 Houghtaling, E. (D-11); Taliaferro, A.J.
(D-3); Andrzejczak, B. (D-1)

Requires restitution and increases penalties for
vandalism and trespass on agricultural or horticultural lands.

A-4847 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Houghtaling, E.
(D-11); Taliaferro, A.J. (D-3)

Authorizes award of reasonable costs and attorney fees
to farmers prevailing in certain farm management disputes.

A-4849 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1)

Clarifies law concerning circumstances in which members
of Pinelands Commission may vote.

AJR-131 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Dancer, R.S. (R-12);
Taliaferro, A.J. (D-3); Space, P. (R-24)

Designates month of September of each year as
“Organic Farming Month.”

AJR-138 Taliaferro, A.J. (D-3); Space, P. (R-24);
Houghtaling, E. (D-11); Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Dancer, R.S. (R-12)

Designates first full week of June of each year as
“Ugly Produce Week.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT AND SOLID WASTE

6/5/17 2 P.M.

Room 9, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-4151 Land, R.B. (D-1); Andrzejczak, B. (D-1)

Provides free admission to State parks, forests, and
beaches for certain veterans and military personnel.

Related Bill: S-2591

A-4728 Eustace, T. (D-38); Downey, J. (D-11);
Houghtaling, E. (D-11); Zwicker, A. (D-16)

Requires BPU to conduct energy storage analysis.

Related Bill: S-3064

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Bill monitoring by BillTrak

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A-4795 Eustace, T. (D-38)

Requires certain buildings and structures in Hackensack
Meadowlands to use “bird friendly” glass or other construction and
design techniques to reduce bird collisions.

AR-227 Benson, D.R. (D-14); Zwicker, A. (D-16);
Houghtaling, E. (D-11); Kennedy, J.J. (D-22)

Urges BPU to adopt goal to equip 500,000 homes with
energy-saving smart thermostats by 2023.

Related Bill: SR-110

SCR-144 Sweeney, S.M. (D-3)

Commends Rutgers University Coastal Ocean Observation
Laboratory for contributions to ocean research, data collection, technology,
and forecasting.

Related Bill: ACR-231

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