Would airport links damage Port Authority credit rating?

AirTrain at Newark (NJ) Airport

A board member at the bistate agency joins some transit watchdogs saying few riders will use LaGuardia AirTrain
or PATH extension

Daniel Geiger reports for Crain’s

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s passage of its largest ever capital plan on Thursday didn’t come without reservations from at least one of its board members.

During a public board meeting at the bistate agency’s lower Manhattan headquarters, Ken Lipper, a Port Authority commissioner appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, repeated his opposition to part of the $32 billion plan.

At issue was over $3 billion of spending reserved for an extension of the PATH to the AirTrain system serving Newark Airport, as well as a new AirTrain from Willets Point to LaGuardia Airport.

Lipper, who aired pointed criticism for the projects during a board meeting in December, reasserted his concerns that the two rail links would serve only a small group of riders, would be money losers for the Port and potentially damage its credit rating and fiscal health.

“It will strain the Port Authority,” said Lipper, who in his remarks suggested the two projects together will actually cost $4 billion. “I believe $4 billion could be spent where there’s greater demand for our services and where there’s ridership.”

The Port Authority has not yet conducted definitive ridership studies for the rail links that could confirm or refute Lipper’s criticism, even though both projects have been discussed for years.

“What hasn’t been done—and it should have been done—is an analysis of the ridership and data that would provide a better analytical base for spending the money,” the Port Authority’s New Jersey appointed chairman John Degnan told Crain‘s.

But Degnan said the board, including Lipper, ultimately voted unanimously in support for the capital plan because it allows projects to be further reevaluated before they actually break ground and require the agency to spend money.

“There will be several points over the next few years where the board will be called on to advance these projects further and the next time they’ll be revisited there will be more ridership data available and more cost updates and more certainty around the projected costs,” Degnan said. “That’s why all of us were comfortable, including Ken, voting for the capital plan.”

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Outraged by vote approving pipeline through NJ Pinelands

Some 600 opponents of a proposed South Jersey Gas pipeline through preserved areas of the New Jersey Pinelands voiced their outrage today at a 9-5 decision by the Pinelands Commission to permit the pipeline installation. The project has been fought in and out of court for years by environmentalists, three former governors, and the commission’s two previous directors. NJTV‘s Brenda Flanagan has the story above.

Wayne Parry AP photo

Wayne Parry covered the story for The Associated Press:

New Jersey environmental regulators on Friday approved a hotly contested plan to run a natural gas pipeline through a federally protected forest preserve amid raucous protests that included drums, tambourines and choruses of “This Land Is Your Land.”

The 15-member New Jersey Pinelands Commission voted to approve a plan by South Jersey Gas to run the pipeline through the federally protected Pinelands preserve, where development is drastically restricted. The protesters’ loud ruckus drowned out the members, even as they voted nine in favor and five against, with one abstention.

It was the most emotionally charged jobs-vs-environment clash in recent New Jersey history, and was closely watched by environmental and energy groups around the nation, particularly with a new presidential administration seen as more supportive of the energy industry.

“As a priest, I will pray for you when you stand before the throne of God and you are asked to give an accounting of your stewardship of this special ecological area,” said Rev. David Stump, a Catholic priest from Jersey City. “May God have mercy on your souls.”

“Your legacy is disgraceful!” added Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

The company said the vote “recognizes the energy reliability challenges facing southern New Jersey and the balanced solution this project offers. The careful construction of this pipeline will address the energy demands of 142,000 customers in Cape May and Atlantic counties, protect and create jobs, and provide a meaningful opportunity to significantly reduce air emissions.”

The B.L. England power plant, where the pipeline would end, currently burns coal and oil to generate electricity.

“The use of natural gas and state-of-the-art emissions control technology, together, can turn the facility into a cleaner and more efficient generator of electricity for the people of south Jersey,” RC Cape May Holdings, the plant’s owners, said in a statement after the vote.

Protesters repeatedly disrupted the meeting, chanting “No! No! No!” for nearly 10 minutes when the commission was about to vote. They burst into song in protest whenever a commissioner voted in favor of the plan.

After the plan was approved, they chanted, “Shame on you!” and “See you in court!” Pipeline supporters including construction workers, though greatly outnumbered, chanted “USA! USA!”

Tittel said his and other environmental groups plan to challenge the approval in court on numerous procedural and factual grounds, hoping to delay it long enough for New Jersey’s next governor to appoint Pinelands commissioners that will reverse the decision. Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s successor will be elected in November.

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The 22-mile pipeline plan was narrowly defeated in 2014. But since then, Christie has replaced several Pinelands commissioners with supporters of the pipeline.

Carleton Montgomery, executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, called the vote “a symptom of what’s going on nationally” regarding pipeline projects.

South Jersey Gas plans to run the pipeline mostly under or alongside existing roads. The company says it already operates over 1,400 miles of gas mains and 133 miles of elevated pressure lines within the Pinelands without harming the environment.

After the proposal was defeated in 2014, the executive director of the Pinelands Commission unilaterally decided that it met the agency’s criteria and was therefore approved. Environmentalists sued, and a court ordered the commission to take a new vote.

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/business/article134687414.html#storylink=cpy

Environmental groups fear the pipeline will harm the fragile Pinelands and set a bad precedent for future development. They say it will cause a loss of habitat and increase runoff and erosion in an area that is home to an aquifer that is estimated to hold 17 trillion gallons of some of the nation’s purest water.

South Jersey Gas maintains that in addition to providing a cleaner fuel source to the power plant, the new pipeline would provide a second transmission vehicle for natural gas to customers in the two southern New Jersey counties. Currently, only one pipeline takes gas to nearly 29,000 homes and businesses, which could be left out in the cold without a second way of getting gas to their homes if the existing pipeline fails.

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New Yorkers: Don’t park your barge on my Hudson River

Scott Fallon reports for The Record:

Just north of the George Washington Bridge near the preserved banks of Palisades Interstate Park lies a 715-acre section of the Hudson River that could soon become a virtual parking lot for the scores of oil barges that travel the waterway.

The U.S. Coast Guard is evaluating a proposal that would allow up to 16 barges to drop anchor in the middle of the river between Alpine and Yonkers, N.Y., to accommodate an expected increase in the amount of oil hauled to and from Albany N.Y.

It is the largest and southernmost of seven proposed anchorages on the Hudson, and has galvanized local officials, residents and environmental groups in New York. They say the plan is an environmental threat that will “re-industrialize” the river, make it unsightly and increase the risk of an oil spill. Supporters say it will make the river safer by having more places to anchor with increased traffic.

The issue, however, has gone largely unnoticed in New Jersey even though more people live along the state’s 26 miles of waterfront than ever before. Of the 10,212 comments sent to the Coast Guard about the project, few came from New Jersey.

“It’s the forgotten river for so many here, but this proposal will affect New Jersey, no question,” said Gil Hawkins, president of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, who lives in Leonia. “When you go to the Palisades and look down and see these giant oil barges instead of small boats or eagles hunting fish, maybe then people will realize how important this issue is.”

PILGRIM: It could be N.J.’s oil pipeline to nowhere
POLLUTION: Patrolling Hudson River for signs of trouble
RECOVERING: Whale’s visit a good sign for healthier Hudson

Over the past five years, the Hudson River has become a major transportation route for crude oil, with millions of gallons transported from upstate New York to refineries, including Bayway in Linden. The crude originates from the oil boom in North Dakota and is shipped by rail to Albany, where New York officials have allowed the amount handled at the city’s port to triple to 2.8 billion gallons annually.

While it is a boon for domestic oil production, it has raised concerns about the risk of a spill on the recovering waterway, though oil barges are required to have double hulls and there have been no major spills on the river. A tanker carrying crude ran aground near Albany in December 2012 and ruptured its outer hull but did not spill any of its 12 million gallons of oil.

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Water pollution settlement delayed in Hoosick Falls, NY

Marie J. French reports for Politico/NY:

HOOSICK FALLS (NY) — The village board decided on Thursday to postpone discussion of a revised settlement with two companies held responsible for polluting the water here with PFOA.

Mayor David Borge said a village trustee had a family health emergency and would not be present at the meeting. That’s why he wanted to postpone any action on the $1 million settlement with the two companies, Saint Gobain and Honeywell.

Residents had gathered in the Hoosick Armory in anticipation of the meeting, with some holding cardboard signs that read, “Deeply Polluted Village, Deeply Flawed Settlement” and “Clean Water Doesn’t Come Cheap.”

Borge’s announcement drew shouts of outrage from residents. “You’re running like a coward,” shouted Hoosick Falls resident Desiray Rice as Borge headed toward the door.

The revised settlement has drawn criticism from former EPA chief Judith Enck, former state Department of Health official Dr. Howard Freed and a lawyer with Healthy Hoosick Water, an advocacy group. The settlement includes a release of any future claims by the village over PFOA contamination in the village’s existing water supply.

The $1 million figure is $195,000 more than a previous settlement proposal that residents fiercely criticized at a lengthy public meeting in January. About half will go to pay lawyers, engineering and communications consultants hired by the village. The rest will cover the village’s losses from decreased water use and other costs of dealing with the crisis.

Residents are still not happy with the proposal. “We all vote no,” a group chanted immediately after Borge’s announcement.

“This is not serving the village. This is reckless and laughable,” said Silvia Potter, a resident of Hoosick Falls.

David Engel, the lawyer with Health Hoosick Water, said earlier this week that the settlement should either be much larger or not include a release for future claims.

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Congress can’t duck reinvigorated voters left and right

During a long stretch during his two-year term in office, NJ Gov. Chris Christie developed a potent political weapon–the Town Hall Meeting. His skilled staff booked the events in friendly districts, seeded the audience with pro-Christie voters and provided props, backdrops and signs all designed to give Christie the best chance to advance his legislative agenda, torment Democrats, and boost his national recognition in advance of what everyone knew back then was his coming presidential bid.

Members of Congress saw how well it worked and began scheduling their own Town Halls. They used the vehicle to demonstrate to the folks back in their districts how on top of things they were. Good news coverage generally followed.

Now the folks back home are demanding that what used to be a one-way publicity stunt to function the way they want. They want to talk back and let Mr./Ms. Congressperson know that they’re mad as hell with the way things are going, regardless of their voter affiliation or leaning.

Uh oh. Just like the rest of us, Congress people want to be liked. Not insulted. Not questioned, especially by people who are more attuned than ever to the BS lines designed to deflect the topic.

So a number of Washington leaders are no longer holding Town Halls. That isn’t pleasing constituents one bit. Those who swallow hard and wade into the fray might be scoring points for courage but they’re still sweating the experience.

Witness NJ Rep Leonard Lance’s Town Hall last night.

The Washington Post reports:

Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) faced a record crowd at a town hall meeting Wednesday night where audience members pressed him to urge President Trump to release his tax returns and investigate Russia’s interference in U.S. elections.

In what his office said was the largest turnout of his congressional career, more than 900 people were packed in a community college auditorium, the largest such space in his district, and an overflow room was filled with another 250 people. More than 350 protesters gathered outside.

Leonard Lance meets constituents at Town Hall Feb 22 2017 Dominick Reuter photo for Reuters

“I believe those in the audience were constituents,” Lance said afterward. “I don’t believe they were paid.”

Lance faced countless hecklers shouting “Do your job!” and “Answer the question!” Audience members rose to their feet when demanding that Trump release his tax returns, and for Lance and all other politicians to “put country before party.”

In the end, Lance said he felt that “the vast majority tried to listen to my responses.”

What happens if you stop holding Town Halls?
Brick (NJ) Patch reports today:

Frustrated that Rep. Tom MacArthur will not hold a face-to-face town hall meeting, a group of Ocean County constituents are planning to protest Thursday evening outside the offices of WOBM, the radio station where MacArthur conducts a regular “Ask the Congressman” radio call-in show.

MacArthur is scheduled to be on the radio station at 7 p.m. Thursday for the monthly show, which airs on WOBM 1160 AM and can be heard online at www.mybeachradio.com.

“Representative MacArthur is on record as saying that he doesn’t want to host an open Town Hall meeting because “paid” protesters might prevent him from hearing from his constituents.

Let’s gather outside the station to let him know that we are REAL, UNPAID, FIRED UP people who will actively resist the Trump/MacArthur agenda,” the protest organizers said in a Facebook event posting about the protest.

Protesters are being urged to meet outside the Ocean County Library’s main branch in Toms River at 101 Washington St. at 6 p.m., with the plan to walk to the offices of WOBM on Robbins Street at 6:15 p.m. with the hope of seeing MacArthur as he walks into the office for the radio show.

What’s your take on this? Have you been to a town hall? What was your impression? Will your congressperson’s attendance or ducking affect your vote next time around? Will voter fire sizzle when summer arrives? Tell us in the ‘comment’ box below.
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There’s a dark side (as usual) to this bright weather

Warm weather could cause some plants to bloom early, which could be harmful when cold weather returns

The Record‘s James M. O’Neil provides this humbug report:

So you’re indulging in this freaky-warm un-February, eh?

Celebrating your snow-free driveway. Cheering that iceless windshield. Basking in false spring temperatures reaching into the 50s, 60s and even – possibly Friday – the 70s.

But even with great winter weather, there’s no free lunch.

This February, which could end up one of the three warmest on record in New Jersey, is coaxing tree and shrub buds to start swelling early. That should continue as forecasters predict warmer than normal temperatures for at least two more weeks.

But if we get blasted with a cold snap and frosty nights, those buds could be killed off.

WARMING: Temperature could hit 70 degrees
MILD TEMPS: Why has it been so weirdly warm this winter?

And suddenly, poof – there go the state’s colorful spring landscapes of blooming magnolias, cherry trees and ornamental pear trees, reduced to burnt brown petals hanging limply from their branches.

It happened last spring to saucer magnolias, which were in full pink flower when the temperature dropped one night to 20 degrees. “The petals were hanging all brown into late May,” said Bruce Crawford, director of the 200-acre Rutgers Gardens in New Brunswick. “It was really unappealing. But there’s really nothing you can do about it.”

Kevin Eisele of Eisele’s Nursery and Garden Center in Paramus agreed. “We just have to hope it cools down again soon,” he said, which could suppress buds from continuing to swell. “Otherwise certain species of plants probably will get hurt.”

Any early-spring flowering trees could be affected, said Bill Zipse, regional forester for the state Forest Service. “We’ll have to keep watch over the next few weeks for potential frost damage,” he said.

Native dogwoods, whose striking four-petal pink or white flowers are really modified leaves called bracts, often lose the outer two bracts if a frost hits while the trees are still budding, reducing their aesthetic impact.

Another highly susceptible landscape plant is the non-native hydrangea. Because they grow buds on old wood from the prior year, they can start early, but if they start drawing water up into the stems and cold weather sets in, the water freezes, stem cells burst, and the plant won’t produce its distinctive blue and pink pom-pom flowers that summer.

“They really take it on the chin,” Crawford said.

Buds on other trees have also started to swell, such as silver maple and red maple. Mike Limatola, marsh warden at Celery Farm in Allendale, said he saw buds swelling on maple trees there over the weekend.

While trees can’t grow new flower buds if killed off, they can grow new leaf buds, Zipse said. But repeated seasons with early growth followed by cold weather and lost buds can stress some trees, experts say.

With a warmer winter, plants are also susceptible to increased pest infestations, both the insect and fungal variety. Without cold temperatures to kill off much of the pest populations, they can get started even earlier attacking their host plants, said Todd Wyckoff, bureau chief for the state Forest Service.

Read the full, balloon-busting story here