Big energy upgrades for two state buildings in Trenton, NJ

The Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection building are in store for energy makeovers that are expected to save more than a half million dollars annually.
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
The state Board of Public Utilities yesterday approved plans for energy conservation projects for the two prominent Trenton buildings, along with the East Hanover school district and two buildings in Jersey City, totaling $8.2 million through the New Jersey Clean Energy program.
NJDEP headquarters in Trenton, NJ
The program provides a range of financial incentives to help fund energy-efficiency projects for residents, businesses, and government entities, enabling them to conserve energy and reduce utility bills. It is funded through a surcharge on customers’ monthly gas and electric bills.
The savings from the latest round of incentives are projected to run approximately $835,000 a year, according to the BPU.
“Through the implementation of the Christie administration’s state Energy Master Plan, the board continues to encourage and offer significant financial incentives to residents, businesses, local governments, and school districts to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings,’’ said BPU President Richard Mroz.
Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton, NJ
The plan to adopt energy efficiency measures at the two state buildings was undertaken in a memorandum of understanding between the board and the state Department of Treasury. As part of the agreement, the board will commit $7.5 million of its fiscal year 2017 clean energy budget to cover the costs of the two projects. The justice complex will receive $5.7 million, the DEP $1.8 million.
Currently, the total utility bills for the Hughes justice complex are roughly $4.2 million. With replacement of its heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning controls and other improvements to its heating/cooling and lighting systems, it is projected the savings yearly will amount to roughly $496,000.
The DEP building on East State Street spends nearly $1 million on utility expenses annually. Energy conservation projects at the building are expected to save $148,900 a year, according to the board.
“The equipment upgrades to these buildings will result in energy, operation, and maintenance cost-savings for the state,’’ said Chris Chianese, director of the Division of Property Management and Construction in the Treasury Department.
The board also approved an application by Summit Plaza in Jersey City to install three natural-gas-fueled engines to serve two multifamily buildings. The combined heat and power (CHP) system will cost about $2 million and save roughly $180,000 a year in energy costs. The incentive amounted to $600,000.
In addition, the BPU approved a fuel-cell/CHP system for the East Hanover school system with an incentive of $135,537.
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A Pinelands battle almost as long as the pipeline itself

                                  Photo Credit: Inquirer staff photographer Akira Suwa

With a crucial vote set for Friday, conservationists rallied outside the State House yesterday–the latest action in their six-year bid to halt the approval of a controversial and much-litigated pipeline through parts of the Pinelands.

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

A few dozen environmentalists renewed their opposition to the 22-mile pipeline, which will allow the B.L. England power plant at Beesley’s Point to convert from coal to natural gas in a proposal that has been before the Pinelands Commission for six years.
The project is the most contentious issue to emerge in the Pinelands, a more than 1-million-acre preserve set aside four decades ago to protect a vast, mostly unbroken forest sitting above one of the largest aquifers in the region. It has drawn opposition from four former governors, two former executive directors of the commission, and virtually all of the state’s environmental community.
The agency initially balked at approving the project, which fails to comply with its own Comprehensive Management Plan. Nancy Wittenberg, its executive director, last week issued a 24-page letter recommending the commission approve the plan, reversing a previous staff determination based on new documentation submitted into the record.

b.l. england

Credit: Kirk Moore
B.L. England power plant in Cape May County
Whatever decision emerges from what is expected to be a packed meeting in Cherry Hill, the issue is likely to wind up back in court, which reversed a prior ruling by Wittenberg endorsing the project pushed by South Jersey Gas. A state appeals court kicked the issue back to the full commission.
In making a case to reject the proposal, environmentalists yesterday blamed political interference from Gov. Chris Christie for refusing to allow the project to die.
“The South Jersey Gas pipeline does not meet the standards in the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan and regardless of political influence, the commissioners need to do what is right and support the regulations,’’ said Jaclyn Rhoads, assistant executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. “The Pinelands commissioners took an oath to protect the Pinelands and they need to uphold the rules of the CMP.’’
“Friday is probably the most important vote in its 40-year history,’’ added Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Together we are in Trenton telling the governor and his cronies that they must protect the Pinelands and the people of New Jersey.’’
The project, touted as helping supply the power needs of the people who live in the Pinelands, is backed by most business interests, many legislators, and organized labor. If the project is not built, the B.L. England plant will have to shut down under a consent decree with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Opponents argue that besides failing to comply with the CMP, the pipeline isn’t necessary and would not serve the needs of the Pinelands. They also say that it threatens the acquifer underlying the region, points disputed by Wittenberg in her letter.
“This is a battle about the independence of commissions,’’ argued Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey.

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Court-ordered e-mails show EPA chief’s close ties to Big Oil

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt

Brady Dennis and Steven Mufson report for The Washington Post:


In his previous role as Oklahoma’s attorney general, Scott Pruitt regularly huddled with fossil fuel firms and electric utilities about how to combat federal regulations and spoke to conservative political groups about what they call government “overreach,” according to thousands of pages of newly released emails.

“The newly released emails reveal a close and friendly relationship between Scott Pruitt’s office and the fossil fuel industry, with frequent meetings, calls, dinners and other events,” said Nick Surgey, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy, which has sued to compel the release of the emails.
The emails highlight an often-chummy relationship between Pruitt’s office and Devon Energy, a major oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City. The correspondence makes clear that top officials at the company met often with Pruitt or people who worked for him. Devon representatives also helped draft — and re-draft — letters for Pruitt to sign and send federal officials in an effort to stave off new regulations.
“Any suggestions?” a deputy solicitor general in Pruitt’s office wrote to a Devon executive in early May 2013, including a draft of a letter the office was planning to send to the EPA regarding proposed regulations of methane emissions.
“Here you go,” the executive, Bill Whitsitt replied. “Please note that you could use just the red changes, or both red and blue (the latter being some further improvements from one of our experts) or none.”
“I sent the letter today,” the deputy solicitor general wrote the following day. “Thanks for all your help on this.”
The emails show that Pruitt and his office were in touch with a network of ultra-conservative groups, many of which in the past have received backing from billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch, the libertarian owners of Koch Industries, a major oil company. The documents detail not only how Pruitt’s office at times coordinated with industry officials to fight unwanted regulations from Washington, but also how he was a highly sought after speaker at conferences and other gatherings for groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, which works with corporate interests and state legislators to shape key pieces of legislation.
In one example, Pruitt was a speaker at an ALEC conference on May 3, 2013, in Oklahoma City. He was part of a panel called, “Embracing American Energy Opportunities: From Wellheads to Pipelines.” The event also featured a reception at the Petroleum Club and a luncheon sponsored by Koch Industries.

The Oklahoma attorney general’s office handed over the batch of emails — nearly 7,000 pages in all — this week in order to meet a deadline set by a judge who ordered the documents’ release following more than two years of effort by CMD, a liberal watchdog organization. The group had sued to compel the state to release the documents under public records laws. (The emails can be viewed here.)


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Connecticut looks to wrap up plastic bag, film recycling

Cole Rosengren reports for WasteDive:


Connecticut officials, in partnership with the American Chemistry Council’s Flexible Film Recycling Group (FFRG), launched a new collection campaign this week to improve plastic film recycling rates. Residents are encouraged to recycle a range of products such as shopping bags and plastic wrap at 175 participating stores within the state.
About half of Connecticut residents don’t know about drop-off options for plastic recycling and many don’t know the full list of accepted materials, according to a recent survey. According to the American Chemistry Council, more than 18,000 stores now offer drop-off options for plastic film recycling nationwide.
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26-year-old New Yorker getting rich from scavenging cans

Aaron Elstein reports for Crain’s New York:

Conrad Cutler drives a Porsche Macan, which seems fitting considering the 26-year-old entrepreneur has made his money one can—and bottle—at a time.
Less than five years out of college, Cutler runs Galvanize Group, a four-year-old business that generates almost $10 million in annual revenue from collecting recyclable cans and bottles around the city and returning them to the distributors, who pay the 5-cent deposit plus a state-mandated 3.5-cent handling fee for each one.

In the winter about 1 million empty containers of Coke, Poland Spring and other beverages consumed in the city are sorted weekly by about 35 full-time employees at his Mount Vernon warehouse. Volume doubles during the warmer months, when New Yorkers tend to consume more cold drinks, so he keeps his shop open 24 hours in the summer.

“My friends make fun of me, saying I go through people’s garbage for a living,” said Cutler, whose company processes about 110 mil
llion empty bottles and cans every year.

“One part of the 
government encourages redeeming recyclables; another part discourages it. And we’re caught in the middle.”

Cutler’s pals may mock him, but to city officials, his bustling business is no laughing matter. In their eyes he and the collectors who supply him are undermining the municipal recycling program by seizing the most valuable items before the city can pick them up and resell them as a commodity. Metal, glass and plastic collected by sanitation department crews are routed to a private company called Sims Municipal Recycling, which has a multiyear agreement with the city to process recyclables at a Brooklyn facility.
In a trade publication in 2012, Robert Lange, a former head of the city’s Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling, labeled outfits like Cutler’s a “sophisticated mob of scavenger collectives that systemically removes valuable recyclables…and leaves the worthless and costly-to-collect rest for the Department of Sanitation.”
A less harsh critic, Wayne DeFeo, an industry expert and founder of consulting firm DeFeo Associates, said Cutler operates in an “ethical gray zone.”
The controversy rests on how Cutler goes about gathering his millions of bottles and cans. Some come from large retail outlets, such as CVS stores. Most, however, are sourced via a network of 100 subcontractors who have relationships with apartment supers and property managers and give Cutler’s crews first dibs on recyclables before they’re hauled to the curb. (It’s illegal to rummage through recyclables once they’re curbside, but it’s impossible for Cutler to police that.)

Photo:
DIGGING FOR ALUMINUM: Cutler gets cans and bottles from a network of 100 subcontractors. It’s illegal to grab recyclables from the curb, though Cutler can’t police his whole supply chain.

Bars and restaurants are less important sources, as those establishments seldom generate more than a few hundred empties per day. The largest volume comes from office buildings.
“A big tower will have thousands of people working in it and consuming two or three bottled beverages every day,” said Cutler, adding that a dedicated collector can bank up to $200 a day, which translates to 4,000 bottles or cans daily.
Plus, Cutler said, his firm helps make the city cleaner by picking up recyclables that might otherwise litter the streets. Such litter remains common even though the state has imposed a refundable nickel deposit on every bottle and can of soda or beer since 1982. (Plastic noncarbonated beverage bottles were added to the mix eight years ago.)

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State finds 9 illegal dump sites, writes 200 tickets on LI, NY

Emily C. Dooley reports for Newsday:

New York State environmental conservation officers and police fanned out around Long Island, the Hudson Valley and New York City last week, finding nine illegal dumping sites and issuing nearly 200 tickets for unlawful disposal, operating without a permit and other violations, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office announced Monday night.

More than half the tickets were issued on Long Island as part of roadside checkpoints near exits 62 and 66 on the Long Island Expressway. Trucks were followed in three cases and one possible dumping site will be investigated, although authorities would not say where because the case is ongoing. 


The nine illegal dumping sites were found in the Hudson Valley.The crackdown took place Feb. 15 and Feb. 16 and involved more than 100 environmental conservation officers, state police, local police agencies and the state Department of Transportation.

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said last week’s action was one of several that would happen in the coming months.

“We will continue to do all that we can to keep toxic waste and debris from being dumped in our communities,” Cuomo said in a news release announcing the crackdown.

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