New funding source sows green into NJ farm preservation


Appropriation from corporate business taxes would be first since voters passed constitutional amendment in 2014

farmland

Tom Johnson reports
for NJ Spotlight:

For the first time in a few years, the state is starting to dole out tens of millions of dollars in grants and aid to help preserve farmland across New Jersey.
The Assembly Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to consider a package of four bills on Monday that would mark the first appropriation to set aside farmlands since voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2014 dedicating corporate business taxes to this purpose.
Use form in upper right to sign up for free updates


It is has been a long time coming, according to conservationists.
“We’ve been waiting quite awhile for the farmland preservation program to get back going,’’ said Ed Potosnak, chairman of the New Jersey Keep It Green coalition, which lobbied for the preservation ballot question.
In the past, the state largely relied on bond issues to finance farmland preservation, but the passage of a ballot question committing a portion of corporate business taxes for conservation purposes provides a stable source of funding to protect open space and agricultural land.
The four-bill package is identical to three measures introduced earlier this month in the Senate, which also have yet to be acted upon.
One of the bills (A-4580) appropriates $2.9 million in grants to nonprofit groups to help preserve farmland. A second bill (A-4581) would steer $22.3 million to the State Agricultural Development Committee to purchase easements or other titles to help protect agricultural land. Another measure (A-4582) would set aside $32.5 million in money for county farmland preservation projects from the corporate business taxes.
The final bill in the package (A-4584) would provide up to $7.5 million in incentive grants to municipalities for farmland preservation projects.
Typically, the projects receiving such appropriations in the package win final legislative approval before the summer budget recess.

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —
>>

New funding source sows green into NJ farm preservation Read More »

EPA extends comment period for two proposed TCE rules


The USEPA posted this announcement this afternoon:


EPA is extending the comment period for two proposed rules on Trichloroethylene (TCE), a toxic chemical with human health concerns identified by EPA in a 2014 risk assessment.  

EPA proposed these rules in December and January to ban certain uses of the chemical in aerosol degreasing, as a spot cleaner in dry cleaning facilities, and in commercial vapor degreasing.  

The comment period for the proposed ban on TCE as an aerosol degreaser and for spot cleaning in dry cleaning facilities is extended to March 16.

The comment period for the proposed ban on TCE as a commercial vapor degreaser is extended to April 19.

Read more about the proposed rules:

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

EPA extends comment period for two proposed TCE rules Read More »

NJ, PA House GOPers only no votes on weaker enviro rules

Rep. Frank LoBiondo waits for an elevator with fellow N.J. Republican Rep. Chris Smith. (Star-Ledger)

Jonathan D. Salant reports for NJ.com:

Just four House Republicans voted against repealing U.S. Interior Department regulations requiring federal officials to use the best available science, including addressing the impacts of climate change and moving toward clean energy, in allowing development on public lands.



Three of them are from New Jersey. [Editor: 1 from Pennsylvania]
The 234-186 vote on Tuesday was the latest in a series of House GOP efforts to roll back environmental protections enacted in the final months of President Barack Obama’s administration. House Republicans earlier also repealed a regulation that could block individuals with mental illness from buying guns.
Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.), Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) and Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.) voted no. The only other House Republican to vote now was Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who represent a district across the Delaware River in Bucks County. 
“I’ve tried throughout my public service to be a strong proponent of protection of public lands,” Lance said. “We recognize it’s important to preserve land.”
5 regulations N.J. Republicans helped repeal
5 regulations N.J. Republicans helped repeal
Republicans blocked regulations affecting gun owners and the energy industry, whose campaign giving favors the GOP.



LoBiondo and Smith also dissented last week when House Republicans voted to repeal regulations on coal companies designed to protect streams and drinking water supplies.
Smith also broke away from the party line and opposed efforts to repeal a rule requiring U.S. oil and gas companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments. Foreign oil companies already are required to reveal such payments.
He also voted no this time.
“Our public lands contribute to economic prosperity, provide recreational and tourism opportunities for sportsmen and travelers, and promote biodiversity,” Smith said. He said the regulation, “while not a perfect rule,” will help “to protect open spaces and critical habitats.”
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management oversees more than 245 million acres, mostly in 12 western states.
The new regulations announced in December were designed to speed up land-use planning and involve state and local officials. According to BLM, the planning process also will take into account the best available science to address issues such as droughts and wildfires that are increasing in intensity, efforts to develop clean energy sources, and changing animal habitats.
Obama’s BLM director, Neil Kornze, said the new rule would increase “collaboration and transparency.”
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on the House floor that U.S. officials in Washington shouldn’t make decisions about publicly owned land.
“This was devised by people who don’t live on our land and who don’t know our land and they just try to dictate how to use our land,” McCarthy said. “They are undermining the very idea of multiple use of federal lands by making the lands entirely off limits for any type of economic purposes.”
President Donald Trump endorsed the repeal. In a memo to Congress, White House officials said the law would give priority to regional and national interests over those of states and localities.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

NJ, PA House GOPers only no votes on weaker enviro rules Read More »

On immigration: A tale of two states, NJ and NY

Unlike state and local officials in the Empire State, Gov. Christie is supporting the president’s travel ban and formally ending the state refugee-resettlement program

liberty


Matt Katz reports for NYC/News:


In front of the Statue of Liberty sits New York, where local and state government are at the forefront of fighting President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict immigration of refugees and would-be political asylees.  [Editor’s note: asylees]
Behind her back sits New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie is taking the opposite approach, supporting the president’s travel ban and formally ending the state refugee-resettlement program.
Here’s a rundown of the difference between the two states when it comes to the hot-button national issue of the moment:
New York: Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has become something of the face of the opposition against Trump in a variety of areas, including immigration. He joined a lawsuit against Trump’s now heavily litigated executive order temporarily banning certain refugees, calling it discriminatory and a new low in American foreign policy. He also sent legal help to refugees stuck at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

New Jersey: Attorney General Chris Porrino is a friend and appointee of Christie’s, and he has stayed mostly quiet about the situation even as attorneys general in the states across the northeast — New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, and Massachusetts — joined a lawsuit against Trump’s travel ban now winding its way through the courts. Christie, a staunch ally of Trump’s who has said he was offered jobs in the Trump administration, agrees with the president’s travel ban. He has only criticized the rollout, which he blamed on Trump’s staffers.

New York: Immigration advocates say services for immigrants in New York have long been superior to those offered in New Jersey, from health coverage to language assistance to legal aid. And last month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a hotline to assist immigrants affected by Trump’s executive order.

New Jersey: As a presidential candidate in November 2015, Christie announced that New Jersey would no longer settle refugees from Syria, even 5-year-old orphans. By this past October, the state had fully “divested” from its refugee program, according to a spokeswoman. Refugees are still coming to New Jersey — including a Syrian family moving to Union City this week — but they are being resettled by a nonprofit agency, the International Rescue Committee. That means, for example, that refugees in New Jersey now go to the International Rescue Committee to collect allotted federal cash assistance, instead of state government. And a phone number that New Jersey once operated for refugees is no longer in service — an operator this week referred WNYC to the International Rescue Committee.

New York: The state maintains a robust website for its Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance to help refugees with  “economic and social self-sufficiency.” The site includes an educational curriculum to help teenage refugees find employment.
New Jersey: A spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services confirmed this week that all information helping refugees is being removed from its web site. While the landing page still exists; information for refugees on getting help with child care, homelessness, and welfare has been purged.
New York: In the wake of Trump’s election to the presidency Cuomo ordered the New York State Police to create a special unit to investigate the growing number of hate crimes.New Jersey: The state already has a Bias Crime Unit — and efforts were announced to step up patrols of mosques after the Quebec mosque shooting last month — but a calendar of significant dates in which bias crimes may occur hasn’t been updated in five years.
New York: If Trump cuts funding to so-called sanctuary cities like New York that are refusing to cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement officers, Mayor de Blasio said he’d go to court immediately to fight the president. He’d likely be backed up by Schneiderman and Cuomo.

New Jersey: Christie said he will be a “willing partner” with Trump on his efforts to crack down on sanctuary cities. That could have severe financial ramifications in many urban communities like Jersey City, whose mayor has signed his own executive order, declaring it a sanctuary city.

Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>
 

On immigration: A tale of two states, NJ and NY Read More »

Your NFL birds have winged away but here’s good news



Down in the dumps because your favorite flock of Falcons, Ravens, Seahawks or Eagles won’t return to the field until next August? Take heart. The majestic Snowy Owl has returned to fields, dunes and maybe even some buildings in New Jersey.


The Snowy Owl is a favorite of ours and we can’t seem to learn enough about this beautiful creature. NJTV News anchor Mary Alice Williams helps out with an information-packed chat above with NJ Audubon Society bird expert, Scott Barnes. 


Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>



Your NFL birds have winged away but here’s good news Read More »

Environmental bills set for votes Thursday in NJ Assembly

NewsWorks photo

ALERT: CANCELLED DUE TO EXPECTED SNOW STORM

The following environmental bills are among more than 50 pieces of legislation scheduled for a floor vote Thursday (February 9) in the New Jersey Assembly:


A-963  Wolfe, D.W. (R-10); McGuckin, G.P. (R-10)
Requires DOT, NJTA, and SJTA to use only native
vegetation for landscaping, land management, reforestation, or habitat
restoration.  Related Bill: S-227
      
A-1649  Schaer, G.S. (D-36); Spencer, L.G. (D-29) 
Requires local governments and authorities to obtain
financing cost estimate from NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust for certain
projects.  Related Bill: S-853
      
A-4395  Schaer, G.S. (D-36)
Requires continuing identification and remediation of
waste tire sites.
      
S-227  Holzapfel, J.W. (R-10); Allen, D.B. (R-7)
Requires DOT, NJTA, and SJTA to use only native
vegetation for landscaping, land management, reforestation, or habitat
restoration.  Related Bill: A-963

     
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Environmental bills set for votes Thursday in NJ Assembly Read More »