Pinelands advocates launch ‘Save the Source’ campaign















The Pinelands Preservation Alliance has launched a new campaign to educate state residents about the value of preserving the enormous drinking water aquifer that lies below a vast area of southern New Jersey.

Save the Source: Protecting Water for People and the Pines 
explains that New Jersey’s network of rivers, wetlands and ground water is the source of life from the Pinelands to the Jersey Shore to the Delaware River and beyond. Millions of people depend on New Jersey’s ground water every day for drinking, their economic wellbeing and quality of life.

The PPA is seeking fellow-minded conservationists to join the campaign to protect the 17-trillion gallon Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, a vast reserve of fresh water that underlies southern New Jersey and all of the Pinelands.  Check out the website today!

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

Pinelands advocates launch ‘Save the Source’ campaign Read More »

More lead funding in Christie’s NJ budget; Is it enough?


Anti-lead activists say state needs to do more to find and fight contaminant in old housing, water supplies

lead paint

Credit: NPR
Tom Johnson reports

for NJ Spotlight:


Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed state budget for the next fiscal year beginning in July will invest $20 million to address the continuing problem posed by thousands of New Jersey children with unsafe levels of lead in their blood.

The funding is welcomed by health advocates and others who have long pushed the administration to increase money set aside to fight lead poisoning in kids, but they noted it is far less than what is needed to tackle the problem.
“We would be better off if they had added a zero to really address the problem,’’ said Staci Berger, president and CEO of the Housing and Community Network of New Jersey.
Few dispute New Jersey has a lead crisis. Three hundred thousand kids last year were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood, Berger noted. Most of the exposure occurs from peeling lead paint in old housing.
In addition, under a new program that got underway last year, more than 130 schools were found to have unsafe levels of the contaminant from at least one water outlet in their facility.
The Budget Summary released by the administration touted the continuing and increased appropriations as ensuring that the state remains a national leader on this issue.
In his speech Tuesday, Christie said “it was this administration that reacted quickly and decisively to deal with this issue by adding immediate funding last year.’’ The funding emerged as a bipartisan priority after more than a couple dozen schools found unsafe lead levels in water from drinking fountains, a problem that soon surfaced in many other districts around the state.
The money allocated in the proposed budget will be split between the cost of reducing exposure to peeling lead paint in low- and moderate-income housing and covering the expense of new regulations to identify blood-lead levels in children consistent with those of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The governor is looking for credit for doing his job,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, who noted in the past Christie had repeatedly diverted lead remediation funds. “He doesn’t deserve credit for not raiding lead funding again.’’
Berger said the administration’s response on lead is better than before, but added, “we need real leadership to solve this crisis.’’
So far, long-term solutions have been elusive. A legislative task force has been exploring ways to deal with New Jersey’s aging drinking water infrastructure, but has yet to focus on ways to fund getting lead out of supplies. Most often, lead seeps into drinking water from lead fixtures from the street and into the home or building.
“The governor didn’t talk about the long-term solution to the lead crisis,’’ O’Malley noted.

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

More lead funding in Christie’s NJ budget; Is it enough? Read More »

NJ customer sues utility for overcharging on solar homes

Jim Walsh reports for the  Asbury Park Press: 

CAMDEN – A proposed class-action lawsuit contends the state’s largest utility is overbilling some customers with solar power systems.

The suit, filed by a Cherry Hill man, contends PSE&G and a third-party electricity provider, Stream Energy New Jersey, fail to properly credit customers who supply power to the regional grid through their homes’ solar panels.

Under state law, a customer’s monthly electricity bill must be reduced “on a one-to-one basis” for the number of kilowatt hours generated by home solar panels, according to Marlton attorney Joseph Osefchen, who filed the suit Monday in Superior Court, Camden.

He said any excess credits for solar power are to be carried over for a 12-month period – allowing a customer to offset electricity purchases during winter months through the sale of solar power in the summer.

Osefchen alleges PSE&G and Stream don’t allow customers to bank their credits, “resulting in illegal overcharges for electric customers with solar energy panels.” He said that violates the state’s Consumer Fraud Act, which would allow customers to collect triple damages.

Osefchen said the lawsuit seeks to ensure “New Jersey electric customers who shell out thousands of dollars to ‘go green’ get all the credits to which they are legally entitled.”

He said the suit may be expanded or additional complaints could be filed if other third-party providers are found to be engaged in similar conduct.

A PSE&G spokeswoman declined to comment on pending litigation. A representative of Texas-based Stream Energy could not be reached for comment.

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


NJ customer sues utility for overcharging on solar homes Read More »

Legislation in NJ prepares for a post-Christie energy era

A change in administration could offer an opportunity to reshape New Jersey’s clean-energy profile, from electric cars to distributed generation

bob smith roundtable

Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex)
Tom Johnson reports
for NJ Spotlight:
In a bid to reshape energy policy in the state, a multi-bill package is being pushed to promote electric cars, enhance energy conservation, and study the possibility of giving financial incentives to nuclear power as a carbon-free source of electricity.
The legislative package introduced yesterday by Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), the chairman of the Senate Energy and Environment Committee, would overhaul the state’s energy priorities, pushing policy toward ramping up efforts to improve energy efficiency and away from a reliance on fossil fuels.
Smith’s package incorporates many issues long advocated by clean-energy advocates, including adoption of an energy-efficiency portfolio, which would require utilities to curb energy usage by customers. The policy, adopted by many other states, is of concern to utilities because it ends up trimming their revenue. Smith has yet to introduce that bill, saying it is “under construction.’’
He also is working on a proposed constitutional amendment that would phase out over a five-year period the diversion of clean energy funds to other purposes. The practice, increasingly relied on by the Christie administration, has siphoned off more than $1 billion from a clean-energy fund financed by a surcharge on customers’ electric and gas bills.
For instance, Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year would allocate $152 million out of the clean-energy fund, primarily to pay the state’s and New Jersey Transit’s energy costs. In the past, the Legislature has griped about the diversions, but approved them.
The package also would propose a couple of measures aimed at installing smart thermostats — one would require the devices be put in new homes; the other would offer financial credits to install them in existing homes. Smart thermostats can lower energy use and bills for customers. A separate resolution in the package urges the state to take steps to have at least a half-million homes in New Jersey outfitted with smart thermostats by 2023.
The legislation also would direct the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the agency responsible for implementing energy policy, to undertake a study of several emerging issues.

Read the full story here

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

Legislation in NJ prepares for a post-Christie energy era Read More »

Senate confirms Ryan Zinke for Secretary of Interior

Ryan Zinke
Darryl Fears reports for
The Washington Post:
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Ryan Zinke’s nomination to lead the Interior Department by a 68 to 31 vote.
Zinke will head a department that manages a fifth of the land in the United States, about 500 million surface acres, a total that doesn’t include millions more acres and natural resources underground. Interior has an enormous environmental footprint, with agencies that decide how resources such as coal are managed and which animals are eligible for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Republicans called the former Montana congressman and Navy SEAL a strong choice for Interior, as an avid hunter with western roots who understands how federal regulations on the cultivation of coal, natural gas and minerals on public lands can hurt corporate revenue and reduce jobs.
“I believe Representative Zinke is a solid choice for this position,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that approved his nomination in a partisan vote more than a month ago. “While we may not agree on every issue … I believe he will work with us in a thoughtful manner that is reflective of a true partnership.”
[Ryan Zinke is one step closer to becoming Interior secretary]
Democrats were wary of Zinke despite his declaration that he believes humans contribute to climate change. “Man has had an influence,” he said under questioning by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Zinke’s assertion that the level of human contribution is unknown, despite the near unanimous opinions of climate scientists who say it’s overwhelming, didn’t help. Liberals worried that Zinke would open more land to exploitation at the expense of wildlife and their declining habitat.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) expressed concern that Zinke will support calls to rescind the Obama administration’s designation of 1.3 million acres in Utah as the Bears Ears National Monument, a status long pursued by Native American tribes and conservationists. At his hearing, Ryan told committee members that traveling to Utah was one of his priorities.
“I’m not convinced that Congressman Zinke is going to show the leadership on these issues that is necessary,” Cantwell, the committee’s ranking minority member, said in her floor speech. “We need someone who’s going to stand up and say the outdoor economy is worth it.”
Zinke’s confirmation came more than a month after the committee’s approval partly because of politics, and Murkowski and Cantwell’s speeches on the Senate floor reflected the broad partisan divide. Zinke was approved by a 16-6 committee vote largely along party lines. All of the committee’s 12 Republicans voted in Zinke’s favor.
Zinke told the committee that one of his first priorities would be to fix the crumbling infrastructure at parks under the National Park Service. He said President Trump’s ambitious infrastructure spending plans should “prioritize the estimated $12.5 billion in backlog of maintenance and repair” at hundreds of national parks such as Yosemite National Park, the Mall, Memorial Bridge and the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Senate confirms Ryan Zinke for Secretary of Interior Read More »

After a long slump, Pa’s steel industry is growing again

Dura-Bond pipe plant in Steelton Pa is seeing a steady rise in work thanks to new natural gas pipelines 

Joseph N. DiStefano writes for Philly.com:

“It has been a brutal 20 years” for eastern Pennsylvania steelmakers, and now the industry’s growing again, says Wayne-based engineer James L. Barends, who built projects for Alcoa, DuPont, Merck and several of the region’s current and former steel plants, and headed the investment group that made a final effort to save the late Phoenix Steel Co. pipe mill on the Schuylkill in the 1990s.

“It is wonderful to see something go right for industry,” Barends told me, noting how government approvals of East Coast and Midwest pipeline projects — and President Trump’s order that they use American pipe — means jobs for Pennsylvania manufacturers like Jason Norris’ family-owned Dura-Bond, which my colleague Andrew Maykuth recently profiled here. See also here.

“The potential benefits that will ripple from the new pipelines in Pennsylvania are actually pretty large and wide spread,” and Dura-Bond, based in Duquesne, Pa., “is first in line,” since it has updated Bethlehem Steel’s former pipe mill in Steelton, between Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge over the Susquehanna.

Steelton “is the same pipe mill that provided the pipe for the Trans Alaska pipeline and hundreds of others projects over four decades,” notes Barends. “They are one of the biggest U-and-O-ing pipe mills in the world, and they have seen a steady rise in work” as gas and oil exploration returned to Pennsylvania. To make steel pipe, steel plate is pressed into a U shape, then sealed into an O.

The Steelton pipe mill “was idle, but sound and needed upgrades, when Dura-Bond took it over (2003). Dura-Bond modernized the facility and reopened it. They recently announced they are hiring 150 people for a second shift and will supply the line pipe for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline.” Dura-Bond has also prepares pipe for Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner pipelines.

Read the full story here

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

After a long slump, Pa’s steel industry is growing again Read More »