New York State urged to ban use of fracking wastewater


A group of New York State lawmakers is teaming up with environmental groups to ask Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration to ban the use of wastewater from hydrofracking and other oil and gas extraction from being spread on public roadways.
Karen DeWitt reports for WBFO:

The state Department of Environmental Conservation just closed a public comment period to revise regulations covering solid waste management facilities. Environmental groups and several state lawmakers said those new rules also should address whether wastewater from the production of natural gas and from oil drilling can be used in the state to de-ice roads in the winter and control dust in the summer.

They say the waste can still be dumped in landfills or in municipal wastewater treatment plants.
Mike Dulong, from the group Hudson Riverkeeper, said there should be a complete ban. He also said a loophole that does not characterize the wastewater as a hazardous substance should be closed.
“We don’t want to be the dumping ground for the oil and gas industry,” Dulong said.
According to a report by Environmental Advocates of New York, over a half-million tons of solid fracking waste and 23,000 barrels of liquid waste were dumped in New York landfills between 2010 and 2015. The fracking waste, or “brine,” also was found to be used in some places to de-ice roads.
The environmental groups say fracking waste has been found to contain “highly toxic and carcinogenic chemicals” such as benzene, formaldehyde and ethylene glycol. They say it also is radioactive, containing radium-226 and radium-228, which are linked to several types of cancer.
But at a joint legislative hearing on water contamination held in Albany on September 7, Cuomo’s environmental commissioner, Basil Seggos denied that the state allows the use of any fracking wastewater from gas drilling for roads or any other purpose in New York. Seggos, testifying under oath, was answering a question from Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh.
“No fracking waste is being dumped in New York state,” said Seggos. “Those who perpetrated that are just flat wrong.”
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Worse times appear to be coming for Atlantic City

Atlantic City has failed to dissolve the Municipal Utility Authority as collateral for the $73 million bridge loan from the state.

The city is asking for leniency. If they don’t get it, the city council president says: We’ll get what we deserve because of those councilpersons who failed to take it seriously.


Michael Hill of NJTV NEWS reports.

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Pedaling for Pleasure and Purpose – Saving the Jersey Pines













         Tour de Pines Bicycle Tour

The Pinelands Preservation Alliance holds a 5 day bike tour of the Pinelands every October. Ride one day, two days or all five!The 2016 Tour de Pines, sponsored by Pinelands Preservation Alliance, celebrates Pinelands Month in October with five consecutive single day bicycle tours of the New Jersey Pinelands. 


This year the Tour will run from September 28 to October 2nd. Proceeds benefit the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, a nonprofit organization working to protect the resources on New Jersey Pinelands since 1989. There is no other bike ride like this in New Jersey!


Each day’s ride will range from approximately 45-53 miles per day and begin and end at the same location. Cue sheets are provided to all registered riders allowing you to go at your own speed. Participants provide their own transportation, food and lodging as this is an unsupported ride. But just because it is unsupported doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of great benefits!

Other important things to know:

  • Shorter Loops between 22-27 miles are available for Sept. 28th, Oct. 1st, and Oct. 2nd.
  • GPX files of all rides will be available for download after you register.
  • NEW RIDE starting from Hammonton Lake Park and updates to old favorites!


Participants may elect to ride one, two or all days of the Tour. All rides start at 9:00 a.m.



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Ready for an international seed and pesticide giant?

Monsanto has finally agreed to be purchased by Bayer AG in a historic $66 billion all-cash takeover. The agreement, which both corporations have confirmed, will form the largest seed and pesticide company in the world.


Lorraine Chow reports for Eco-Watch:

The German pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant had been courting the St. Louis-based seed maker for roughly four months, with the aspirin-maker sweetening the pot with ever-growing sums of money. Bayer finally plans to pay $128 a share for Monsanto, up from its initial May offer of $122 a share. 

Not only is this the largest foreign corporate takeover ever by a German firm, it’s the largest cash bid on record, as Reuters reported. A successful merger would create the world’s largest agrichemical firm, which will control more than one-fourth of the combined global market for seeds and pesticides.

According to Bloomberg, “The deal gives Bayer more than 2,000 varieties of seeds for crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. Adding that portfolio to its own vegetable, rice, cotton and oilseed offerings give Bayer a virtually unassailable position at the head of the market.”

The Monsanto-Bayer combination is yet another example of the rapidly consolidating agricultural industry, with only a handful of companies controlling the sector. Alongside slumping crop prices, DuPont Co. and Dow Chemical Co. have agreed to merge, as did China National Chemical Corp. and Syngenta AG.


Bayer CEO Werner Baumann and Monsanto Chairman and CEO Hugh Grant, appeared in a joint announcement of the proposed combination on their “Advancing Together” website. In their statements, both chiefs echoed Big Ag’s oft-repeated sentiment that biotechnology helps increases crop yields in an environmentally friendly way and is one solution to feeding a growing global population.

“We are fully committed to helping solve one of the biggest challenges of society, and that is how to feed a massively growing world population in an environmentally sustainable manner,” Baumann said.

“What we do is good for consumers. We help produce efficient, safe, healthy and affordable food. It is also good for our growers because they have better choices to increase yields in a sustainable way.”


Dave Murphy, the executive director of Food Democracy Now!, refutes this belief. “Agricultural biotechnology has never been about ‘feeding the world,’ but enriching the bottom line of toxic chemical corporations that have had a long history of producing chemicals that are deadly to human populations and the environment,” he told EcoWatch.

Monsanto, the world’s largest producer of genetically modified (GMO) crops and maker of the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, has faced mounting controversy and numerous lawsuits in recent years over the health and environmental impacts of its products.

Bayer has also been subject to criticism over its widely used insecticide, imidacloprid, which belongs to a controversial class of chemicals called neonicotinoids that’s linked to widespread deaths of pollinators.

On today’s landmark news, Murphy said: “Now the most evil company in Europe has absorbed the most evil company in America. Monsanto and Bayer’s new corporate motto should be ‘Killing bees and butterflies for fun and profit.'”

Read the full story here 

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Flood Mitigation Plan Outlined for NJ’s Rahway River Basin



 
New Jersey’s Rahway River Basin runs through 24 municipalities in Union, Essex and Middlesex counties, threatening homes and businesses when heavy rain falls as happened during Irene.

The Army Corps of Engineers has a plan to help prevent flooding.


Erin Delmore has the details for NJTV NEWS

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Jury selection begins in much-anticipated Bridgegate trial


Attorneys got their first chance earlier today to begin questioning the 139 potential jurors in the Bridgegate trial.


NJTV NEWS chief political correspondent Michael Aron said it was a “slow, laborious but meticulous process.”

By day’s end nine jurors were seated and 19 were dismissed.


Opening arguments are scheduled for next Monday.


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