NJ drinking water problems: Easy to find, costly to fix


Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Here’s why it will cost billions of dollars to overhaul the state’s aging drinking-water infrastructure:


At least 20 percent of the system is more than 100 years old. Between 20 percent and 30 percent of treated water leaks from the system before it ever gets to the faucet. At least 137 public schools in New Jersey tested positive for lead in at least one drinking-water outlet this year.
No wonder a legislative task force yesterday began delving into what improvements are needed in the system delivering drinking water to customers. The lawmakers heard plenty about the problems, but few answers on where to get the money to solve them.
“The hardest part is where will the money come from,’’ conceded Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-Mercer), co-chair of the Joint Legislative Task Force on Drinking Water Infrastructure.

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Do not pin your hopes on the federal government, warned the other co-chair, Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex). The federal government has shaved funding for drinking water projects by 75 percent in recent years, he said.
All of which likely means that if investments are to be made in the future, it will translate into higher bills for customers, who now pay roughly a penny a gallon for drinking water, according to Andrew Hendry, president of the New Jersey Utilities Association. His group represents six investor-owned water companies, serving about 40 percent of the state’s population.
There may not be a consensus yet on how to pay for the needed upgrades, but there was wide agreement that the state’s economic future and much more depends upon a clean and affordable supply of water.
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Tracks-to-trails movement gains speed in North Jersey


Deena Yellin writes for The Record:


Several Northern Valley towns may be on track to join the growing crop of  municipalities converting abandoned railroad tracks into recreational trails for walkers, bikers and runners.


Similar trails, following a nationwide trend, have been created across New Jersey in places like Ramsey, Verona, Mountain Lakes, Chester and Morristown. Efforts are also under way for one in East Rutherford.


Enthusiasts are aiming for local towns to hop aboard the trend by re-purposing the unused rails of CSX’s Northern Branch Line from Tenafly eight miles up to the New York state line as a pedestrian trail. A recent online petition at change.org in favor of the project gathered  more than 1,000 signatures in only a few days.


At one time, trains were considered the most efficient way to transport large quantities of people and freight.


“At the peak of the railroad bonanza in the 1920s, there were 300,000 miles of railroad in operation –now we have half that left nationwide,” said Tom Sexton, director of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy based in Camp Hill, Pa.


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Guadagno planning her break from Christie’s servitude?

NJ Gov. Chris Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in happier times

Charlie Stile, political columnist at The Record  writes of
New Jersey’s Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno:


“Guadagno, who has been joined at Christie’s hip for years, is now attempting to cast herself as a thorn in his side. It’s part of a calculated evolution into a cautious dissident, an attempt to distance herself from Christie’s legacy and dismal 19 percent job approval rating as she ponders her own campaign to succeed him next year.”


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Bills in NJ Senate Environment Committee – Monday 12/5


SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
12/05/16 10:00 AM
Committee Room 10, 3rd Floor
State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
For consideration:

S-874  Greenstein, L.R. (D-14); Turner, S.K. (D-15)
Directs installation of electric vehicle charging
stations at service areas on State’s toll roads.
Related Bill: A-404
      
S-881  Greenstein, L.R. (D-14); Bateman, C. (R-16)
Establishes microgrid pilot program.
      
S-2076  Bateman, C. (R-16); Smith, B. (D-17)
Requires pesticide applicator to notify beekeeper when
applying pesticide within three miles of registered honey or native beehive or
beeyard.
Related Bill: A-3398
     
S-2490  Smith, B. (D-17); Bateman, C. (R-16)
Provides for protection of public’s rights under public
trust doctrine.
Related Bill: A-4092
       
For discussion only:

S-2369  Whelan, J. (D-2); Van Drew, J. (D-1);
Connors, C.J. (R-9)
Limits application of DEP shellfish habitat rules for
certain dredging activities.
Related Bill: A-4152
     
S-2507  Lesniak, R.J. (D-20)
Establishes DEP program to reduce heavy-duty diesel
truck emissions from trucks operating in the ports of Bayonne, Elizabeth,
Jersey City, and Newark.
Related Bill: A-4120
     

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‘Chairman’s Flight’ grows more costly for United Airlines


The “chairman’s flight” will cost United Airlines another
$2.4 million.
Ted Sherman reports for NJ.com:

The airline, in an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday, settled charges in connection with a money-losing direct flight between Newark Liberty International Airport and South Carolina launched to curry favor with then-Port Authority Chairman David Samson–who wanted a quicker way to get to his vacation home.

The airline has already paid more than $2.2 million in fines as part of the criminal investigation into the special flight.
Samson, a former state attorney general and confidante of Gov. Chris Christie, pleaded guilty to bribery charges in July, admitting he used his clout to coerce United to put the route back on its schedule.
The flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Columbia, S.C., was restarted in 2012 after Samson became chairman of the Port Authority and became known as “the chairman’s flight.” It was canceled within days after he resigned in 2014.
“United disregarded the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the securities laws while casting aside its normal decision process to re-enter one of its hub’s poorest performing markets,” said Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
A spokeswoman for United said only the company was “pleased to resolve this matter.”
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Judge says no to special prosecutor for Christie complaint



You saw this coming, didn’t you?

Any prosecution of Gov. Chris Christie for failing to stop the ‘traffic study’ on the George Washington Bridge will have to be brought by the state Attorney General’s Office and the Bergen County Prosecutor, not a special prosecutor.

NJTV NEWS correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the story.

Related news stories:

Judge Denies Request for Special
Prosecutor  
No special
prosecutor for ‘Bridgegate’ complaint
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