Ship that saved 7 during ‘Perfect Storm’ to be sunk off NJ

Scott Fallon reports for The Record:

The USS Zuni survived the submarine-infested waters of the Pacific during World War II as it towed torpedoed warships to safety and aided in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

A half-century later and renamed the Tamaroa, it overcame gale force winds and 40-foot waves to help save seven people off the New England coast, a rescue effort immortalized in the book and film “The Perfect Storm.”

But the Tamaroa could not conquer time.

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This ship that has made so much history will soon be sunk off the southern coast of New Jersey to help expand an artificial reef that attracts both scuba divers and anglers. A decade-long effort to turn the ship into a museum and memorial was derailed when the Tamaroa’s hull sprung a leak four years ago, causing significant damage to key parts of the ship.


Having the Tamaroa sit on the ocean floor isn’t how many who served on the ship envisioned its fate. There is, after all, an emotional attachment to the ship far more powerful than mere nostalgia. The Tamaroa was home to generations of crew members who routinely risked their lives in some of the most brutal conditions to save others.

The man who commanded the ship during the 1991 “Perfect Storm” said sinking the Tamaroa is a better outcome than being demolished for scrap metal, a common ending for old service ships.

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New wastewater treatment for Pompton Lake dredging

   The EPA is again removing contaminated sediment from the Pompton Lake


James M. O’Neil reports for The Record:

As part of its ongoing cleanup of contaminated sediment in Pompton Lake, Chemours is moving ahead with a more complicated way to treat wastewater to ensure it doesn’t have elevated levels of pollutants before it gets pumped back into the lake.

The company, which was spun off from DuPont last year, has received permission from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to use a series of chemicals to treat the water that it squeezes out of dredged sediment from the lake.

When the project started, the water removed from the sediment was being treated mechanically to let particles with contamination settle out. But when the company tested the water, it still had elevated levels of mercury, copper and organic carbon.

So Chemours stopped pumping the treated water back into the lake. It brought in an extra storage tank to hold the water it squeezed from dredged sediment until it could develop the improved treatment process. With the extra tank in place, dredging the contaminated sediment continued without disruption.

The more complicated process will treat the water with a series of “food-grade” chemicals, said Perry Katz, remedial project manager with the Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup.

The three-year, nearly $50 million dredging operation will ultimately remove 130,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the lake bottom. The contamination comes from the former DuPont munitions facility in Pompton Lakes and Wanaque. The pollution was carried to the lake from Acid Brook, which flows through the old DuPont site.

The facility operated from 1902 to 1994, making blasting caps, metal wires and aluminum and copper ammunition shells for the U.S. military. The EPA wants the sediment removed because a toxic form of mercury can build up in fish, posing a health risk to people who eat them. Exposure to mercury can damage the human nervous system and harm the brain, kidneys, heart, lungs and immune system.

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Kelly: Christie knew of Bridgegate plan before it happened

“It was the most anticipated testimony of the six-week (Bridgegate) trial and, for sheer drama, Bridget Kelly delivered,” NJTV NEWS correspondent David Cruz says
in his introduction to the video report above.  

Kelly’s message: Chris Christie was a profane and violent bully who held a grudge and made opponents pay.  

Also, he knew there was a traffic study coming a month before it happened.


Watch the video above for the details of Kelly’s testimony which will continue on Monday.


Other Bridgegate trial coverage:
Ex-aide: Christie knew of Bridgegate plan before ‘traffic problems’ email (USA Today) 

Aide Says Christie Knew Of Traffic-Snarling Plan Well In Advance  (National Public Radio)

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Bridgegate defendants: Kelly/Baroni or Wildstein/Christie?

Bridgegate defendant Bridget Anne Kelly could take the stand today,  Friday, October 21

Ted Sherman and Matt Arco report for The Star-Ledger:

David Wildstein pleaded guilty more than a year ago to orchestrating the Bridgegate scandal.


But for much of the day Thursday, it seemed as if Wildstein was on trial, as defense attorneys for two former Christie administration insiders facing federal charges sought to portray the prosecution’s key witness as a political con artist and “dangerous” figure who misled jurors.
At the same time, the testimony offered an inside look at the on-going war over regional interests involving the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, that continued top play out as the scandal at the bridge came to light in the fall of 2013.
And it also revealed the growing realization among top advisers to Gov. Chris Christie that the lane shutdowns might present a political problem, at a time the Republican governor was seeking to mount a campaign for the presidency.
Kelly is expected to be on the stand as early as Friday.
Read the full story here


After the prosecution unsuccessfully tried to exclude his testimony, Port Authority Commissioner Scott Rechler took the stand in the Bridgegate trial, sharing his thoughts on David Wildstein. David Cruz has the video story for NJTV NEWS below.

  


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Bridgegate: Who knew what. when inside Christie’s circle?


Michael Drewniak, former Press Secretary to NJ Gov. Chris Christie, testifies in the Bridgegate trial and his answers to questions by defendant Bridget Anne Kelly‘s defense attorney begin to paint a picture of “willful blindness” among members of the governor’s top echelon, NJTV News correspondent Michael Aron reports.   


In other Bridgegate trial coverage, Asbury Park Press reporter Dustin Racioppi writes:


An outgoing commissioner of the Port Authority [Scott Rechler] said he viewed David Wildstein, the government’s main witness in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure trial, as a political operative who was a “cancer” to the agency during his time there.


David Samson, the board’s former chairman and a close ally to Gov. Chris Christie, was seen as someone who regularly sought to undermine the power of the New York side of the agency in an attempt to gain leverage for New Jersey, the commissioner testified Thursday.


And those two, along with former deputy executive director Bill Baroni, were seen as a “team” inhibiting efforts to depoliticize the bistate agency, he said.


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NJ Meadowlands moving to stop methane bird burns

Kestrel with singed tail feathers – Jill Homcy photo


After years of complaints by environmental advocates, a state agency indicated Wednesday that it is taking steps to prevent raptors and other birds from getting singed wings and tails as they fly through a nearly invisible flame that burns off methane at a landfill in the Meadowlands.

James M. O’Neill reports for
The Record:


The agency responsible for the landfill met with federal wildlife officials Wednesday and said it will start clearing vegetation around the area to remove attractive areas for birds to perch around the flame.

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority plans to have landscapers start the work by the end of this week. The agency, which oversees the Kingsland Landfill in Lyndhurst, has retained a consultant to inspect the flare and see whether a “spiky crown” could be installed on top of the flame to keep birds away, or whether any other alterations could be made to ensure that the flare is safer for birds.

“They’ve come a long way from where they were just a few weeks ago. It’s certainly a positive development,” said Don Torino, president of the Bergen County Audubon Society, which has complained to the agency for two years about the problem. “I’m cautiously optimistic.”

Torino said, however, that none of the proposed changes address the issue of birds flying through the flame.

Torino and other birders have seen a number of species with singed wing and tail feathers, including rough-legged hawks, osprey and American kestrels, a small hawk with declining populations that is considered threatened in New Jersey. One raptor was found hiding in a drainage pipe near the landfill, unable to fly, Torino said.

He said birders have also seen smaller birds, including starlings, flying through the nearly invisible flame. “They get torched, hit the ground and run into the vegetation,” he said. “There are probably a lot more birds being injured than we can even tell.”

In an email, Christine Sanz, the sports authority’s senior vice president, told authority President Wayne Hasenbalg that the agency met with two special agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the landfill Wednesday and came up with a list of initial steps.

The service will try to find an extra camera to watch the flare and see just how many birds are being affected. The federal agency will also contact the Public Service Electric and Gas Co. to discuss ways to make the utility’s poles and other infrastructure in the area less appealing as spots for birds to perch.

“We are making good progress and moving as quickly as we can to address the issues you have raised,” Hasenbalg told Torino in an email Wednesday.

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