Feds approve permit for new PSEG Nuclear reactor in NJ

This aerial photo shows the northern end of Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek Township where the PSEG Nuclear generating complex is located. If the utility decides to go ahead and build a new reactor there, it would be located along the Delaware River to the left of the white tank seen at the center of the photo. (PSEG Nuclear)
Federal regulators have OK’d a key permit that would be needed for the construction of a new nuclear reactor in New Jersey, officials
said Thursday.
Bill Gallo, Jr. reports for NJ.com:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, following numerous reviews, found that PSEG Nuclear met all safety and environmental requirements needed for the Early Site Permit.
That permit is not a green light for the utility to build a new reactor at its generating site at Artificial Island along the Delaware River in Lower Alloways Creek Township.
The permit will be good for 20 years.
It does not, however, mean that PSEG Nuclear is ready to put a shovel into the ground. Many federal, state and local approvals would still be needed.
“This is an important final step to have the ESP issued,” said Joe Delmar, spokesman for PSEG Nuclear. “It provides us with a 20-year window to pursue a construction and operating license.”
PSEG Nuclear has said during the application process that it was not ready to build another plant, but wanted to be prepared.
“Though we have no immediate plans to pursue construction, we continue to believe that nuclear plays a key role today and also in the future in meeting New Jersey and America’s clean air goals. These goals can’t be achieved without carbon free nuclear power,” said Delmar.
Like what we’re doing? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —>
 

Feds approve permit for new PSEG Nuclear reactor in NJ Read More »

Judge: No garbage-can snooping for food waste in Seattle


A Washington State Superior Court judge has ruled that Seattle’s residential garbage inspections to check for compostable waste are unconstitutional, rendering that portion of the city’s food waste recycling ordinance as invalid.

Valerie Richardson reports for The Washington Times:
“This ruling does not prohibit the city from banning food waste and compostable paper in SPU-provided garbage cans,” the 14-page decision said, referring to the Seattle Public Utilities. “It merely renders invalid the provisions of the ordinance and rule that authorize a warrantless search of residents’ garbage cans when there is no applicable exception to the warrant requirement, such as the existence of prohibited items in plain view.”

Under the 2015 ordinance, garbage collectors were required to determine by “visual inspection” whether more than 10 percent of a trash can’s contents were made up of recyclable items or food waste. Violators are subject to having their garbage cans tagged and fines of $1 per can for curbside collections or $50 per collection for multi-family units.
Ethan Blevins, attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of eight Seattle residents, called the ruling a “victory for common sense and constitutional rights.”
“A clear message has been sent to Seattle public officials: Recycling and other environmental initiatives can’t be pursued in a way that treats people’s freedoms as disposable,” Mr. Blevins said in a statement. “Seattle can’t place its composting goals over the privacy rights of its residents.”
The lawsuit argued that the ordinance essentially allowed warrantless searches, which Mr. Blevins described as an invasion of privacy and a “policy of massive and persistent snooping.”
The measure, which went into effect in January 2015, is intended to encourage conservation by requiring residents to separate their food waste and compostable paper for recycling in order to meet Seattle’s goal of composting 60 percent of waste.
“Before the ordinance, Seattle sent approximately 100,000 tons of food waste 300 miles to a landfill in eastern Oregon each year. This resulted in higher costs and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Seattle Public Utilities on its website.
“Today, Seattle sends more than 125,000 tons of food and yard waste to composting processors. The material is now turned into compost for local parks and gardens,” the website said.

What do you think about the ruling? We suspect it will lead to cheating and render food waste recycling less successful and more costly.  The ruling allows a few uptight residents, allegedly concerned about the individual freedom of their garbage, to muddle up a program that serves the overall good of the community. This was anything but a victory for common sense.  Share your view below by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link.
Give it a few moments to open. It’s slow, like the judge in Seattle.

Judge: No garbage-can snooping for food waste in Seattle Read More »

Fight against gas pipeline through NJ Pines not over yet


The NJ Board of Public Utilities has approved it and the Pinelands Commission won’t be holding any new public hearings on it, or putting it to a vote, but New Jersey Natural Gas’s proposed, 28-mile natural gas pipeline through the Pinelands is not home free just yet.

The New Jersey Sierra Club announced April 25 that it is suing both state agencies in what may be the environmental community’s last hope of blocking the controversial project that has been denounced by four pervious governors but is strongly supported by the administration of current Governor Chris Christie.

“We are suing the BPU (state Board of Public Utilities) and the Pinelands Commission to protect environmentally sensitive land and open space from this damaging and unnecessary pipeline,” said Jeff Tittel, director of New Jersey Sierra Club in a statement. “This pipeline will cause irreparable harm  to the largest open space on the northeast seaboard, threaten our drinking water supply, and harm communities along the proposed route.” 

 For the details, see:
Sierra Club sues state to stop NJNG pipeline (Asbury Park Press stories and video)
Another Pinelands pipeline approval, another environmental challenge (NJ Spotlight) More coverage of NJ Senate panel’s Pinelands vote (EnviroPolitics Blog, Feb.25, 2015) The Pinelands gas pipeline controversy gets interesting (EP Blog, Dec. 19, 2013) NJ Pinelands gas pipeline touted; Commissioner tossed (EPs Blog, Dec. 14, 2013)
Recent blog posts:
Ringwood NJ still plagued by legacy of Ford contamination
Pa. commission OK’s new oil and gas regulations 
Founder of Brandywine Conservancy and Museum, 79
In Pa’s fracklands, local economies feel pinch of a gas bust
Exxon, allies invoke 1st Amendment to fight climate probe

 

Fight against gas pipeline through NJ Pines not over yet Read More »

Ringwood NJ still plagued by legacy of Ford contamination

Michael Hill reports for NJTV News

Ramapough Indian Vivian Milligan is compiling the obituaries. “We’ve lost a lot of people. It took quite a while to realize something was not right,” she said.

She’s keeping track of the tribe members in Ringwood who’ve died of cancer and other illnesses,

For years, the now-closed Ford Motor Company assembly plant in Mahwah dumped hundreds of thousands of tons of paint sludge in two, deep Ringwood mines and contaminated the soil and water.

When asked if there is any doubt the contamination led to the deaths, Milligan said, “No.”

Ford was ordered and did some cleanup in the ’90s and the EPA decided Ford had done enough and the risk had been contained. But, a few years later, in 2005, testing showed that assessment was wrong and the area went back on the Superfund list.

Residents say the government betrayed them then and still is by not informing them of test results, giving erroneous results and as late as this week, being told the government’s method of testing for the potential cancer-causing chemical — 1,4-Dioxane — was obsolete.

Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker wrote to the EPA urging it to do a much better job of keeping citizens in Ringwood informed and in a timely way. The EPA replied, “We will do that.” The EPA said it agrees that “… full transparency and proactive, timely updates … [are] critically important to … restoring public confidence…”

Read the full story here

Recent blog posts:
Pa. commission OK’s new oil and gas regulations
Founder of Brandywine Conservancy and Museum, 79
In Pa’s fracklands, local economies feel pinch of a gas bust
Exxon, allies invoke 1st Amendment to fight climate probe
Christie looks to divert $20M in NJ conservation funding 

Ringwood NJ still plagued by legacy of Ford contamination Read More »

Pa. commission OK’s new oil and gas regulations

                                                                                                       WHYY photo
A state commission has signed off on significant changes to rules governing Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry. The approval signals a final step in an often contentious, five-year effort by the Department of Environmental Protection to modernize drilling regulations.
Marie Cusick reports for StateImpact:

After a seven-hour public meeting Thursday, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted 3-2 to give the green-light. The commission is charged with evaluating regulations for economic impact, public health and safety, reasonableness, impact on small businesses, and clarity.

The state House and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy committees now have 14 days to review IRRC’s decision.
“I believe the department has addressed this regulation as earnestly and honestly as it claims it has– intending to balance the interests of the affected industries and the public good,” says IRRC commissioner Murray Ufberg. “ [The regulations] have not been modified in so many years, and the industry has undergone dramatic changes which affect our population.”
The regulations, known as Chapter 78 and 78a govern both conventional drillers and the newer, unconventional, Marcellus Shale industry. Changes include updates to the permitting process. Drillers will now have to identify public resources such as schools and playgrounds. They will also have to identify old or abandoned wells that could be impacted by new drilling. If a water supply is tainted, the driller will have to restore or replace it to federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards, or the pre-drilling conditions, if they were better. The Marcellus Shale industry would also be barred from storing waste in pits, and using brine for dust suppression or de-icing.
 

Pa. commission OK’s new oil and gas regulations Read More »

Founder of Brandywine Conservancy and Museum, 79

George A. “Frolic” Weymouth, 79, a prominent conservationist and artist who founded and chaired the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, died Sunday morning at his home in Chadds Ford, the conservancy said.

George Weymouth´s legacy includes 62,000 acres of protected land.

Chris Palmer writes today for Philly.com that Mr. Weymouth had been hospitalized recently for pneumonia, according to Andrew Stewart, a spokesman for the organization.
Mr. Weymouth, a member of the du Pont family, was a seminal force in preserving tens of thousands of acres of picturesque scenery around the Brandywine River in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He also was an accomplished painter and combined his passion for nature and the arts by helping to establish the Brandywine Conservancy & River Museum of Art in 1967.
Nearly 50 years later, the organization has protected 62,000 acres, and the museum, which houses 4,000 pieces of art in a renovated grist mill, has become world renowned for its galleries showcasing the work of the Wyeth family, whose members were close friends with Mr. Weymouth.

Read the full story here 

Recent blog posts: 
In Pa’s fracklands, local economies feel pinch of a gas bust 
Exxon, allies invoke 1st Amendment to fight climate probe 
Christie looks to divert $20M in NJ conservation funding 
How Google’s celebrating Earth Day. How about you? 
Task force recommends changes to NJ beach-access law

Founder of Brandywine Conservancy and Museum, 79 Read More »