Energy, environment bills set for votes in Trenton Nov 9

Monday will be a busy day for energy and environmental bills in committees of the New Jersey Legislature.

Here’s the  lineup:

ASSEMBLY TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND UTILITIES
11/09/15 10:00 AM
Committee Room 9, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
A-4091  Eustace, T. (D-38)
Allows certain on-site generation facilities to deliver
electricity without utilizing electric public utility infrastructure.  Related Bill: S-2690
      
A-4128  Mazzeo, V. (D-2); DeAngelo, W.P. (D-14);
Spencer, L.G. (D-29) 
Requires BPU to approve qualified wind energy project
and exempts project from cost-benefit analysis.  Related Bill: S-2711
      
S-2711  Smith, B. (D-17); Whelan, J. (D-2)
Requires BPU to approve qualified wind energy project
and exempts project from cost-benefit analysis.  Related Bill: A-4128   
____________________________________________________________________________ 
SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
11/09/15 10:00 AM
Committee Room 10, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
A-943  Singleton, T. (D-7); Conaway, H. (D-7);
Moriarty, P.D. (D-4); Green, J. (D-22) 
Permits small businesses to qualify for loans from
NJEDA for costs of energy audit and making energy efficiency or conservation
improvements.
     
A-2340  Greenwald, L.D. (D-6); Spencer, L.G. (D-29);
Lagana, J.A. (D-38)
Requires report and public hearing prior to DEP
recommendation of site for inclusion on Superfund list.  
A-2580  Mukherji, R. (D-33); Pintor Marin, E. (D-29);
Muoio, E.M. (D-15)
Provides for priority consideration, by DCA, DEP, DOT,
and municipalities, of permit applications for green building projects.
    
S-2562  Pou, N. (D-35)
Requires report and public hearing prior to DEP
recommendation of site for inclusion on Superfund list.  Related Bill: A-2340
    
S-2967  Van Drew, J. (D-1)
Permits small businesses to qualify for loans from
NJEDA for costs of energy audit and making energy efficiency or conservation
improvements.  Related Bill: A-943
     
S-3192  Van Drew, J. (D-1); Connors, C.J. (R-9)
Designates striped bass (Morone saxatilis) as New
Jersey saltwater fish.  Related Bill: A-4563    
___________________________________________________________________________
SENATE TRANSPORTATION
11/09/15 10:30 AM
Committee Room 7, 2nd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
SR-95  Bateman, C. (R-16); Cardinale, G. (R-39)
Urges US DOT to promulgate regulations concerning
transport of crude oil by rail that ensures safety of NJ residents who live
along railroads.
Related Bill: AR-171     
____________________________________________________________________________ 
SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS
11/09/15  1:00 PM
Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
S-72  Stack, B.P. (D-33); Oroho, S.V. (R-24)
Requires certain State oversight of budgets of regional
sewerage authorities.
Related Bill: A-3782     
S-2769  Smith, B. (D-17); Bateman, C. (R-16)
Implements 2014 constitutional dedication of CBT
revenues for certain environmental purposes; revises State’s open space,
farmland, and historic preservation programs.
Related Bill: A-4203 
____________________________________________________________________________
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NJDEP to unveil results of Barnegat Bay scientific studies

A symposium to review and discuss the results of a comprehensive three-year scientific study assessing the ecological health of Barnegat Bay is scheduled for Tuesday, November 17 at Ocean County College, Commissioner Bob Martin announced yesterday.
An NJDEP news release provided the following details:
The public can hear the results of the studies and how the information will be used when the DEP and the Barnegat Bay Partnership host “What Lies Beneath – Barnegat Bay: A Public Outreach Forum” from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Gateway Building, Lecture Hall Room 104, at Ocean County College on College Drive in Toms River. 

Registration is required to attend the free event.
In addition to assessing the ecological health of the bay, the research results will identify stressors on the bay and explain new strategies for managing the bay.
“Environmental research poses and answers important human health and ecological questions for managing Barnegat Bay, fills in critical data gaps, and supplies valuable information for modeling, water quality criteria, and enforceable standards based on sound and defensible science,” said Thomas Belton, DEP’s Barnegat Bay research coordinator. “All of these Barnegat Bay research projects are designed to assist decision-makers to answer applied regulatory questions.”
The studies commenced after the Christie Administration announced a comprehensive action plan to address the ecological health of Barnegat Bay in December 2010. As a result of Governor Christie’s plan, the DEP’s Division of Science, Research and Environmental Health began developing and funding 11 research projects ranging in topic and scope from studying estuaries and wetlands to evaluating boater impacts on environmentally sensitive areas of the bay to assessing various species of fish, crabs, clams and other organisms.  Scientists collected data for these studies between 2012 and 2014.
The studies looked at development of estuarine water quality criteria, the impact of harmful algal blooms, natural resource assessment and management for sustainable fisheries, assessment of ecological impacts from the planned closure of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in 2019, prediction of algal blooms and jelly fish population explosions, reduction of boater impacts on environmentally sensitive areas, and ecological modeling of the bay for ecosystems-based management of important commercial and recreational fish.
The Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Science, Research and Environmental Health, led by Dr. Gary Buchanan, will present many of the studies. Results will also be presented by scientists from Rutgers University, Monmouth University, Rider University and Montclair University, as well as researchers from out-of-state schools as Drexel University, Villanova University, Louisiana State University and the University of Maryland.
To register for the forum, please email Terri Tucker at Terri.Tucker@dep.nj.gov or call her at (609) 984-6070.
For more details about the symposium, including the complete agenda of research discussions, and ongoing Barnegat Bay research, visit: www.nj.gov/dep/barnegatbay/plan-research.htm

For more information about the Christie Administration’s comprehensive action plan for Barnegat Bay, visit:www.nj.gov/dep/barnegatbay/

For Year 1 and Year 2 Research Reports assessing the ecological health of Barnegat Bay, visit:http://nj.gov/dep/dsr/barnegat/final-reports/ 

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NY investigating possible ExxonMobil climate cover-up


The New York attorney general has begun a sweeping investigation of Exxon Mobil to determine whether the company lied to the public about the risks of climate change or to investors about how those risks might hurt the oil business.

NY Times reporters Justin Gillis and Clifford Krauss report today

The focus includes the company’s activities dating to the late 1970s, including a period of at least a decade when Exxon Mobil funded groups that sought to undermine climate science.

A major focus of the investigation is whether the company adequately warned investors about potential financial risks stemming from society’s need to limit fossil-fuel use. 

According to people with knowledge of the investigation, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a subpoena Wednesday evening to Exxon Mobil, demanding extensive financial records, emails and other documents.

Kenneth P. Cohen, vice president for public affairs at Exxon Mobil, said on Thursday that the company had received the subpoena and was still deciding how to respond.

“We unequivocally reject the allegations that Exxon Mobil has suppressed climate-change research,” Mr. Cohen said, adding that the company had funded mainstream climate science since the 1970s, had published dozens of scientific papers on the topic, and had disclosed climate risks to investors.

Read the full story here


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LNG facility off coast slammed at NY and NJ hearings

Hundreds of people crowded a hearing at the Long Beach Hotel on Monday night to voice their opinions on a controversial plan to build a liquefied natural gas import facility roughly 16 nautical miles off Jones Beach, Matthew Ern reported in the LI Herald.

Port Ambrose, the facility proposed by Liberty Natural Gas LLC, would consist of a series of underwater pipelines and buoys that would facilitate the processing and pumping of tens of millions of gallons of natural gas through the Transco natural gas pipeline, which runs from South Texas to New York.

The company would need federal and state approval to build the terminal in federal waters, and Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie are both expected to weigh in on the project. Either one of them could bring the planning to an end with a veto.

The governors will have their first opportunity to rule on the proposal on Friday, and the window will close on Dec. 21, though the project’s opponents have expressed the hope that Cuomo will reach a decision soon. If neither governor acts, the project will move forward.

Hundreds of residents, environmental groups and local officials presented near-unanimous opposition to the project throughout four hours of testimony on Monday. State Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky, Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford and all five members of the Long Beach City Council spoke out against it. County Legislator Laura Curran, who was unable to attend, sent a representative to speak on her behalf in opposition as well.

At a hearing held last night in Eatontown, NJ, Wayne Parry reports for AP:

Opponents…blasted the plan Wednesday as a dirty, dangerous boondoggle, while supporters hailed it as a source of cheap energy that will lower home heating bills in winter.

At the first of two New Jersey public hearings on the plan, environmental groups lined up against it. Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, said, “It is now time to put an end to this harmful, dangerous and unnecessary project.”

“They call it Liberty Natural Gas, but with this project, it’s the opposite,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Patrick Henry famously said, ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’ With this proposal, we may get both. If there is a storm or accident, this is a giant bomb off our coast.”

“The area that they are proposing to use is important fishing grounds for fluke and squid,” added Capt. James Lovgren of the Fisherman’s Dock Co-Op in Point Pleasant Beach. “Generations of fishermen have been working these areas for 300 years. Putting an LNG terminal on traditional fishing is taking money out of fishermen’s wallets and into the pockets of a greedy gas company.”

In addition to concerns over an accident or terrorist attack, environmentalists say, the terminal is not needed because the U.S. already has large supplies of domestically produced natural gas.

But Liberty says the project will help by bringing additional gas supplies to the New York metropolitan area during periods of peak demand, including extreme cold snaps. The company says the facility will be used solely to bring liquefied natural gas into the country and not to export it, as many opponents fear.

Roger Whelan, the company’s CEO, said the federal review “confirms that the project is needed, the location is safe, and the impacts to the environment are minimal.”

Capt. Steven Werse, an official with the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots, said the project will help the maritime trades.

“This project creates good paying, local jobs — the kind of jobs you can raise a family on, the kind of jobs that are worth having,” he said. “This project will also reduce energy costs for working families during the cold winter months.”

First proposed in 2008, the plan is proposed for federal waters 19 miles off Jones Beach, New York, and 29 miles off Long Branch, New Jersey.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a previous version of the proposal in 2011, and opponents want him to do so again. The governor, a Republican presidential candidate, has not said whether he will. But in a 2011 speech, Christie said, “My opposition to this will continue for as long as I’m governor.”

A final hearing will take place tonight in Eatontown. Details below.


November 5, 2015
Public Hearing on Port Ambrose LNG import facility 
Sheraton in Eatontown, NJ 
Open house: 4:30 – 5:30 PM 
Hearing: 6PM to 10PM
Click here to RSVP.

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Democrats celebrating big election wins in NJ and Pa


Democrats solidified their control of the New Jersey Assembly
yesterday, gaining three (and maybe four) seats in the
lower house. It will be
the party’s biggest majority since 1979.
Brent
Johnson reports for nj.com that:
Democrats picked up one seat in south Jersey’s
1st District and, in the biggest upset of the night, picked off two Republican
incumbents in the Shore’s 11th District.  It will be the
party’s biggest
majority since 1979.
Democrats
also control the state Senate, the upper house of the Legislature — which was
not on the ballot Tuesday — in a state where registered Democratic voters
outnumber Republicans 1.7 million to 1 million. 

In Pennsylvania, Chris Palmer reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer that Democrats won all three open
seats on the state’s Supreme Court, a “stunning result in a
historic race that could dramatically reshape the powerful but scandal-plagued
institution for years to come.” 
In Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, who once referred to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as “fat-assed” Dallas Cowboy loving “creep,” was elected as mayor.The two could cross paths if both attend Sunday’s Eagles/Cowboys game in Dallas. 


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More election coverage:

Recent blog posts: 
Star-Ledger says Christie’s rolling back clean water rules
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Pa Supreme Court to hear more arguments on Act 13
Life goes from bad to worse for Pa’s Attorney General
Miles of New Jersey highways, few electric cars on them 

Democrats celebrating big election wins in NJ and Pa Read More »

Star-Ledger says Christie’s rolling back clean water rules


From a November 1, 2015 editorial in Sunday’s Star-Ledger:
The Christie administration has fired off yet another round in its attack on clean water, but this time, the Democratic-controlled Legislature is firing back – along with environmentalists who rallied on the State House steps last week.

The core issue is that Christie is threatening our streams and rivers with two new sets of proposed rules, which would allow development closer to the water’s edge and encourage new sewer lines into sensitive areas.

The state Senate knocked back his first attempt to weaken the protection of our rivers and streams, by passing a resolution that would block the proposal to allow development closer to the water. It still needs to get through the Assembly to overturn his changes.

But in the meantime, the administration is pushing forward with its second set of rule changes, which would allow sewers and septic tanks to be placed closer together and extended even into the protected Highlands area — which supplies drinking water to more than half the state.

Defenders of the Highlands say the worst is likely still to come. A third set of rule changes that haven’t been formally proposed yet would quadruple the amount of development allowed in its core forested areas.

EP Editor’s Note: The governor’s Republican allies and many in the state’s business community see the proposed DEP rule changes not as an attack on the environment but a re-balancing of overly restrictive rules enacted under previous administrations that hurt the state’s economy. If you have an opinion on this that you’d like to share, click the ‘comment’ link below or consider submitting a guest column for our consideration.

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