As hurricane nears, New Jersey closes shellfish beds

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin today issued an Administrative Order temporarily closing state waters to shellfish harvesting effective at sunset as a precaution due to expected heavy rainfall from a pair of weekend storms.

Following is the full text of a news release from the department: 
The precautionary closure affects more than 720,000 acres of commercial shellfish beds in the state’s ocean waters and estuaries as well as all recreational harvesting. Bivalves in these beds such as clams, oysters and mussels are filter feeders that can accumulate harmful bacteria carried into waterways from the land by stormwater runoff.

The DEP will continue to monitor a Nor’easter expected to continue impacting the state through Saturday, as well as the track of Hurricane Joaquin. The DEP will make further determinations regarding shellfish bed closures as necessary.

The harvest ban applies only to shellfish such as clams, oysters, mussels and scallops, and does not apply to crustaceans, such as crabs. If the storms do not impact the shellfish beds, the Administrative Order will be immediately revoked.

The DEP works with the New Jersey Department of Health and U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure that shellfish are safely harvested in state waters. The DEP monitors, classifies and enforces shellfish regulations in 425,830 acres of estuarine beds and 295,857 acres of ocean beds.

The New Jersey Department of Health Food Safety Program regularly inspects shellfish processing plants to ensure they follow regulations that outline health and safety precautions. Shellfish samples are regularly collected from harvest areas, certified shellfish dealers and retailers for bacteriological examination.

The program oversees a certification program which requires all wholesale shellfish dealers to handle, process, and ship shellfish under sanitary conditions and maintain records verifying that the shellfish were obtained from approved areas. For a copy of the Administrative Order, visit: www.state.nj.us/dep/wms/bmw/news.html 
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NJ Dems pressing Christie to act on offshore wind farms

Democrats from New Jersey’s congressional delegation are prodding the Christie administration to finalize a key funding mechanism for offshore wind energy projects in light of an impending federal auction to sell lease rights for wind farms off the New Jersey coast.

James M. O’Neill reports in The Record:    

In 2010, Governor Christie signed legislation designed to make New Jersey a leader in offshore wind energy. The bill directed the state Board of Public Utilities to develop a plan that would ensure that offshore wind farms had a buyer for the electricity they produced. It also guaranteed a purchase price that would help cover the upfront costs of building the wind farms while not being too expensive for the state’s ratepayers. But five years later, the BPU has yet to finalize the mechanism.

Several members of Congress from New Jersey sent Christie a letter Wednesday urging him to get a plan in place, because the federal government recently announced it will auction off the lease rights to nearly 344,000 acres for wind farms about seven nautical miles off New Jersey.

If fully developed, the area up for lease could generate at least 3,400 megawatts of wind energy — enough to power about 1.2 million homes, according to the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Environmental groups and some Democrats in the Legislature have criticized the Christie administration for not developing the funding mechanism, saying the state is losing ground in its bid to be a leader in wind energy. This summer, a company began construction of the first offshore wind farm in the country — off Rhode Island.

 Some in the industry say the state that develops offshore wind first will benefit most from the new jobs created to support the industry, including manufacturing companies that might set up shop in-state to build the parts needed for wind turbines.

Read the full story here

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Water panel to renew call for NJDEP to regulate 1,2,3-TCP

A molecule of 1,2,3-TCP, which is known to cause cancer in humans

“A scientific panel that recommends safe drinking-water standards will issue a new recommendation on the regulation of a carcinogenic chemical in coming months. That measure is likely to be adopted by New Jersey officials, the panel’s chairman said on Wednesday.”

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight that:

Dr. Keith Cooper, chairman of the Drinking Water Quality Institute, said the body is gathering new evidence on the occurrence, treatment, and health effects of 1,2,3-TCP, a chemical that may cause cancer in humans, after first recommending a safety limit for its presence in drinking water in 2009.

Speaking after the latest meeting of the DWQI in Lawrenceville, Cooper called the institute’s work on the chemical “unfinished business” after it recommended a limit that was not adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection six and a half years ago.

Cooper said he did not know why the DEP didn’t act on the panel’s recommendation at the time, but predicted that officials will accept it this time because of strong evidence of the chemical’s threat to public water supplies.

He said the new investigation was recently requested by DEP Commissioner Bob Martin following an independent decision by the DWQI to reopen the probe.

DEP officials could not immediately be reached to comment on why the department did not accept the DWQI’s earlier recommendation.


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Opponents turn up the heat on PennEast gas pipeline

A couple dozen protesters marched from the NJ State House yesterday, chanting their objections to the proposed PennEast Pipeline, Brenda Flanagan reports for NJTV News. (Video above)


The 36-inch-wide underground pipeline would carry a billion cubic feet of compressed natural gas every day– from fracking operations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation — along a 118-mile corridor that crosses the Delaware River and then runs southwest in New Jersey, through what protesters called preserved farms and forests.

“They don’t care about our environment, about our communities, about our kids, about our families, about our creeks, rivers, forests and farmlands. They have made clear they are going to try to pass this pipeline thru no matter what it takes,” said Delaware Riverkeeper Maya Van Rossum.

“The DEP better do its job and not permit this pipeline. We’re also here today to tell the governor we don’t need another fracking’ pipeline in this state. We got too many of them,” said NJ Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel.

The six utility companies that comprise PennEast include PSE&G and South Jersey Gas. They filed a formal application last week with FERC — the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — and produced a website and videos promoting the $1 billion project. It emphasizes the proximity of the Marcellus Shale’s abundant natural gas supply.


Related news coverage:
PennEast Opponents rally outside PSEG offices (NJ Spotlight)

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The Disembowelment of the New York Daily News

Another sad day for newspapers and newspaper lovers.


"When it was over and the feature page was gone, dozens of reporters had been fired and the morning assignment editor was shown the door only minutes after handing out the morning’s first assignments, The Daily News — or what was left of it — was in a state of shock, "

Alan Feuer wrote for The New York Times:

For weeks the staff had known that layoffs might be coming, and when they did come, on Sept. 16, it was with the swiftness of a Soviet-era purge. Newsroom veterans were summoned into an office and told about a digitally driven corporate restructuring.

Those outside the building were told their fates by phone — some while on vacation. One reporter was so left in the dark that when she got to work that day, there was already an intern in her seat.

“It was not the normal thing with a few cuts here and there,” said one employee who was fired and who, like many, spoke on the condition of anonymity because his severance package had not yet been delivered.

“This was a total re-positioning of the product.”

From The New York Herald to The New York Tribune (to say nothing of The New York Herald Tribune), newspapers have been dying in New York for nearly as long as they have been born. But to some journalists who have watched their share of these deaths, this month’s disembowelment of The Daily News seemed like something new."

Full story: The Daily News Layoffs and Digital Shift May Signal the Tabloid Era’s End 

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Job opening for regional planner at NJ Highlands Council

The New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, the regional planning agency charged with protecting drinking water for approximately half the
residents of New Jersey, is seeking is seeking a full time Regional Planner.

The planner would assist with implementation of the
Highlands Regional Master Plan in protecting the resources
of the 860,000-acre Highlands Region.

This position involves interaction with and provision of
planning assistance to local government units within the Region, review and preparation of land
development and resource regulations applicable to New Jersey counties and municipalities, and
varied planning-related duties in support of the Regional Master Plan, including resource
protection, economic development, project review, and sustainable development practices.

More information on the position can be found here

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