Bill raising renewable energy targets clears NJ panel

OL16Tom Johnson reports in today’s NJ Spotlight:
"In a bid to vault New Jersey back into a leadership role in clean energy, a Senate committee yesterday approved a bill that would require 80 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind by 2050.
"The legislation (S-2444) significantly ramps up the state’s goal for shifting from fuels that contribute to global climate change and pollution to cleaner ways of producing electricity. Currently, the state has set a target of 22.5 percent of renewables by 2020.
"If the bill wins approval, which even proponents say is unlikely under the Christie administration, it would put New Jersey among those states most heavily rely on renewable energy.
"The question critics have is at what cost to utility customers, who already are burdened by some of the highest electricity costs in the nation. Those same objections were raised last fall when the bill first came up for discussion in the committee. A similar bill is pending in the Assembly."
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Related energy & environment news stories:
Renewable Energy Could Soon Be A Goal, Not A Requirement
House weakens Renewable Energy Standards – Greensboro News & Record
Tesla’s Low-Cost Solar Batteries Guarantee Sustainable
Texas Senator Seeks to Dismantle What He Helped Create

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NJ's Senate Environment Committee Monday – May 4


The following energy and environment bills will be considered by members of the
New Jersey Senate Environment and Energy committee at 10 a.m., Monday, May 4:

A-3507  Amends law concerning county and municipal stream cleaning activities.

S-2444  Establishes renewable energy portfolio standards.

S-2615  Provides diamondback terrapins protection as nongame indigenous species.

S-2617  Allows cultivation of commercial shellfish species in certain coastal and inner harbor waters for research and educational purposes.


You can follow along via your computer here.

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Breaking: Bridgegate's Wildstein to plead guilty

David Wildstein – Wamsteker/Bloomberg

David Wildstein, a former ally of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, is set to plead guilty and may be cooperating with federal prosecutors probing traffic jams he ordered near the George Washington Bridge, David Voreacos reports this afternoon for Bloomberg.

"Wildstein is scheduled to appear Friday in federal court in Newark, where grand jurors have heard testimony in secret for months about gridlock over four mornings in Fort Lee, New Jersey, according to the person, who requested anonymity because the matter isn’t public.

"He would plead guilty to a charging document known as a criminal information, the person said. It was unclear what the specific charges would be in the plea. The plea was originally scheduled for Thursday, the person said.

"A plea by Wildstein, who was a top appointee at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, would be the first conviction for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in an investigation of the September 2013 lane closures," Voreacos wrote.

"The scandal has hurt Christie’s popularity as the Republican weighs a run for the White House and tests his tough-talking image with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"Christie has denied knowledge of a plot to close two of the three local-access lanes to the world’s busiest bridge, which is run by the Port Authority. If Wildstein pleads guilty and cooperates with prosecutors, he could give them an inside view of how the plot unfolded."


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NJDEP chief defends siphoning $$ from open-space fund

Image: Slate.com

 

In the past, New Jersey relied on funds from its annual budget to finance oversight of its many parks and wildlife management areas, including staffing costs, Tom Johnson writes in today’s NJ Spotlight
"Not anymore, if the Christie administration gets its way with a proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year.
"The draft budget would allocate up to 25 percent of as much as $80 million in a new fund approved by voters last November to pay those costs — depleting a dwindling pot of money for open-space preservation and other projects.
"For the second time in less than two weeks, that diversion drew scrutiny and criticism from lawmakers, who argued it was not what voters signed up for last fall when they overwhelmingly approved using a portion of corporate business taxes to fund such programs."

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Sandy who? Waterfront sales continue to rise at the shore


Like the coming and going of the seasons and the erosion and restoration of the beaches, property values at the Jersey Shore always eventually rebound after punishing storms. Even with the multitude of beach homes ruined but still standing 2.5 years after Sandy roared up the coast, realtors report that oceanfront values are steadily climbing back to pre-Sandy levels.

The value of properties farther from the beach and bay are slower to recover but if New Jersey is fortunate enough to dodge another major hurricane for a decade or so, snapping up one of those properties today could proved to be a wise investment.

Lauren Wanko of NJTV News, reporting from Bay Head, has the story in the video above.

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Access improvements coming for Philly’s waterfront

Just in time for summer, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation is starting, re-starting, or advancing a handful of construction, infrastructure and transportation projects to help connect Penn’s Landing to the rest of Philadelphia: Spruce and Callowhill will soon be two-way streets near the river, the Race Street Connector’s north side will get an uplift to match the south, and work on converting Pier 68 into a park could wrap up by Labor Day.

On the New Jersey side, you can expect to see better access to the Camden waterfront and the RiverLink Ferry will begin operating again soon.

PlanPhilly has details here  

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