Green Jersey

News roundup for Tuesday, July 8

Top N.J. democrats yesterday said no in Belmar to the perennial issue of offshore oil drilling off the Atlantic coast, including the coast of New Jersey. Also yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Interior called on Congress to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling — the agency said drilling could increase U.S. oil and natural gas production above the government’s current estimates, producing 18 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (but those numbers are based on data more than 25 years old, according to Reuters). Today, for the first time, the average price of gas in New Jersey topped $4 a gallon.

The new home of Hudson County’s welfare offices may need a pricey lead paint cleanup — remediation may cost up to $1 million, according to one official.

Sixteen New Jersey water providers are in line to receive money from oil companies because of MTBE, the gas additive. The money will go to a once and future treatment, not to compensate companies for unsafe water, according to the Courier-Post. DEP Spokeswoman Karen Hershey told the paper the department had “no violations for MTBE exceedance currently on the books.”

Lyndhurst’s Town Hall Park may see its $1.2 million upgrade finished by tomorrow (when a summer concert series will begin).