Green Jersey

News roundup for Thursday, July 3

Green Jersey — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:44:49 +0000

Hasbrouck Heights High School’s artificial turf athletic field has been closed due to above-normal lead levels, the schools superintendent said today. That’s the seventh lead-related field closure in New Jersey.

Thales, an Edison company, reported a small toxic chemical leak yesterday.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey report more nesting eagles than ever this year, one year after the U.S. government removed eagles from the endangered species list.

Blogger: Don’t bug the dolphins.

Dolphins in the Shrewsbury River, meanwhile, have delayed the demolition of the Highlands-Sea Bright Bridge. (Sea Bright Councilwoman Dina Long had asked for a few extra days to allow dolphins to swim out to Sandy Hook Bay and the ocean.)

Six people and groups from New Jersey — Margo Pellegrino, Marie Springer of Friends of Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, middle school science teacher David Crawford, Hackensack Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan, the Pequannock River Coalition of Passaic County, and Maplewood (in the “Federal, State, Local or Tribal Government or Agency” category) — were honored recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their good works.

New green Shore blog

Green Jersey — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:21:06 +0000

Check out Shore11, a new site offering bloggers, forums, real-time weather and surf conditions and news on Shore environmental issues. Bloggers include Margo Pellegrino of Miami2Maine, who left Monday for a 500-mile canoe trip from New Jersey to Washington, D.C. Pellegrino is paddling in support of the ocean-protecting legislation HR21, a.k.a. Oceans 21. (More on that bill here, here and here.) Also blogging are Bill Wolfe, Joe Reynolds, Benson Chiles, Paul Eidman, Jim Shaffer, John McMurray and Michael Pisauro.

The site is a project of the Environmental Defense Fund and Coastal Ocean Coalition (including member groups Bayshore Regional Watershed Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Surfrider Foundation, NJ Sierra Club, NJ Audubon Society, Environment NJ, NJ Public Employees for Envioronmental Responsibility and NJ Environmental Lobby).

Dear readers

Green Jersey — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:59:38 +0000

Green Jersey is on vacation.

Regular posts will return the week after next.

Budget saves state’s parks, at expense of state’s beaches

Green Jersey — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:19:19 +0000

A beach at Sandy Hook.

Gov. Corzine and others said yesterday that a general agreement was reached on the state budget. Details were to be released today.

This early “agreement in principle” sets up the possibility of a final agreement that comes before July 1, the constitution-mandated deadline and start of a new fiscal year. Final approval could come as early as Monday. A public hearing on the plan will be held tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. in the Statehouse Annex.

In the tentative $32.8 billion budget, state parks are saved — by a plan that would divert $9 million from a beach replenishment fund known as the Shore Protection Fund. Lawmakers have mixed opinions on the proposal. Yesterday, Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) criticized it. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Kyrillos, who was the original sponsor of the bill that created the Shore Protection Fund, said the fund is used for beach replenishment, sand restoration, dunes, beach protection and flood control, for example, and that much of the money brings in matching federal dollars.

“Redirecting these monies will increase the risk and severity of flooding; raising insurance rates for middle-class families and small-business owners along the Shore,” Kyrillos said.

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Highlands study: Build-out could deplete water supply

Green Jersey — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:53:47 +0000

A new analysis by the Highlands Council confirms that the Highlands region couldn’t handle the water and sewage demands projected if towns developed to the max, as allowed under existing zoning.

But the study also found that if towns build out as allowed under the draft regional master plan set to be adopted next month, some of them will still face water and sewer capacity shortages. From the Bergen Record:

Even if all 88 towns in the state’s premier water-generating region decide to conform to the draft regional master plan, there would still be a shortage of water and sewerage capacity in some communities, a new build-out analysis found.

If planning-area towns were to develop with no restraints, the study found, 34 water supply areas in the region would not have enough water for a full build-out.

If all of the towns accept the regional restrictions, only two areas would be short of water, but sewerage capacity would be exceeded by 11 percent.

…The regional plan proposes that municipalities create water conservation plans or buy water from another source if they want to have more growth.

According to the study, if all the towns involved sign on to the draft plan, the amount of allowable new construction would be cut by about 75 percent across the region.

In Morris County, 70 percent fewer new homes would be permissible under the plan, and 80 percent less business/commercial square footage (via the Daily Record).

Weekend news roundup

Green Jersey — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:29:53 +0000

The DEP is moving toward raising its public-records rates for commercial customers.

While Sen. Paul Sarlo’s “EnCap law” is going nowhere fast, the state is enacting other reforms to prevent a second EnCap scenario.

Some of the pros and cons of defining wind and solar power as agricultural activity, as the state is considering doing.

Why the price of oil continues to soar, even though supply is up and relative demand is down.

Record columnist: Use less to save more.

A smoke smell in South Jersey was apparently caused by a wildfire in North Carolina.

Middle schoolers and other volunteers tidied up Sussex Borough yesterday. Also yesterday: Meadowfest, in Secaucus.

Bayer to pay $1 million for pollution

Green Jersey — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:51:01 +0000

Aspirin giant Bayer has agreed to pay the state $1 million for polluting groundwater at a former dye plant in Haledon.

The settlement is the second-biggest in two years under the state Department of Environmental Protection’s natural resource damage program, according to the Bergen Record.

In the past year, the state has collected a reported $4 million as a result of this and other similar settlements. Below are some major ones (from the Asbury Park Press):

Lucent Technologies has agreed to pay a $1.2 million settlement to the state for groundwater contamination at nine sites it owns in Holmdel, Berkeley Heights, Chester, Chester Township, Hanover and Kearny, state Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson announced Wednesday.

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The day in gas spills

Green Jersey — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:30:29 +0000

A tanker unleashed about 2,000 gallons of a mixture of gasoline and alcohol today while it was being unloaded in Linden.

While it spilled in the Arthur Kill, it was contained, according to the Department of Environmental Protection (via the Star-Ledger).

Also spilled today: 150 gallons of diesel fuel, onto the New Jersey Turnpike near routes 17 and 120.

Another new record for corn — this time over $7

Green Jersey — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:10:05 +0000

Image via happyhomemaker88.wordpress.com.

The price of corn went over $7 for the first time today. It landed at $7.03 a bushel, after hitting record highs for five straight days on the Chicago Board of Trade. From the New York Times:

Corn for July delivery closed on the Chicago Board of Trade at $7.03 a bushel, up 30 cents. Next year’s corn was trading even higher, finishing at $7.47 a bushel and above.

Also higher today were soybeans, wheat and oil futures.

Farmers have been dealing with weather issues (specifically, rains in the Midwest), high fertilizer and pesticide costs, and growing diesel costs.

All this means the price of meat and other foods will continue to rise.

News roundup for Wednesday, June 11

Green Jersey — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:06:33 +0000

New Jersey tomatoes were not the ones tainted with salmonella, says the state Agriculture Department.

The Long Branch City Council last night green-lighted a financial settlement with the developers of the Pier Village stores-restaurants-luxury homes complex — one that will cost city taxpayers $500,000 over three years.

Edison yesterday rejected a proposed transit village.

After the recent storms, more than 100,000 people are still without power in just northeast New Jersey.

Federal environmental officials say Ringwood’s “Sludge Hill” is as clean as it can get.

Coastal homes will be even harder to insure now, anywhere a hurricane could theoretically reach them.

An environmental threat: “Stimulus” bills from the New Jersey Builders Association et al.

Lowering the cost of illegal crabbing

Green Jersey — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:31:17 +0000

A horseshoe crab 2 weeks ago in Sandy Hook. Photo by Jennifer Weiss.

State lawmakers today advanced a proposal by Sen. Jeff Van Drew that would significantly reduce fines for illegal horseshoe crab harvesting.

Van Drew’s bill would allow environmental regulators to drop the fine for unlawful crabbing from $10,000 to $2,500. The Cape May senator reportedly proposed it because fishermen earn modest salaries, according to the Courier-Post. Van Drew told the Asbury Park Press the fines as they stand now are “cruel and harsh and in my opinion inappropriate.”

Fisherman had apparently been worried they’d lose money if they caught crabs accidentally. The New Jersey Audubon Society worries changing the statewide crab-harvesting moratorium might undermine it.

Van Drew’s bill still needs approval by the Senate and Assembly.

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EnCap still seeking new investors

Green Jersey — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:54:45 +0000

EnCap is still looking for new investors.

If it doesn’t find them, investors, state taxpayers and other may be out more than $300 mil, according to the Bergen Record.

Thinking about stepping in? If you can, you’ll have stiff competition, according to EnCap’s bankruptcy attorney, who told the Record: “We’re in very serious negotiations with at least two parties, and a few others want more information immediately.”

EnCap filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, after the Meadowlands Commission short-circuited its troubled development plans.

Not everyone will be out money, according to the Record’s Jeff Pillets, who had this look at who benefited financially.