As Legislature Ponders Ban Bill, Activists Protest Oil and Gas Industry Pow Wow Across from Statehouse

Trenton, NJ--Today activists protested one of several planned regional workshops by the American Petroleum Institute in Trenton, NJ, countering the oil and gas industry association's event discussing the development of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) with a recommendation of their own: ban fracking entirely. Protestors handed media and passersby "swag bags" filled with information on the risks associated with fracking and staged an award ceremony for the Frackies.

59 New Jersey and out-of-state conservation and civic organizations have joined in a letter to President Obama asking him not to allow his administration to allocate more money for the Delaware River deepening project.

The groups see the Army Corps of Engineers project to deepen the river from Delaware Bay to north of Camden as environmentally destructive and economically wasteful. Deepening is currently being done off Delaware.

Download our Accomplishments 2011 as a PDF file.

CLEAN WATER 

Played an instrumental role in getting the governor to sign the strongest-in-the-nation fertilizer legislation into law (S-2554/A-2290). This will significantly reduce nutrient pollution in New Jersey waterways and Barnegat Bay in particular, one of the most extensive salt marsh ecosystems on the East Coast.

Written by Janet Tauro, NJEF Board Chair

Congressman Jon Runyan's statement in his Jan. 18 commentary, "Find new use for nuclear plant," that nuclear power must be "a part of a future energy independence strategy" and done in an "environmentally responsible fashion" is an oxymoron, and reflective of a banal history of wishful thinking.

Any technology that emits daily releases of a cocktail of radioactive isotopes and leaves behind a deadly pile of waste that remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years does not fit the definition of "environmentally responsible."

A U.S. District Court ruling that Vermont legislators could not close a local nuclear plant created speculation Friday about whether it could affect an agreement between New Jersey and the owners of the Oyster Creek Generating Station in Lacey to close the plant in 2019.

U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled Thursday that Entergy Corp., which owns the nuclear power plant Vermont Yankee based in Vernon, Vt., could not be closed by the state legislature.

Vermont had a law stating the plant needed legislative approval to operate for another 20 years. Murtha ruled Vermont couldn't close the plant based on a lack of legislative approval for storage of high-level radioactive waste.

Beth Fitzgerald joins Steve Adubato and Rafael Pi Roman on New Jersey Capitol Report to talk about her new position as the Healthcare Writer for NJSpotlight.com, and to discuss necessary healthcare reforms, like physician owned primary care centers for underserved populations and electronic medical records. Next, Martin Perez, President of The Latino Leadership Alliance of NJ and Wilfredo Caraballo, Former Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore, discuss the representation of Latinos in New Jersey's legislature with the state's new redistricting map.

Then, David Pringle, Campaign Director of New Jersey Environmental Federation talks about the impact of DEP regulations, fracking, and power plants on New Jersey citizens.

Controversial measure could allow 300,000 acres of protected land to be developed

Without any fanfare, Gov. Chris Christie yesterday signed a bill that conservationists and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned could lead to increased pollution into the state's already degraded waterways.

The bill was one of several from the lame-duck legislature signed by the governor before noon yesterday -- the deadline to act on legislation that had been approved in the prior legislative session, which ended a week ago yesterday.

Trenton, NJ - A broad coalition of over 50 environmental, faith, labor, student and consumer organizations representing hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents renewed their call for a ban on fracking in New Jersey by submitting a letter to New Jersey Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney asking him to hold a vote on Governor Christie's veto of NJ's fracking ban.

Recent findings have driven the call to override the governor's veto of our fracking ban. The EPA has recently reported that chemicals associated with fracking have been discovered in a Wyoming Aquifer and a seismologist in Ohio who has been studying earth quakes are likely caused by injection wells used to dispose of fracking fluids.

To the Editor:

The Safe Playing Fields Act (S2610/A3782) is legislation that would protect our children, the ones who research has repeatedly proven to be most vulnerable to the harmful effects of toxic lawn pesticides on lawns at schools and in parks.

And to the point, there are sustainable, non-toxic lawn/field methods that are less costly to the taxpayers and more effective in the overall maintenance of healthy, attractive lawns. Cherry Hill and Voorhees already have "Pesticide Free" parks.