My lead article today provides Highlights from Stakeholder Meeting #1 for NJ's Draft Global Warming Recommendation Report (see post immediately below).

Also...

Transportation. The NJ Public Interest Research Group issued a press release highlighting "New Study: Red Flags in State's Transportation Wish List." "A new study of the state Department of Transportation (DOT) wish lists, recently submitted to Congress for funding under a new economic recovery package, suggests that current project lists would undermine efforts to repair and modernize our deteriorating infrastructure and reduce U.S. dependence on oil. The study also shows that President-elect Obama’s stated intention to invest in a modernized infrastructure that will create jobs and build a clean, smarter economy for the 21st century could be undermined if the states spend transportation stimulus funds the way they have suggested in its wish list to Congress."

• Comment: Getting NJ Transportation spending right is crucial. Transportation is the state's biggest contributor to greenhouse gases, according to the DEP.
• Comment 2: See also my post titled, "Corzine's Carbon Roads." Transportation will be the focus on the DEP's fourth stakeholder session for the Draft Global Warming Response Act Recommendation Report.
  

Senator Menendez. Although his recommendation for restoring the Pulaski Skyway won most of the press, the Senator's stimulus recommendations had a healthy dose of mass transit and energy efficiency initiatives.

• Comment: But the latter efforts need to outweigh the automobile transportation initiatives by a wide margin, if we're to gain momentum in cutting emissions. To contact the Senator, link here.
  

New National Park in NJ? "After making significant progress towards establishing a new National Park in New Jersey during the prior session of Congress, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) and Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today re-introduced the Great Falls National Historical Park Act in the House and Senate." Pascrell is the one featuring this on his website; to contact him, click here.

Smart Development? Michael Daigle publishes a thought-provoking article about development/preservation balance in Morris County (broadly applicable), titled, "Rivers, railroads again key to development in county.... But watershed protection groups, towns along tracks see future quite differently."

• Comment: Morris County's environmental protection is a major reason why it's prosperous. Tipping further toward "development" and away from "preservation" would undermine the county's prosperity rather than enhance it.
  

Shore. Public comments sought. "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrati0n (NOAA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware are seeking public comment on a restoration plan to repair and improve shoreline and habitats of the Delaware River damaged by a vessel oil spill in 2004. .... The draft damage assessment and restoration plan for Athos I is located online. Questions or comments on the plan can go by email to: NOS.AthosComments@noaa.gov...."


Shore. "Failing seawall may doom Delaware Bay community," writes Daniel Walsh for the Press of Atlantic City. "Fairfield Townshi - In an isolated corner of southwest NJ, a community is slowly dying." (hat tip Shore11)

• Comment: Yet another wake-up call.

Recycling. "Operations at Hamilton Township's ecological reycling center were privatized last night after a move that's been heralded by township officials as a cost-saver was approved by a unanimous council vote," writes The Trentonian.

NJ and Hydrogen Power. BlackLight Power of Cranbury, NJ announces another licensing deal for its technology (which opens eyes and raises eyebrows).

NJ Green Trend. A follow-up story on NJ's green trends in yesterday's Gloucester County Times strikes a more helpful tone than an article last week by The Star-Ledger. As the Times article asserts, it still makes a ton of sense to seek efficiencies in the things we do and buy (and opt NOT to buy). But neither article goes nearly far enough, as I wrote here.

Highlands. NJ Highlands Council extends deadline to Jan 30 for public comment on its report on PSE&G's power line project, writes the Daily Record. (hat tip Shore11)

Pollution. "Class Status denied in Suit Against DuPont Over Chemical Tainted Water," writes the NJ Law Journal (subscription required).

Pollution. NJ gets $43m for Superfund site. (hat tip Green Jersey)

Pollution? Some blame NJ for a smell in Manhattan. (hat tip Green Jersey)

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