Blogs

It is Saturday morning during a mid-November day. Somewhere out along the Appalachian Mountains there is a cold front that is anticipated to move eastward. The weather forecasters are predicting the front to come through the coastal regions of the Mid-Atlantic sometime overnight. Until then, the sky is partly cloudy. The atmosphere is moist with showers, some heavy at times, and it is unseasonably warm with high temperatures likely to be into the mid 60s. There are blustery winds blowing from the south.  Read more »

Gov. Corzine has selected Mark Mauriello to head the DEP.  Mr. Mauriello will take over immediately pending his confirmation by the Senate.  The announcement is here.  This is a period of change not only as to who is heading DEP, but within its programs. DEP has pushing the privatization of site remediation, permit efficiency, disbanding [...]Read original article

 

New Jersey, as does many other states, has a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS).  This requires utilities to either generate a certain percentage of the energy used in the state from renewable sources or to pay others to generate that electricity from renewable sources.  This payment is in the form a renewable energy [...]Read original article

 

Commissioner Jackson could potentially be the shortest serving chief of staff in NJ history.  Effective Dec. 1st, she will no longer be DEP commissioner but will be Governor John Corzine’s chief of staff.    She was also named by President-elect Obama’s team to be part of his transition teams for Energy and Natural Resources, i.e. [...]Read original article

 

The second Sunday of the month has set in.  It is a chilly morning with a sharp north wind.

(A young-of-the -year Oyster Toadfish recently observed in the Navesink River)  Read more »

There is a general consensus, both in the environmental community as well as the regulated community, that New Jersey’s process to clean up contaminated properties is broken.  New Jersey was once a model and pioneer on cleanups.  Now contaminated sites linger.  For the last several years that has been a string of cases dealing with [...]Read original article

 

November has arrived. It is mid-autumn. After the a week of eccentric weather of wind and rain, warmth and sun, frost and flurries, is there any doubt that autumn is a season of flux and folly as we take passage between summer and winter.

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Over the last several weeks major changes have been announced at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.  First, Commissioner Lisa Jackson will be leaving DEP to become Governor Corzine’s chief of staff on Dec. 1st.  Commissioner Jackson’s replacement has not been announced as of yet.  Several names have been floating as possible replacements.  How is [...]Read original article

 

This one's for Blarneyboy, who today asked for some pictures of mother nature. To paraphrase Jerry Garcia in "Us Blues" see: http://arts.ucsc.edu/GDEAD/AGDL/usblues.html "Indian Summer time done come and gone, my oh my!" Bill Wolfe Bill Wolfe Bill Wolfe bill Wolfe...Read original article

 

It is the last full weekend of October; and the weekend before Halloween. 

(A living Red Beard Sponge found this summer in local estuarine waters. Notice how it has encrusted itself to a hard clam shell)  Read more »