Mold in the Garden State: A Failure to Regulate
By Gary Frederick • Conservation Chair, Raritan Valley Group
Imagine discovering one day a thin, black, fuzzy crack running beneath your windowsill. Upon closer inspection, parts of the drywall are wet and crumbling. The carpet is squishy. Then you notice black specks on the baseboard and more black fuzz behind the furniture. Mold has invaded your apartment.
NJ Chapter Endorses State Senators Smith, Greenstein, and Zwicker
By Karen Becker • Political Committee Chair, political.chair@newjersey.sierraclub.org
Each year there is an important race that catches our attention. In 2022 we voted for our federal (congressional) candidates to serve in the House. This year, all 120 members of the NJ Legislature will appear on the ballot in their respective districts. New Jersey has 40 districts, each comprised of one state senator and two assemblypersons. We will begin looking at candidates who most closely align with Sierra Club values and consider endorsing their campaigns.
The Law That’s Not the Law: S232
By Renée Pollard • Environmental and Social Justice Committee Chair
Environmental justice communities across the state have long been subjected to the burden of poor air quality and airborne toxins. Community leaders and environmental leaders came together and made the bold statement that enough is enough. They are tired of their children being sick from asthma; they are tired of being sick themselves from chronic lung diseases and cancers; and they are tired of loved ones dying from these diseases.
NJ Transit Struggles With South Jersey Bus Ridership
By Tony Hagen • editor@newjersey.sierraclub.org
NJ Transit has been engaged in a redesign of the bus routes in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties (BCG), but like some of NJ Transit’s buses and trains, this overhaul is running behind schedule.
A Warm Welcome and Deep Appreciation!
By Richard Isaac • Richard.Isaac@sierraclub.org
Our Chapter extends a warm welcome to the following individuals as they take on their new Chapter volunteer positions.
What Role Will Hydrogen Cars Play in a Green Future?
By George Moffatt
Just as we are beginning to appreciate emissions-free electrical vehicles (EVs), hydrogen-powered vehicles (HVs) also are vying for consumers’ attention. In theory you can hop into an HV and start motoring down the road with no concerns about greenhouse gas or nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions, although the hydrogen you use should come from a “green” source.
Don’t Read This Headline!
By Judy Minot • Secretary; Communications Committee Co-Chair
We’re awash in headlines. They beckon us from the home screen of our smartphones, our inboxes, social media feeds, and on many websites. Whether or not we read the underlying news articles, we see the headlines. They influence us more than we realize. Awareness of our human bias and how digital media manipulates us can help us be stronger environmental champions.
Drive Electric Earth Day
By Bill Beren • Transportation Committee Chair
Once again, the Sierra Club is a national sponsor of Drive Electric Earth Day. Local groups, including The NJ Chapter’s Gateway Group, are sponsoring events during Earth Week at which owners exhibit their electric cars and talk one-on-one to individuals who want to learn more about owning and operating them.
Water Quality Expected to Improve in New Jersey!
By Patricia Hilliard • Executive Committee Member
There are various poster children lately for water quality crises. In 2014 Flint Michigan’s water supply was switched from Detroit to the Flint River to save money, thus inadvertently poisoning the drinking water. In 2022 the headlines pointed to Jackson, Mississippi, where flooding of the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant brought years-long water quality problems to a head. Infrastructure repairs were neglected due to a shortage of money. Where had the funding gone?
Highlights of Recent Building Electrification Webinars
By Steve and Pat Miller • NJ 50 x 30 BE Team
The NJ 50x30 Building Electrification Team hosts regular talks on reducing your building’s energy consumption and lowering emissions. Below, we’ve highlighted three webinars that include tips and examples for achieving these goals.
NJ Law Would Give Overburdened Communities a Say
By Sia Satish • NJ Chapter Youth Committee
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed the final rules of New Jersey’s environmental justice law (S232) on June 6, 2022. The law states that the environmental and public health of overburdened communities in New Jersey must be considered before allowing permits for the expansion and new construction of polluting facilities in those areas.
Sandy Hook Offers Wildlife Viewing Opportunities
By John Miraglia
Imagine Sandy Hook without the huge crowds and long lines of cars vying for parking spaces and you’ve got the best place in Central New Jersey for a day’s viewing of marine wildlife and more. On January 22, 16 Sierra Club members and friends took advantage of the off-season to try our luck at spotting seals on the bay side of Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area on this, our first “Photo Safari.”
E-Bike Use on Trails? Sierra Club Offers Guidance
By Vicky Hoover and Jim Catlin • Recreation Issues Team
E-bikes—bicycles powered by electric motors—have rapidly gained popularity and seem to be all around us. With an e-bike, you can go faster, farther, and higher. E-bikes are claimed to “do everything you want but better.” They now share roads and trails with walkers, cars, buses, bicyclists, horses, and wildlife. They are great for urban transportation, but in off-road places e-bikes can lead to serious conflicts.
Invasive Plants and Bugs Pose Ecological Threat in NJ
By George Moffatt
We homo sapiens are probably the most invasive species of all, but nature, no slouch at getting even, constantly fights back. In New Jersey, we highlight recent invasives, such as the elegantly named porcelain ivy and the colorfully named spotted lanternfly, plus an old friend, the stink bug.
Hearing Closes on Bear Hunt
The public hearing on New Jersey’s plans to restore bear hunting closed on February 3. State officials including the New Jersey Fish and Game Council, maintain that lethal management of the bear population is essential to control the rapidly growing population and reduce the rise in bear-human encounters. The Sierra Club opposes the state’s comprehensive bear management policy and amendments and urges Gov. Phil Murphy to implement stronger non-lethal management efforts.
Stop the Camden Waste Incinerator Expansion
A public hearing was held in December 2022 on a potential $60 million expansion of the Covanta Camden Energy Recovery Center, which the Sierra Club strongly opposes. Covanta intends to install additional pollution controls, but at the same time it wants to set up operations to accept liquid waste, which would include paint and adhesive residues.
Logan Coal Plant Demolition Heralds New Era
Thanks to substantial lobbying by the Sierra Club and other environmental and public interest groups, the Logan and Chambers coal-fired plants in Gloucester and Salem counties are now history. In December 2022, Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz and Sierra Club New Jersey Director Anjuli Ramos-Busot bore witness to the dramatic demolition of the Logan facility.
Raiding the Clean Energy Fund Cookie Jar
New Jersey’s Clean Energy Fund (CEF) pays for energy efficiency measures and renewable energy infrastructure, both of which are sorely needed. According to a New Jersey Policy Perspective report, 95% of the energy consumed in New Jersey comes from nonrenewable sources, and 89% of the energy produced in New Jersey is nonrenewable.
State House Notes
On February 3, 2023, the pubic comment period closed on a proposed Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Inland Flood Protection Rule, intended to ensure the use of current precipitation data and reliable climate science to protect NJ communities in against increased intensity of precipitation events and stormwater runoff.
FERC Sides With Polluter on Pipeline Ruling
In a setback for the race to mitigate climate warming, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved plans by Williams Companies to expand natural gas pipeline capacity across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
Wildlife and Endangered Species Committee Report
Getting Tough on Plastics Producers
Less than 6% of plastics are recycled. What happens to the rest? It piles up in landfills, it litters the roadsides, it gets washed out to sea—by the millions of metric tons.