The Rising Trend of Voting by Mail
By Karen Becker
We urge you to vote and support candidates endorsed by the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club in the November 7 General Election. For everything you need to know about obtaining or voting with a VBM ballot, including tracking your ballot, visit the NJ Voter Information Portal.
New Jersey Adopts Environmental Justice Rules
Roughly half the residents of New Jersey live in environmentally burdened communities, according to a map produced by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Therefore, it was a great relief to advocates for clean air and a safe environment when the DEP adopted rules implementing New Jersey’s environmental justice law, albeit more than two years after the state Legislature approved it.
What Scientific Authorities Have to Say About Whale Mortalities
By George Moffatt • Offshore Wind Committee Member
Respected scientific authorities have closely studied whale mortalities off the East Coast over the years and have ruled out any connection between these deaths and wind turbine development activity.
The Facts About Whale Deaths
Editor’s Note
Since at least 2017, when North Atlantic right whale mortalities and serious injuries and illnesses spiked, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has carefully tracked marine mammal mortalities.The most common causes? Vessel strikes and entanglements with fishing gear.
Wind Turbines? Yes! Here's Why
By Patricia Hilliard • Offshore Wind Committee Member
Those of us living in the industrialized world have burned so much coal and oil over the past 200 years that the smoke and carbon in the atmosphere have raised the earth’s temperature. We need to do something now! One solution to avoid adding more carbon to the atmosphere is to use renewable energy, such as wind.
EPA Gets Tough on PFAS
By Tony Hagen
In March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spoke up and told us no amount of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) is safe for human consumption and that it is proposing historically low allowable levels of PFAS in drinking water.
Conservation Chair’s Message: Mitigate and Adapt for Climate Change Survival
By Greg Gorman
The climate crisis imposes unique challenges for adaptation for New Jersey. To integrate climate change impacts and risks in our decision making, we need the best information available.
Diversity in the Woods: The NJ Chapter LGBTQ+ Section Welcomes You!
By Wanda I. Ashbrook • LGBTQ+ Section Outings Chair
Red maple trees, blue jays, goldfinches, purple flowers, evergreen trees, and let’s not forget the (red) cardinals. We join with nature, a colorful and diverse world, when we go on a Sierra Club LGBTQ+ hike. We fit perfectly with all the diversity in the woods.
Highlights of Recent Electrification Webinars
By Steve and Pat Miller
The NJ 50 x 30 Building Electrification Team hosts monthly talks on reducing your building’s energy consumption and lowering emissions. Here, we highlight tips and examples to meet these goals from three recent webinars.
It’s True! Cow Burps and Flatulence Help Create Dangerous Methane
By George Moffatt
A cow burps between 250 to 500 liters of methane a day or roughly 137,000 liters a year. Worldwide, cows release about 120 million metric tons of methane per year. Methane can last in the atmosphere for 12 years and is responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperature, according to the International Energy Agency. Despite its short lifetime, methane has 80 times the warming power of CO2.
Good Hiking by the Mullica
By Tom Boghosian
Wharton State Forest offers a variety of hiking trails, with major trailheads at both Atsion in Shamong Township and Batsto Village in Washington Township. Sierra Club hikers enjoyed a number of these this past winter—primarily out of Batsto Village—but we did not exhaust all the possibilities.
Transportation Committee Report: New Jersey Is Making Progress With EV Sales
By Bill Beren
Updates on Drive Electric Earth Day, electric school buses, New Jersey Transit issues, and Advanced Clean Truck and Advanced Clean Cars II rules.
Nanotech May Be Answer to Fuel Cell Storage Problem
By Syona Gupta
To achieve a meaningful reduction in emissions, we need to investigate alternatives to gasoline. Researchers have proposed the use of metal-organic frameworks to store hydrogen. Hydrogen, a green fuel if produced by clean energy, produces a byproduct of water when burned.
A Perilous Life for Sturgeon in the Delaware River
By Tony Hagen
The Delaware River was once chock-full of Atlantic sturgeon, but populations of these legendary leaping fish have plummeted more than 99% since the 1800s.
Green Acres Funding for Synthetic Turf?
Gov. Phil Murphy announced a proposed investment of nearly $100 million on community recreation projects through the Green Acres and Urban Parks programs. Sadly, the project total includes roughly $10 million in funding for artificial turf playing fields in communities around the state.
Give DEP Enough Funding
The governor has earmarked $289 million for the 2024 budget, but to effectively manage New Jersey’s public lands and protect the state from a changing climate, $380 million is needed.
Advanced Clean Cars II Standards Make Sense
Imagine 100% of light-duty auto sales in New Jersey being electric by 2035. It’s possible if the state adopts Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) standards, as Gov. Phil Murphy proposed in February.
Another Coffin Nail for the Gibbstown LNG Port
New Fortress Energy’s plans to ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) south from Wyalusing, Pa., through the Philadelphia region and across the Delaware River to a proposed export facility in Gibbstown, NJ, have been sidelined by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which in April vetoed the extension of a permit for transporting that LNG by rail.
Ciba Geigy Settlement Falls Short
Is creation of a park and nature center at the former Ciba-Geigy Superfund site adequate compensation for years of industrial contamination that still isn’t cleaned up? This is the settlement that the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) plans to offer BASF, current owner of the 1,255-acre site in Toms River.
DEP Reveals Plans for Liberty State Park
In a long-awaited clarification of its position on Liberty State Park in Jersey City, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has described an overhaul of the sprawling Jersey City expanse that it says would not involve a golf course or other giveaways to commercial interests.
Our Offices Are Now in Hamilton!
We’re settling into our new offices in Hamilton Township at the Modern at Mill One