Analyzing the cap-and-trade vote in Pennsylvania

On Saturday, we focused on the key role played by three New Jersey Republicans in the narrow passage of the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill in the House. (Jersey Republicans key to climate bill passage)

Matt Friedman reports in PolitickerNJ that the three are facing heat from conservatives over their votes and they may face primary challenges because of it. The New York Times's Green Inc. blog quotes Rush Limbaugh linking the "northeastern Republicans" to Wall Street and urging that they be "sent packing" at re-election time.

Today, we recommend an analysis of the vote from a Pennsylvania perspective. It's written for PoliticsPA by Louis Jacobson, a contributing editor with National Journal magazine. He says that, for most members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, Friday’s vote was not about ideology but about quietly doing the safest thing for their district – and for their own reelection prospects.

Your views? Use the comment box below. If you don't see it, click on the tiny 'comments' line.

Related:
Gerlach opposes cap-and-trade bill
Conservative Ire Rains on 8 Republicans Who Voted for House Climate Bill

Our most recent posts:
Solar advocates urge veto of NJ union wage bill
Jersey Republicans key to climate bill passage
Big environmental day in NJ Legislature
NJ Pinelands report: Some sun, some clouds
Greenhouse grants for NJ towns and schools
NJ's offshore wind energy pick is lobbying large

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Solar advocates urge veto of NJ union wage bill

A coalition of New Jersey solar energy businesses, electrical contractors, independent electricians, and solar energy workers is urging Governor Jon Corzine to veto (A-3372), legislation that the group says will not only drive up costs for ratepayers, but cost the state hundreds of new green energy jobs as well.

In a press release, the coalition said the legislation imposes an "oppressive new mandate" on all renewable energy and energy efficiency installation projects in New Jersey, with the sole exception of residential projects, by mandating that state "prevailing wage" rates be paid to workers on all such projects.

Prevailing wages, the coalition says, are synonymous with union wage rates and "often forces businesses to hire union labor and sub-contractors at additional cost."

"This legislation must be vetoed by Governor Corzine. It is anti-solar because it will result in increasing the labor costs of solar by 180%. It contradicts the Governor's and Legislature's policies of growing solar and reducing global warming gases, " said Dennis Wilson, vice president in New Jersey for the Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Energy Industries Association, a trade group representing solar energy companies, manufacturers, and solar project developers in NJ, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

The coalition says the legislation applies to all energy efficiency projects--along with renewable projects such as wind, solar, and biomass--that receive any "approval" or any authorization by the NJ Board of Public Utilities.

The group claims that the legislation is so broad that it would includes energy efficiency upgrades for non-profits such as churches, and small businesses.

In opposing the bill in committee and on the floor of both legislative houses, the solar industry and its allies were supported by the NJ Business and Industry Association and the state Chamber of Commerce.

A large number of union organizations lobbied in favor of the legislation.

Curiously absent from the legislative debate were environmental organizations, like the NJ Environmental Federation and the Sierra Club, which normally are outspoken advocates of alternative energy technologies and projects.

Your views? Use the comment box below. If you don't see it, click on the tiny 'comments' line.

Our most recent posts:
Jersey Republicans key to climate bill passage
Big environmental day in NJ Legislature
NJ Pinelands report: Some sun, some clouds
Greenhouse grants for NJ towns and schools
NJ's offshore wind energy pick is lobbying large

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Jersey Republicans key to climate bill passage

Three Republican congressmen from New Jersey helped get the ferociously-lobbied Waxman-Markey climate-change bill through the House of Representatives yesterday on a narrow 219-212 vote.

They were among only eight Republicans in the House who voted for the bill, while 44 Democrats voted opposed it.

The legislation, called 'historic' by President Obama, is Congress’s first attempt to address global warming by curbing greenhouse gases and establishing a cap-and-trade system. It now goes to the Senate where the lobbying is expected to only increase.

The New Jersey Republican votes were extremely valuable since dozens of conservative Democrats--especially those in vulnerable district--had made it clear they would never support cap-and-trade legislation.

The GOP, seizing on 'cap and trade' as a key political issue for 2010 campaign, emptied their rhetorical bag of apocalyptic warnings in testimony against it.

Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) told her colleagues: “We get to choose. We choose liberty, or we choose tyranny — it’s one of the two.” Geoff Davis (R-KY) said the bill represents the “economic colonization of the heartland” by coastal states and Devin Nunes (R-CA) pictured it as the culmination of “the twisted desires of radical environmentalists.”

New Jersey's House delegation--except for Republicans Scott Garrett and Rodney Frelinghuysen--chose to heed the advice of such 'radical environmentalists' as Ralph Izzo, president of the state's largest utility, PSEG.

Izzo said the legislation would "provide business leaders with a level of certainty that will allow them to plan and expand, and it will create jobs that will usher in a new green economy." Wow, now that's radical, no?

New Jersey Republicans Leonard Lance, Chris Smith and Frank LoBiondo joined with Democrats Albio Sires, Bill Pascrell, Donald Payne, Rush Holt, Rob Andrews, John Adler, Frank Pallone, and Steve Rothman in casting yes votes.

As always, your opinions are encouraged. Use the comment box below. If you don't see one, click on the tiny 'comments' line.

RELATED:
House passes climate-change bill
In Close Vote, House Passes Climate Bill
Key provisions in the legislation
GOP Senators Pledge to Fight Climate Bill
House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change
Winners and losers emerge in carbon economy

Our most recent posts:
Big environmental day in NJ Legislature
NJ Pinelands report: Some sun, some clouds
Greenhouse grants for NJ towns and schools
NJ's offshore wind energy pick is lobbying large
NJ offers funding for energy-efficient projects

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Big environmental day in NJ Legislature

In their final voting sessions prior to summer recess, members of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly last night took action on a host of environmental bills.

Among those receiving final passage and sent to the governor's desk were bills that:

• Place on the November, 2009 election ballot a $400 million open-space and farmland preservation bond issue question .
  


• Make it more difficult for local zoners to block the construction of wind and solar energy facilities.
  


• Authorize counties and towns to acquire land for resale or lease with agricultural deed restrictions attached for farmland preservation purposes.
  


• Appropriate funds to DEP for environmental infrastructure projects.
  


• Authorize the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust
  to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects.
  


• Extend the deadline for municipal recycling coordinators' educational requirements.
  


• Allow developers with approved but un-built housing projects aimed at buyers aged 55 and older to be able to seek permission
  to eliminate the age restrictions.

To learn more about each of the bills above... and much more...
sign up now for a FREE, 30-day trial subscription to our daily
e-newsletter, EnviroPolitics. We'll start your trial with today's

issue which will contain a listing of all action taken on enviro-

bills in the legislature yesterday, plus individual news stories

on a number of them. It's typical of the valuable information

you'll find every day with your trial subscription. Don't miss it!

Questions? Contact us at editor@enviropolitics.com
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Our most recent posts:
NJ Pinelands report: Some sun, some clouds
Greenhouse grants for NJ towns and schools
NJ's offshore wind energy pick is lobbying large
NJ offers funding for energy-efficient projects
Are you sure the NJ Sierra Club said that?

NJ Pinelands report: Some sun, some clouds

** Updated on June 26**

The Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA), an environmental organization that sees itself both as a protector and promoter of New Jersey's extensive Pinelands region, says in its third annual report that:

"while most of the Pinelands’ forests, streams and wetlands are surviving the pressures of sprawl, government agencies are not doing enough to save the Pine Barrens over the long term by controlling development and its impacts."

The group issued its report today in advance of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Pinelands Protection Act on June 28.

“Recent debates and actions of the Pinelands Commission have placed its commitment to preserving the Pinelands in serious question,” says Carleton Montgomery, the PPA's Executive Director. “In the coming year, the Commission faces critical tests that will show us where its soul really lies."

Montgomery's organization says the news is not all bad. It credits the state Pinelands Commission staff with completing an Ecological Integrity Assessment and says the regulatory agency is using the analysis to identify changes to the management area boundaries that could lead to greater environmental protection.

The PPA also tips its hat to the Commission's dedication of some $2.1 million to preserving 602 acres in Camden and Ocean Counties that connect to adjacent properties that already are preserved.

But the enviros also have concerns.

"Over the past few years we’ve seen a slow shift in philosophy from the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) as rules with regulatory teeth, to the CMP as guidelines only,” said Richard Bizub, PPA's Director for Water Programs.

A recent example, Bizub says, is the Commission’s approval of a road project through threatened and endangered species habitat in the Preservation Area of Woodland Township. In this case, he says the burden of proof was placed on the public to prove a violation of the CMP, instead of requiring the township to demonstrate compliance with the CMP.

Bishop says that "reverses the regulatory standard and contradicts nearly 30 years of the Pinelands Commission’s practice in order to approve an unnecessary, financially wasteful and environmentally harmful project."

You can get a copy of the entire report here.

UPDATE: In a June 26 Philadelphia Inquirer story, a spokesman for the Pinelands Commission criticized the report's "incendiary language," and said it was both unbalanced and misleading.

Share your own views of the Pinelands 30 years of preservation in the comment box below or click on the tiny 'comments' line. You can identify yourself or respond anonymously.

Our most recent posts:
Greenhouse grants for NJ towns and schools
NJ's offshore wind energy pick is lobbying large
NJ offers funding for energy-efficient projects
Are you sure the NJ Sierra Club said that?
Some dig the new Hudson tunnel; Some don't

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Greenhouse grants for NJ towns and schools

Courier-Post outdoor writer Kevin Callahan reports on a new NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) grant program designed to assist efforts by local government agencies and schools to identify and implement plans to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

The DEP is accepting pre-applications from municipal and county governments, public school districts, county colleges and other local government agencies such as municipal utilities authorities for $2.5 million available in the first round of funding under the Local Government Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant program.

Where's the money coming from? Like another grant program for businesses seeking to implement energy-efficiencies (NJ offers funding for energy-efficient projects), the funding source is RGGI,
the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

What's that?

It's the multi-state program under which utilities and other carbon dioxide emitters pay for privilege of continuing to discharge CO2.
The money they fork over is funneled into various energy conservation projects and alternative energy production incentives. Or, at least, that's the plan.

According to the Courier-Post, the DEP expects applicants to demonstrate that proposed projects will result in measurable reductions of greenhouse gases.

Eligible projects may include those that help local government agencies calculate and reduce their carbon footprints as well as land-use and transportation planning efforts that reduce the need to drive since vehicle exhaust contributes significantly to the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The DEP will also consider projects that spur development of green infrastructure such as green buildings or rooftop gardens, programs that foster resource conservation such as better management of trees, efforts to strengthen local economies through marketing of locally grown food, and outreach programs that promote public involvement in sustainability efforts.

That all sounds pretty high-minded and, with tight oversight, some good could result.

But this, after all, is New Jersey. And we all know that the scent of free public money draws political, consulting and legal sharks like a taste of blood in the water does their natural counterparts.

Who gets the grants and what they produce...only time will tell.

MORE: For information on the grant program and a copy of the pre-application, go here

Our most recent posts:
NJ's offshore wind energy pick is lobbying large
NJ offers funding for energy-efficient projects
Are you sure the NJ Sierra Club said that?
Some dig the new Hudson tunnel; Some don't
Last week's top environmental & business news

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NJ's offshore wind energy pick is lobbying large

The firm selected by New Jersey to develop a wind farm off its coast is spending $10,000 a month to straighten out a political impasse that's keeping it from moving ahead on a similar project in Rhode Island.

Deepwater Wind was selected in September, 2008 to build a small wind farm off Rhode Island's Block Island and a second, roughly 100-turbine project around 15 miles off the coastline.

However, according to the Associated Press, the question of who would purchase the power remains in dispute.

Rhode Island's Republican Governor Don Carcieri, who has set goal of meeting 20 percent of the state’s electricity needs through renewable resources by 2011, initially wanted to create a state-run collective to serve as the buyer. Democrats in the legislature wanted the state’s main power distributor, National Grid, to be the buyer.

Meanwhile, environmental advocates feared the state was focusing too much on an unproven offshore wind farm at the expense of other, smaller projects.

Sound to you like fertile ground for lobbyists? Rhode Island lobbing disclosure reports apparently bear that out. The AP reports that:

"At least $400,000 has been spent so far this year by corporations with a stake as lawmakers hash out agreements worth big money to power developers, energy suppliers and labor unions hurting for jobs."

In New Jersey, Deepwater Wind has joined with PSEG in a joint venture--Garden State Offshore Energy--that was selected by the state Board of Public Utilities to build 96 wind turbines 16 to 20 miles off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic counties.

The project awaits the conclusion of environmental studies and also requires federal approval.

Related Posts:
BPU picks offshore wind farm builder
Required studies may delay offshore wind farms' debut ...
NJ offshore wind energy's new gust of intrigue
Wind turbines could more than meet U.S. electricity needs
US Interior Dept to release offshore energy data
Offshore Wind: Plenty of Potential, Even More Hurdles

Our most recent posts:
NJ offers funding for energy-efficient projects
Are you sure the NJ Sierra Club said that?
Some dig the new Hudson tunnel; Some don't
Last week's top environmental & business news
Down-payment help for energy-efficient homes

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NJ offers funding for energy-efficient projects

"Businesses that invest in energy-efficient projects; combined heat and power, or cogeneration, production facilities; select renewable energy sources; or efficient electric-generation facilities will now have access to interest-free loans and grants of up to $5 million, according to a new program the
state’s Economic Development Authority launched today."

That welcome news for New Jersey business owners was reported by Shankar P. in yesterday's NJBIZ.

Commercial, industrial and institutional customers would get 10-year loan terms under the Clean Energy Solutions Capital Investment (CESCI) Loan/Grant program to fund the purchase of fixed assets, including real estate or equipment, according to EDA.

Details on the new program are still sketchy but, in a news release, the EDA recommends that businesses visit the authority's web site (www.njeda.com) in the coming weeks for:

"more information on upcoming products, including a new performance-based grant program to assist combined heat and power facilities to complement the CESCI program, which will be offered in partnership with the Board of Public Utilities."

Our most recent posts:
Are you sure the NJ Sierra Club said that?
Some dig the new Hudson tunnel; Some don't
Last week's top environmental & business news
Down-payment help for energy-efficient homes
Jersey guy takes delivery of 500th Tesla Roadster

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Are you sure the NJ Sierra Club said that?

In an Op-Ed in today's New Jersey Newsroom, the Sierra Club's state director calls for: "a simple and straightforward permitting process for offshore wind farms."

Is that really Jeff Tittel urging state government to apply the words "simple" and "straightforward" to the concept of permitting?

Yep. We just re-read it and that's what he's saying.

Moreover, he argues that simpler permits for wind energy farms are advisable because they'll encourage JOBS.

No kidding, read this:

"Construction, installation, operation and maintenance require a skilled labor force that can be hired and trained locally. Many of the components of wind turbines can also be fabricated locally, taking advantage of NJ strong maritime and industrial base.

Very laudable. We couldn't agree more. But just when, pray tell, did the Sierra Club begin caring about manufacturing and jobs and building the state's construction economy?

I guess we shouldn't quibble.

Although this startling transformation comes at the end of decades when enviro groups seemed united in the holy cause of chasing business, investment and development out of the state...well, as they say, better late than never.

We applaud the Sierra Club for its new-found vision. Won't it be exciting to watch them champion the same approach for onshore developments?

You will, won't you Jeff? Jeff? Hello....are you there?

Add your own views in the comment block below or by clicking on the tiny 'comments' line.

Our most recent posts:
Some dig the new Hudson tunnel; Some don't
Last week's top environmental & business news
Down-payment help for energy-efficient homes
Jersey guy takes delivery of 500th Tesla Roadster
Ex-NJ Gov. gets up early to make case for nukes

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Some dig the new Hudson tunnel; Some don't

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and a host of other state and regional politicians were expected to be on hand today to mark the ceremonial start of construction on a third tunnel under the Hudson River.

The $8.7 billion project, scheduled for completion in 2017, should not only relieve crowding on work-day commuter trains between northern Jersey and Manhattan, but also to permit an exponential expansion in direct rail routes and doubling of commuter rail capacity.

The project has lots of political and, of course, construction-union support, and it captured an editorial 'dig on' from The Star-Ledger.

Environmentalists, too, must applaud this classic "mass transit" approach to getting commuters out of their polluting cars. Right?

Well, not exactly...

The New Jersey Sierra Club says the concept is great but the execution is horrible.

In a news release coinciding with today's ceremony, the Sierrans's plaint is:

"Instead of developing regional transportation network, all we got was a tunnel to Macy's Basement."

The release continues:

"The tunnel in its current alignment misses the four major objectives the ARC tunnel was set out to do in the first place. The purpose of the tunnel was to give New Jersey commuters access to the Grand Central Station and the East Side of Manhattan, create a backup tunnel for Amtrak that would service Penn Station or the new Moynihan Station, and enable trains to travel from one area of the metropolitan region to another. This would allow New Jersey passengers to have easy access to the Long Island Railroad, for example. "

NJ Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel contends:

"The tunnel doesn't meet any of the major goals other than the fact that we'll have another tunnel," Tittel said. "Instead of connecting to Penn Station or the new Moynihan Station, the tunnel dead ends 180 feet below the ground, two blocks from Penn Station. It cannot even be expanded to the east because it dead ends at a water tunnel."

Is there another side to the story? We invite you to tell us about it...or to add to the Sierra Club's critique.

In either case, use the comment box below, if available, or click on the tiny 'comments' line to open one up.

The tunnel project is just one of many important environmental and political stories in today's EnviroPolitics. Interested in seeing them all ? Just click on the link below and...

Get your copy of today's and 30-more issues absolutely FREE


Added at 9:24 p.m. on June 8, 2009
N.J. breaks ground on Hudson River tunnel project

Week's top environmental news in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and beyond: June 1-5, 2009

Below are just a few of the environmental and political news stories for New Jersey, Pennsylvania and beyond that appeared in EnviroPolitics during the week of June 1-5, 2009.

New Jersey Environment

NJ among five states uniting to protect coast The governors of New Jersey and four other states promise to work together to protect the Atlantic coast and develop offshore wind farms for renewable energy. Their agreement established the Governors Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on Oceans with member states NY, NJ, DE, MD, and VA Bergen Record

PETA seeks NJ lighthouse to protest fishing An animal-rights group wants to use a NJ lighthouse and two others in Michigan to publicize what it says are the horrors of killing fish for food and sport AP

N.J. bluefish advisory is upgraded New Jersey's health advisory for eating large bluefish has been upgraded, with state environmental and health experts now saying it's safe for most adults to consume meals from large bluefish six times a year, up from four times annually under a previous advisory AP Press

Tracking EnCap’s cash Federal investigators sifting through the history of the failed EnCap Golf project are asking questions about money the venture took in from haulers who dumped mountains of construction debris and other material at the Meadowlands site. Two sources familiar with the ongoing probe said FBI agents had lengthy interviews in recent weeks with current and former state officials who oversaw aspects of the$1 billion landfill-to-links project once slated for Rutherford and Lyndhurst Bergen Record

Environmentalists rip DEP proposal as a 'gag order' The state Department of Environmental Protection proposed restrictions yesterday on the public release of its scientific studies and reports, which environmental groups lambasted as a sweeping "gag order" spurred by a controversy over chromium pollution in Hudson County Star-Ledger

Nuclear plant opponents file appeal Five groups want to overturn a federal decision to give the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey a 20-year license renewal AP Press AC Press

New Jersey Politics
Christie wins New Jersey GOP primary Former U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie decisively turned back a spirited challenge from staunch conservative Steve Lonegan in yesterday's Republican gubernatorial fight, setting up a general-election battle with Democratic Gov. Corzine Inquirer Christie clobbers Lonegan
Focus turns to his true opponent--Corzine

Corzine, Christie come out swinging NJ is set for a highly competitive governor's race that pits a former Marine who learned how to wield a shovel as a farm boy against a swashbuckling ex-prosecutor with a Jersey-size chip on his shoulder Inquirer

Furlough deal with unions avoids Biden picket lines Under threats that picketing state workers would disrupt the official kickoff of Gov. Corzine's election campaign--and an appearance by Vice President Joe Biden--negotiators reached a last-minute, tentative settlement with one of New Jersey's largest labor unions, high-ranking Democratic officials said Star-Ledger

Rocker Bon Jovi plays a set at fund-raiser for Corzine AP

State Supreme Court boots municipal judge A former Somerset County municipal court judge who caused a ruckus at a Bound Brook go-go bar and presided while under the influence of alcohol and painkillers is permanently barred from the bench, the N.J. Supreme Court ruled today Star-Ledger

Pennsylvania Environment

DEP approves assessment for proposed construction-debris landfill Having received adequate responses to a host of questions, the state DEP approves the environmental assessment for a proposed expansion of a construction-waste landfill in Lackawanna County Times Leader

Landfill station in Shenandoah won’t shut yet The closing of the North Schuylkill Landfill Association transfer station south of the borough is on hold, but for how long is uncertain Republican Herald

DEP sues over nuclear cleanup Beginning nearly 50 years ago at a site near Karthaus, where Clearfield, Clinton and Centre counties come together, two companies leaked nuclear radiation into the largest wild area in the eastern U.S., the Quehanna Wild Area Centre Daily Times

Land to be tested for CO2 storage Trucks that thump the ground and listen to the vibrations will help find places to store carbon dioxide underground where it won’t add to global warming Standard Speaker

State Sen. Mary Jo White debunks threat of park closures A western Pennsylvania senator said Monday the threat of state park closures is "ridiculous" and blamed it on the reluctance of fellow Republicans to talk about any tax increase Pocono Record

Opinion: Rendell’s plan to tax natural gas a job killer The sudden growth in the number of exploratory wells in the northern and western regions of the state has not gone unnoticed by Gov. Ed Rendell and House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese. But instead of seeing this as an opportunity to bring jobs and resources into Pennsylvania, they see a source of tax revenue to fill a massive state budget deficit caused by years of wasteful overspending Delco Times

Pennsylvania Politics

Specter seeks to reassure his new party Joe Sestak, a second-term congressman, has all but announced he will challenge Specter. He argues that it is not right for the party establishment to try to anoint the Senate nominee Inquirer

Rendell heads to White House for talks on high-speed rail Gov. Rendell is one of eight governors invited to the White House today to discuss high-speed rail with Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Inquirer

Bonusgate defendant implicates DeWeese in court filing A key defendant in the Bonusgate investigation is now alleging that House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese engaged in the same conduct that led to sweeping corruption charges against a dozen House Democratic insiders Inquirer

Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates urge cuts before any taxes A $3.2 billion budget deficit could be easily shrunk by $1 billion, some say Morning Call

Projected state budget gap grows to $3.2 billion Inquirer
> John Baer: Budget will be late, painful Phila. Daily News

New York/Nation/World


The poop on finding penguins Scientists looking for lost penguins stumbled upon an effective method: Follow their poop from space NPR audio report

Vilern Bischof/Getty Images

Green workers feel safe amid economic slump More than two-thirds of workers with “green jobs” said attention on climate issues among governments and businesses had increased their sense of job security, according to the first Carbon Salary Survey by Reuters New York Times' 'Green Inc' blog

Environmentalists unhappy with bottle deposit delay Environmental advocates and redemption center owners are boiling over a court order to delay implementation of New York’s Bigger Better Bottle Bill for another year Syracuse Post Standard

Judge limits power plant Partial shutdown of coal-fired Indiana site viewed as victory for NY attorney general Times Union

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Down-payment help for energy-efficient homes

The New Jersey Senate budget and Appropriations Committee on Monday
will consider legislation which would tighten the state's building code to encourage the construction of more
energy-efficient homes.

Uh oh, you say. Another case of government driving up an industry's costs in order to effect some desirable social goal.

Well, yes, but the bill doesn't end there. It also seeks to offset the increased costs of such homes by offering assistance with down payments to new buyers.

The bill, S-702, sponsored by Senator Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), authorizes the State Commissioner of Community Affairs to amend the Uniform Construction Code's energy subcode to establish enhanced energy-saving construction requirements. The costs of those added requirements would have to be recoverable, through energy conservation savings, over a period of not more than seven years.

In addition, it directs the state Board of Public Utilities to assist certain homebuyers by providing down payment funding assistance for the purchase of new homes which have increased costs due to the enhanced energy conservation building requirements.

An interesting approach, don't you think?

Share your thoughts in the response block below or by clicking on the tiny 'comments' line.

Jersey guy takes delivery of 500th Tesla Roadster

A New Jersey philanthropist has become the 5ooth customer to take delivery of the much-lusted-after Tesla Roadster, the electric, zero-emission, high-performance car.

In a press release, the fledgling auto manufacturer identifies the new owner as:

"Martin Tuchman, former chairman and CEO of Interpool, is chairman of The Tuchman Foundation and a board member of The Parkinson's Alliance and Parkinson's Disease Foundation of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

Mr. Tuchman "plans to charge his Roadster partly with solar energy thanks to photovoltaic panels he helped install throughout his hometown of Kingston, NJ," Tesla says.

Moreover, we're informed that Tucuman converted his 1937 Chris-Craft into an electric boat so he could take it on nearby Lake Carnegie which prohibits gas-powered boats. And he plans to use his Roadster "as his primary commuter car."

Mr. Tuchman's apparently got genuine enviro-creds. Not just a rich guy adding another shiny object to his big-boy toy collection.

Good for you, sir. We wish you many miles of adrenaline-pumping,
0-to-60-in-3.9-second accelerations from a dead stop.

Not to mention all that glorious cruising at the electric-equivalent of 120 miles per gallon. Very eco-friendly, indeed.

We're green, too. With envy.

Related:
Driven: 2009 Tesla Roadster
GM: Volt will survive our bankruptcy

Our most recent posts:
Ex-NJ Gov. gets up early to make case for nukes
NJ Future's Smart Growth Award Winners
Highlands Council seeking planning consultants
Environmental Business News for NJ, PA & NY

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Ex-NJ Gov. gets up early to make case for nukes

Why did the nation's nuclear energy industry pick former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman to be the spokesperson in their campaign to win Congressional support for "loan guarantees" for new plant construction?

Watch (below) her performance Friday on the Morning Joe show.
Even if you don't agree with what she's selling, you have to admire how she does it. This is a pro at work.

Thanks to Jason Springer at Blue Jersey for calling it to our attention.

NJ Future's Smart Growth Award Winners

New Jersey Future will present its 2009 Smart Growth Awards at a dinner tomorrow night (June 3)
from 5:30 to 8 at the Newark Club in Newark, NJ.

The organization says the awards "honor town officials, developers, contractors, architects and corporate leaders who have the courage to resist status quo growth patterns and instead adopt smart growth values and design principles."

This year's winners are:

Sustainable Design and Implementation:
14 Maple Avenue, Morristown
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Robert S. Goldsmith/Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis, Morristown Parking Authority

Town Center Redevelopment Plan:
Bloomfield Center Redevelopment Plan, Bloomfield
Township of Bloomfield, Newwork, Value Research Group

Comprehensive Revitalization Strategy:
Broad Street Station and Living Downtown Redevelopment Plans, Newark
City of Newark, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

Creative Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Preservation:
Fairview Village, Camden
Camden Redevelopment Agency, New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency,
RPM Development

Main Street Redevelopment:
The Avenue Development and the Marketplace at Eden, South Orange
Eden Gourmet, Township of South Orange Village, Sterling Properties

Participatory Neighborhood Plan:
North Camden Neighborhood Plan, Camden
Camden Lutheran Housing Inc., Cooper’s Ferry Development Association, Save Our Waterfront

Community-University Partnership:
Rowan Boulevard, Glassboro
Borough of Glassboro, Rowan University, SORA Holdings
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