CARDINAL BLOG
The Bridgewater Township, NJ Eco-Blast Fair returns this year and will be held on Saturday May 7th from 11am to 3pm. Numerous vendors, refreshments, raffles, and kids activities will take place. This is a great way to support local vendors, and more importantly, have an opportunity to see what sustainability means and how you're community supports these initiatives!!
You knew that it looked “off” in the past, but you assumed that things were okay because you trusted your water service provider, and they certainly wouldn’t allow you to be harmed.
What if you have a private well…and noticed that your water started to look or smell different recently? Do you just “hope” that it clears up and goes back to normal? Would you still let your children drink it?
What if you live in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania where there are well-documented (but less public) accounts of water-related illnesses in people, pets, and livestock BUT regulation of oil & gas exploration has seemingly made protection of public health secondary?
Living on the east coast for most of my life, and as an environmental practitioner for 20 years, I’ve come across a broad range of sites, situations, people, and have seen surface & groundwater look as clear as a mountain stream, rusty as iced tea, and as yellow as Mountain Dew; but it usually takes “current” (and very public) drinking water issues (e.g. Flint, MI; Newark, NJ) to bring these concerns to the forefront, unfortunately.
Because this topic can cover a lot of ground, the logical starting point is to consider whether the current local, state, and federal regulatory programs are adequate, and if the protection of our water supplies AND ultimately, human health and the environment are at the top of the list. They certainly should be, but avoid becoming consumed by the vastness of the matter (global scale). Start by reaching out to your local public officials to educate yourself on current and future measures, programs, and initiatives in your town, county, and state because in our complex society, there will be crusaders on both sides of this battle but access to clean drinking water shouldn't be compromised.
As contentious as this topic can be, stay tuned for future updates and musings, as well as others, from Cardinal Environmental. We hope that you find these posts informative, and relatively useful, and your feedback is always welcome. For further information please don't hesitate to contact us at tfrancis@cardinallsrp.com, or www.cardinallsrp.com.
Last month the New Jersey Senate introduced Senate Bill No. 771 which requires large food waste generators to separate and recycle food waste and amends definition of “Class I Renewable Energy.” The Bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 2016 session and sponsored by Senator Bob Smith (District 17-Middlesex & Somerset); and Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman (District 16-Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset).
The key details include (but are not limited to):
Key Definitions:
Large food waste generator: Any commercial food wholesaler, distributor, industrial food processor, supermarket, resort, conference center, banquet hall, restaurant, educational or religious institution, military installation, prison, hospital, medical facility, or casino that produces at least 52 tons per year of food waste.
Food waste: Food processing vegetative waste, food processing residue generated from processing and packaging operations, overripe produce, trimmings from food, food product over-runs, soiled and unrecyclable paper, and used cooking fats, oil, and grease.
Stay tuned for future legislative updates. We hope that you find these posts informative, and relatively useful, and your feedback is always welcome. For further information please don't hesitate to contact us at tfrancis@cardinallsrp.com, or www.cardinallsrp.com.
Governor Christie is tapping into the Clean Energy Fund to balance the New Jersey Budget, with NJ Transit being the big winner by receiving $62 million of the $112 million in the Fund. Apparently this is nothing new, but here are a couple of quick notes about the fund…as a refresher:
When looking at the trends for New Jersey from 2004-2014, our reliance on Coal has dropped significantly from 19% to 4%, but what about our renewable energy? It’s held steady at 2% over ten years? A number of factors have played into this quagmire (e.g. politically), but really folks, we can do better than that.
Here are some industry updates / opinions from Renewable Energy World.
Stay tuned for future updates on this topic. We hope that you find these posts informative, and relatively useful, and your feedback is always welcome. For further information please don't hesitate to contact us at tfrancis@cardinallsrp.com or www.cardinalLSRP.com.
Positive solar news out of NYC: "As of Jan. 1, most new residential sun-power projects will be eligible for professional certification, rather than requiring approval from DOB plan examiners." The goal is to streamline the process by allowing P.E's and Architects to certify that plans are in compliance.
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