Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.

Dismiss

GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS 040615

3 views

Skip to first unread message

GSENet

unread,

Jun 15, 2004, 12:24:20 AM6/15/04

040615

GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{*} ALEC'S REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY MODEL INTRODUCED
{*} TAKE ACTION TO STOP BAD ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITTING BILL
{*} BILL WOULD FAST-TRACK BUILDER PERMITS
{*} DEP: INITIAL APPROVAL TO JERSEY CITY SOLID WASTE STATION
{*} CLASH IN RINGWOOD OVER FORD SLUDGE CLEANUP
{*} DEPTFORD TWP. BOARD NIXES WALMART PLAN
{*} SMART GROWTH, DOT-STYLE
{*} EAST BRUNSWICK COURTS HOUSING FOR SENIORS
{*} IN IDYLLIC SPOT CALLED RADBURN, ROUGH PATCH DEVELOPS
{*} ROLE OF POWER PLANTS IN AIR POLLUTION
{*} POLLUTION ALTERING RAIN PATTERNS
{*} STUDY FINDS DEER HURT WISCONSIN DIVERSITY
{*} WEEDS GOT YER GOAT - TRY, UH, A GOAT
{*} NJ GOVERNOR CALLS ON US TO FUND FISH STUDIES
{*} RUTGERS GROUP MONITORS FISH, TRACKS WASTE
{*} HEALTH ADVISORIES FOR FISH AND CRABS FROM NJ WATERS
{*} THE PASSAIC RIVER PATROL - JUN 15

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

ALEC'S REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY MODEL INTRODUCED

Date: 040614
From: http://www.serconline.org/

ALEC'S REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY MODEL INTRODUCED IN SEVERAL STATES

Watchdog Alert, 6/14/04

The corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
recently adopted and began promoting to state legislators its model
"Regulatory Flexibility Act."

The act, which was drafted by the Bush Administration's Office of
Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, would require all
state agencies to develop economic impact statements and regulatory
flexibility analyses for "any proposed regulation that may have an
adverse impact on small businesses."

The regulatory flexibility analyses present alternative approaches to
minimize the regulation's impact on small businesses, including
exemption from part or all of its requirements, weaker and more
simplified reporting, extended deadlines for compliance, and standards
based on performance instead of actual design or operations.

This model bill is flawed in many ways.

First, its definition of "small business" is questionable - any
"business entity, including its affiliates, that is independently
owned and operated and employs fewer than 500 full-time employees or
has gross annual sales of less than six million dollars." This
definition is so broad that it could cover over 90 percent of U.S.
businesses.

The act also places an unreasonable burden on state agencies.

Opponents are concerned that the act would institutionalize
regulatory loopholes for small businesses, significantly slow the
adoption of new environmental safeguards and weaken existing ones, and
make regulation of large businesses more difficult. Moreover, this
state-by-state approach may very well exacerbate the tendency of some
businesses to play states off against each other in a "race to the
bottom" with regard to environmental, labor, and other regulations
maintaining citizens' quality of life. This likelihood is increased by
the lack of a definition for what constitutes a significant economic
impact on small businesses.

Rather than protect real small businesses, this is an effort to
undermine the rules and regulations that protect the public and the
environment.

Versions of this legislation were introduced in ten states in 2003
and at least eight states in 2004, including CA, NE, KS, MO, TN, PA,
SC, and OK.

For more information, see the ALEC Watch on ALEC's Regulatory
Flexibility Act, http://www.serconline.org/alec/alec20.html .

* * *

State Environmental Resource Center
106 East Doty Street, Suite 200
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-252-9800
Fax: 608-252-9828
Email: in...@serconline.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

TAKE ACTION TO STOP BAD ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITTING BILL

Date: 14 Jun 2004
From: Jenny Vickers {jvic...@cleanwater.org}

ONE STEP FORWARD, 30 YEARS BACKWARDS

Dear NJ Environmental Federation Member & Activist,

While New Jersey took one giant leap forward with passage of NJ
Highlands legislation* last Thursday, a bill that would fast track
environmental permitting now threatens to take us two steps backwards.

S-1368, sponsored by Senator Stephen Sweeney and Richard Codey, and
A-3008, sponsored by Albio Sires and John McKeon, is being fast
tracked through the NJ legislature as we speak. The bill is being
heard today, Monday, June 14, in the Senate Environment and Assembly
Housing Committees and could be up for a full floor vote as early as
Thursday.

This devastating bill would make major changes to the state's
environmental permitting procedures. It would force towns in
designated "growth" areas (basically, everywhere in the state) to
accept development without appropriate review. All NJ Department of
Environmental Protection (NJDEP) permits would be automatically
approved after 45 days from when the permit application was deemed
complete.

Whether you live in rural, north, south New Jersey or in the
developed Northeast corridor, this bill would reduce your quality of
life and would further exacerbate and pollute the state's already
overburdened water supplies.

TAKE ACTION!

CALL, WRITE AND/OR EMAIL GOVERNOR MCGREEVEY AND YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATORS
RIGHT NOW, URGING THEM TO OPPOSE SENATE BILL NO. 1368 AND ASSEMBLY
BILL NO. 3008 BECAUSE IT WILL:

a. Take away residents' right to comment on pollution in communities
by eliminating public participation and adequate notice.

b. Further pollute your water supplies by making it easier to develop
in environmentally sensitive places.

c. Pack people and toxins into already overdeveloped areas.

d. Allow environmental permits to move too fast by "fast tracking"
applications for development and approve them in 45 days if no
action is taken. ONLY 45 DAYS!!

e. Undermine the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, Department
of Community Affairs and Department of Transportation's ability to
control development and urban open space in "smart growth" areas.

Due to the urgency and timing of this horrible bill, these
calls/letters/emails should be made right now! If you'd like to take
further action or find out more information, please contact Jenny
Vickers at jvic...@cleanwater.org or 732-280-8988.

- - -

WRITE TO:

GOVERNOR JAMES MCGREEVEY
PO Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625

YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATORS
To find your legislator, please visit
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp 609-292-6000
or contact Jenny Vickers at 732-280-8988 or
Jim.Mc...@gov.state.nj.us jvic...@cleanwater.org

TIPS ON EFFECTIVE LETTER-WRITING:

Your letter is critical to our success. Each handwritten,
personalized letter equates to 300-500 voters conveying your message.
Elected officials assume there are many people who feel the same as
you, who didn't take the time to write. Keep it short and simple and
stay on message. Please let us know you've written this letter by
simply replying to this email or emailing jvic...@cleanwater.org.

- - -

*THE NJ HIGHLANDS WATER PRESERVATION AND PLANNING ACT (S-1/A-2635)

On Thursday, June 10th, New Jersey celebrated one of the most
important environmental victories in decades-the NJ Highlands Act
passed the NJ Legislature by a landslide vote (Senate: 34-2, Assembly:
69-10).

It was an historic moment-NJ environmentalists, activists,
legislators and residents loudly applauding the passage of a bill that
would protect over 1/2 of New Jersey's drinking water supplies,
hundreds of acres of pristine forest, and over 150 threatened and
endangered species from overdevelopment and sprawl.

The NJ Environmental Federation, along with many other residents and
environmental groups, organized a massive lobby day on the day of the
vote, urging legislators to vote "YES". Our organizing efforts rang
loud and clear as the Senate and Assembly votes lit up on the
scoreboard.

NJEF would like to thank all of our members and activists who helped
make this happen. Whether you made a phone call to your legislator,
wrote a letter, sent an email or showed up at a hearing or lobby day
in Trenton, your action helped us win one of the most important
victories for clean water!

* * *

New Jersey Environmental Federation (NJEF) is a non-profit 501 (c)(4)
organization fighting to protect natural resources and drinking water,
reduce the use of pesticides, and clean up pollution. NJEF is the
state chapter of Clean Water Action and has 100 member groups and
70,000 individual members. NJEF empowers people to make democracy
work. NJEF employs a professional staff of organizers, door to door
and phone canvassers to activate our members and allies. For more
information, please visit http://www.cleanwateraction.org/njef or call
732-280-8988.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

BILL WOULD FAST-TRACK BUILDER PERMITS

Date: 040614
From: http://www.nj.com/

By Tracey L. Regan, Times Staff Writer, June 14, 2004

Trenton - Committees in both houses of the state legislature are
expected to consider a bill today that would speed up the regulatory
review of environmental permits for development in areas of the state
that are zoned for growth.

The bill, which is sponsored by Democratic leaders in both houses,
emerged in negotiations over the measure which restricts development
in the New Jersey Highlands. That won approval from both legislative
houses last week.

A draft of the permit legislation was released late Friday by the
Senate Democratic office.

It would create the Office of "Smart Growth Ombudsman" - a
gubernatorial appointee to review state regulations and advise the
administration on where and how to accelerate some permit reviews. It
also would set up so-called smart growth directors in the
environmental protection, transportation and community affairs
agencies.

The bill would require the state in many instances to act on a
developer's application for a permit within 45 days once the
application is deemed complete.

People filing applications for permits would be able to request the
participation of the ombudsman in a permit review.

The bill defines smart growth zones as regions in the State Plan for
Development and Redevelopment designated as urban and suburban, among
other areas. The measure would not affect permit reviews in regions of
the state with their own planning controls, such as the Pinelands, the
Highlands or the Meadowlands.

Skeptics have called the permit bills a device for inducing
developer-friendly Democrats to support the Highlands bill.
Environmental advocates have urged caution to speeding up permit
reviews.

"It sounds like an attempt to fast-track every permit there is," said
Thomas Borden of the Environmental Law Clinic at Rutgers University,
although he said he had not read the bill.

The New Jersey Builders Association had no comment on the bill
yesterday.

"We haven't seen it yet," said Susan Sands, a spokeswoman for the
association. "We will need to review it."

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DEP: INITIAL APPROVAL TO JERSEY CITY SOLID WASTE STATION

Date: 040614
From: http://www.nj.com/

STATE DEP GIVES INITIAL APPROVAL TO LEWIS AVE. SOLID WASTE STATION

By Wendy Mbekelu, jersey Journal staff writer, June 14, 2004

Despite opposition by neighborhood groups and local politicians, a
proposed trash transfer station off St. Paul's Avenue in Jersey City
has won tentative approval from the state's Department of
Enviornmental Protection.

Area residents and some public officials have blasted the Pesce Bros.
Sanitation's proposal for a solid waste transfer site for 47 Lewis
Ave., saying it would bring down property values and pose health risks
to children. But the DEP has awarded the site tentative approval,
saying the proposal meets regulatory requirements regarding traffic,
noise, air and other conditions after conducting an environmental
impact study.

The solid waste transfer facility would process 99 tons of solid
waste a day, run 38 truck trips per day, and accept solid waste Monday
to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and process the waste Monday
through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Lewis Avenue property sits within a special overlay district
controlled by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and is zoned for
heavy industrial use.

But before construction can begin, Pesce Bros. must obtain three
zoning variances from the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. One would
reduce the size of the facility's front yard setback, another would
permit the building's loading doors to face Lewis Avenue, and the
third would do away with sections of the fence required to screen the
facility from the surrounding neighborhood.

At a public hearing on Thursday night, critics blasted the Pesce
Bros. proposal, saying it would bring increases in traffic, crime and
pollution to the neighborhood. They also fear that the transfer
station could handle construction/demolition waste that could contain
hazardous materials, including asbestos and chromium.

"The city has no way of regulating the garbage, and the state may not
enforce it all the time," City Councilwoman Mary Donnelly said.
"Hopefully the commission will say that health and safety has to come
first. Hopefully government starts listening to residents in the
city."

George Graham, whose family owns property on the street, said at the
meeting that the DEP report was incomplete and had failed to "take
into consideration the people on the street."

Graham said the report did not include an emergency evacuation plan
for Lewis Avenue and disputed the accuracy of a traffic study included
in it, among numerous other complaints.

Remaining stone-faced throughout the hearing, the Pesces sat with
their lawyer and engineer at a table to the left of the commissioners.

"Many of the people against this are from far away, and there is a
lot of misinformation. We want this matter to be judged on the facts
and we are confident that the NJMC and the DEP will do that," said
Pesce attorney Harry L. Starrett.

"We plan to be a good neighbor. We will comply with the regulations,"
he said.

Most of those present were not clear as to exactly what type of waste
would be processed at the facility, and they were concerned that
contaminated materials, such as asbestos or chromium, might be mixed
up with the waste and cause health problems for those who live in the
neighborhood.

But Tom Byrne, supervisor of the DEP's Transfer Station Section,
twice told the residents that Pesce Bros. would not be allowed to
process trash containing contaminated material.

Barely able to give his comments because of boos from the audience,
Alex Gichan of Secaucus, a proponent of the waste transfer station,
said the rising cost of doing business in Jersey City was driving
business away.

"Unless this panel does something to make business in the area
competitive, you are going to lose your industrial base," Gichan said.

Councilman-at-large Jeremiah Healy said that the state seems fixated
on dumping waste on Jersey City.

Councilman Steve Lipski, whose ward includes Lewis Avenue, said other
places in Jersey City exist where this kind of facility could be
located, and asked Pesce Bros. if they had exhausted all their
options.

Former Mayor Gerald McCann, who is currently a manager with the
Jersey City Incinerator Authority, spoke on behalf of Assemblyman
Louis Manzo and Freeholder Bill O'Dea, who were not able to attend the
Thursday night meeting.

"We're just asking you to find another location. As long as it's not
a residential neighborhood, there will be a lot more co-operation from
the city," he said.

Starrett said he was confident they would obtain the permit to build
and operate in the city. The public comment period on the draft permit
expires on June 25. Until then, written comments can be submitted to
the DEP's Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste in Trenton.

The NJMC has eight weeks to come back with a decision, Starrett said,
but the DEP has up to four months to decide.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

CLASH IN RINGWOOD OVER FORD SLUDGE CLEANUP

Date: 14 Jun 2004
From: "Peter Montague" {Pe...@rachel.org}

AFTER YEARS OF SLUDGE, A CLASH ON THE CLEANUP

By Anthony DePalma, New York Times, June 13, 2004

Ringwood - When the Ford Motor Company closed its plant in Mahwah in
1980, the last car made there - a two-tone beige Futura - rolled off
the assembly line and came to rest beneath a sign that exhorted
workers to "Do it Right the First Time."

More than two decades later, people who live on land where Ford
dumped thousands of cubic yards of chemical wastes from the plant are
angry that the company did not live by its own rule.

They say Ford did not get it right the first time, when it responded
to federal orders to clean up the lead-based paint sludge and other
wastes left over from the manufacture of 4.6 million cars. Or the
second time. Or the third.

Today, it takes no more than a stroll through the woods to see that
parts of Ringwood, about 10 miles from Mahwah, are still heavily
polluted. Chunks and slabs of hardened paint can be found where
residents hunt, in the ponds and streams where they play and even in
Bob De Groat's front yard and the properties of other residents.

"They just didn't do what they were supposed to do," said Patricia
Mann, a Ringwood resident who belongs to the close-knit group
recognized by New Jersey as the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe. "They
didn't do their job, and everybody knows it."

The prolonged Ringwood cleanup is the classic example of how getting
it right the first time is not always possible in environmental
matters, especially when regulators are overextended and corporate
polluters are in a hurry to close the books on an embarrassing
episode.

There is no question that the site remains heavily polluted. Both
Ford and the federal Environmental Protection Agency acknowledge that
substantial amounts of toxic paint sludge and other hazardous
materials remain, even though officials had given the site a clean
bill of health in 1994 when they took it off the Superfund list.

Ford has promised to return, yet again, to take care of whatever
wastes remain.

"Ford is aware of and is working closely with E.P.A. to address
residents' concerns," the company said in a statement.

Yet, two years ago, Ford filed a formal request to be relieved of
responsibility for monitoring of the site, appearing to indicate that
the cleanup was complete. The federal agency denied the request.

Joseph A. Gowers, Ringwood project manager for the environmental
agency, could not explain how a site that had been cleaned up and
removed from the Superfund list could still be so contaminated.

"None of the waste should be there," he said. But he noted that the
cleanup was complicated because Ford kept no records of what it dumped
in Ringwood, and the site itself, more than 500 acres, is larger than
most.

"It's almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack," Mr. Gowers
said.

Prompted by the most recent sludge discoveries, the agency is again
studying the site, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry plans an updated health assessment of the area, but only by
looking at death and disease statistics, not going door to door.

People who live in this rugged wooded area near the New York State
line say they do not believe this effort will be any better than the
other cleanups, which they described as halfhearted at best. Had Ford
really meant to clean up, they say, it would have asked them exactly
where the hazardous material was buried, since they lived close enough
to hear the dump trucks and see the debris spilling out of them.

Had the E.P.A. truly watched out for the health of the residents as
it was supposed to, they say, it would never have allowed itself to be
manipulated and deceived by a large corporation with no real
commitment to cleaning up after itself.

And there is another, darker suspicion: residents say that their
concerns have been repeatedly ignored or minimized because they are a
poorly understood minority group with no political or economic power.

Some historians believe that many of the families who live here are
descendants of slaves freed by Dutch owners before the American
Revolution. Members of the enclave say their ancestors were Native
Americans who mixed with African-Americans working in mines that dated
back to the Revolutionary period.

"If this was a different group of people, it wouldn't have happened,
or it would have been cleaned up 30 years ago and not be allowed to
continue until now," said Wayne Mann, 44, president of the Ringwood
Neighborhood Action Association.

Mr. Mann said that in the two decades since Ford's pollution was
officially recognized, no government health agency has offered
physical exams or studied the high rates of illness in the community.
Had they looked, he contends, they would have noticed that many
residents have learning disabilities - something he attributes,
possibly, to exposure to lead. Many residents also have come down with
cancer and other illnesses, he said, which they fear were caused by
their contact with Ford's toxic residue.

Serious skin problems and rashes are common around here, but few
people have been as afflicted as Mickey Van Dunk, 33, who spends most
of his days either in bed or smoking cigarettes on his front porch,
shying away from other people because his skin looks as if it is being
eaten away.

Mr. Van Dunk has been through many painful operations to remove
infected patches of skin all over his body. He believes his condition
was caused by exposure to the paint sludge, which looks like hardened
gray dough and was so commonly seen when he was a boy, he said, that
he and his friends molded it into balls and threw it at one another as
they played in the woods.

Mr. Van Dunk's illness has been diagnosed as hidradenitis
suppurativa. It is not known to be caused by exposure to chemicals,
and people with tightly curled hair, like Mr. Van Dunk and many of his
relatives, are known to have a genetic predisposition to it, according
to studies on the condition. Many people in the community, including
his mother, his cousin, Jared, and Mr. Mann have the same condition,
though not as severely. But they say they believe that Ford's
chemicals are the cause.

Mr. Gowers, of the E.P.A., said the presence of the paint sludge in
the Ringwood community by itself does not necessarily present a health
risk because most of it has been found in the woods, not next to
homes, and has been exposed as the ground erodes. Repeated testing has
not shown any groundwater contamination in the area or in the Wanaque
Reservoir, about a mile away.

Government officials say Ford has cooperated fully in the cleanup
efforts from the beginning. The company acknowledges that it dumped
paint sludge and car parts on an area of several hundred acres and in
two old mine shafts in Ringwood that it bought in 1965. Ford had
planned to build a housing and light industrial development there, but
when that project fell through the company started dumping wastes
there instead.

"I remember dump trucks and roll-offs come up here all the time to
dump copper, batteries and paint sludge," Mr. Mann said. "They'd open
the big back doors and the sludge would just slide out. It looked like
clay, but it had a sheen, like a rainbow."

Ford officials say they did not keep records of what was dumped or
where.

In 1987, contractors hired by the company removed 7,000 cubic yards
of paint sludge that was highly contaminated with lead and other
hazards. In 1990, 17 steel drums filled with chemicals and a number of
crushed barrels were also removed.

In 1994, the E.P.A. took the Ringwood site off the Superfund list,
but ordered Ford to monitor the site for at least five more years.

After the initial monitoring period ended, only small amounts of
contaminants were detected, but the government ordered Ford to
continue monitoring for another five years. Traces of lead and arsenic
were found in some wells. Though it was thought to have occurred
naturally, the government ordered the company to continue testing.
When Ford asked for permission to end the monitoring in 2002, the
government again denied the company's request. In recent months, as
Mr. Mann and other residents found more paint sludge, they brought in
a Philadelphia law firm to represent the community.

"The fact that the E.P.A. claimed that this site was cleaned up is
mind-boggling," said Stephen A. Sheller, of the law firm, Sheller,
Ludwig & Badey.

A chemical engineer hired by Mr. Sheller's firm is sharply critical
of Ford's $2.5 million cleanup effort, and of the E.P.A.'s oversight
of the project. The engineer, Melvyn Kopstein, has done a chemical
analysis of paint sludge recently found by residents and determined
that it contains lead and arsenic well in excess of federal safety
standards. "The E.P.A. applied a 'see no evil, hear no evil' theme to
this site," Dr. Kopstein said in a long memo summarizing his
investigation.

Ford has already submitted a work plan for continued water sampling,
and has told residents it will remove the sludge found on Bob De
Groat's front yard and anyplace else it can be found.

Mr. Mann remains skeptical about the company's commitment, and the
government's oversight. "Ford keeps coming back to clean up stuff that
isn't supposed to be there," he said. "Unless something changes,
they'll be coming back forever."

* * *

# # #

Rachel's Environment & Health News
Environmental Research Foundation
POB 160
New Brunswick NJ 08903-0160
T: 732-828-9995
F: 732-791-4603
E: e...@rachel.org
W: http://www.rachel.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DEPTFORD TWP. BOARD NIXES WALMART PLAN

Date: 14 Jun 2004
From: "Peter Montague" {Pe...@rachel.org}

By Brian Arrington, Gloucester Times, June 11, 2004

Deptford Twp. - The township planning board struck down a plan that
would have allowed the construction of a Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and
other stores at the former RCA Thomson site on Clements Bridge Road.

By a vote of 6-2 the board rejected preliminary site plan approval
Wednesday after months of debate and public outcry against the project
proposed by Birmingham, Ala.-based developer AIG Baker.

Township Manager Joseph Picardi said AIG Baker attempted to have a
variance included in the application which would have allowed the
developers to have only a 30-foot buffer between Route 42 and the site
instead of the required 50-foot buffer as well as several waivers
including ones for smaller parking stalls and higher light poles.

Picardi said AIG Baker has the right to come back with a new
application or take the case to court.

Local residents and officials and residents from nearby Camden County
objected to the plan saying they didn't want the traffic and lighting
problems associated with the retail giant.

The plan called for the construction of more than 500,000 square feet
of shopping space, including the Wal-Mart, a Sam's Club, a gas
station, a restaurant and six other shopping outlets.

Many Deptford residents also opposed a Super Wal-Mart at the corner
of Delsea Drive and Cooper Street. The planning board rejected that
proposal recently prompting a civil suit in an attempt to reverse the
decision.

That proposal will be heard again next month.

* * *

# # #

Rachel's Environment & Health News
Environmental Research Foundation
POB 160
New Brunswick NJ 08903-0160
T: 732-828-9995
F: 732-791-4603
E: e...@rachel.org
W: http://www.rachel.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

SMART GROWTH, DOT-STYLE

Date: 040614
From: http://www.tstc.org/

Mobilizing the Region, Issue 462, June 14, 2004

New Jersey DOT is proceeding with its Route 9 smart growth corridor
project between Toms River and Tuckerton in Ocean County. A stated
project goal is to end "the cycle of growth and [road] widening" that
has failed to ease traffic congestion in New Jersey (or anywhere
else).

The project has convened stakeholder groups of businesses, municipal
officials and citizens to consider how and where future development
should occur and to try to find transportation investments that can
yield sustained benefits.

State DOT's in congested areas would do well to standardize this
approach. Consensus means a smoother path for projects through the
approvals and planning pipeline, while the melding of transportation
and development planning can keep road improvements from being eaten
up by a general growth in traffic or by the plunking of a big box
store next to a renovated interchange.

Other recent NJ DOT innovations include DOT scrapping the Millstone
Bypass in favor of a small, far less expensive connector road and
improvements to local intersections. DOT also delayed the Hillsborough
Bypass in winter, 2002 after deciding that its frequent interchanges
would promote sprawl. The highway - a four-mile bypass to Route 206 in
Somerset County - has been redesigned to eliminate two interchanges.
Earlier this year, NJDOT transformed a long-held plan to extend Route
18 along the Shore in southeastern Monmouth County into a project to
build a 20-mile bikeway.

NY State DOT says it is undertaking an internal reform, but has not
taken any initiatives similar to the new NJ DOT projects in years. In
the 1990's, it began participating in a small number of "sustainable
development studies" organized by NY Metropolitan Transportation
Council staff in the Hudson Valley and Long Island. Some of these are
integrating land use into DOT project considerations. But the agency
has made no move to expand the approach or to introduce it upstate,
despite language calling for the DOT to broaden such work in New
York's version of a smart growth policy - Governor Pataki's under-
developed "quality communities" initiative.

* * *

Tri-State Transportation Campaign
350 W 31 St #802
New York NY 10001
T: 212-268-7474
F: 212-268-7333
E: ts...@tstc.org
W: http://www.tstc.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

EAST BRUNSWICK COURTS HOUSING FOR SENIORS

Date: 040607
From: http://www.nj.com/

By Patrick Jenkins, Star-Ledger Staff, June 06, 2004

In recent years, East Brunswick officials have been trying to
preserve open space in the township, hoping to prevent developers from
building single-family homes.

But officials are welcoming developers of senior housing complexes,
which, unlike single-family homes, do not increase the number of
children in the township's schools.

One 184-unit complex is under construction on Ryders Lane. The sales
office for a 143-unit development on Rues Lane just opened. The
planning board has begun hearings for a 163-unit complex on Main
Street, and the township is negotiating with another developer to
include a senior-citizen housing complex inside a transit village
proposed for Route 18 and Tice's Lane.

"This town is hot," said Mayor William Neary. "We don't have to offer
any incentives to developers to build senior-citizen housing. Their
incentive is the money they make because this is such a desirable
place to live."

Under way is Cedar Village at East Brunswick, the 184-unit complex
for those 55 and over, at Ryders Lane near Tice's Lane.

Developed by Continental Properties of Woodbridge, prices at the
development range from $211,000 to $327,000 for the top of the line
Longfield unit on the fourth floor, or penthouse level.

The price includes an indoor parking space and storage area,
membership in a 5,000-square-foot clubhouse, a large heated outdoor
pool, boccie court and putting green, among other amenities.

On Friday, the sales office for Waterford at East Brunswick opened at
Cranbury Road and New Brunswick Avenue.

A Kushner Cos. of Florham Park project, Waterford is offering 148
one- and two-bedroom units in a complex of four-story high buildings
on 10 acres. Amenities include concierge service, valet parking, a
fully equipped business center, fitness center, library, theater,
lavishly landscaped interior court and pool with gazebo.

The prices will start in the mid-$200,000s, said spokeswoman Debbie
Provencher.

Provencher said Kushner was attracted to East Brunswick because of
its location.

"It's in the heart of an established community, in walking distance
of the town center, the library, the municipal complex and
neighborhood retail stores," Provencher said. "It's a good place for
seniors who want to stay in the area they are familiar with but want
to downsize their responsibilities so they have more leisure time."

Arisa Realty of New York wants to build a 153-unit complex -
including 63 single-family homes - on 30.59 acres in the township's
southeast corner on Main Street.

The company just began hearings with the township, and officials were
unavailable for comment.

James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and
Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, said he is not
surprised East Brunswick is starting to change from single-family
homes to clustered age-restricted housing.

It is a trend statewide, if not nationwide, and developers follow the
market and are quite aware of it, he said.

"The driving force is the aging of the fabled Baby Boom generation,
those born between 1946 and 1964, who are now between 40 and 58,"
Hughes said. "The number of 50-somethings is soaring, and over the
next few years the number of 60-somethings will be soaring."

In anticipation of that, active adult communities have become a major
growth factor, Hughes said.

A second factor is that once people become empty-nesters, they don't
want to leave the areas where their children and grandchildren live,
leave their churches or social networks or even their favorite
restaurants, so they move into this type of housing if it's available
locally, he said.

A third reason is that municipalities welcome such housing, Hughes
said.

"Forty years ago, municipalities wanted what they called clean
ratables, no smokestack industries and the like, but clean ratables
now means it doesn't generate school children or rush hour traffic.

"The only use that fits that bill is housing for seniors, so East
Brunswick reflects all of those factors," Hughes said.

Neary agrees.

"We have people who moved in 40 years ago who want to stay here near
their kids and everything familiar, but want a nice, smaller place.
The senior housing is good for them," he said.

Neary said the redevelopment of the Route 18 tract near the
township's parking deck is expected to include senior housing to make
it a complete mix that would help alleviate traffic congestion around
the highway and Tice's Lane without adding school children.

"The lease doesn't expire there until 2008, but we're already working
on it," said Neary, adding the township is negotiating with Toll
Brothers to build a transit village and senior residential complex
there.

"We've stopped development in our rural area. Now we're concentrating
on smart growth, development that helps our residents in places where
it should be," Neary said.

* * *

Patrick Jenkins works in the Middlesex County Bureau. He can be
reached at (732) 404-8090 or pjen...@starledger.com.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

IN IDYLLIC SPOT CALLED RADBURN, ROUGH PATCH DEVELOPS

Date: 040609
From: http://www.nj.com/

'TOWN FOR THE MOTOR AGE' PLANS TO SELL LAND FOR HOUSING,
AND SOME RESIDENTS ARE RESTLESS

By Steve Chambers, Star-Ledger Staff, June 09, 2004

In 1929, two urban planners bent on designing a "Town for the Motor
Age" laid out an innovative development on former spinach farms in
Bergen County.

The project's developer went broke in the Great Depression, but not
before a portion of the community - known as Radburn - was completed.
Hundreds of small brick houses on cul-de-sacs wrapped around parks.
Multifamily housing, a school, shops and industrial buildings were
interspersed into the neighborhoods, with the entire community
governed by strict architectural guidelines and a powerful association
that controlled the open spaces.

Today, 75 years later, the Radburn section of Fair Lawn remains much
as it was built. Urban planners, architects and anti-sprawl advocates
from around the world visit its shady parks to revel in its
compactness, praising its efficient use of land and tight-knit
community.

There may, however, be trouble brewing in paradise.

A feud pitting some residents against the governing Radburn
Association has erupted over association plans to sell a six-acre
parcel to developers. That $4 million deal already has been signed and
may bring the first new residences since the 1930s.

The developer, Landmark Companies of Woodbridge, has agreed to
purchase a long-polluted industrial site next to the association
property - a former Little League field - and plans to combine the
sites. Landmark has not unveiled its design, but it plans to put an
unspecified number of townhouses on the combined 10 acres.

The spat has all the earmarks of the familiar development fight, with
angry neighbors concerned over lost open space, increased traffic,
overcrowding and changing lifestyles.

The historic nature of Radburn has, of course, increased the stakes
and tensions.

Critics of the deal say the association and town officials are
illegally running roughshod over Radburn's national historic
designation - which it attained in 1974. They charge trustees with
secretly plotting a deal that could bring the community to ruin.

"This strikes at the heart of what Radburn is all about," said
Michael Roney, a book editor who has lived in the community for 18
years. "And it relates to concerns in northern New Jersey of
preserving whatever open space is left."

Supporters say the development will keep Radburn vital and possibly
prevent something more destructive from being built, while at the same
time shedding a tax burden and cleaning up an eyesore. They accuse
critics of inaccuracies and hysteria.

"We are the minders of Radburn's ideals," said Louise Orlando,
manager of the Radburn Association, which oversees amenities like
pools, playgrounds and manicured common parks. "We are doing what we
thought was right for Radburn."

Designed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright, Radburn's original plan
called for a series of parks, one for each letter of the alphabet,
surrounded by dead-end streets packed with brick houses on tiny lots.
The plan also included multifamily housing, industrial sites and
shopping.

The ideal was country living for the industrial worker, but when the
development went bust, only A Park, B Park and R Park were completed.
Today, about 3,100 people live in 469 single-family homes, 48
townhouses, 30 two-family houses and a 93-unit apartment complex, all
on 149 acres.

In 1974, a new resident named Louis DiGeronimo, who had just gotten
his degree in architecture and planning, helped the association get
Radburn on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, he is one
of the most vociferous critics of the development plan.

"They are completely ignoring the historic designation," he said.
"It's as if Williamsburg decided it no longer wanted a blacksmith."

But federal and state historic-preservation officials say DiGeronimo
will have a hard time defeating the project. They point out that
national and state preservation status is only advisory to private
property owners like the association.

If the project involved the expenditure of public funds, it would
require approval by the state Department of Environmental Protection
commissioner, who oversees New Jersey's historic districts.

"Purely private development would not seem to be reviewable," said
Terry Karschner, the state's supervisory historic preservation
specialist.

Towns can enact much more stringent historic preservation ordinances
if they choose, but Fair Lawn never did.

Orlando also said the association shopped around before choosing the
developer, whose principals were "schooled in the Radburn concept" and
have agreed to follow the strict architectural guidelines of the
community.

Ironically, the public battle over the proposed development could put
Radburn's dense style of living on trial, raising questions about
whether it still meets acceptable community norms.

"We were very concerned that a random developer would come in and
build a Levittown type thing," Orlando said. "The young men we found
have Radburn in their soul."

Other residents aren't convinced.

"If nothing is done to prevent them from building this into a crowded
place," said resident Leonid Vilikhin, "then I will leave."

* * *

Steve Chambers covers land-use issues. He can be reached at
scha...@starledger.com or (973) 392-1674.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

ROLE OF POWER PLANTS IN AIR POLLUTION

Date: 040610
From: http://www.ems.org/

2003 POWER FAILURE REVEALS ROLE OF POWER PLANTS IN AIR POLLUTION

University of Maryland, June 9, 2004

A new study by researchers at the University of Maryland shows that
skies were dramatically bluer and the air was much healthier during
the August 2003 blackout that hit the northeastern United States and
southeastern Canada. The findings shed new light on the contribution
of power plants to air pollution along the east coast of the United
States.

Atmospheric measurements taken by the scientists some 24 hours after
many power plants had essentially shut down found a 90 percent
reduction in sulfur dioxide, a gas that leads to haze and acid rain,
and a 50 percent reduction in smog, or ground-level ozone. The
Maryland scientists also found that the amount of light scattering
particles in the air dropped by 70 percent and visibility increased by
some 20 miles.

A CLEAR IMPACT

"The clean air benefit [of the blackout] was realized over much of
the eastern United States," write researchers Lackson Marufu, Bryan
Bloomer, Charles Piety, Bruce Doddridge, Jeffrey Stehr, and Russell
Dickerson of the Department of Meteorology and Brett Taubman of the
Department of Chemistry. "The improvement in air quality provides
evidence that transported emission from power plants hundreds of
kilometers upwind play a dominant role in regional haze and [smog],"
they say.

Their paper, "The 2003 North American Electrical Blackout: An
Accidental Experiment in Atmospheric Chemistry," will be published in
the next issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

"What surprised us was not so much the observation of improved air
quality during the blackout, but the magnitude of the observed
improvement," says research scientist and lead author Lackson Marufu.
"The improvement in air quality was so great that you could not only
measure it, but could actually see it as a much clearer less hazy
sky."

Co-author Russell Dickerson, professor and chair of the Department of
Meteorology, said, "Scientists long have speculated about what would
happen to air quality if all the power plants suddenly disappeared.
The blackout performed for us an experiment that would have otherwise
been impossible. The resulting clean air that we observed over large
areas of rural PA was headed toward the Mid Atlantic, so cities from
Washington to New York reaped the benefits of bluer skies, at least
for a few days."

FOSSIL FUELED POLLUTION

Fossil fuel burning power plants account for more than half of
electrical energy production in the United States, but also about 22
percent of the nitrogen oxides and about 69 percent of the sulfur
dioxide emissions. In lower levels of the atmosphere, nitrogen oxides
combine with volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight to
produce ground-level ozone. Ozone found high above the earth in the
stratosphere absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation to protect human
health and the environment. However, the ground-level ozone found in
the lower regions of the atmosphere is the main ingredient in smog.

In summertime, under a high pressure front, westerly winds carry
power plant emissions from states like Ohio, West Virginia and
Pennsylvania. These pollutants induce severe smog and haze events in
the northeastern U.S., primarily comprised of ground-level ozone and
sulfate-dominated fine particles. Both pollutants have been linked to
adverse health effects, degradation of the environment, and global
climate change.

For the current study, airborne measurements were made over Maryland
and Virginia (outside the blackout area) and Pennsylvania (in the
center of the blackout area) on August 15, 2003, approximately 24
hours into the blackout. The results were compared to measurements
taken the previous summer in the same locations and under similar
meteorological conditions when upwind power plants were operating
normally.

- - -

Contact:

Lee Tune, University of Maryland Media Relations, 301-405-4679,
lt...@umd.edu

Lackson Marufu, Research Scientist, Department of Meteorology,
University of Maryland, 301-405-5355, lma...@umd.edu

Russell Dickerson, Professor and Chair Department of Meteorology,
University of Maryland, 301-405-5364, r...@umd.edu

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

POLLUTION ALTERING RAIN PATTERNS

Date: 040613
From: http://www.gazettetimes.com/

IN THE SIERRAS AND WORLDWIDE, DECREASES IN
PRECIPITATION HAVE SCIENTISTS WORRIED

By Don Thompson, Associated Press
Corvallis Gazette-Times, June 11, 2004

Sacramento - As he flew high above the snowy Sierra Nevada this
spring, atmospheric scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan saw confirmation
of what he'd both hoped and feared to see: Big, dark storm clouds that
weren't producing any rain.

Air pollution appears to be altering rainfall patterns in the Sierra
and around the world, said Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography in La Jolla.

It's the latest fallout from an exploding human population that over
the last half-century has pushed untold tons of smog, soot and ash
into the atmosphere, he said Thursday at the nation's first state-
sponsored global warming research program.

The vast sprawl of Los Angeles, with its millions of cars pumping
greenhouse gases into the air, are in effect driving away the very
rainfall its population needs to survive as pollution forces rain to
fall outside the state. Instead of accumulating as snow in
California's Sierra, a smaller amount lands in neighboring Nevada.

Ramanathan co-led a 1999 study that reported the existence of a vast
"brown cloud" of pollution, dust and chemicals that he believes is
slowing solar evaporation from the oceans and leading to a net
reduction in world rainfall.

It's part of a band of pollution encircling the globe, helping
produce a 10-20 percent reduction in the amount of sunlight reaching
the earth over the last 50 years. The phenomenon cools the Earth's
surface, but heats the middle atmosphere.

Minuscule flecks of black carbon make up perhaps only 10 percent of
the pollution cloud, but play a dominant role in altering the way the
atmosphere behaves, Ramanathan said.

The dark particles absorb solar radiation and scatter sunlight,
helping produce that characteristic haze that today coats not only
cities like Los Angeles but once-pristine areas like Yosemite National
Park downwind.

They also form the nucleus that attracts cloud moisture into water
droplets. Clouds are getting thicker and darker because they retain
more moisture, adding to the darkening effect on the Earth below.

When enough moisture accumulates around natural dust particles -
clouds of which have been circling the globe for eons - the droplets
fall as rain. But Ramanathan said the carbon specks are often too
small to produce drops big enough to hit the ground.

He was reporting some of the first results from the California Energy
Commission's Climate Change Center, charged with helping policy-
makers.

So far, their projections don't provide much good news.

Levels of carbon dioxide will double from historical levels by mid-
century, pushing up temperatures across the state but particularly
inland. The greatest increase will be at the highest altitudes - the
mountains that hold the snow pack containing more than a third of
California's drinking and irrigation water.

Warmer water spilling into the ocean and more intense wind-driven
waves pounding the Northern California coast could alter the nutrient-
rich coastal waters and affect the area's sea life, said Lisa C. Sloan
of the Climate Change and Impacts Laboratory at the University of
California, Santa Cruz.

Precipitation is likely to increase in the northern third of the
state, her models show, transforming grasslands to scrubland and oak
woodlands to conifer forests.

But rainfall is likely to decrease in Southern California, where it's
needed most, Sloan said: "This is where the population is, and this is
where the giant sucking sound for the water is."

The number of annual heat waves - three consecutive days of high
temperatures - doubled for Los Angeles and quadrupled for San
Francisco under her models, with accompanying health problems from
heat, disease, ozone and asthma.

An even more pessimistic model by Norm Miller of the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory predicts Los Angeles heat waves could
increase three- to six-fold, and double in Sacramento. His modeling
shows an even greater loss in crucial Sierra snow.

All this comes as California's population is predicted to keep
growing, adding to the demand for increasingly scarce water.

Jay Lund, an environmental engineer at the University of California,
Davis, has created a computer model that, though still rudimentary,
incorporates more than a million research variables and takes seven
days to run a given set of projections. He concluded that adapting to
climate change will cost California billions of dollars, but
nonetheless is affordable for a state with a gross annual state
product well over $1 trillion.

"It's not going to cause the collapse of civilization in California,"
Lund said. "This adaptation, however, will be very challenging."

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

STUDY FINDS DEER HURT WISCONSIN DIVERSITY

Date: 040610
From: http://news.yahoo.com/

Associated Press, Jun 10, 2004

The forests of northern Wisconsin have had significant losses of
native plant species in the past 50 years, a new study concludes.

The study blames an oversize deer herd and the arrival of exotic
plants as key factors in the changes, which were not found on tribal
forests where deer numbers are kept lower and development is closely
controlled.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison did the comparative
study by returning to forest tracts mapped in the early 1950s by the
late John T. Curtis, author of "The Vegetation of Wisconsin," and
fellow UW botanist Grant Cottam.

The work done by the two gives Wisconsin an ecological baseline that
exists in few other places in the world, according to UW officials.

The new survey of 62 carefully selected sites found less variety in
plant life, which could mean there also is less habitat for insects,
animals and birds.

Researchers noted that when deer feed on plants, the plants that
replace them tend to be the so-called "generalists" such as ferns,
sedges and grasses, as well as invasive species such as orange
hawkweed, Kentucky bluegrass and hemp nettle.

Thomas Rooney, a senior scientist at the UW-Madison and one of the
study's authors, said the changes can make places less favorable for
tree seedlings to germinate and for some insects, birds and animals to
live.

For example, removing a plant such as wild sarsaparilla takes away a
valuable food source for the wood thrush and hermit thrush.

The findings by Rooney and lead researcher UW-Madison botanist Don
Waller are published in the June issue of Conservation Biology.

"I think that what we have here is both good and bad news," Waller
said. "The bad news is that these sites are becoming more homogeneous.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be this way."

Waller, Rooney and two other researchers, Shannon Wiegmann and David
Rogers, found that plant diversity was lowest where deer numbers were
highest and there was little or no hunting pressure.

But parcels on tribal lands, where development is more tightly
controlled and deer herds are smaller due to year-round hunting, had
an increase in native species.

On the Menominee Indian reservation, deer numbers total about 10.4
deer per square mile, according to Don Reiter, fish and wildlife
manager for the 360 square miles of tribal land.

The deer population is about twice as high in the surrounding deer
management units, according to the state Department of Natural
Resources.

Jonathan Gilbert, wildlife section leader for the Great Lakes Fish
and Wildlife Commission, said that tribes are sometimes criticized for
deer populations that are lower on than the surrounding lands.

"Now, in hindsight, when you look at the total ecosystem, it looks
like the tribes are doing a better job of managing their land,"
Gilbert said.

The study found little change in the total number of species. In
1950, Curtis recorded 138 plant species at 62 sites. In 2000, the
researchers traveled to the same locations and found 134 species. Of
the 62 sites, 40 lost some plant species.

But the researchers found less diversity in plant life in each area.

The density of native species declined an average of 19 percent,
while the exotic species rose 80 percent. In addition to wild
sarsaparilla, other plants at risk are bluebeard lily, sessile
bellwort and bishop's cap.

Among other findings:

- On average, each site surveyed had lost nearly 20 percent of its
native plants from 50 years ago.

- Species diversity declined at 45 of the 62 sites surveyed.

- Invasive species showed up on two-thirds of the sites resurveyed.
Fifty years ago, they appeared only on one site.

- Areas faring the worst are those where hunting is restricted, such
as Brunet Island State Park in northwest Wisconsin. A native plant
called the rosy twisted stalk had declined by 80 percent there,
largely because of heavy deer browsing.

So far, much of the research has been on forests in northeastern and
north central Wisconsin, and a few sites in Michigan's Upper
Peninsula. Now researchers plan on moving to other areas of the state,
also once surveyed by Curtis, to learn how the landscape has changed
since the middle of the last century.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WEEDS GOT YER GOAT - TRY, UH, A GOAT

Date: 040610
From: http://www.usatoday.com/

By Valerie Alvord, USA TODAY, 6/8/2004

Escondido, Calif. - The perennial pepperweed is an attractive plant
with dainty white flowers. But it chokes everything in its path, even
trees. And in California, it grows everywhere. It may have one natural
enemy - goats.

In a field outside this city of 134,000 people, about 300 goats are
turning eating into serious business by gobbling up the pepperweed.

These goats are a way to control weeds and brush that is friendly to
the environment. In states across the USA, sheep and goats are being
used to eat fire-prone underbrush and wipe out invasive plants. The
animals are popular because they are quiet, easily negotiate rocky and
steep terrain and can work in wetlands and other sensitive areas where
spraying herbicides or using heavy equipment isn't feasible.

"The goats are helping us wear out the roots of the pepperweed," says
Bill Winans of the San Diego County Department of Agriculture. "We let
the goats eat the tops, then wait a month and let them eat the re-
growth." As the weed directs its nutrients into new growth, the 15-
foot roots weaken, and other plants can compete.

Sheep and goats are voracious eaters and are increasingly in demand
by agencies in charge of public land, parks and rights-of-way:

- Tallahassee, Fla., is using sheep to control the invasive weeds,
kudzu, privet and Japanese climbing fern. A project near Palm Coast
to control saw palmetto and gallberry, plants that easily burn, was
partially successful. The sheep gobbled up the palmetto but refused
to touch the gallberry.

- Cambridge, Idaho, is one of several locations in the state to use
sheep both for eradicating noxious weeds and eliminating brush that
could burn along rivers and highways.

- The Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation near Reno is using goats to
control pepperweed, which is choking vegetation along the Truckee
River.

- Durham, N.H, was the center of a five-year experiment that ended in
2002 to control weeds and clear vegetation that could fuel a fire
near electric transmission lines.

"These animals are a great tool," says Roy Johnson of the National
Interagency Fire Center in Boise. "They're neat around communities,
because they're not noisy."

One unexpected benefit is people often stop to ooh and aah over the
baby goats born on the job. In Escondido, about 30 kids wobble after
their mothers who are back on the job just days after giving birth.

PROS AND CONS

"We hadn't planned to have this many babies," says Hugh Bunten, 68,
who owns the goats and brought them here from Lakeview, Ore. "But
people do love them."

Rusty Child, 37, of Redmond, Ore., started contracting out his 1,000
animals for brush control about four years ago. Now, he lives out of a
trailer on job sites six or seven months of the year.

Child plans to spend the next several months around Portland working
on fire control - having the animals eat underbrush to create a
firebreak to stop or slow a wildfire by depriving it of fuel. He says
sheep prefer grassy underbrush, while goats love woody shrubs.

the positive side for using the animals is there's no smoke from
planned burns, no pesticides and no noise.

The biggest negative is the cost, which can be comparable to or more
expensive than hiring hand crews to whack down the weeds. "It's not
inexpensive in my opinion," Brenner says. "You also can't do large
areas quickly. If your only concern is to protect from wildfire, the
weeds are eradicated more quickly and for longer periods of time if
you use chemicals."

Dick Henry of Concord, N.H., sends his 1,000 sheep to Florida.
They've also worked at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and in New
Hampshire around the electrical lines. "This approach is not a silver
bullet," he says. "It's logistically challenging to implement, and
it's not cheap. It's competitive, but the public has this idea that,
well, 'I'm letting your sheep eat, so why don't you do it for free.' "

Among the difficulties: Guard dogs are needed to protect the goat and
sheep from predators, such as coyotes and feral dogs. Fences have to
be set up to contain the herd. Water often has to be trucked in. And
the animals have to be transported to and from the site, Henry says.
One frequent glitch is when a hungry herd breaks through a fence and
overruns someone's yard.

The most effective approach is to bring animals in for a long
period - sometimes years - or bring them back to graze several times
in a season. Henry says he doesn't find it cost-effective to bid on a
contract unless the animals will be used at least a year. Contractors
in the West, however, often truck their animals from site to site,
staying each place for a week to several months.

One critic of the grazing is Richard Minnich of the University of
California at Riverside. He says the animals aren't necessarily
effective to prevent wildfires, which can "jump over the fire lines."

EASIER TO CONTROL FIRES

But other experts say that's true of all firebreaks. Grazing can
clear land so a fire would be starved of fuel. Or the animals can just
thin the underbrush so some vegetation is left to support wildlife. If
a fire then occurs, it's still easier to control.

That's what about 300 goats did for about a week in April in
Tierrasanta, Calif., a neighborhood on the northern edge of San Diego.
"It's an area that hadn't been thinned for years," says Jan Eby, who
oversaw the work. "It was a perfect place to try it. We were striving
for a 50% reduction in brush - that's our policy."

But the work was shut down a few days early because so many baby
goats were born. Owner George Gonzales decided to take them home to
Chino, Calif.

Before leaving, he had to go on an "Easter egg-type search" for the
newborns. The mothers hid them in the tall grass and went back to
work.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

NJ GOVERNOR CALLS ON US TO FUND FISH STUDIES

Date: 13 Jun 2004
From: "Peggy Bowen" {pegd...@earthlink.net}

By Todd B. Bates, Asbury Park Press Environmental Writer, 6/13/04

Gov. McGreevey has largely praised a federal commission's preliminary
report on ways to upgrade protections for the ocean.

But the U.S. government should fund studies of fisheries stocks
instead of requiring that states impose saltwater-fishing license fees
to pay for them, McGreevey said in a June 4 letter to the panel's
chairman.

And the federal Coastal Zone Management Act "should be amended to
ensure that coastal states have the right to regulate or prohibit
offshore development, including offshore energy development," up to
200 miles offshore, McGreevey wrote.

"The ocean and coastal areas are critical to New Jersey's quality of
life and economy," McGreevey wrote. "Good water quality and healthy
beaches are essential to sustaining coastal ecosystems, providing
abundant recreational opportunities and attracting visitors."
McGreevey's letter to James D. Watkins, a retired Navy admiral and
chairman of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, contains his comments
on the panel's report, which were due June 4. The panel is now
reviewing comments by governors and others, and it will prepare a
final report to the president and Congress with recommendations on a
coordinated and comprehensive national ocean policy, according to the
panel's Web site.

In its preliminary report, the panel recommended doubling spending on
ocean research, enhancing ocean education, setting measurable goals
for reducing water pollution and strengthening tools to reach those
goals, among many other suggestions. The commission also recommended
that the National Marine Fisheries Service, working with states and
interstate fisheries commissions, require all saltwater anglers to
purchase licenses to improve data on recreational fishing.

McGreevey said in his letter: The state supports recommendations on
ecosystem management, research and education and for a national
Integrated Ocean Observing System. "There is a need for robust and
reliable federal funding for existing (state) programs as well as
additional funding for new initiatives." "The final report should look
more broadly at beneficial use of dredged material," including use of
it to remediate "brownfield" sites and close landfills. "We disagree"
that a National Ocean Council should be created to coordinate ocean
programs. Recommendations on "global climate change, with...increases
in sea level and more frequent extreme weather events, are
conspicuously absent."

In April, the state Department of Environmental Protection released a
list of options for upgrading protection of coastal habitat, coastal
water quality, marine fisheries and shellfisheries through state or
federal actions and ensuring public access to the coast. DEP
Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell has said "it's our hope to have a
final report to the governor by the fall" with recommendations.

# # #

Peggy Bowen, Director
New Jersey Council of Diving Clubs
pegd...@earthlink.net
http://www.scubanj.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

RUTGERS GROUP MONITORS FISH, TRACKS WASTE

Date: 040614
From: http://www.app.com/

By Kirk Moore, Asbury Park Press Staff Writer, 6/14/04

Student Anya Watson turned the team's hydrophone in a full circle,
cupping an underwater ear to listen for fish that have returned to
Great Bay this spring.

Staccato chirps came from a speaker as crewmate Fernando Fuentes
adjusted the telemetry receiver. Dana Rowles, a graduate student at
the Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Studies and
captain of this boat, consulted a list of the bay's denizens, with
names and numbers of the striped bass and summer flounder that
researchers have equipped with acoustic tags.

"It's 85...That's Squishy," Rowles said, beaming. It was another
summer flounder, a normally furtive flatfish that Rowles can now track
through the year thanks to technology developed by scientists with the
Rutgers institute and employed at their field station in Little Egg
Harbor.

This spring, 15 undergraduate students have joined Rutgers marine
scientists for a two-month interdisciplinary program that has them
tracking fish, tracing pollution from the Hudson River and
investigating the behavior of horseshoe crabs.

In its first year, the Research Internship in Ocean Studies program
has selected students with a wide range of experience and academic
interests, from universities and colleges as far away as Oregon and
Arizona.

For some students, it's their first opportunity to do serious marine
science, and the objective is to give them an awareness of the ocean
that will carry on into their postgraduate careers, said John Quinlan,
an assistant professor with the Rutgers institute.

"We have a Latin American studies student, and another who's majoring
in physical oceanography," Quinlan said. The National Science
Foundation has provided $270,000 over three years toward the intern
program, plus some funding from the Rutgers institute, with the aim of
disseminating the students' interest in ocean studies into their other
disciplines.

Katie Seebold, 20, of Berkeley Heights, who is entering her junior
year at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., said she was
attracted to the internship because it fits her major in science
technology and international affairs.

"It's Georgetown's major for people who are more scientifically
oriented," Seebold said. As is the case with all the students, Seebold
has a personal project in addition to her work with Rutgers
researchers. Hers is tracking striped bass "and trying to see if
there's any differences in how they move between day and nighttime,"
she said.

Watson, 20, of Easton, Conn., is a biology major and senior this fall
at Connecticut College, and studying horseshoe crabs.

"What's known about horseshoe crabs is when they come up on the
beaches for spawning. But we don't know much about how they move
underwater," Watson said. "To manage the (crab) fishery, we need to
know more about how the crabs behave."

Fuentes, 19, of North Bergen, will enter his junior year at Rutgers
this fall. The internships are worth three to six college credits for
students, besides the valuable field work experience, he said.

"My academic adviser always kept reminding me to do the program,"
said Fuentes, who was among 15 selected out of 45 finalists for the
interships. "It's also a requirement to graduate to have an
experience-based program."

Their days are long under Rowles' command in an open boat. Extra fuel
in the stern of the boat hints how far they have to go.

"We do the entire estuary. We go from Little Egg Harbor straight
across the inlet to Little Bay," said Rowles, who hails from Marlton,
with a sweep of her arm. "We'll go all the way up the Mullica and Bass
rivers, Wading River, and up the Forks" near Batsto, Washington
Township, in Burlington County, she said.

Depending on tides and weather, some of the work is done at night.
Rowles and her crew laughed about one recent venture near the marsh
shoreline, when all of their headlamps fizzled out around the same
time "and you couldn't see the banks," Rowles said.

During their surveys, the trackers follow the fantastic underwater
topography around Little Egg Inlet, where racing tides scour deep
holes and knife-edge channels next to shallows thin enough to wade in.
The depth sounders on their boats can swing from 4 feet to 90 feet to
35 feet, all in a run of less than a quarter-mile.

Their hydrophones have a range of about 500 yards and are sensitive
enough for a crew to pull up right over a submerged fish, said Tom
"Motz" Grothues, an assistant professor who oversees the fish trackers
and implants acoustic tags in fish. He carries the life histories of
individual animals in his head.

"Mickey has one spot he heads right for as soon as he gets back,"
Grothues said. "The fish that we notice to be most sedentary are the
big fish."

But in their migrations, the fish cover a lot of ground. Summer
flounder that migrate 40 or 50 miles offshore in winter come back to
Great Bay. One striped bass dubbed "Bob," tagged in Maine's Saco
River, turned up here within two months, Grothues said.

Sometimes fishermen fail to see the tags until it's too late to let
the fish go. One striper tagged in the Mullica in spring 2003 and
named "El Guapo" - Spanish for "the handsome one," - was caught near
Sandy Hook Saturday night, Grothues said.

Still, 25 percent of 2002 to 2003 tagged fish have returned to the
bay, an "incredible" return rate, said Kenneth Able, a Rutgers
professor and director of the field station.

"These are very, very high return rates. You don't see that with
conventional tags," Able said. "We've been working with local
fishermen and bait shops, so hopefully they'll release them."

An American shad, tagged on Virginia's James River by another
research team, was rediscovered in Great Bay. Experiences such as that
hint at just how much knowledge about fish migration patterns and life
history may be gained using this technology, Able said.

"What we're thinking is, if you set up an array like this in several
estuaries, you could get a good picture of how dynamic these (fish)
movements are," he said.

Information about the Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal
Sciences is available at marine.rutgers.edu on the Web; visiting
http://www.stripertracker.org provides more information on the striped
bass tracking project.

* * *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

HEALTH ADVISORIES FOR FISH AND CRABS FROM NJ WATERS

Date: 14 Jun 2004
From: "FWLISTS FWLISTS" {FWL...@dep.state.nj.us}

The 2004 Guide to Health Advisories for Eating Fish and Crabs Caught
in New Jersey Waters has been posted on the DEP website at the
following link: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/njmainfish.htm

This booklet combines all the consumption advisories related to
Mercury, PCB and Dioxin that were formally listed in several
publications.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

THE PASSAIC RIVER PATROL - JUN 15

Date: 14 Jun 2004
From: "Hugh Carola" {hu...@hackensackriverkeeper.org}

ESSEX COUNTY EXECUTIVE DIVINCENZO TO WELCOME
PASSAIC RIVER PATROL TO ESSEX COUNTY

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS TO KICK OFF GRASSROOTS PROJECT
TO RESTORE LOWER PASSAIC RIVER AND NEWARK BAY

Newark - Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. will
welcome the Passaic River Patrol to Essex County during a press
conference on Tuesday, June 15th. The Passaic River Patrol is a
grassroots project to protect, preserve and restore the Lower Passaic
River and Newark Bay. It is a joint initiative of the NY/NJ Baykeeper,
Hackensack Riverkeeper and the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic. The
group will host a series of boat cruises to raise awareness about the
damage that pollution and neglect has caused to the Lower Passaic
River and Newark Bay, and work to reclaim the waterway for everyone to
enjoy.

"We have made tremendous progress in Essex County by forming unique
partnerships with a variety of volunteer groups. I look forward to
forming a relationship between the Passaic River Patrol and our
environmental initiatives," DiVincenzo said.

The kick off event will be as follows:

Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Time: 11 a.m.

Place: Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners
600 Wilson Avenue
Newark, NJ

The press conference will be on the PVSC dock. Parking will be
available in the PVSC visitor's lot. After the press conference, boat
tours of the Lower Passaic and Newark Bay will be given.

- - -

Directions to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission

From the NJ Turnpike: Take Exit 15E and follow signs to Doremus
Avenue; Turn RIGHT at the light onto Doremus Avenue; Go one mile and
turn RIGHT onto Wilson Avenue; Make the first LEFT to the main gate;
Sign in at the guard house and park in the visitor's lot.

* * *

Contact:
Teresa Ruiz, 973-621-4404, 973-713-1015 cell
Anthony Puglisi, 973-621-2542

NY/NJ Baykeeper
Hackensack Riverkeeper
Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Many thanks to our Volunteers:
Tricia Aspinwall, Michele Cooklin, Jerry Cullins, Peter
Montague, Paul Neuman, Scott Olson, Mary Paist, Penny
Pollock-Barnes, Phil Reynolds, Pat Rolston, and to all
you folks out there who contribute in so many ways.
If you have a couple hours a week, and would like to
help out, please email us at: mai...@gsenet.org

George-Therese Dickenson - Editor - dick...@gsenet.org
Ivan Kossak - Executive Director - kos...@gsenet.org

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Back issues of the Garden State EnviroNews are available at
http://www.gsenet.org/library/11gsn/11gsn.php

EnviroNews mailing lists:
TOC - subscribe-en...@gselist.org
TEXT - subscribe-en...@gselist.org
HTML - subscribe-en...@gselist.org

Garden State EnviroNet, Inc.
19 Boonton Ave, Boonton NJ 07005
Tel: 973-394-1313 - Fax: 973-394-9513
mai...@gsenet.org - http://www.gsenet.org/

0 new messages