WolfeNotes.com

I’m a weekend bicycle warrior – here’s recent pics from my favorite loop. Rolling Hunterdon County hills and historic hamlets. Scenic vistas, pubs and bookstores line the route. Check it out:
Start in Ringoes

Stop for Water in Sergeantsville

Go Slow through Rosemont

Back down to the River at Prallsville Mills

Stop in Stockton

Lumber down to Lambertville

Up Rt. 179 hill and 5 miles to home!

Governor Corzine’s call today for Clinton to stay in the VP hunt prompts me to re-post this July 7, 2007 post:

Salon is running a story today about a rumored Obama Vice-Presidential running mate, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
I don’t normally pay attention to this kind of stuff, but it is important to note that Sebelius exercised enormous leadership on global warming by being the first to deny air pollution permits to two new coal power plants, on the basis of global warming.
At Yale, Sebelius stood in stark contrast to NJ Governor Corzine, who talks a good game on global warming, but has yet to back that up with action.

According to Salon:
“But Sebelius can hit the liberal high notes on issues ranging from abortion rights (as a pro-choice Catholic she has battled with social conservatives for years) to the environment. In May, she vetoed for the third time legislation that would permit the construction of two coal-fired electric power plans in southwestern Kansas. “The reason it was so newsworthy is that this was the first time that a coal plant was rejected solely because of carbon emissions,” says Parkinson, who as lieutenant governor oversees energy policy. Even though critics predictably claimed that Sebelius was costing Kansas jobs with her go-green environmental stance, the governor had political cover, since 86 percent of the electricity that would be produced by the coal plants would flow to other states.”
Obama veepstakes: The other woman
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/07/sebelius/
Corzine has yet to come forward with a plan to implement the emission reduction goals of his highly touted Global Warming Response Act – see:
Corzine Missed First Global Warming Deadline
http://www.nj.com/njvoices/index.ssf/2008/07/corzine_missed_first_global_wa.html

Corzine supports new nuclear plants and did not publicly oppose a controversial plan by PSEG to export NJ produced power to NY City. See:
Saturday Nuke News
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/03/saturday_nuke_news.html

Corzine seems enthralled by the Legislature and paralyzed by the business community’s lies that environmental protection is costing NJ jobs. See:
A cruel hoax – on many levels
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/07/a_cruel_hoax_on_many_levels.html

Corzine needs to get closer to Sebelius on jobs, environment, energy exports, and global warming policies – especially on how to use regulatory tools and on how to stand up to the Legislature -
A VETO of THE PERMIT EXTENSION ACT bill now on your desk would be a good first step!.

“These scandals seem to occur as corporate influence comes to dominate the policy agenda and industry interests seek to roll back environmental protections from the inside of government.“
~~~ Bill Wolfe
Today’s news regarding EPA’s most recent in a long series of abuses to supress gobal warming science recalls corruption and environmental crimes of the Reagan Administration. According to the Bergen Record:
Lautenberg wants EPA chief to step down
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/environmentnews/Lautenberg_wants_EPA_chief_to_step_down.html
But Senate leaders have gone far beyond that and seek criminal investigation of EPA. According to the Washington Post and Guardian of London:
Democratic senators call for investigation of US environmental agency
Elana Schor in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday July 29 2008
Amid intensifying scrutiny of the US environmental protection agency’s (EPA) refusal to act on climate change, four Democratic senators today asked federal prosecutors to investigate the EPA chief for alleged perjury and obstruction of Congress.
The call for a justice department probe of EPA administrator Stephen Johnson – coupled with a plea for his resignation from Democrats – follows a darkening cloud of controversy surrounding the agency.
“Johnson’s EPA has shown an extraordinary disregard for the law,” Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate environment committee, told reporters today.
“It’s unlawful, the things they have done. And by extension, they’ve shown a disregard for the people that we represent and for all the American people.”
The EPA has refused repeated requests from Congress to explain its December denial of California’s request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a move that overruled the agency’s own career scientists.
In response to the California controversy, the EPA told employees not to talk to internal auditors, Congress or the media, according to a leaked email released yesterday by green campaigners.
In the June 16 email, obtained by the campaign group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), the EPA told its officials not to answer questions on pollution enforcement – even those from the agency’s in-house auditors.
“If you are contacted directly by the [auditors'] office or [congressional investigators] requesting information of any kind … please do not respond to questions or make any statements,” the email said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/29/usa.carbonemissions
This is not the first time that EPA has been the focus of political scandal and investigation. These scandals seem to occur as corporate influence comes to dominate the policy agenda and industry interests seek to roll back environmental protections from inside of government.
To all government officials out there – this is not the legacy and epitaph you want:
Anne Gorsuch Burford, 62, Dies; Reagan EPA Director
By Patricia Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 22, 2004; Page B06
Anne M. Gorsuch Burford, 62, the Environmental Protection Agency director who resigned under fire in 1983 during a scandal over mismanagement of a $1.6 billion program to clean up hazardous waste dumps, died of cancer July 18 at Aurora Medical Center in Colorado.
Her 22-month tenure was one of the most controversial of the early Reagan administration. A firm believer that the federal government, and specifically the EPA, was too big, too wasteful and too restrictive of business, Ms. Burford cut her agency’s budget by 22 percent. She boasted that she reduced the thickness of the book of clean water regulations from six inches to a half-inch.
Republicans and Democrats alike accused Ms. Burford of dismantling her agency rather than directing it to aggressively protect the environment. They pointed to budgets cuts for research and enforcement, to steep declines in the number of cases filed against polluters, to efforts to relax portions of the Clean Air Act, to an acceleration of federal approvals for the spraying of restricted pesticides and more. Her agency tried to set aside a 30-by-40-mile rectangle of ocean due east of the Delaware-Maryland coast where incinerator ships would burn toxic wastes at 1,200 degrees centigrade.
Ms. Burford was forced to resign after she was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over Superfund records, arguing that they were protected by executive privilege. Ms. Burford acted under President Ronald Reagan’s orders, with the advice of the Justice Department and against her own recommendation, her colleagues told the press at the time. A few months later, in what one of her aides called a “cold-blooded, treacherous act of political callousness,” the Justice Department announced it would no longer represent her because it was involved in investigations into corruption at the EPA.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3418-2004Jul21.html
Contrast that tawdry legacy with the Official Spin on Burford:
Anne M. Gorsuch (Burford)
Biography
[EPA press release - May 20, 1981]
http://www.epa.gov/history/admin/agency/gorsuch.htm
Rita Lavelle Reports Motive for Grant Delay
Published: April 8, 1985
Rita M. Lavelle, former assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency’s toxic waste fund, says she now recalls being told that the agency delayed awarding a grant for political reasons.
Miss Lavelle, dismissed from her E.P.A. post two years ago, was interviewed last week in Washington, D.C.
Miss Lavelle said Anne McGill Burford, who headed the agency, wanted in mid-1982 to delay the cleanup grant for the Stringfellow toxic waste dump in Riverside County.
She added Mrs. Burford feared that Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. might get the credit if the cleanup plan were successful, and she did not want to help his bid for the Senate. Governor Brown was defeated.
Mrs. Burford, who resigned two years ago, testified at a Congressional hearing that she delayed the Stringfellow grant because she had some doubts whether it fully complied with E.P.A.’s regulations.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CEFDF1338F93BA35757C0A963948260
Contrast the tawdry reality with the Official spin on Lavelle:
Rita M. Lavelle
Biography
[EPA press release - February 18, 1982]
http://www.epa.gov/history/admin/oswer/lavelle.htm

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.
~~~~ Thomas Jefferson http://www.bartleby.com/73/1065.html
Talk that way today, and you’re likely to get your phone tapped and email read, or end up on some domestic watch list. Most folks simply have have lost touch with the essential elements of patriotism, citizenship, and the need for organized activism and dissent. Folks forget that the major shifts in US history – the abolition of slavery; the elimination of child labor and the sweatshop and establishment of the 8 hour work day; women’s suffrage; social security; civil rights; the end of the Vietnam War; the environmental movement; and equal rights for gays – all came from the demands of organized and often angry or violent citizen protest movements. These were not gifts handed down from on high by “leaders” (”deciders”) or charismatic political candidates that mouth platitudes like “change we can believe in”.
Flag waving, lapel pins, bumper stickers, talk radio and blogging have replaced “the efforts of an aroused group of citizens”

But the spirit in which I came of age wasn’t so cowed – on yesterday’s bike ride, I came across this telling memorial that suggests what we need a whole lot more of if we are to end the Bush imperial project and restore a semblance of constitutional democracy. It reads:
“Green Sergeant’s Bridge – This is the last public covered bridge in New Jersey. It was erected in 1872 on abutments dating back to colonial times. Damaged in 1960, the superstructure of this bridge was completely dismantled and removed to make way for a conventional span. However, in 1961, as the result of the efforts of an aroused group of citizens, the State of New Jersey, using the materials of the original covered brudge, fully restored this link with the past.”

How many communities have to be poisoned and criminal convictions have to occur before common sense prevails?

In a little noticed but what could be a major story, on Friday the Trenton Times reported that:
“A contractor who dumped more than 400 loads of contaminated soil from Trenton at a farm in Moorestown and tried to conceal the disposal with false documents was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison.”
Man gets jail time for dumping tainted soil
Friday, July 25, 2008
BY LINDA STEIN
http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1216958750310050.xml&coll=5
A key fact buried in the story is that neither DEP nor State DOT detected the crime:
“A tip made to the Burlington County Health Department prompted the investigation.”
We have written about significant problems due to lax State oversight of the illegal disposal of toxic contaminated soils, most recently in a Bergen Record Op-Ed:
“Playing with dirty dirt.

Bill Wolfe

Contractors imported thousands of cubic yards of toxic sludge, contaminated soil and highly questionable “recyclable materials” that were used as clean fill or landfill-capping material. This made existing toxic problems at the site far worse. Press reports disclosed that DEP lacked even a basic ability to monitor contaminated materials imported to the site.

A similar lack of DEP oversight at the cleanup of the Ford plant in Edison resulted in PCB-contaminated soils and demolition debris being used as clean fill at 19 housing projects in central New Jersey.

These same practices not only continue across our state; they are encouraged and subsidized by DEP.
We are spending millions of dollars to clean up toxic soils, only to allow scam operators to “launder” and dump them in someone else’s backyard. This is insane. These materials require strict management to ensure they are safely handled.”
Recapping a fiasco
http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/moreviews/Wolfe_Recapping_a_fiasco.html

Lax oversight of contaminated toxic soils has cost taxpayers millions in the Encap fiasco, where the Star Ledger reported that funds from a DEP $212 million loan were used to purchase contaminated soils that may have been part of a mafia kickback scheme. See:
Mob taint suspected in EnCap project
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2008/07/mob_taint_suspected_in_encap_p.html

Importation of toxic soils forced demolition of the partially built Martin Luther King, Jr. elementary school in Trenton, at a $27 million loss to taxpayers.
Similarly, PCB contaminated soil from a DEP “supervised” cleanup at the Ford plant in Edison was used as “clean fill” at 19 residential construction sites in central NJ. The PCB tainted soil had to be excavated and properly disposed at a cost of millions. This fiasco triggered legislative oversight hearings, where we warned DEP and legislators of the need to “impose cradle-to-grave management requirements for contaminated soils and demolition waste“. (See:
LEGISLATURE TO PROBE TOXIC COLLAPSE IN NEW JERSEY — Series of Cleanup Fiascoes Have Communities Feeling Betrayed and Vulnerable
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=694

Yet despite the loss of millions of taxpayer dollars, significant risks to health and the environment, and a widespread ongoing pattern of fraud and abuse that is enabled by lax DEP regulatory oversight, DEP and Legislature have done NOTHING to tighten oversight, monitoring or enforcement to fix the problems that have been exposed.
Worse, the Corzine Administration, backed by democratic legislators, is seeking to privatize toxic site cleanup, which would further weaken already lax DEP oversight and lead to even more serious scandals. See:
NEW JERSEY MODEL FOR PRIVATIZED TOXIC CLEAN-UPS FAILS AUDITS — Serious Violations Found in More than Two-Thirds of Audited Massachusetts Sites
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1034
How many communities have to be poisoned and criminal convictions have to occur before common sense prevails?

Response to today’s Op-Ed:
“Wrong to Pick On Highlands Master Plan”
(and just who is the bully and who is being picked on here?)
Last week, the Highlands Council approved a controversial Regional Master Plan (RMP). The vote finally came many months past the deadline established in the Highlands Act. But after more than 3 years of planning, just minutes prior to the final vote on the RMP, a series of major amendments were introduced by 3 Council members to strengthen the Plan and fix significant flaws. These amendments were defeated, with little discussion or staff analysis. As a result, environmentalists are petitioning Governor Corzine to Veto the Council’s actions and direct them to remedy the RMP’s flaws.
Today, in the midst of this highly charged debate, John Weingart – the politically appointed Chairman of the Highlands Council – has written an extraordinary Op-Ed. Weingart, in classic “blame the messenger” fashion, does not focus on defending the Plan he voted for, but instead engages in a fact free attack on environmental critics of the Plan. See:
“Wrong to Pick on Highland Master Plan”
http://www.nj.com/opinion/ledger/perspective/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1217219910231620.xml&coll=1
Of course, Weingart has direct access to the Governor and therefore had no need to take to the editorial pages to get his opinion injected into policy decisions..
From someone with Weingart’s responsibilities and expertise – he not only serves as Chairman of the Council but has an extensive background in land use planning and environmental regulation – one would expect not only leadership and vision, but substantive analysis and opinions based on science and law, not pure politics.
But one’s reasonable expectations would be dashed by reading Weingart’s Op-Ed.
Weingart makes three basic assertions – each a sweeping conclusion with no supporting evidence:
1) environmentalists politicize policy debates, mount political campaigns, and have significant political power and influence, equivalent to that of developers and the business community;
2) “[The] Highlands Council … adopted the most environmentally-protective, comprehensive regional master plan in the state’s history. It is a model for the rest of the nation.”;
3) “the Highlands Plan is already more protective than required by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. … municipal officials complained the plan will allow little, if any, additional building; farmers argued the plan will severely limit their ability to sell their farms to housing developers.”
That’s all folks – really. Not a fact, a law, or a policy or planning analysis in any of it. Totally devoid of substance.
But it’s worse – Weingart’s attack knowingly ignores and is designed to divert attention from the debate over the substance of the RMP; the purpose of last minute amendments that were defeated; or the essence of the environmentalists’ criticism.
Obvioulsy, Weingart can not defend the indefensible – like allowing new development to occur where there are existing deficits in water supply; or dense “cluster” developments that destroy the character of surrounding farmland and pollute groundwater; or destruction of forests and sensitive stream buffers.
Mr. Weingart – a self described “environmentalist” – doesn’t want to talk about any of that.
So, for readers interested in the debate on the RMP – here is a link to the letter to Governor Corzine that sets forth the grounds of the environmentalists’ criticism and basis for amendments to the Plan:
Download file
With respect to the amendments, Dave Pringle of the NJ Environmental Federation – a target of Weingart’s attack – has posted a summary of the amendments. According to Dave:
“The 11 votes were:
1 ban on development in water deficit areas (amendment 1)
2 further restrict development in water deficit areas (alternate amendment 1)
3 close all loopholes limiting 300′ buffers for all Highlands waters (amendment 3a)
4 close fewer loopholes to strong stream buffers (amendment 3b)
5 close some loopholes to strong stream buffers when developing farmland (amendment 4)
6 require background level nitrate standard (amendment 5)
7 require a less strict but still strict (2 ppm) nitrate standard (amendment 6)
8 eliminate inclusion of open space in septic density calculation (amendment 8a)
9 require stronger nitrate standards in Existing Community Zones (amendment 8b)
10 limit map adjustments (amendment 11)
11 adopt final plan
The pro-env., pro-public health position prevailed on only the 2nd and 8th votes and even then barely so and in watered down forms.”
I have posted several substantive critiques of the RMP, most recently this – if this DEP standard to protect groundwater from septic is legally overruled by the Courts, the RMP would suffer a fatal blow:
NJ Farmers threaten your water supply
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/07/nj_farmers_threaten_your_water.html
Back in February, I posted an analysis of the November 2007 draft Plan – however, since then, some revisions of the Plan have ben made that address my specific criticisms, so this analysis is no longer current or accurate. Similarly, since February, additional flaws in th Plan have been identified:
Potemkin Plan – Highlands Plan an empty shell
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/02/potemkin_plan_highlands_plan_a.html
The bottom line: serious discourse on protecting the Highlands is frustrated when appointed leaders like Weingart abdicate their leadership roles and engage in specious attacks on environmentalists.
And is is outrageous when the little substance that is injected in the debate comes not from well staffed expert government organizations like DEP and the Highlands Council, but from caring citizens and volunteer efforts of watchdogs like myself.
[Update #1 - unfortunately, we have a pattern of Weingart lashing out at critics - on February 12, 2008, I wrote:
"An absolute donnybrook (I'm an old hockey player, and I haven't heard that word used in ages) erupted after Council Chairman John Weingart opened the hearing. Weingart went on the offensive and took the highly unusual step of reading a press release by the Highlands Council. The press release chastised the public - primarily the environmental critics of the RMP - for 7 "misconceptions" of the controversial plan."
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/02/water_wars.html
Weingart was wrong in Feb. because specific changes have been made to the Plan to fix what he misleading claimed were public "misconceptions". end Update]

Awesome boulders, vernal pools, and quiet sun dappled forested trails make the Sourland Mountain Nature Preserve in East Amwell an ideal afternoon adventure – especially for kids of all ages. Be sure to check out the boulder area, and consult trail maps (or bring a compass), because it’s easy to get off the (poorly marked) trails exploring the spectacular rock formations.
“The Sourland Mountains are steeped in mysticism and history. Some say compasses do not work in these hills; others say the mountains are haunted. John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, hid in these hills while fleeing from the British during the Revolutionary War. The Lindbergh Estate, the site of the famous baby kidnapping-murder, is an adjacent property.”
http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/depts/parks/guides/Sourland.htm
Lets take a look:

End your hike a mile down the road for beers at Hillbilly Hall!!

As he returns to NJ from a week in Israel, Governor Jon Corzine is faced with major decisions on the environment. These decisions will define his legacy on environmental issues and set the stage for any political endorsements by environmental groups in the 2009 gubernatorial campaign.
Here they are in order of timing – most immediate first:
1. The Permit Extension Act was passed by both houses of the Legislature on June 30 and is on the Governor’s desk and must be acted on in 45 days. The bill is vigorously opposed by environmentalists who are seeking a veto. The bill would do absolutely nothing to address real economic hardships and financial market problems caused by the sub-prime mortage disaster and collapse of the housing market and construction industry. Yet, by automatically extending long expired old approvals, it would lock in builders to antiquated development plans and frustrate major environmental goals, such as global warming and water supply protection, that require new designs and environmental controls. See: http://www.nj.com/njvoices/index.ssf/2008/07/a_cruel_hoax_on_many_levels.html
2. Highlands Master Plan - The Highlands Council approved a controversial Regional Master Plan last week. The Governor has 30 days to either veto it and send it back to the Council for more work, or accept it. Environmentalists are seeking a veto. See: Download file
3. Clean Water Funds In June, the legislature passed bills re-authorizing and appropriating $550 million for clean water infrastructure projects. This is the same DEP program that provided a $212 million mostly unsecured loan to the Encap Meadowlands project that recently filed for bankruptcy. As a result of weaknesses in the law and lax DEP oversight, taxpayers have lost at least $60 million as a result, and recent press reports suggest Mafia involvement. Environmentalists are urging the Governor to conditionally veto the bill to a) prohibit funding of private development projects; and b) strengthen safeguards, loan standards, and DEP oversight to respond to the major flaws in Inspector General Cooper’s Report. See: Legislature clears loans for water cleanup – Some of $550 million will fund private firms http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1214886981327450.xml&coll=1
4. Global Warming Plans – The Corzine Administration failed to meet the first major statutory milestone in implementing the emission reduction goals of the highly touted Global Warming Response Act. A June 30th legal deadline for producing a plan identifying the legislative and regulatory “measures necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” will not be met until September at the earliest. NJ will miss the first auction in September to sell pollution allowances under the 10 northeastern states’ Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). At the same time, Corzine has supported new nuclear plants and an Energy Plan that fails to make regulatory commitments and investments to promote energy efficiency, expand renewable power, phase out coal power, restrict coal based electric imports, ban power exports to NYC, retro-fit exisiting buildings, and reduce current greenhouse gas emissions. See:
Corzine misses global warming deadline
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/NEWS01/80702035/1006
The Governor clearly has his work cut out for him – and these are only the most pressing decisions he must make. This does not consider unfinished business and commitments to other major initiatives, such as 1) enforcing environmental justice, 2) release of the long overdue Water Supply Plan; 3) abandoning his scheme to privatize the cleanup of toxic sites; 4) renewal of Garden State Preservation Trust funding for open space preservation, historic, and recreational resources; and 5) derailing the massive campaign by the NJ Builders Association to rollback local land use and environmental laws.
Corzine’s legacy will be determined by September.