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Did The Gov. Do A Pringle On Sweeney and Burzichelli?

Paulsboro Marine Terminal - Gone with the Wind?

[Update: 9/6/12 – While we’re on the topic, here’s another outrageous abuse by Waldo:  Is this any way to treat a ‘Jersey Girl’ who has sights set on higher office? –

“That’s representative of what’s happening in the state and why someone has to run against the machine,’’ Codey said.

end update.]

Governor Christie’s so called support of wind power has gotten lots of media play recently – but I’m curious about an aspect of the story that hasn’t been included in the coverage.

The recent media frenzy was sparked when Senate President Sweeney and Assemblyman Burzichelli (Chair of the Regulatory Oversight Committee) held a press conference at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal to blast the Governor’s failure to follow through on wind commitments.

Senate President Sweeney has cut major political deals with Christie, while Burzichelli has served on the Christie “Red Tape Commission” and rammed the Administration’s regulatory rollback bills through his Committee.

These efforts were deeply unpopular among fellow Democrats.

Was that political support related to Gov. Christie’s promise to develop wind jobs in their District at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal?

If so, did they get Pringled? 

I typically ignore purely partisan attack stories, but I guess it was the absurd headline in last week’s Philadeplphia Inquirer story that caught my eye and sparked interest:  2 years after Christie’s call for green era, little has changed

Christie called for a Green Era? Who knew!

Anyone paying attention had to know that the only “green” Gov. Christie cares about is money and manicured lawns (and helicopter landing pads).

The public policy story on wind was repeatedly told by Tom Johnson at NJ Spotlight – where Tom’s superb coverage made it abundantly clear that the Gov. had no real interest in financing or subsidizing wind at the expense of his business cronies.

At the outset of the whole thing, I was highly dubious of the greenscam, if only given the quote of Dave Pringle in the the August 2010 initial coverage: Gov. Chris Christie signs offshore wind power bill .

But even that optimistic story put the economic subsidy issue front and center.

In that original bill signing story, Christie equated a government role in renewable energy  to hostage taking  and the business community put out the B word, as in $$ BILLIONS:

“Over the long haul, what I’m really concerned about is that we continue to hold ratepayers hostage to energy creation which is much more volatile in terms of its prices. What it will ultimately cost ratepayers is open to question still, but we’re going to be working to make it as efficient and effective as we can.” [Gov. Christie said]

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association estimates $7 billion to $14 billion in integration costs will be passed onto ratepayers, predicting an exodus of businesses already stressed by high utility bills, high taxes and a recession.

So in my mind, with the business community deploying that spin (exodus! taxes! recession!) and the Governor’s energy policy and environmental regulatory policy already in place, the wind was blowing nowhere – it was all just political smoke.

So, the questions I want answered are:

• Was all that wind just the smoke the Gov. blew up Sweeney’s ass?
• And did Sweeney get Pringled?

Trenton NJ protest against Christie budget (May 22, 2010)

Another controversial deal - Trenton Protest (June 23, 2011)

Wind Plays Role, But Nutrient Pollution From Human Activity Major Cause

We can’t control the wind, but we sure can reduce pollution loadings

(Source: NJDEP)

[Update: 9/10/12 – Here is DEP science the press office ought to read: Estuarine Algal Conditions – Status and Trends

In general, algal blooms tend to occur in areas with nutrient over-enrichment. In the long term, efforts to reduce anthropogenic nutrient loads to New Jersey’s coastal waters, combined with a better understanding of the effects of meteoro- logical and oceanographic conditions, should help us minimize the occurrence of algal blooms.

I just posted this as an update to Science Meets Politics at the Jersey Shore, but given the significance, this warrants its own post.

The DEP press office just can’t stop spinning, lying, and attacking critics.

This time its about the causes of algae blooms.

And this is not an honest good faith philosophical debate  about causality (Aristotle: final, efficient, formal, material)

It’s about lies, spin to downplay problems, and attempts to discredit critics.

This is old news, but I just came across this August 23 story by NBC TV news – What’s causing smelly beaches in New Jersey?

Here is what the best science says about the causes of marine algae blooms, which is what is causing the smelly beaches (from a NOAA Report to Congress): (this is on harmful algae blooms, a subset of algae blooms least related to human pollution)

Here is what Sierra Club said caused the problem – note the “100% wrong” with “no scientific basis” attack  by DEP –

The head of the New Jersey Sierra Club believes pollution from overdevelopment, sprawl, and combined sewer overflow are to blame for the algae bloom. But the State DEP says those claims are 100-percent wrong, made with no scientific basis and that the bloom was completely unpreventable.

DEP claims that WIND caused the algae bloom:

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says it’s the result of an algae bloom spotted offshore within the past day from Manasquan inlet to the Seaside Area and that it poses no health risks to humans.

Officials say the bloom was caused by winds drawing up water from the bottom of the ocean that provided nutrients for the algae.

Memo to DEP –

While it is technically correct to say that the wind effects algae blooms by “drawing up water from the bottom of the ocean that provides nutrients“, this is only a partial, highly selective, and highly misleading statement, and certainly does not support your attack on Tittel.

The majority of nutrients that spur the growth of the algae are put in the system by human activity – i.e. are pollution: sewage treatment plants, combined sewer overflows, storm water runoff, and atmospheric deposition.

Human activity increases the severity of a natural phenomenon.

The wind merely moves the nutrients around – the wind does not “cause” the algae bloom, the excessive nutrients do.

That’s like saying the sun causes the bloom! (or that sunlight causes ground evel ozone (smog).

We can’t control the wind or the sun, but we sure can reduce pollution loadings and other harmful human activities that contribute to the problem.

[Update: I was using the ground level ozone issue here as another example of where weather interacts with man made pollution.

Obviously, the problem is the air pollution, not the weather. But, I’ll be damned, DEP relies too heavily on uncontrollable weather on that issue too! This is the polluters’ line! Here it is in DEP’s “Status and Trends Report” on ground level ozone:

The reason DEP is blaming the weather is stated clearly by DEP –

This question is important because the answer will determine whether  existing control measures are leading to improvements or whether more stringent approaches will be necessary to bring New Jersey into consistent compliance with air-quality standards.

So, the polluters are obviously arguing to DEP that additional regulatory control measures will be ineffective because the problem is driven by the weather! The DEP is now laying the groundwork to support that argument.

Will Cuomo Sell Out to the Frackers?

Will professionals at NY DEC stand up for scientific integrity and the public interest, or allow politicians and industry lobbyists to approve the EIS?

"Father Knows Best"

Last Monday (8/27/12), I traveled up to Albany NY to join the “Don’t Frack NY” protest, calling on Governor Cuomo to block fracking in the Empire State – ground zero in the anti-fracking activism debate.

In addition to the well placed focus on Gov. Cuomo, perhaps the most important development in this protest was the tremendous outpouring of support for a pledge to resist, should Cuomo allow fracking in NY.

Over 3,200 people pledged to actively resist any fracking. Support for resistance is a hugely important and completely unreported aspect of the anti-fracking movement.

My ties to NY are deep and lasting. I love the place.

I am a native of New York, who grew up on the magnificent Hudson River. As a kid, I vacationed in the glorious Catskill and Adirondack Mountains and swam in pristine lakes.

I went to college in NY’s “southern tier” at SUNY Binghamton and grad school in the Finger Lakes at Cornell, high above Cayuga’s waters, incredible places now targeted as fracking “sacrifice zones”.

In a deeply depressing irony, my Master’s Thesis topic was “Local Land Use Controls To Protect Groundwater Resources” in vulnerable river valley aquifers, primarily to prevent contamination from toxic chemicals.

Thirty years later, that is exactly what fracking intentionally does – fracking injects millions of gallons of a toxic chemical soup deep underground!

That thesis work focused on the Southern Tier and I worked with a woman planner with the Southern Tier Regional Planning Board out of Horseheads NY.

Amazingly, 30 years later, a woman scientist from Horseheads spoke at the rally.

My head explodes thinking about it, so I’ll stop writing now and simply post some photos of an outstanding and important event.

Fracktivists converge on the NY DEC Building. Think DEC got the message? Will the professionals there stand up for independence and scientific integrity, or allow politicians and industry lobbyists to approve the EIS?