Jeff Pillets Schools His Colleagues At NJ Spotlight In Pinelands Story
Corporate Foundation Money And Faux Green Spin Does Not Shape His Tough Reporting
I have been a harsh critic of NJ Spotlight’s Wm. Penn Foundation funded series on the Delaware watershed.
I rarely praise journalists, but today’s NJ Spotlight story on the Pinelands by NJ’s best investigative reporter Jeff Pillets was superb (with just four important omissions). Read the whole thing:
Pillets schooled his Spotlight colleagues on how to write an environmental story, integrate planning and regulation with political accountability, and not get spun by lame bullshit from compromised sources (but inclusion of Doug O’Malley – who does very little in the Pinelands – was disappointing. Too bad Spotlight editors didn’t give Pillets the Highlands story too, or even the entire series – but that should tell you something. No way Wm. Penn would have allowed that!).
The issues Pillets failed to get fully fleshed out, completely right or omitted were:
1) The Pinelands CMP lacks any standards or requirements or scientific monitoring to address the climate emergency.
The Commission pledged to amend the CMP to address climate almost 9 years ago, but has yet to act on that pledge. They are currently considering a very modest climate policy proposal under the leadership of Commissioner Lohbauer, but it is weak and seems to be going nowhere.
2) The Pinelands Commission recently approved DEP’s logging plan, to cut and remove 90-95% of trees (a virtual clearcut) over 1,400 acres (2.4 million trees) plus an additional 13 road miles of 100 foot wide clearcut for a “firebreak”.
The DEP’s plan was based on a sham “carbon defense” climate strategy (you must log the forest to save the forest) and had no justification in terms of reducing wildfire risks.
That DEP proposal exposed the fact that the Commission lacks adequately scientifically trained staff in forestry, wildfire, and climate and that the CMP lacks adequate standards to protect forests and maximize the sequestration and storage of carbon. Commission staff Chuck Horner openly admitted this on the public record.
Commissioner Lohbauer opposed and criticized the DEP plan and noted that it was rushed to avoid an upcoming CMP plan amendment to establish a new “no net loss” of trees policy. That needs media coverage, public awareness and support as well.
3) The Pinelands Commission (and the Murphy DEP) rejected a petition for rulemaking to amend the CMP to restrict new development in mapped extreme wildfire risks locations and require additional fireproofing for existing development.
It was extremely revealing that the so called “advocates” (i.e. the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, NJ Conservation Foundation, and NJ Chapter of Sierra Club) actively publicly SUPPORTED the DEP logging plan, which was purported to be justified by reducing wildfire risks, but did NOTHING to support the petition to amend the CMP to limit new development to reduce wildfire risks.
4) The story mentioned the risks from toxic waste sites, but failed to mention the recent Pinelands Commission scientific study of the ecological impacts of endocrine disruptors.
That research project was funded, in part, by the Wm. Penn Foundation and it downplayed the impacts of endocrine disruptors and actively masked that class of chemicals by using euphemisms and obscure terms.
I’ve written about all these issues in detail, so if you’re interested, use the word search box in the upper right to read those posts. I’ll backfill with links to this as soon as I can – I have a very slow internet connection right now.
I sent my friend Mr. Pillets this note of praise (which I rarely do):
Pillets – fine job! You got it exactly right. I appreciated stress on the role of regulation and the “Trenton threat”.
Almost bust a gut on reading that PPA “has been” an advocate! Hahahaha! Jason is the real deal, unlike his scumbag boss Carleton.
BTW, I lived in cabin where John McPhee lived and wrote for 17 years – his X, Pryde Brown still lives on the place, a gorgeous farm and forest on a ridge in West Amwell (Hunterdon) – 23 Gulick Road. When I was at DEP, I was sure to get the stream behind the place designated Category One (Alexauken Creek).
Wolfe