Environment - NJ

Cutting Emissions
At least 10 states cut emissions from power plants by 30 percent or more between 2005 and 2012.

By The New York Times
Source: Georgetown Climate Center

nytimes.com - by JUSTIN GILLIS and MICHAEL WINES - June 6, 2014

The cries of protest have been fierce, warning that President Obama’s plan to cut greenhouse gases from power plants will bring soaring electricity bills and even plunge the nation into blackouts. . .

. . . Yet cuts on the scale Mr. Obama is calling for — a 30 percent reduction in emissions from the nation’s electricity industry by 2030 — have already been accomplished in parts of the country.

At least 10 states cut their emissions by that amount or more between 2005 and 2012, and several other states were well on their way, almost two decades before Mr. Obama’s clock for the nation runs out.

A Christie administration plan would allow tons of contaminated soil to be dumped on private land along the Rahway River. Credit Richard Perry/The New York Times

nytimes.com - by Michael Powell - February 24, 2014

. . . Decades ago, American Cyanamid ruined this wetlands expanse, once home to rich oyster beds, with cyanide-contaminated sludge, the chemical detritus of the past century.

Years ago, it was partially cleaned and covered with a few feet of topsoil. . .

. . . The Christie administration has another idea for this land. It appears poised to let a company, Soil Safe, truck in millions of tons of petroleum-contaminated soils and dump it on this site, which lies directly west of Staten Island and the Arthur Kill.

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mycentraljersey.com - by Ken Serrano - May 31, 2013

FEMA will post searchable versions on its website soon

Sandy victims left hanging by what many have termed FEMA’s confusing and unfair preliminary flood maps will likely have final answers in the coming weeks.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to post searchable maps on its website for homeowners to use to determine their true flood zone and how high they may need to raise their homes to qualify for the best flood insurance rates. Barring any successful challenges, that information will eventually set flood insurance premiums, which won’t go into effect for another 18 months.

FEMA’s working flood maps will be rolled out to coastal counties one by one in mid- to late-June, said Bill McDonnell, the mitigation branch director for FEMA’s Region II, which covers New Jersey.

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Photo by Fred R. Conrad/ The New York Times

nytimes.com - Peter Applebome - February 22,2013

HIGHLANDS, N.J. — If not for the most deadly natural disaster in American history, in Texas, and an innovative response to it, more than a century ago, one might briskly consign the proposal to save this oft-flooded borough at the northern end of the Jersey Shore to the realm of pigs with wings.

But four months after Hurricane Sandy almost obliterated downtown Highlands, an unlikely idea with one enormous historical antecedent seems to be taking hold here: Don’t just raise the buildings. Raise the town.