Enviro Bills Released from Committee Today

The following environmental legislation was released from various committees today, February 3, 2020.

Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee

A2371 (Kennedy/Pinkin): Requires large food waste generators to separate and recycle food waste and amends definition of “Class I renewable energy.”

“This legislation will help curb New Jersey’s food waste problem. We currently waste between 30-40% of our food supply each year. Requiring large food waste generators to compost food will help get this debris out of the waste stream and out of landfills. Food waste also gives off methane as it decomposes in landfills, and it can spoil recyclables when it is mixed in. Collecting compostables separately and taking it to a composter or biodigester will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will also turn this food waste into useful products like fertilizer,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are glad that this legislation does not include sending food to incinerators. We are concerned, however, that biogas is defined as a Class I renewable energy because biogas releases greenhouse gases and is not renewable.”

According to the NRDC, an estimated 40 percent of food produced in the US is wasted every year. This adds up to about 62.5 million tons, costing households, businesses and farms about $218 billion annually. Also wasted were the resources that went into producing the food, including 25 percent of all freshwater consumed, 31 percent of total carbon emissions, and 80 million acres of farmland used in the US according to the EPA.

“This bill will help get food waste out of landfills and reduce methane emissions. However, defining biogas as a Class I renewable energy is not accurate. Biogas releases greenhouse gases because it requires burning, and it is not renewable because it is generated from waste. Class I renewables should be forms of energy that are actually renewable, like solar, wind, waves, and geothermal. We believe that biogas should be defined as a different form of energy, perhaps Class II or something else. Class I renewable energy should continue to define forms of clean, renewable energy that do not produce greenhouse gases,” said Tittel. “We also need education programs to help reduce the amount of food waste that goes into our landfills each year.”

A1089 (Murphy/Conaway): Prohibits dumping dredge spoils on and around islands without municipal approval.

“We need this bill because it gives municipalities a say in plans regarding the dumping of dredged materials on islands that the municipalities control. Right now, communities are getting dumped on by dredging and this bill gives them a say into what happens. The people and leaders of these communities have the right to protect their land from the toxic destruction of this dredging. Places up and down the Delaware River are being dumped on, like Burlington Island,” said Jeff Tittel. “This legislation will allow cities to say ‘no’ to this dumping on their own land that hurts open space and the environment.”

Dredging, or the act of removal of sediments and debris from the bottom of water bodies, is often focused on maintaining or increasing navigation channels, anchorages, or berthing areas. Sediments in and around cities and industrial areas are frequently contaminated with a variety of pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxin. Pollutants are introduced from point sources like sewer overflows, municipal and industrial discharges, and spills.

“This legislation will help municipalities protect their drinking water and open spaces. Towns in New Jersey deserve the right to stop dumping on their own public land. These dumped dredge materials not only smell bad, but also pollute the groundwater and the river. We need to make sure our public land stays clean and open for all of us to enjoy,” said Tittel. “These parks belong to all of us, and we have to work to protect them. They are our legacy – not a dumping ground.”

A2369 (Pinkin): Requires environmental sustainability plan for State House Complex. The plan would encourage water and energy conservation, green building technology, and carbon pollution reductions.  This plan would improve the environment while saving taxpayer money.

“This bill is a step in the right direction to save us money and energy in the long-run. However, many of these programs for green building and blue roofs should be required as part of building codes in governmental expenditures, not offered as suggestions.  We have not updated our building codes in more than seven years. The administration and Legislature have robbed the Clean Energy Fund which could help pay for a lot of this work to balance the budget,” said Jeff Tittel.

A1993 (Pinkin/Benson): Requires developers to offer electric vehicle charging stations as an option in certain new home construction.

“This legislation will save ratepayers and homeowners money by making sure new homes are wired to allow for electric vehicle charging stations to be installed. This will make it easier for people to access EV infrastructure, and will encourage more EV use in our state. Over 45% of our greenhouse gases in New Jersey come from automobiles, but these emissions can easily be cut by implementing EV technology. We also need to make EV technology available to people from all communities, and we need to address range anxiety by creating a statewide charging network,” said Jeff Tittel. “Making sure that new homes are wired for EV charging stations should be addressed by building codes, but since it isn’t the legislature has to step in.”

A1075 (Speight): Requires DEP, DOH, DCA, owners or operators of public water systems, and owners or operators of certain buildings to take certain actions to prevent and control cases of Legionnaires’ disease.

“This bill will help safeguard the public water systems and will make sure our water companies, cities, and state agencies are held accountable when it comes to the water we drink. There are too many problems in New Jersey from one county to the next, whether it is PFOAs, volatile organic chemicals, cyanobacteria, or legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease. For too long, New Jersey has failed to adequately protect its drinking water and is putting the public at risk. This is mainly due to DEP’s failure to enforce the Clean Water Act,” said Tittel. “We have serious water problems throughout the state when it comes to our drinking water. That is why we need to make sure that different water purveyors take actions to identify their problems and correct them.”

A1514 (Rooney/Pinkin): Requires State entities to recycle certain materials and provide recycling bins in State buildings.

“The state of New Jersey needs to do a better job of requiring people to recycle so we are not throwing it away in our garbage. We’ve seen a major drop in recycling in the state. In the early 1990’s we recycled over 50% of municipal and household waste, and now we are down to 37%. We need to change everything we do when it comes to solid waste, not just provide recycling bins in State buildings. We need to first reduce, reuse, repurpose, and then recycle. We need legislation to reduce plastic wastes and solids, like S864 (Smith). The less we recycle, the more greenhouse gases and pollution we have from emissions from landfills and new product manufacturing,” said Jeff Tittel.

Assembly Science and Innovation Technology Committee

A740 (Johnson): Requires State agencies in awarding contracts for purchase of items that require power source to consider items powered by fuel cells.

A741 (Johnson): Establishes NJ Fuel Cell Task Force to increase use of fuel cells in State.

AR38 (Conaway): Urges Congress and President to provide funding and other incentives to states to promote hydrogen fuel cell vehicle usage.

“While fuel cells may be the future, right now the technology is still in the early stages. It’s very expensive to create and produce this technology, and we’re not yet ready to sustainably produce hydrogen. This is because most of the hydrogen from fuel cells comes from natural gas, completely undermining clean energy goals. We can research fuel cells, but we should be focusing our time and energy on moving forward on electric vehicles instead. We should be focusing on making electric vehicles available and accessible to people from all communities,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This is especially important because EVs can be hooked up to solar power and other renewable energy, making them better for the environment and public health than vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells”