Winter Report Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli, Creative Commons Creative Tonelli, A. Nicholas Photo: Heeding Sandy’s wake-up call Sustainability for a stronger Shore

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the will never be the same. But as the state recovers and rebuilds from Sandy, we need to do it in a sustainable way that better protects the Shore.

As we rebuild the Shore, it’s critical that we unite around a sustainable vision to protect the greatest environmental as- pects of the Shore, like its water quality, and reduce our carbon footprint to avoid future extreme weather events like Sandy.

That’s why we must rebuild the Shore in ServiceWildlife Fish and US. Thompson, Greg Photo: a way that better protects the region and Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy at Mantoloking, N.J. protects the Shore’s natural buffer areas, and makes a model for pro- moting sustainability in our communities. ficient buildings and retrofitting existing transportation options at the Shore. buildings for energy savings; A vision for the Shore “We know that if we can unite the public That’s why Environment New Jersey • Repower the Shore with clean energy around a sustainable vision for the Shore, recently launched our Sustainable Shore by ensuring the Shore produces 30 per- we can protect our environment and campaign, to call upon the state’s elected cent of its energy from clean, renewable minimize damage from the next storm,” officials to ensure that the Shore is rebuilt sources by 2020; said Megan Fitzpatrick, Environment in a sustainable way. The components of New Jersey’s clean water associate. our campaign include: • Create a Shore transportation system for the 21st century by expanding cleaner • Protect the Shore’s beaches and water quality by repairing damaged stormwater in- frastructure and promoting “green” streets; more online

• Restore, preserve and maintain our Clean, renewable energy such as wind and best natural places at the Shore. Protect solar power helps tackle global warming, the Shore’s wetlands and damaged state which is linked to the recent increase in parks—for our environment and to pre- extreme weather. vent flooding; Read more online: • Rebuild our Shore’s communities and www.EnvironmentNewJersey.com homes efficiently by promoting energy ef- Photo: Flickr user: sharkbait Flickr user: Photo:

VOLUME 7 | NO. 2 Winter Report | 2013 Photo: Staff Photo: To our members Recent action

Sadly, Superstorm Sandy will not be the Historic victory for clean cars last extreme weather event that we’ll Environment New Jersey celebrated a huge victory this past August when Presi- see in New Jersey. As we rebuild the dent Obama finalized new national standards for clean cars that will slash global Shore, I’m hopeful that we’ll heed the warming emissions and raise fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025. lessons of Sandy and take them to heart. This is the most far-reaching step we have ever taken as a nation to tackle global warm- That’s why keeping our heads in the ing pollution, and will be the equivalent of taking close to 2 million cars off the road. sand and ignoring the steps we have to take to slow global warming could prove Environment New Jersey worked hard to help ensure this victory—our staff and even more dangerous. In the aftermath volunteers organized thousands of citizens to have their voices heard in support of Sandy, Environment New Jersey has of clean cars. We garnered media coverage across the state, and lobbied Congress, a plan that we hope will make the Shore the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House to act. more sustainable and better protected against future extreme weather events. Our staff also led a statewide clean cars tour this summer drumming up support for We want to see New Jersey help lead the the standards and the electric vehicles they promote. From Paramus to Montclair way to a low-carbon future, to become to Atlantic City, the tour earned statewide media coverage. wiser about protecting natural areas along the Shore, and to ensure we’re Report details true cost of fracking preparing for the next storm now. In September, Environment New Jersey Research & Policy Center released its newest clean water report, “The Costs of Fracking.” These are serious challenges, but I’m confident we can meet them together Over the past decade, oil and gas companies have pushed to increase dirty fos- as we’ve done so many times before. sil fuel production in our region and across the country. “Fracking” has spread rapidly, leaving a trail of contaminated water, polluted air, and marred landscapes Sincerely, in its wake. A growing body of data indicates that fracking is an environmental and public health disaster in the making.

In addition, fracking’s negative impacts on our environment and health come with heavy economic costs. In this report, we documented some of these Doug O’Malley costs—ranging from cleaning up contaminated water to repairing ruined roads Interim Director and beyond. Many of these costs are likely to be borne by the public rather than the oil and gas industries. Photo: Dan Speicher Photo: To help further tally the costs of fracking, our staff recently toured communities in Pennsylvania directly affected by fracking operations.

Environment New Jersey www.EnvironmentNewJersey.org/newsletters Offshore for Photo: Fishermen’s Energy Fishermen’s Photo:

a cleaner New Jersey Commons Creative Thompson, John Photo: Environment New Jersey recently released Victory for Interview with our latest report on wind energy entitled, America has abundant wind energy po- “Wind Power for a Cleaner America,” tential. The U.S. Department of Energy Rhonda Jackson which outlined the core environmental estimates that 20 percent of the nation’s and economic benefits that wind energy electricity could be supplied by wind power Rhonda Jackson is the Director of yields for New Jersey and the nation. in 2030, up from 3 percent in 2011. To Communications, Outreach and achieve that level, construction of wind Regulatory Affairs for Fishermen’s The report called on New Jersey lawmak- turbines would need to stay constant. Energy. Fishermen’s Energy, based ers and our representatives in Washington, in Cape May County, is actively D.C., to commit to clean, renewable wind Wind energy’s success in reducing air pol- pursuing construction of New energy, and Environment New Jersey lution will continue to grow if policies such Jersey’s first offshore wind farms. Research & Policy Center was joined by as tax incentives and renewable electricity State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D- standards are continued and expanded in What is Fishermen’s Energy? West Deptford) who called on Gov. Chris New Jersey and at the federal level. Christie to be more aggressive in getting Fishermen’s Energy is a developer offshore wind rolling in New Jersey. This winter, the pending expiration of the of offshore wind energy projects, wind tax credit threatened the future ex- founded by New Jersey commercial Environment New Jersey Research & Pol- pansion of wind power in New Jersey and fishermen. Our goal is to turn icy Center held news conferences in both across the U.S. To defend this program, Atlantic coastal waters into an Trenton and Atlantic City to release the Environment New Jersey lobbied the unmatched source of clean energy, report’s findings, and we were proud to be state’s congressional delegation to push while maintaining a vibrant joined by the wind company Fishermen’s for the extension of these clean energy commercial fishing industry. Energy and the Atlantic County Utilities tax credits, and we celebrated when the Fishermen’s Energy intends to Authority, who support our call to move President and Congress agreed to renew harvest the wind and the sea, side forward with offshore wind. these clean energy tax credits as part of by side, in an environmentally the deal to avert the “fiscal cliff.” responsible and sustainable manner. Like taking 376,000 cars off the road Coal- and gas-fired power plants pollute What benefits will this bring to New Jersey? our air and are major contributors to global warming. Wind energy is a far cleaner solu- Well, beyond the possibility of being tion, helping to reduce air pollution and the very first offshore slashing our carbon footprint. in the U.S., there are numerous benefits that New Jersey will realize, As Environment New Jersey Research & including manufacturing and Policy Center’s study showed, if the state maintenance jobs, environmental meets goals that were set out in the 2010 benefits from reduced pollution, Offshore Wind Economic Development and even tourism. Act, New Jersey’s global warming pollu- New Jersey tion will drop by as much as taking an addi- Are you optimistic that we’ll see tional 376,000 cars off the road each year. Wind speed (mph) offshore wind in the near future? 20.1-21.3 I am optimistic that we will see At the same time, New Jersey has the 19.0-20.1 17.9-19.0 offshore wind projects developed in potential to be the first state in the na- 16.8-17.9 Photo: the near future in New Jersey. Our tion to move forward with a commercial 15.7-16.8 state has taken a leadership role in offshore wind project. the development of offshore wind and other states are using New Jersey Our study also showed that if construction N.J. wind potential as a model. of new wind energy projects continues from 2013 to 2016 at a pace comparable to Read the full report at: that of recent years, the U.S. could reduce www.EnvironmentNewJersey.org global warming pollution by an additional 56 million metric tons in 2016.

Winter Report | 2013 143 East State St., Ste. 7 Trenton, NJ 08608 Environment New Jersey (609) 392-5151

Address service requested NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID BROCKTON, MA PERMIT NO. 430

Winter Report VOLUME 7 | NO. 2 | 2013 Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli, Creative Commons Creative Tonelli, A. Nicholas Photo:

Environment New Jersey Fighting to keep fracking waste out of New Jersey

Our mission Waste from the drilling practice known as “fracking” can end up in New Jersey’s waterways, after We all want clean air, clean being dumped by drilling projects in Pennsylvania. This waste is laced with toxics like benzene water and open space. But it and other carcinogens, and over 1 million gallons of fracking waste from Pennsylvania have takes independent research already been dumped into the Delaware River. and tough-minded advocacy to win concrete results for That’s why we have been championing legislation in Trenton that will ban the dumping of this our environment, especially potentially toxic wastewater into New Jersey’s waterways. when powerful interests stand in the way of environ- Environment New Jersey activists sent thousands of messages to Gov. Christie calling on him to mental progress. sign the proposal, shined a spotlight on the issue in satewide media, and organized a lobby day in Trenton. While the bill passed with bipartisan support, Gov. Christie vetoed the ban on fracking That’s the idea behind Envi- waste last fall. Environment New Jersey is now working to override this shortsighted veto. ronment New Jersey. We focus exclusively on protect- Environment New Jersey staff and members visited the Delaware Water Gap to remind us what ing New Jersey’s air, water we must protect from the dangerous effects of gas drilling. and open space. We speak out and take action at the lo-

cal, state and national levels more inside to improve the quality of our Clean cars get the green light; report environment and our lives. details true cost of fracking; and more.

Environment New Jersey members at Sunfish Pond calling on state legislators to “BAN FRACKIN.” Photo: Staff Photo:

Design: Public Interest GRFX, (215) 985-1113 Editor: Doug O’Malley | Primary contributors: Stephanie Cole and Zachary Otte Printed on recycled paper.