New Jersey Currents | Summer Update 2012www.CleanWaterAction.org/njef

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sizzlin’ summertime actionBy David Pringle and Jenny Vickers

Summer Update 2012 New Jersey currents

ACTION FOR CLEAN WATER

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF inside: Letter from the Director, p. 2 More Ways You Can Make a Difference, p. 3

Go Green Through Zero Waste, p. 4 Oyster Creek, p. 5 Save the Date: Autumn Toast to a Healthy Environment, p. 5

The past year brought significant progress on the New Jersey Environmental Federation’s top environmental campaigns. Those campaigns are now gearing up to continue the momen-tum this summer and fall.

In June, the NJ Environmental Federation held a successful lobby day in Trenton with Environment New Jersey, Food & Water Watch, the Delaware Riverkeeper, and the Sierra Club. More than two hundred people turned out to spend the day lobbying legislators, attending committee hearings and join-ing a clean energy rally.

More than fifty NJEF staff, canvassers, and members showed up on lobby day. Participants delivered thousands of member letters, and the New Jersey legislature seems to have heard their messages loud and clear:

� Bills to keep New Jersey in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and to ban the discharge of frack waste-water in NJ waters are now on Governor Christie’s desk.

� The Assembly blocked the anti-environment “Waiver Rule.” The pro-polluter “Permit Extension Act” was weakened.

� Legislation to protect children against toxic pesticide exposure on ball field and playground won cosponsorship from a majority of lawmakers.

Polluters and their allies are still hoping to shape the final outcomes in their favor, and strong campaigning from the

grassroots will be needed to push these victories across the finish line. Gov. Christie and your representatives in the State Legislature need to hear from you. They need to know that New Jerseyans support clean water and clean air, renewable energy and a stronger economy emphasizing green jobs.

Stop the Permit Extension Act (S743/A1338): Despite some positive amendments to limit its scope, this bill still threatens the Pinelands, Barnegat Bay and the Highlands — source of

Kite Flying for Global Wind Day at Asbury Park beach.

Environmental Lobby Day at the Statehouse in Trenton, (NJ Environmental Federation’s Jessica Titian with sign).

2 New Jersey Currents | Summer Update 2012 www.CleanWaterAction.org/njef

Why Go Solar Today? 750 Good ReasonsElectricity costs skyrocket each summer, whenever your air conditioning powers up to tackle the heat. Our members in New Jersey have a great chance to do something about this today. Our partnership with Sungevity makes it easier than ever to go solar with a rooftop solar electric system.

Here’s the 750-reasons deal:1) Sungevity will give you $750 when you sign up for a zero-down solar lease, and 2) they’ll also donate $750 to Clean Water Fund.

ÒÒ Good for the planet. And for your budget!ÒÒ You’ll get $750. And so will we.ÒÒ You’ll pay nothing up front. ÒÒ It’s the first step towards energy independence.ÒÒ Installation and maintenance are FREE, and your savings start on day one.

How It Works: Sungevity puts solar panels on your home for no money down. You pay a monthly lease rate—usually the same or less than your old electric bill. Best of all, you’ll get $750 for signing up, and we’ll get the same amount for Clean Water.

Ready to Go Solar? Visit sungevity.org/clean-water-fund to request your free iQuote and learn how much you could save.

From the Director

Amy Goldsmith

multiplying your money for a greener new jerseyNew Jersey Environmental Federation members like you, together with charitable foundations and other Clean Water Fund donors, have faithfully supported our Newark-based environmental health, justice and green jobs programs over the past several years. During that time, we have worked together with community leaders and residents to promote sound economic growth, innovative zero waste strategies (see p. 4), sustainable and healthy communities and schools. We have helped people develop and deploy tools to make democracy work for the betterment of all.

Because of the way these programs build and train a growing base of community volunteers and develop new local leadership for the future, our environmental, economic and quality of life results have grown exponentially. Along the way we’ve attracted new partners for our work and additional grants and donations to help the program grow even more. Thank you for your role in making all this possible.

Now one of our foundation partners has stepped up with an extraordinary offer. The Victoria Foundation has agreed to match new donations for these programs, including larger gifts from existing donors, additional foundation gifts and grants, or donations from businesses.

That’s where you come in. Each tax-deductible donation you can give or help Clean Water Fund raise will be doubled. Each $100 gift becomes $200. Each $1,000 gift becomes $2,000. Our goal is to raise at least $20,000 – the amount the Victoria Foundation has agreed to match. That would mean $40,000 in new funding for these critically important programs that are changing lives and improving environmental conditions here in New Jersey.

I invite you to contact me by e-mail with your questions and suggestions — especially if you are interested in helping with a gift or with additional fundraising to help us meet our goal. Together, we can build New Jersey’s green economy — plus the good jobs that come with that — and lead the way in making our communities more livable.

Amy Goldsmith, State Director, NJEF & Clean Water Fundagoldsmith@cleanwater.org

how to support this campaign:Donate online at

www.cleanwaterfund.org/matchChecks payable to Clean Water Fund

may be mailed to me at:Clean Water Fund – NJ Funding Match

1002 Ocean Ave., Belmar, NJ 07719We are also able to accept gifts of

stock or other appreciated assets, and you can support the campaign through simple legacy-gift strategies (pledging support through a bequest in your will, by designating Clean Water Fund as a beneficiary of your life insurance or

qualified retirement plan, etc). Contact us at development@cleanwater.org to

explore these other giving options. Contributions to Clean Water Fund

are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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more than half of New Jersey’s water supply. The bill is now on the Governor’s desk; he should veto it.

Pass the Safe Playing Fields Act (S1143/A2412) to stop the use of the most toxic pesticides where kids play. Kids should not be playing in areas treated with pesticides linked to cancer, asthma, and other respiratory and health problems. The bill has passed three committees with overwhelming bi-partisan support and has more than 60 sponsors. Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Oliver must allow this bill to be heard.

Stop Raiding the Clean Energy Fund: In late June, for the 4th year in a row, state lawmakers and the Governor agreed on another raid. These funds provided by ratepayers for 2012-13 should go as originally intended, toward green jobs, clean air, savings for ratepayers and economic revival — not paying state buildings’ electric bills or the state’s General Fund.

Ban Frack Waste (A575/S3049): New Jersey needs to invest in clean water and green energy, not more polluting fossil fuel development. The moratorium on fracking is about to run out. The Governor should sign this bill into law and continue the ban.

Reject NJDEP Waiver Rule on public health and safety protec-tions (SCR59): The waiver rule undermines key environmen-tal health protections, violates legislative intent and wrongly cedes legislative power to the executive. The Assembly passed a resolution to block the rule, but Senate President Sweeney has stalled the resolution there. Senate passage is urgently needed.

Keep New Jersey in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) (S1322/A1998): Gov. Christie has decided to pull New Jersey out of one of the nation’s strongest clean energy and clean air initiatives, threatening public health, air quality, climate change, and the state’s emerging green economy. With support from NJEF members, the legislature passed the “No Clean Air Rollback” bill to keep New Jersey in the program. The bill is now on the governor’s desk — he should sign it into law.

Take action this summer to protect New Jersey’s beaches, Highlands mountains, beautiful rivers, streams and ocean waters. All are critical for New Jersey’s environmental and economic future. www.CleanWater.org/action/summer2012

David Pringle is the New Jersey Environmental Federation’s campaign and policy director. Jenny Vickers is communications coordinator.

NJ Environmental Federation would like to give a special thanks to

our 40th birthday conference sponsors.We couldn’t have done the event without you, thank you so much!

Bayshore RecyclingBill & Sharon Finlayson

Clean Water Action Visa CardClean Water Fund

Delicious OrchardsExtreme Energy Solutions

Freedman’s BakeryGreen Mountain Coffee

International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Port Division

Joe and Janet TauroMichael Gordon

NATH Sustainable SolutionsRamapo College of New Jersey

Robert Bernstein and Susan WolfThe Gotsch Family

Tom and Lynda FoteWendy Benchley

More Ways You Can Make A Difference For Clean Water:

• Online Actions: Join Clean Water Action online to hold yourU.S. Reps and Senators accountable. www.CleanWater.org/action

• Monthly Giving: Sustain your support for Clean Water Actionwith an automatic recurring gift. www.CleanWater.org/join/ways-to-give

• Internet Searches & Online Shopping:Generate donations for Clean Water Action with every internet search. Use the “add to search” link on this page:http://cleanwateraction.we-care.com/search

Clean Water Action’s Online Shopping App makes donationsfor every purchase you make at thousands of online stores. It’s free and automatic. http://cleanwateraction.we-care.com/getstarted

• Make Your Opinions Count for Clean Water: Sign up for SurveyMonkey Contribute and each survey you complete means a donation for Clean Water. https://contribute.surveymonkey.com/charity/clean-water-fund

New Jersey Currents | Summer Update 2012 3www.CleanWaterAction.org/njef

go green through zero waste:Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!By Jenny Vickers

Clean Water Fund and the New Jersey Environmental Fed-eration are spearheading a “Zero Waste” initiative in Newark. The program is part of our EJ VOICE efforts to improve air quality and public health, reduce pollution and waste, and create green, sustainable jobs. Zero Waste programs’ economic and environmental benefits are significant and the Newark program is intended as a model for other communities.

Incinerators and landfills emit toxic air pollutants which are linked to climate change and health disorders such as asthma and cancer. Zero Waste programs aim to reduce the waste that ends up in landfills and incinerators, thereby improv-ing air quality and greenhouse gas emissions while spurring green jobs and renewable energy development. According to the Institute for Local Self Reliance, recycling, reduction, and product reuse accounts for more jobs at higher wages than traditional waste management (www.ilsr.org).

Zero Waste programs also promote local sustainability (by promoting the concept of buying, eating and shopping local and organic) and environmental awareness (by promoting the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost).

To help in these efforts, Clean Water Fund and the NJ Envi-ronmental Federation have:

� held successful composting and recycling trainings for local residents,

� produced a new Backyard Composting Guide(www.CleanWater.org/ejvoice), and

� launched new waste reduction programs at Newark’s Beth Israel Medical Center (NBIMC), Children’s Hospital of New Jersey (CHoNJ) and Weequahic High School.

In May, NBIMC and CHoNJ became home to a new food waste liquefier, an eco-friendly solution to food waste disposal. The liquefier, produced by Food2Water, uses the company’s blend of microorganisms mixed with food waste to break down waste immediately (within 24 hours). This Zero Waste project will not only help reduce the hospital’s garbage hauling costs, it will also reduce truck traffic, air pollution, and the amount of waste going to the local incinerator.

“As a major healthcare organization that produces large amounts of food waste, it is important for us to explore alter-natives to traditional disposal,” said John A. Brennan, MD, MPH, of NBIMC and CHoNJ. “By using the food waste lique-

fier we are extending our commitment beyond our current green environmental investments — making Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of New Jersey a greener place to work and serve our (patient) community.”

Weequaic High School was the spot of the second Zero Waste project. In June, the school became the first urban site in New Jersey to incorporate a Rocket® composter. The com-poster is an on-site aerobic system to recycle the school’s food waste into a useful soil amendment for landscaping, horticul-tural needs and for science projects.

“This is a great example of creative partnerships among a state, a not-for-profit, and a public school,” said Gerardo Soto, of NATH Sustainable Solutions, which provided the Rocket composter. “Weequahic High School will incorporate the Rocket into the school’s curriculum. We are very excited about this unique project which will continue to revolutionize the way we treat food waste on-site in the U.S.”

“The Newark Sustainability Office is proud to support this project as an example of strategies that move us closer to our Zero Waste goal,” said Adam Zipkin, Newark’s Deputy Mayor and Director of Economic and Housing Development. “Weequahic High School’s success in launching this pilot project with the help of Clean Water Fund is a challenge to all school districts to find creative ways to reduce and re-use their waste.”

Clean Water Fund’s Zero Waste initiative is part of the City of Newark’s larger Sustainability Action Plan and is one of Newark’s several “Green Neighborhoods Pilot Programs.” Clean Water Fund is coordinating this program with sup-port from the City of Newark through federal stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Effi-ciency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program. Learn more at www.CleanWater.org/ejvoice.

4 New Jersey Currents | Summer Update 2012 www.CleanWaterAction.org/njef

“Rocket Composter” installation at Weequahic High School. Left to right: Andrea Vincent,Custodial Staff, Weequahic High School, Gerardo Soto, NATH Solutions, Najala Fareed, Recycling Coordinator, Newark Public Schools, Kim Gaddy, NJ Environmental Federation

New Jersey Currents | Summer Update 2012 5www.CleanWaterAction.org/njef

oyster creekBy Peggi Sturmfels, Program Organizer

Since 2004, the New Jersey Environmental Federation and GRAMMES (Grandmother, Mothers and More for Energy Safety) have led a coalition seeking to close nation’s oldest nuclear power plant, Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Sta-tion. The coalition’s campaigning led the plant’s operator to promise to close it early, in 2019. Otherwise it would remain open at least until 2029, the plant’s scheduled relicense date. The groups continue to monitor, access, and comment on the operations. The recent horrific meltdowns at Japan’s Fuku-shima Daiichi plant, another Mark l design of the same age as Oyster Creek add urgency to this mission.

Japanese government officials and the Fukushima plant’s operators continued to downplay the dangers, even as unac-ceptable radiation levels were reaching Washington and Cali-fornia, thousands of miles and months away from the event. Warnings from nuclear experts about the need for hardened filtered vent systems on these types of reactors — based on lessons from the earlier Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters — were ignored.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) remains reluctant to retire older Mark I reactors like Oyster Creek or even to require immediate use of hardened, filtered vents. The result is continuing threats to public health and safety. Despite the threats, the NRC’s plan is to allow nuclear power plants to wait up to five years to implement public safety plans that are needed now. The coalition is calling for strict and immediate enforcement of all safety recommendations for Oyster Creek.

Since Fukushima, the nuclear industry and its support-ers among government regulators have focused relentlessly on rescuing their bottom line. Their attempts to save this outdated 1950’s technology hinges on convincing people that nuclear remains the best way to boil water to turn electric turbines. For this reason, they view as acceptable: poisoning the food chain without regard for future generations; endan-gering nuclear workers’ health; piling on more tons of deadly nuclear wastes without any means for safe disposal; relying on iodine pill handouts and inadequate evacuation plans as the main emergency responses to possible future disasters.

The Fukushima disaster proved that industry’s theoretical “containment venting” remedy for reactors like Oyster Creek which suffer from weak containment design will most likely fail again the next time it is put to the test. In the case of Oys-ter Creek, that already-weak system is further compromised by severe corrosion.

Oyster Creek installed such a containment venting system, but since it was done voluntarily, it was done without any inspection, safety evaluation or license review process involv-ing NRC staff or public hearings. The Oyster Creek vent and containment are therefore believed to be highly unreliable and likely to fail under severe accident conditions.

A comprehensive review and an action plan for retiring all Mark I reactors, including Oyster Creek, are needed immedi-ately. Official reviews so far have given greater consideration to the plant operators’ profitability than to protecting the public’s health and safety and the economic risks associated with a Fukushima-scale disaster in the U.S.

Wine & Chocolate Tastings, Hors d’oeuvres • Charity Auction and Live Music Proceeds benefit clean water and environmental programs

Bring a date, family member or friend!To become a sponsor, donate an auction item, or buy a ticket, contact Jenny at 732-280-8988 or njcwa@cleanwater.org

www.CleanWater.org/autumntoast

Autumn Toast to a Healthy EnvironmentClean Water Fund and NJ Environmental Federation’s

40th Birthday Wine & Chocolate Tasting and Charity Auction

Sunday, September 30 • 1:00 – 4:00pmPine Barrens Golf Club

540 South Hope Chapel Road, Jackson, NJTickets are $75 per person and $125 per couple.

Special Member Rate! $50 per person and $100 per couple

SAVE THE DATE!

New Jersey CurrentsSUMMER UPDATE 2012

Clean Water Action is a national citizens’ organization working for clean, safe and affordable water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, creation of environmentally-safe jobs and businesses, and empowerment of people to make democracy work.

The New Jersey Environmental Federation is the Garden State chapter of Clean Water Action. NJEF has 150,000 individual members and an additional 100 member groups.

NJEF and Clean Water Action organize strong grassroots groups, coalitions and campaigns to protect our environment, health, economic well-being and community quality of life.

Managing Editor: Jonathan ScottPresident and CEO: Robert WendelgassWriters: Amy Goldsmith, David Pringle, Peggi Sturmfels,and Jenny VickersDesign: ES DesignReproduction in whole or part is permitted with proper credit.© Copyright 2012 All rights reserved.

National: 1010 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005-4918 | Phone 202.895.0420 | Fax 202.895.0438 | cwa@cleanwater.org New Jersey: 1002 Ocean Ave, Belmar, NJ 07719 | Phone 732.280.8988 | www.CleanWaterAction.org/njef

PUT EVERYDAY PURCHASES TO WORK FOR CLEAN WATER ACTION.Support Clean Water Action, and get the benefits of this Capital One® Visa® Rewards Card. Giving has never been easier, or more rewarding. Learn more about this and other card options at www.CleanWaterCard.org

6 New Jersey Currents | Summer Update 2012 www.CleanWaterAction.org/njef