Passaic River Coalition: NJ environmental organization, Homepage

November 18, 2008

Now is the the time to clean the Passaic River!

Check out a new flyer the Passaic River Coalition has produced to get the word out about cleaning the Lower Passaic River. This flyer is the first in a series of publications the PRC will be creating to educate communities about the contamination in the Lower Passaic River and to promote dredging with full decontamination as the best option for cleaning the river. Be sure to visit our site periodically to learn more about the issue and see other publications we’ll be making.

To learn more about the Lower Passaic River project click here.

November 18, 2008

Donating to the Passaic River Coalition is easier than ever at Firstgiving! - You can now make a tax-deductible donation to the PRC using any major credit card through Firstgiving.com. Firstgiving uses VeriSign Security features and will automatically mail you a receipt. Visit our donation page to support the PRC today!

Follow www.firstgiving.com/passaicrivercoalition to support. Thank you for your contributions!

November 18, 2008

Give the Gift of Environmental Understanding to Yourself and Others - Imagine being able to discuss climate change with the State Climatologist or learn about New Jersey’s Geology from the people who map it. Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear how New Jersey’s environmental regulations get enforced from a person who actually does the enforcement? How about learning about the role of soils in the environment from the person who runs Rutgers’ Soil Testing lab? These are some of the opportunities that are available to enrollees in the 2007 Rutgers Environmental Steward Volunteer Training Program. Would you like to learn how local environmental decisions get made from the head of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions or how land preservation can be done most effectively from some of the leading players in land preservation in NJ? ...learn more

November 7, 2008

HIGHLANDS WATER PROTECTION READY TO GO;

TOWNS URGED TO CONFORM TO REGIONAL PLAN

Summit Speakers Address Challenges of Planning with Science, Moving from Regional to Local Level, and Understanding Groundwater, the “Invisible” Resource - With the recent adoption of the Highlands Regional Master Plan (RMP), New Jersey towns are confronted with both an opportunity and a challenge to protecting the water resources of a region that supplies over 5 million of the state’s residents and its most important industries. The clock is running, however, so municipalities in the Highlands will need to act to incorporate the Plan’s goals and standards within their own zoning and land use ordinances....read whole article.

by Eugene Reynolds (PRC staff)

New Jersey Highlands

See a presentation - Your Water – Your Future Protecting and Preserving Ground Water via the Highlands RMP, presented at Ground Water Summit 2008, The Ground Water Protection Committee by Thonet Associates Inc., Environmental Planning & Design Consultants.

November 7, 2008

New issue of Ground Water Sentinel is out! - Please, take time to read about bottled water and well contamination. To read past issues of Ground Water Sentinel and about Ground Water Protection Committee, please visit here.

November 6, 2008

Take Action to Support NJ ATV Legislation - Tell your legislators to vote yes on A823 and S2055! ORV legislation is about to hit the Assembly floor and the Senate Transportation Committee. The NY-NJ Trail Conference needs your help to let the legislature know how much their constituents want legislation that will provide for registration and identification of off-road vehicles, as well as enforcement and penalties. Additional information about the pending legislation and the Trail Conference campaign to pass it, including links to the Assembly and Senate bill, is available on the TC NJATV website. Click here to take action.

Legislation in Play to Allow Deer Hunting on Sundays in NJ - Tell your Assembly Representatives to vote NO on A 1669! A1669 would authorize deer hunting on Sundays during any bow and arrow hunting season prescribed by the State Fish and Game Code, provided the hunting is on a State wildlife management area or on private property. S802, the companion bill to A1669,passed the Senate 32-6 on October 23rd, so the pressure is on the Assembly. A consequence of these bills is the potential closing of all hiking trails on WMA and private lands through written permission or easements during all of bow and arrow deer hunting season in New Jersey, which differs from one jurisdiction to another. This bill also raises from $20 to $50 the penalty for a violation of the no-Sunday hunting prohibition. Take action NOW by clicking here and let your Assembly Representatives know that you do NOT support A1669 and want them to oppose it!

November 3, 2008

Environmental Failure: A Case for a New Green Politics - The U.S. environmental movement is failing – by any measure, the state of the earth has never been more dire. What’s needed, a leading environmentalist writes, is a new, inclusive green politics that challenges basic assumptions about consumerism and unlimited growth.

by James Gustave Speth

A specter is haunting American environmentalism -- the specter of failure.

All of us who have been part of the environmental movement in the United States must now face up to a deeply troubling paradox: Our environmental organizations have grown in strength and sophistication, but the environment has continued to go downhill, to the point that the prospect of a ruined planet is now very real. How could this have happened?...read full story

October 30, 2008

EPA Signs Agreement with Companies to Remove Major Source of Passaic River Contamination - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has secured an agreement with Occidental Chemical Corporation (Occidental) and Tierra Solutions, Inc. (Tierra) to remove a major source of dioxin contamination from the lower Passaic River, eliminating the potential future threat that these harmful contaminants could pose to people’s health and the environment. The agreement calls for 200,000 cubic yards of dioxin-laden sediment to be taken out of the river in the direct vicinity of the Diamond Alkali Superfund site in downtown Newark. This sediment is known to have the highest levels of dioxin in the lower Passaic. EPA estimates that nearly half of the dioxins will be removed from the sediment in the lower six-mile stretch of the Passaic River. Read the whole article here.

October 27, 2008

Mom and Son Team Distribute Free CFL Bulbs in New Jersey - HMN’s Director Volunteers for Project Porchlight, Proving That Simple Actions Matter.

(Caldwell, NJ) – On Saturday, October 25th, Dr. Nancy Massotto, Executive Director of the Holistic Moms Network (HMN), and her 7-year-old son Michael, went door-to-door for a few hours in their neighborhood distributing free compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs to neighbors, along with information about how to cut energy costs and save the environment (photo available upon request). Massotto - who also sits on the Caldwell Environmental Commission - was volunteering for the launch of Project Porchlight in Caldwell, New Jersey. More here

Passaic River Coalition gratefully acknowledges the support of Continental Airlines, which provided free air transportation for PRC staff to attend the 2008 River Rally in Huron, Ohio.