Tag Archives: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Offshore wind foes in New Jersey gathering force legally and politically
Opponents of offshore wind energy projects in New Jersey are gathering force legally and politically as they seek to snuff out the nascent industry. Within the last week, three residents groups sued New Jersey over a key approval of its first planned wind farm; the research arm of Congress agreed to investigate the impact of offshore wind on the environment and other areas; and lawmakers in two counties most heavily impacted by wind farms stepped up their efforts to block the projects. Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach, and Protect Our Coast NJ filed an appeal Friday in state Superior Court of New Jersey’s determination that the Ocean Wind I project is consistent with state coastal management rules. >click to read and comment< 08:55
Dead humpback whale floating in Raritan Bay. Another reported off N.Y.
The whales are floating in the Raritan Bay and off Wainscott, New York, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center said Thursday. “Biologists across multiple organizations are currently assessing their resources to respond,” the stranding center said Thursday. “The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Fish & Wildlife Service are partnered in the efforts to relocate and respond to these whales as well. “Multiple dead whales washed up on New Jersey beaches in the winter, including in Seaside Park and Atlantic City. >click to read< 13:50
Wind Farm Protesters March in Ocean City
Opposition to the wind farm has been mounting following more than 30 whale deaths along the East Coast that critics have blamed on sonar mapping of the seabed that is needed for construction of the project. However, government agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection say the recent deaths of whales, dolphins and other marine creatures in New Jersey and other coastal states have nothing to do with the wind farm work. They say evidence shows that most of the whales were struck and killed by shipping traffic. Opponents reject those claims, though. During Saturday’s protest, speakers pointed the finger at the wind farm for the whale deaths and warned of other possible dire impacts that the project could have on the Jersey Shore’s environment, the tourism industry and commercial fishing operations. Photos, Video, >click to read< 07:55
Nils Stolpe: It’s not the fault of the wind industry??? Sophistry is the use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving.
The “We’re for ocean wind power, the Hell with the rest of the oceans” claque have been yammering their “it’s not the fault of the wind industry” chant ever since an unprecedented number of whales and dolphins started washing up on New York and New Jersey beaches. Since December of this past year, when each of these incidents (was?) turned into a media event, it has been inevitably accompanied by some government (from Washington or Trenton) official, some (oddly enough, almost assuredly Democratic) legislator, some presumed objective scientist (doing an on-camera or recorded interview) with his or her hand held out for her or his share of what are very likely going to be billions of state, federal or wind industry research dollars, or some so-called environmentalist with the same goal. Just about all of them are insistently proclaiming “there is no proof that sonar testing (or any other testing being done by/for the wind industry) kills whales and/or dolphins.” >click to read< 18:55
N.J. GOP seeks wind projects halt to see if whales benefit
Four state senators hosted a online hearing about offshore wind energy generation and whale deaths, three weeks after the most recent East Coast whale death was reported and despite the assurances of most scientists and conservationists that there is no correlation. The two-hour hearing came a week after Democrats, who control the Legislature and the governorship, held a similar hearing and many of New Jersey’s major environmental groups said the greatest danger to whales is climate change, not offshore wind generation. “I’ve been labeled a climate change denier and a tin-foil hat wearer,” said Jim Hutchinson, managing editor of The Fisherman,,, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., who represents part of the Jersey Shore and who led last week’s Democratic-led forum, said pausing offshore wind projects wouldn’t prevent whale deaths. >click to read< 08:05
Advocacy Groups Demand Transparent Investigation into Deaths of Six Endangered Whales
Calling the deaths of six endangered whales that have washed up in 33 days on the beaches of New Jersey and New York “alarming and environmentally harmful,” local, state and regional ocean advocacy groups are calling for President Joe Biden to immediately address the unprecedented trend. “The noise from the offshore wind vessel is a potential cause of the recent whale stranding and increased near-shore sightings,” said Bob Stern, president of Save LBI, a nonprofit, non-partisan coalition opposed to the placement of offshore wind farms off Long Beach Island. “The beached whales bear no sign of vessel strike or fishing gear entanglement, leaving natural causes or noise as the potential causes and raising the likelihood that our concerns were well-founded.” >click to read< 16:03
Coronavirus relief: N.J.’s sinking fishing industry nabs $11M life raft from state
Nearly a year after being approved by federal lawmakers, financial relief is being handed out to New Jersey’s battered fishing industry. Gov. Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced Friday that $11.3 million in grants are being distributed to Garden State fishermen, and the businesses that support them. The relief money was part of the $2 trillion CARES Act which was passed by Congress and signed by former President Donald Trump in March. >click to read< 09:47
It’s Important! N.J. cleared to provide $11M in relief for sinking fishing industry
Months after the pandemic rocked New Jersey’s fishing industry, millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief is set to finally flow to the anglers that need it. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved New Jersey’s plan to spend $11.3 million in federal fisheries relief, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-6th Dist., announced Tuesday. The approval allows state authorities to begin distributing the money, which was allocated to the state as part of the $2 trillion CARES Act that became law in March. >click to read< 09:25
Trump administration steps in on fishing limits, and the implications could ripple
“The commission is deeply concerned about the near-term impact on our ability to end overfishing on the summer flounder stock as well as the longer-term ability for the commission to effectively conserve numerous other Atlantic coastal shared resources,” Douglas Grout, the commission’s chair, said in a statement. “New Jersey makes a compelling argument that the measures it implemented this year, despite increasing catch above the harvest target, will likely reduce total summer flounder mortality in New Jersey waters to a level consistent with the overall conservation objective,” Chris Oliver, assistant administrator of fisheries at NOAA, wrote the commission in a letter on behalf of Ross. The move infuriated commissioners and fishing officials throughout the area, as well as the region’s NOAA officials. “Ross was brilliant in his decision,” said Jim Donofrio, executive director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance in New Jersey, which represents thousands of recreational fishermen across the country. “The Trump administration has challenged a broken fishery management system in this country, and I applaud them for doing it.” click here to read the story 10:10
Mt. Sinai, 87-foot trawler, added to Manasquan Inlet Reef
The first planned vessel sinking on the new Manasquan Inlet Reef was completed on Tuesday. Mt. Sinai, an 87-foot trawler donated by Roy Diehl of Belford and the Belford Fisherman’s Cooperative, was sunk in about 75 feet of water, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP said the towing and preparation expenses for the vessel were sponsored by the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association. The Manasquan Inlet Reef site starts about 1.2 miles offshore of Point Pleasant Beach. The entire area of ocean floor set aside to build the reef is nearly a square mile. The boundary lies within two miles of the beach and is in 67 to 75-foot water depths click here to read the story 21:17
Could N.J. defy summer flounder cuts?
It didn’t take long after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to slash summer flounder harvest quotas for the rumblings of anglers calling for New Jersey to defy the regulations to pick up. The ASMFC ordered the harvest cut by 40-percent based on science that indicates the fish is declining in abundance and survey data that reports anglers overreached their quotas last year. The science and angling surveys are at the center of the issue. Many lawmakers in New Jersey and its environmental chief have expressed concern about its accuracy because it relies on random sampling. “We understand the long-term impacts of overfishing a species. But we also know for a fact that fluke are abundant and the population is stable off New Jersey,” said Bob Martin, the Commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. Video, Read the story here 16:25
Seismic testing off NJ coast close to start despite opposition
A Rutgers University professor is going full speed ahead with a seismic study of the ocean floor, despite flags raised by oppositional legislatures, a state agency and environmentalists. Legislatures went above him Friday and appealed to Rutgers University President Robert Barch urging him to stop the study that could begin in June. “I don’t understand the rancor that has developed. I’m doing basic research of sea level history. We’re trying to preserve our coastline by understanding how it behaves during sea level rise,” Mountain said. Read the rest here 09:27
Injunction to stop offshore Rutgers study denied
A federal judge has denied a request by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for an injunction to stop an offshore sea level study, the Associated Press is reporting. The state said it was not granted an adequate opportunity to evaluate the plan, but earlier today Judge Peter Sheridan on disagreed. Sheridan said he would order the blasts to stop for one day if the state notifies him that it intends to appeal. Read more here 16:13
Three from Maine charged with poaching elvers from NJ creek
Robert Royce, 65, of Hope, Maine, and Neal V. Kenney, III, 53, of Thomaston, Maine, were arrested while possessing more than three pounds of the juvenile eels, which translates to about 8,000 individual eels, the DEP said. Officers then found a truck with a tank holding another six pounds, or 16,000 eels. Conservation officers then arrested the driver, Dale Witham, 54, of Medomak, Maine. continue reading about the POACHERS!
