Phil Murphy to veto bill imposing 5-cent fee on plastic grocery bags. Is a ban next?
News Article • • by Scott Fallon at North Jersey Record
TOMS RIVER — Gov. Phil Murphy will veto a much-criticized bill that would place a 5-cent fee on plastic grocery store bags, his office confirmed Thursday afternoon, leading some environmentalists and lawmakers to believe he will push for an outright ban.
Murphy called the bill's sponsors this week and told them he would veto the bill, which was rushed through the Legislature in June amid frenzied negotiations over a roughly $37 billion state budget.
More than a dozen municipalities, including Jersey City, Hoboken and Monmouth Beach, have passed local bans this year that will soon go into effect despite heavy lobbying efforts against a statewide ban.
Murphy's office confirmed that he will sign a veto and explain his position on Friday or Monday — the deadline to take action.
Murphy to veto fee on plastic bags
News Article • • by Danielle Muoio at Politico
Gov. Phil Murphy plans to veto a controversial bill that would have placed a 5-cent fee on plastic bags, according to a senior administration official.
Murphy plans to veto the bill in the coming days, per the source. The governor must act on the legislation by Monday, as both houses of the Legislature have said they intend to hold quorum calls that afternoon, triggering the deadline for a veto.
5 things Murphy could do with plastic bag bill to truly reduce pollution | Opinion
News Article • • by Ed Potosnak at NJ.com
Earlier this summer, a harrowing story blanketed the nightly news. In Thailand, a whale washed up on shore, which isn't uncommon or noteworthy, but something insidious ended its life. The whale died from poisoning -- death by plastic.
There were a staggering 80 plastic bags and nearly 18 pounds of plastic debris found in the pilot whale body.
This isn't a singular event, but a telling symbol of the massive impact of plastics impose on the health of our environment.
It is estimated that over 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, over 1 million sea-birds and countless fish die every year from ingesting plastics, and more than 800 types of wildlife have been documented to be harmed by this pollution. Astoundingly, it is estimated that there are 500 times more microplastics in our ocean than the 100 billion stars in our galaxy.
The statistics on the pervasive nature of plastic pollution can go on.
Protecting the Water of 5 Million New Jerseyans: Lisa Plevin to Lead Highlands Council
News Article • • by Alex Ambrose at Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed
New Jersey League of Conservation Voters would like to congratulate Lisa J. Plevin to her appointment as Executive Director for the New Jersey Highlands Council. Lisa takes over the role after Margaret Nordstrom, who is stepping down after joining the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council staff six years ago. The Highlands Council is a 15-member appointed body tasked with implementation of the New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act of 2004. The Highlands Council is advised in its actions by its Executive Director, who serves as the chief administrative officer of the Council.
The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act was passed to protect the Highlands from piecemeal development patterns that were consuming 5-square-miles of Highlands forests and wetlands each year. The Highlands Council’s primary goal is to uphold this Act and protect the Highlands, a physiographic region of New Jersey that includes 88 municipalities within 7 counties and provides drinking water for over 5 million residents of New Jersey. As I’ve seen under past state administrations, it’s hard not to lose sight of protecting water sources while wading through the polluted waters of partisan fighting - but I know Lisa can do it.
Plastic bags will soon be joining the dodo bird -- history
News Article • • by Joan Quigley at NJ.com
When you bring stuff home, what do you do with all the plastic bags it was packed in?
Do you cram them in the trash (probably into a bigger plastic bag) or do you stash them away for next time you need to carry something? Maybe keep them near the door to grab when you walk the dog and need to clean up after him. Or maybe you are one of those environmentally-conscious folks who saves them for the recycling box in the supermarket lobby.
No matter, really, because lawyers who draft bills and ordinances for government consider them all to be "single-use plastic bags."
Manufacturers disagree, of course, arguing they are 100 percent reusable and recyclable and claiming nine out of ten Americans reuse plastic bags at least once for everything from storage to waste disposal to packing materials.
State attorney general sues SJ Gas, Deull Fuel, over Atlantic City pollution
News Article • • by Michelle Brunetti Post at Press of Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY — The state is suing South Jersey Gas, the Deull Fuel Co. and other firms over contamination of a block of land near the bay where S.J. Gas has been cleaning up a former manufactured gas plant site for almost two years.
FORMER EPA OFFICIAL TO LEAD HIGHLANDS COUNCIL
News Article • • by Tom Johnson at NJ Spotlight
Lisa Plevin, a former chief of staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region II office, will become the new executive director of the Highlands Council.
The council voted unanimously to appoint Plevin, who’s expected to take up the post in August. She replaces Margaret Nordstrom, who held the job since 2014.
The appointment of Plevin, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), is the latest move by Gov. Phil Murphy to reshape the council, which oversees the Highlands region, a sprawling area of more than 800,000 acres of woodland, lakes and hills that provides drinking water to 6 million people.
IS NJ READY FOR WATER-USE FEE TO FUND BILLIONS IN UPGRADES OF AGING INFRASTRUCTURE?
News Article • • by Tom Johnson at NJ Spotlight
State Sen. Bob Smith has long argued for a toll to help fund renewal of New Jersey’s century-old water system. He thinks the time just might be right to get it done
It has never won support in the past, but a state senator is reviving a decades-old bill that would impose a fee on water use to fund the rebuilding of New Jersey’s aging water infrastructure.
New Jersey environmentalists say plastic bag fee not enough
News Article • • by Jordan Schultz at Waste Dive
On Monday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy removed any mention of a 5-cent fee associated with single-use bags from the state budget via a line-item veto, reports NJ.com.
Is 5-cent fee for plastic bags headed for the trash? N.J. environmentalists hope so
News Article • • by Michael Sol Warren at NJ.com
Nothing is in the bag when it comes to a proposed 5-cent fee for single-use bags.
The measure is in limbo after Gov. Phil Murphy used a line-item veto to remove any language related to the proposed bag fees from the state budget on Monday. It is unclear how Murphy views the proposed fees, but environmental groups want him to ditch the bill in favor of stricter regulations.