Gov. Chris Christie’s conditional veto of a bill that would have required the state to accept scientific recommendations on the safe level of a toxic chemical may represent the governor’s latest effort to loosen government control of the chemical industry, or could be a signal to the Legislature to stay out of technical matters… DWQI chairman Dr. Keith Cooper, a Rutgers University toxicologist, said he had not seen the governor’s statement so could not comment on it, but noted the DWQI’s role is limited under the law to providing recommendations… Under Cooper’s leadership, the DWQI resumed its work in April 2014 and is now meeting more regularly after a hiatus of nearly four years during which environmentalists accused it of being “shut down” by the Christie administration, which wanted to avoid further regulation of the chemical industry.
New Home of Rutgers Institute: Interdisciplinary from the Ground Up
If researchers studying food and children’s health bump into each other at the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, it won’t be by accident… The new $55 million building on Rutgers University’s George H. Cook campus in New Brunswick was designed with open workspaces and laboratories that are intended to foster the interdisciplinary work that’s necessary to tackle some of the biggest challenges in public health, such as reducing childhood obesity… Institute Director Peter Gillies noted that leaders from many different academic departments and schools have committed to support the institute. While its staff is relatively small and devoted to administrative support, professors based in other parts of the university will work in the building… Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences Executive Dean Robert Goodman said the dedication of the new building yesterday was a “landmark milestone” in a process that began 12 years ago, when the institute was first envisioned… Goodman noted university President Robert Barchi, a cardiologist, has said that half of healthcare spending could be avoided if people lived healthier lives.
Opinion: Find the Nine Million Water Polluters in NJ (Hint: It’s Not Industry)
Public-opinion polls consistently show a great deal of concern about water pollution. Years ago, my then-employer sponsored a telephone poll to assess how people perceived water-quality issues in the Raritan River Basin of central New Jersey. Among oth…
Garden State Is Wasting Its Waste, Should Better Utilize Biomass, Report Says
More than 4 million tons of New Jersey’s biomass — fuel derived from organic materials like plants and waste — could be used to produce electricity or propel transportation each year… The bulk of the biomass (72 percent) is produced directly by the…
Rutgers’ Plant Breeders: Fighting Hunger and Disease, Bringing Back Jersey Tomato
As part of its 250th anniversary celebration, state’s largest public college will honor its world-renowned program and a cornucopia of vegetables, nuts, and berries… Agricultural scientist Jack Rabin tends to show his enthusiasm when he speaks about the staff at Rutgers University’s plant-breeding program. “Rob Pyne has the most perfume-scented job on God’s earth being a Ph.D. candidate plant breeder of basil,” he’ll say. And, “If Jim Simon were not here and did not have his germplasm collection who would do this for society?”… The obvious ardor of the associate director of farm programs at Rutgers’ New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) is contagious. And it makes it difficult to dismiss his assertion that his coworkers’ contributions to the global food pantry are not only groundbreaking but of unassailable importance.
Opinion: Require Water Utilities to Spend More Now So They Will Cost Less Later
This article was written by Daniel J. Van Abs, Associate Professor of Practice for Water, Society and Environment at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences… New Jersey has many hundreds of water-supply and wastewater utilities, r…
Opinion: Why Are Municipal Water Utilities Not Up for Mergers and Acquisitions?
A routine headline in New Jersey involves the possible acquisition of a publicly owned water utility (which I’ll call a “municipal utility” here) — most often a water supply but sometimes a sewer — by an investor-owned utility such as Aqua America, American Water, United Water, Middlesex Water, or their peers. In other cases, public-private partnerships are formed in which the municipal utility is operated under contract by an investor-owned utility… Local governments may no longer want to operate their own water supply or sewerage utility for various reasons. Perhaps costs are rising too fast or the system has become too difficult for municipal management. That is a decision they make. Why, though, aren’t other publicly owned utilities stepping up as possible partners or purchasers? Why aren’t the current local owners looking for public partners instead of to the private sector?… And this brings me to a final problem. The municipal utilities that get sold are generally small and are owned by small municipalities with limited ability to finance changes and improvements. They often have major problems… This article was written by Daniel J. Van Abs, associate research professor for Water, Society and Environment at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
Opinion: Will the Garden State Be Ready When the Next Drought Arrives?
Can you remember when New Jersey last suffered a major drought? What you remember might depend on how you use water. Farmers will focus on times when rainfall just wouldn’t come during the growing season. Those with their own wells will remember when t…
Solvay Consultants Attack Panel’s Recommended Limit for Chemical in Water
A South Jersey chemical manufacturer attacked a scientific panel’s recommendation to set a health-based limit for a toxic chemical on Thursday, saying the proposed standard was arbitrary and unscientific… The standard is the first to be recommended by the DWQI since about 2009, said Dr. Keith Cooper, a Rutgers University toxicologist who chairs the panel, and follows a period between 2010 and 2014 when the panel did not meet, prompting accusations from environmentalists that it had been muzzled by the Christie Administration… Cooper dismissed the criticism by Solvay’s consultant, maintaining that the DWQI’s work was done to strictly scientific standards. “Our MCL is based on science,” he said, in an interview.
State DEP Continues to Stall Release of Long-Overdue Draft Water-Supply Plan
Increasingly frustrated with the Christie administration for not releasing the latest draft of a water-supply plan developed three years ago, the state’s Water Supply Advisory Council once again called on the state DEP to release some of its findings so the council can get down to business… Dan Van Abs, a Rutgers professor who is a technical adviser to the Council, said New Jersey’s projected population by 2040 has risen sharply, mostly because of immigration, to 10.4 million from 8.9 million at the time of the last Water Supply Plan in 1996, and so the updated document needs to reflect that. Van Abs also is an NJ Spotlight columnist… The previous report contained a series of revisions based on the one previous edition, in 1982, Van Abs said. By contrast, the new document, whenever it is issued, will not reflect periodical updates. “That process did not continue,” he said.
