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Will Murphy’s DEP Kill Pipeline By Denying Water Quality Certificate?

Will NJ’s Green Mafia and Media Call Out the Biden Betrayal?

Biden’s Lawyers Actually Tout US History of Plantations and Indian Reservations

Last week, the Biden Administration’s Acting Solicitor General filed a brief to the US Supreme Court in support of the PennEast pipeline and against the State of New Jersey.

The Biden brief argues that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) may delegate power to a private corporation to condemn and take State owned preserved public land by eminent domain to build a fossil pipeline.

This amounts to the radical right wing corporatism FDR warned about:

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”

(NJ folks should know that the NJ Business and Industry Association (NJBIA) also filed a brief in support of PennEast.)

Here’s the national story (it’s tough to keep abreast of the news while on the road):

• Biden echoes Trump in Supreme Court eminent domain battle

In the likely event that the 6-3 right wing Supreme Court agrees, the implications are nation-wide and a disaster for climate and anti-pipeline activists. The NJ BIA brief makes those implications very clear (if PennEast loses):

The implications are made even worse given the Biden Administration’s upcoming “infrastructure plan”, which certainly will include corporate subsidies, privatization, and deregulation – under the guise of “public private partnerships” – for fossil pipelines (remember, it was Obama who bragged about overseeing record US oil and gas production as well as miles of pipelines installed. Surely Joe Biden remembers that. Take a look!)

Under my administration, America is producing more oil than at any time in the last eight years. We’ve opened up new areas for exploration. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating rigs to a record high. We’ve added enough new oil and gas pipeline to circle the Earth and then some,” Obama said (source)

The Biden brief contradicts Biden’s climate commitments and can only accelerate and expand construction of fossil pipelines and fossil infrastructure (amidst all the climate talk, see huge growth of US oil production, and US gas production, and US coal production). 

The Biden brief completely destroys the legal strategy of Gov. Murphy and NJ Attorney General Grewal.

The Biden brief tramples on NJ’s legal, political, and environmental interests, as well as Gov. Murphy’s Energy Master Plan and DEP’s upcoming Climate PACT regulatory initiative.

The Biden brief exposes the misguided strategy of NJ’s “Green Mafia”, who have relied on private property protections and virtually ignored State Police powers and DEP’s regulatory powers under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to kill the PennEast and other pipelines.

We’ve been writing about that and NY State and Connecticut’s 401 WQC denials, and criticizing NJ fools like Tom Gilbert for their failure to focus on it for over 4 years, see:

• NY Environmentalists Call On Gov. Cuomo To Use Clean Water Act Power to Kill Gas Pipeline

• Strategic Advice To NJ Pipeline Foes: Build A Public Campaign To Pressure DEP To Deny Clean Water Act 401 Approval

• Citizen’s Guide To Using The Clean Water Act To Kill Pipelines

Media should ask AG Grewal if NJ DEP is willing to pull that legal trigger.

We specifically warned – many times, for several years – about the misguided, dishonest, cowardly, and failed strategy of cheerleaders like Rethink Energy NJ.

NJ Attorney General Grewal and opponents of the PennEast pipeline are calling the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decision a “major victory” and a “groundbreaking ruling” and that the decision “stops PennEast in their tracks”.

They are exaggerating, misleading the public, making factually false statements, and simply not telling the full story. The decision is not a “groundbreaking ruling”, not a “major victory”, and will not “stop the project in its tracks”.

By making these exaggerated and false claims, they are undermining activist efforts to block all proposed pipelines and all fossil infrastructure, to inject climate change in regulatory decisions, and to enforce the Clean Water Act.

We exposed the failed focus on open space, see:

• Some PennEast Pipeline Opponents Want To Take Their Open Space Ball And Go Home

And we exposed the failed neglect and outright lies about DEP’s regulatory power, most recently last January, see:

• The Murphy DEP Did NOT “Deny” The PennEast Pipeline Permits

But you wouldn’t know any of that by reading NJ Spotlight –  a media outlet who has long spun the PennEast pipeline story and provided a platform for cheerleaders like Tom Gilbert of Rethink Energy NJ – or by following Green Mafia websites and press releases.

Just the opposite: NJ Spotlight’s cheerleading for gas even got quoted in the NJ BIA brief:

“Inexpensive natural gas from Pennsylvania has been a boon to both customers who heat their homes with the fuel and to businesses that rely on it as a basic building block of their manufacturing processes.” Tom Johnson, [cite omitted]

It’s radio silence over there and in many other high places that are adversely impacted by the Biden betrayal. Biden’s betrayals are being given a pass – just like Obama’s were.

Paging Tom Gilbert – where are you?

Paging Attorney General Grewal – where are you?

Paging Acting DEP Commissioner LaTourette – where are you?

Paging NJ BPU Commissioners – where are you?

Paging Gov. Murphy – where are you?

Paging Senate Environment Committee Chairman Smith – where are you?

NJ lawyers and Rutgers Law School- where are you?

Paging NJ press corps – where are you?

[End Note: The case will not be limited to the Natural Gas Act or pipelines.

It will vastly expand corporate power in many ways, and not just for infrastructure.

And it will also effect related issues, including federalism, interstate commerce, and the powers of State’s under the Clean Water Act.

Biden’s brief represents a radical and fundamental view: (@page 10)

A Story Of Self Dealing And Propaganda

Remarkable Hypocrisy Provided A Platform At NJ Spotlight

NJ Audubon Gave $123,000 To NJ League of Conservation Voters

NJ Spotlight just published an Op-Ed that is stunning in its hypocritical Orwellian revisionism, see:

• Let’s staff New Jersey’s parks

Looking at New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection staffing since 2008, there were 3,240 full-time staff working, according to reports from the NJ Civil Service Commission … Although park visitation has not decreased, and in fact has increased substantially in 2020, DEP staffing has decreased by approximately 17% since 2008. Without proper staffing, parks cannot provide the services and amenities necessary for the heavy usage they are receiving. So, how can we prepare for the upcoming parks season?

The DEP staff cuts reflect the DEP budget, which is something the authors intentionally ignore (as is the 2008 baseline year, which also is designed to divert from more recent cuts that resulted from the Keep It Green Open Space diversions).

[And BTW, the biggest DEP budget and staff cuts were imposed by Gov. Christie Whitman (>27%), prior to 2008. (See “Whitman: A Toxic Choice”) One of the authors was at DEP at the time and knows this, but has instead chosen to give Whitman a pass. Whitman also diverted hundreds of millions of dollars of environmental funds, which was the reason for the Constitutional Amendment dedicating 4% of the corporate business tax to DEP programs. Those were the funds the Keep It Green campaign stole. Democrat Jon Corzine was terrible, but not quite as bad as Whitman. The ironies and contradictions pile up the more history is understood and interrogated. ]

We explain all that, see:

• From Defunding State Parks To A Partnership With Donald Trump – They Know No Shame

This is no accident – the NJ Spotlight Op-Ed authors do that for a reason.

The Op-Ed was written jointly by NJ Audubon and NJ League Of Conservation Voters. They don’t want you to know about this:

• Green Greed – Reduced Funding For Public Lands, More Money To Private Groups

Here’s why they didn’t mention the DEP budget:

The Bergen Record finally published a story on funding cuts for the maintenance of NJ State Parks and how the Keep It Green Coalition – led by NJ Audubon and their Foundation and corporate friends – duped the voters into slashing those funds, despite a known $400 million backlog in capital maintenance projects, see:

• Budget cuts doom state parks to disrepair

It is a complex story to tell, but it all boils down to this (Bergen Record):

“Some environmentalists say the amendment had an unintended but severe impact on the Natural and Historic Resources capital budget. The budget had been replenished each year from the same tax, a dedication secured in a prior, 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment. That amendment was to provide a “reliable and stable source of funding” that would enable the DEP to make “long-term investments in the state park system,” according to a 2013 draft of the state’s Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan.

It provided about $15 million annually, and would have doubled to $32 million in 2016. ...

Mark Texel, head of the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, called it a “massive blow” and said in a Facebook post soon after the vote that it was “the darkest day I have faced in my professional career.” [**Note: he called it “worse than Sandy“]

“We had a plan to really tackle some of these major capital projects that had been deferred for many, many years,” Texel said. “And we were making progress. Suddenly now our capital budget is having the legs cut out from underneath it. … It was disappointing, I admit. I was very disappointed. 

Finally, despite the continuing lies and pushback to undermine and divert attention from the nasty truth, the press finally held the culprits at Keep It Green accountable:

Bill Wolfe, director of the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said he didn’t believe that voters in 2014 knew this would happen.

He accused NJ Keep It Green of “intentionally, knowingly” stripping state parks of capital funding to finance Green Acres so they wouldn’t have to ask voters to approve a bond. That, he said, let open space groups avoid a public brawl with Governor Christie, who has demanded no new debt be placed on taxpayers. The coalition, he said, “didn’t have the spine to fight for the money.”

The “Keep It Green Coalition” was responsible for this diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars of State Park funding.

They don’t want to tell you about all that.

Their fellow Foundation funded lackeys at NJ Spotlight won’t force the issue. It’s a gross whitewash.

I’ve long complained of the corrupt and incestuous self dealing between some NJ conservation groups, (AKA “Keep It Green Coalition”) specifically including NJ Audubon and NJ LCV, whom I’ve called part of the “Green Mafia”.

I’ve documented how these corrupt relationships have harmed the public interest, especially NJ’s public lands and State Parks.

So, I was not surprised to learn recently that NJ Audubon paid the NJ League Of Conservation Voters $114,500 for “publications” (see page 61)

I explained how this self dealing corruption operated:

• How The Green Mafia Plays The Game – Incestuous Self Dealing

I warned about exactly how this corruption negatively impacts State parks, see:

• Green Greed – Reduced Funding For Public Lands, More Money To Private Groups

The diversion of State Parks capital funds prompted NJ DEP State Parks Director Mark Texel to speak out publicly in opposition.

Director Mark Texel wrote the following on Keep It Green Facebook page on 11/5/14:

As the Director of the NJ State Park Service now coping with the reality that our entire Parks capital budget will be completely eliminated beginning July 1, 2015 as a result of the YES vote I can say this is the darkest day I have faced in my professional career. Worse than Superstorm Sandy. 440,000+ acres of preserved open space, 52 historic sites, 39 parks — used by 8 million visitors each year — all managed by my agency and now with no funding plan in place for stewardship beginning in just 7 months. This is not a bad reality TV show. This is New Jersey’s Inconvenient Truth hidden from voters throughout this campaign.

As the Bergen Record reported at the time (see: Budget cuts doom state parks to disrepair (6/28/17):

Bill Wolfe, director of the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said he didn’t believe that voters in 2014 knew this would happen.

He accused NJ Keep It Green of “intentionally, knowingly” stripping state parks of capital funding to finance Green Acres so they wouldn’t have to ask voters to approve a bond. That, he said, let open space groups avoid a public brawl with Governor Christie, who has demanded no new debt be placed on taxpayers. The coalition, he said, “didn’t have the spine to fight for the money.”

The people of NJ should be outraged by this incompetent, greedy self dealing masquerading as public interest public land conservation.

Sadly, NJ Spotlight will not only not tell the people about this, but they provided a platform for their fellow foundation funded fraudsters to lie to readers about it.

That is corrupt.

Advocates Are Math Challenged And Politically Incompetent

Minuscule Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions, Huge Costs

[Update below]

NJ Spotlight ran another fact free puff piece on a “Report” advocating electrification of the public school bus fleet, see:

• Ditch diesel for electric school buses? NJ advocates say that would pay off in the long run

I previously wrote to criticize a similarly misguided proposal to electrify the NJ Transit diesel bus fleet, concluding:

Of course, the NJ energy sector and corporate NJ are breathing sighs of relief as environmentalists divert public attention from anything that could change the corporate status quo or cost them a thin dime.

Electric bus fleet replacement cost would be at least $660 million, and all of it from PUBLIC money, not one corporate dollar. *** There were no estimates provided of actual GHG emissions reductions associated with this public expenditure. (*** See Technical Update below)

If anything, the cost, equities, and greenhouse gas emission reductions are even worse for the public school bus fleet than the NJ Transit fleet.

1. Strategic or Stupid?

While I expect the advocates to be clueless on numbers and basic math, my jaw dropped when I read this quote from a highly regarded NJ energy consultant:

“Electric school buses are highly strategic — they reduce operating costs for the districts, lower harmful emissions in the local community and provide compelling evidence that electric vehicles are ready for mainstream adoption,’’ said Mark Warner, a vice president of Gabel Associates, an energy consulting firm based in Highland Park.

I think Mr. Warner meant “highly visible” or “a highly symbolic gesture” – because first of all, the numbers don’t work (see my back of the envelope sketch below).

But far worse, strategically, imposing huge new costs on chronically cash strapped, over-burdened, and underfunded public school districts (particularly in light of all the huge new costs related to COVID) is about the worst greenhouse gas reduction strategy I can think of.

It is enormously costly, provides tiny greenhouse gas emissions reductions, diverts scarce resources from far more cost effective options, and is almost designed to generate harsh public opposition and spawn a backlash (think “Yellow Vests”).

A local school budget is the most closely and critically scrutinized public budget there is. School budgets drive local property taxes and require local taxpayer and voter approval.

School budgets are annualized and school boards and voters approve annual budgets, so any alleged “long term” cost savings associated with electric conversion – even if real – are irrelevant (do the Report authors and Mr. Warner understand how school budgets are structured and approved??? Do they really think that entire budget structure would be abandoned to buy high cost electric school buses? Do they think voters will approve long term bonds to buy these buses, when school facilities are dilapidated and inadequate?)

Does anyone think that local voters will approve a $200,000 climate premium on purchase of a $100,000 new school bus?

Even if they would, diverting scarce public education resources to an extremely cost-ineffective greenhouse gas emission tactic is obscene.

There are many other far more cost effective greenhouse gas emissions tactics, including private sector fleet vehicles (like Amazon, Fed Ex, UPS, etc), but the “advocates” lack the courage to take on the fight with these powerful corporate interests. It’s sooo much easier to target the public sector and school buses!

Targeting public school buses is not “strategic”, it’s just plain stupid.

2. The Number Don’t Work

According to the “Report”:

Every government document I read offers up more absurd developments

[Update below]

I just read the Pinelands Commission’s February 2021 Monthly Report and thought I’d share the latest in crazy down the Pines:

1. End Run Around Highlands Septic Density Standards?

The Pinelands Commission staff met with the Highlands Council staff – at the request of the Highlands Council – to discuss septic systems and receive a briefing on the Pinelands’ Alternate Design Treatment Systems Pilot Program. That program is designed to promote development and provide flexibility and basically relief from strict regulations.

There is no valid scientific or regulatory rationale for such a meeting between the 2 staffs. Scientifically, the geology and groundwater recharge are fundamentally different. From a regulatory perspective, the Highlands benefit from a strict “Septic Density Standard” and that standard is based in NJ DEP regulations.

Here’s how the Pinelands Report summarized that meeting:

New Jersey Highlands Council: At the Council’s request, staff provided a briefing on the Commission’s Alternate Design Treatment Systems Pilot Program. The use of advanced treatment septic systems for both residential and commercial development was discussed.

The only reasons for the Highlands Council to request such a briefing is to undermine or find a work around the DEP’s strict Highlands Septic Density Standard by developing a similar sham alternative pilot program under the Council’s jurisdiction.

This is a bad idea that needs to be nipped in the bud, and soon before it gains any momentum.

2. Climate Blues – Over-Regulation Of Solar

Here is another reason why the Pinelands needs a climate policy and renewable energy policy and CMP amendments to implement that policy, see

• The Pinelands Commission Finally Takes A First Baby Step On Climate Policy

The Commission’s February Management Report reveals that they are already implementing renewable energy regulations for solar in the absence of an over-arching climate policy to promote renewables:

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU): Applications for participation in Year 2 of BPU’s Community Solar Pilot Program were due by February 5, 2021. If any such application proposed a ground‐mounted solar facility in the Pinelands Area, BPU required the applicant to obtain a letter from the Commission on the consistency of the project with Pinelands regulations. Commission staff issued letters on nine proposed community solar facilities. In each case, the letter stated whether or not the proposed solar project’s scope and location were consistent with CMP land use priorities. Staff also met with an applicant seeking to construct a community solar project in Pemberton Township, outside the Pinelands Area, that has the potential to provide solar energy to the Commission’s offices.

So, the Pinelands Commission is conducting “consistency reviews” for solar.

What are the policies and standards that are applicable? Is solar given any preferential treatment, or is it treated like any other less desirable land use? Are there barriers to solar? Is this done publicly?

And too bad BPU did not require this “letter” of consistency review before they approved the SJG pipeline. BPU approved the pipeline BEFORE the Pinelands Commission reviewed it.

So why should a solar project be more strictly regulated than a fossil pipeline? Absurd.

And the Highlands Council is not even trying to develop a climate policy.

3. Privatizing Water Regulation

After many years of delay, it looks like the Pinelands Commission is finally moving forward with CMP amendments and new regulations to implement the science behind the Kirkwood-Cohansey Project, see:

• Another Delay In Restrictions on Water Withdrawals Threatens Pinelands Ecosystems

But it also looks like the Pinelands Commission is gutting the program before it is even designed or regulations are adopted by contracting out the regulatory reviews (and don’t you just hate that passive voice?):

Kirkwood‐Cohansey: Research was conducted into potential partners or contracts for review of drawdown models that will be required for well applications when new rules are adopted.

These reviews must be conducted by Pinelands staff.

They are regulatory reviews that can not be contracted out and effectively delegated to a private third party.

If the Commission doesn’t currently have staff with the necessary expertise, they must hire some.

Where are Pinelands advocates on this?

[Update: 3/10/21 – and while we’re speaking of crazy, just a few miles north, the good folks at Catskill Mountainkeeper just put out an alert on 2 terrible projects (too bad that the NY folks don’t have a Highlands Act! They have “forever wild” in the NY State Constitution and the Adirondack Park Agency, but not a regional planning and regulatory model like Highlands)

1. First, a power company from Southern California called Premium Energy Holdings wants to create an enormous underground hydroelectric plant adjacent to the Ashokan Reservoir. If this project moves forward, the company would be digging into valleys in the towns of Olive or Shandaken and damming streams to create reservoirs as part of “pumped storage” for electricity to be generated using associated water transport tunnels. Tapping into any energy generated would require a massive new high power electric transmission network. New York needs clean energy, but this is not the way to go.

Scroll to the bottom of this email for a sample comment you can copy/paste into the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) online portal and make your comments part of the official record.

The proposal caught everyone by surprise, as Premium Energy Holdings had not reached out to New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) or the local communities that would be impacted by the project. It’s a shame that the idea of hydroelectric power in our region came forward this way, because this ill-advised proposal for massive construction adjacent to the drinking water reservoir that supplies a portion of the water for nine million people seems totally implausible. Any reasonable ideas about generating hydroelectric from the reservoir system may now become harder to discuss, and local communities, already addressing more pressing issues, are being forced to divert attention to mobilize in opposition.

We believe this really bad project is unlikely to move forward, yet we must stay vigilant in our opposition until we are sure it’s been shut down for good. Remember: scroll down for a sample comment and instructions to submit your thoughts to FERC.

2.  the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) is seeking permission to release turbid (muddy) water from the Ashokan Reservoir downstream into the clean flowing waters of the Esopus Creek in West Hurley, Kingston, Saugerties, and eastern Ulster County, a stretch sometimes called the Lower Esopus (see https://www.dec.ny.gov/enb/122281.html). The turbid waters have to go somewhere, and NYCDEP obviously doesn’t want to send the muddy water into their drinking water system, but these releases would carry particles of clay and silt out of the reservoir and could go on for months at a time, especially following heavy rains and storms.

Turbid, muddy waters harm the ecology, economy, and quality of life along the stream, which flows into the Hudson River, and new information suggests that the turbidity may be contaminating drinking water for the Town of Esopus and other communities along the Hudson. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement released by NYCDEP supporting its request does not address solutions that would prevent both flooding and further contamination, like investing in stream bank restoration and flood resilience projects both upstream and downstream of the Ashokan Reservoir.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is accepting comments on the NYCDEP’s proposal through June 16th. Please speak out and tell NYSDEC to send NYCDEP back to the drawing board! SEND COMMENTS TO NYDEC

The Green Mafia Strikes Again, Sets a New Low In Ethics

[Update – 3/16/21 – Well, what do you know? In light of these facts, I wonder if NJ Audubon has received loan forgiveness. Will the NJ press core explore that?

• MOST SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS STILL HAVEN’T HAD THEIR PPP LOANS FORGIVEN – The numbers are even worse for Black business owners: Three-quarters still haven’t received forgiveness, according to a recent survey. ~~~ end update]

According to US Department of Treasury records, NJ Audubon applied for and received an $830,136.92 COVID CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) “forgivable loan” in 2020.

NJ Audubon received these scarce taxpayer funds at a time when millions of people lost jobs and paychecks due to COVID, when thousands of small businesses were shut down and bankrupted by COVID, and bankruptcies, foreclosures and evictions skyrocketed. Millions stood in food lines.

These folks didn’t get any PPP “forgivable” loans.

Did anyone at NJ Audubon lose a job? Face eviction? Face foreclosure? File for bankruptcy?  Stand in a food line?

NJ Audubon is a private non-profit group. According to the most recent IRS Form 990 (2017-2018) I could readily find, NJA had net assets of over $28 million. Their total annual revenues were $6,645,289. 

Their $6.6 million in revenues came primarily from member dues and donations, Foundation grants, government grants, corporate consulting contracts, and major private philanthropic donors.

The disbursement of those revenues are governed by contracts and grant agreements with fixed terms – the flow of revenues does not vary based on economic conditions.

NJ Audubon’s membership is wealthy and able to write large checks. $28 million in net assets could be tapped in the event of any liquidity crisis.

According to the federal Department of Treasury, to be eligible for the funds, NJ Audubon had to certify that:

Current economic uncertainty makes the loan necessary to support your ongoing operations.

I fail to understand how COVID had any impact on NJ Audubon revenue sources that fund their “ongoing operations”. How is this loan “necessary”?

NJA CEO Eric Stiles has some explaining to do.

How could NJ Audubon be legally eligible for a PPP loan? How could they make that certification?

How could they justify the need for such a loan?

[A reader asks:

how did NJ Audubon take the hit?  They might have responded that they lost revenue from all their cancelled field trips and public presentations.

I replied that yes, NJA likely cancelled events due to COVID and lost anticipated revenues. But such revenue is not only a very small part of their total revenue, it is anticipated and thus not likely to impact this year’s cash flow needs to pay payroll and other operating expenses. ~~~]

Because they have $28 million in assets that could be used to fund operations or offset any reduction in revenues – and many wealthy members and donors who could step up – how could they ethically seek a PPP loan, even if they were technically legally eligible for one?

Maybe I should have no expectations of ethical behavior from a group that would form a “partnership” with and praise Trump. Or take hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street hedge fund billionaire Peter Kellogg and use that money to log public forests – and then lie to the public about that logging.

Back in November 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported:

Evidence of PPP Fraud Mounts, Officials Say 

Reports of waste and abuse in the Paycheck Protection Program inundate government watchdogs and federal prosecutors

WASHINGTON—The federal government is swamped with reports of potential fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program, according to government officials and public data, casting a shadow on one of Washington’s signature responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

Congress and the Trump administration designed the PPP to give small businesses fast and easy access to taxpayer funds, and it worked: About $525 billion in loans were distributed to 5.2 million companies between April 3 and Aug. 8. Many business owners say it was a lifeline in turbulent times.

But evidence is growing that many others took advantage of the program’s open-door design. Banks and the government allowed companies to self-certify that they needed the funds, with little vetting.

Repeat: “with little vetting.”

Since then, the US Justice Department has prosecuted massive fraud in the PPP program.

The Small Business Administration has begun to investigate waste, fraud and abuse, but their PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM
LOAN NECESSITY QUESTIONNAIRE (NON-PROFIT BORROWERS) does not apply to NJ Audubon, because their loan is under the $2 million threshold.

But that doesn’t prevent media and legislators from asking NJ Audubon some tough questions about this loan.

PPP Background:

Traditionally, non-profits were not eligible to receive SBA-guaranteed small business loans. But the CARES Act PPP enabled many non-profit organizations to access loans to support their employees.

The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) authorizes up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses to pay their employees during the COVID-19 crisis. All loan terms will be the same for everyone.

NJA CEO Eric Stiles makes over $130,000 salary (not counting huge benefits).

[A reader just advised that those benefits include housing in Bedminster NJ (median house value over $373,000 among the highest in the nation) and a car.]

The PPP caps salary at $100,000.

The PPP “Loan Necessity Questionnaire” explores use of other funds to offset any COVID related revenue losses – maybe NJA $28 million in net assets could be tapped.

Given these abuses, we want to know when NJA will pay this loan back – we hope they have not sought loan forgiveness.

But, they are a corrupt member of the Green Mafia, so we have no more illusions.

I’ve long criticized NJA for their focus on fundraising and compromises driven by their hunger for revenues.

But exploiting a COVID PPP loan sets a new low in farming the government.

[End Note: this information was conveyed to me by a reader. I did not go digging it up. But once I became aware of it, I felt obligated to report it and make it public.