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After A Spectacular Fall in the Northeast, We’re Headed South for the Winter

James River at Horseshoe Bend (Virginia)

I’ve been getting emails and questions from friends and readers about how I’m doing, so I thought I’d update the status of our epic tour.

Last I posted, we were along the Maine coast enjoying the fall in the northeast- after about a month in Vermont’s Green Mountains & New Hampshire’s White Mountains (see “Atlantic Northeast”).

We then headed west into NY Adirondacks, then south to the Catskills, and southeast to my home turf, the Hudson Valley. I spent over a week in Port Ewen, NY (a Hudson River hamlet just south of Kingston). Here’s a view of the Hudson from lovely Hasbrouck Park, looking southeast:

Here’a a view of the Hudson looking north towards Kingston, from Scenic Hudson’s spectacular Esopus Meadows Preserve (don’t miss the Phenology Trail there, which should be a model for NJ!)

Kingston has great parks and a lively historic harbor district. I loved the place, home of Sojourner Truth, described as the “Daughter of Esopus”:

statue in center of Port Ewen, NY celebrates history of Sojourner Truth

Looking to settle in the Kingston area, exhausted and just about broke, I thought the tour was over and I was offered and actually accepted a job at Green Mountain Energy. But I couldn’t find affordable housing so the whole thing broke down, and, as temperatures dipped into the 20’s at night, I decided to head south for the winter.

I’m in the Deep South now (at Horseshoe bend 2 weeks ago), but before I write about some of the ugly things I’ve seen here recently, I thought I’d explain how I got here.

Protest against Steve Bannon’s speech at The Citadel (Charleston, SC) (11/10/17)

I didn’t follow the NJ Governor’s race, but have posted and tweeted extensively about the dirty deeds of NJ Audubon and their friends in Keep It Green Coalition and NJ League of Conservation Voters – as a warning to the incoming Murphy Administration and my fellow activists.

As I was praised recently by a friend and reader for being:

the “corporate/institutional” memory of environmental things [in NJ]

I feel a certain responsibility and obligation.

So, I will be writing about the Murphy Transition process, the appointment of a new DEP Commissioner, and overall strategy & a progressive policy agenda in the next days and weeks, so stay tuned.

Peace out!

Protest on Bannon’s speech at The Citadel (11/10/17)

Christie DEP Provided Platform For Trump Corporate PR & Propaganda

NJ Audubon Report Manipulates Public & Peddles “Fake News”

Just days before the 2016 Presidential election, the Christie DEP provided a platform at the DEP headquarters for the presentation of a Report that praised Trump’s National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ. (see page 30).

Yesterday, I wrote to provide the context and explain why that Report and closed door meeting at DEP HQ was totally inappropriate because it provided undue access and influence on DEP and mixed private special interests  with DEP’s regulatory responsibilities.

Today, we focus on the politics of that DEP meeting and Report.

Perhaps the easiest way to highlight the problem would be to suggest a parallel hypothetical case and pose a question about how it would be perceived by the media and public:

Can you imagine the uproar if, just days before the Presidential election, a NJ Democratic Governor provided a platform at DEP Headquarters for a private environmental group to present a Report that praised the Clinton Foundation (and by inference, Hillary Clinton)?

Well, that is exactly what the Christie DEP did.

That NJ Audubon Report is nothing more than corporate public relations and political propaganda with a veneer of green cover.

With all the focus on fake news and Russian manipulation, why the silence by NJ press corps on this November Surprise?

Does anyone think that the praise for Trump’s environmental performance is warranted?

If not, then doesn’t the NJ Audubon Report – and ongoing Trump “partnership” – constitute gross manipulation of the public in a way that benefits a politician?

Isn’t that what is now called “fake news”?

For those that don’t hit links, here is the praise that NJ Audubon heaped on Trump (from page 30):

I am providing text screenshots from that Report in the likely event that NJ Audubon takes down the link – just like their buddy Mike Catania did with this Conservation Resources, Inc. 10 year Report.

Beyond Regulatory Capture and Green Cover

Need redraw lines between DEP regulators, corporate interests, & private conservation

Source: NJ Audubon Society

[Update below]

On November 3, 2016, the NJ Audubon Society met with some of NJ’s largest corporate polluters and land developers behind closed doors at the Christie DEP’s Trenton Headquarters. (see this)

At the time of that meeting, NJ Audubon had controversial financial and regulatory matters pending before DEP (e.g. the Sparta Mountain logging plan which DEP was backing) and so did virtually all of the corporations on Audubon’s “Corporate Stewardship Council”.

Obviously, that meeting meets NJ’s legal definitions, standards and restrictions on “attempts to influence government processes” and constitutes lobbying.

NJ Audubon has now joined the group NJ Future in conducting important and controversial public policy work by private groups in secret (i.e the controversial proposal to develop Liberty State Park). Recalling the Liberty State Park debacle:

…to evade that controversy and public accountability [for developing Liberty State Park], the Christie DEP provided a $120,000 grant to the private planning group NJ Future to secretly develop the LSP plan and provide a veneer of legitimacy and political cover for it.

That secrecy and betrayal by NJ Future further outraged the public and Democratic legislators, as reported by The Jersey Journal:

• Senators want ‘secret’ DEP report, plan hearing on Liberty State Park’s future

Public outrage over NJ Future’s secret planning forced NJ Future to try to do damage control and walk it back. Check out this NJF private planning methodology

Apparently NJ Audubon and the Christie DEP learned nothing from the NJ Future Liberty State Park debacle and brazenly and with impunity defy the norms of open, transparent and accountable government.

To see who was at that NJA/DEP private corporate meeting, what was discussed, and to read the “Annual Report” please hit this link.

Here is a screen shot from the NJ Audubon’s Corporate Stewardship Council (CSC) Annual Report:

I have been harshly critical of the Christie Administration’s environmental, energy and regulatory policies and I believe that my assessment is both fact based and the overwhelming consensus in the environmental community, the media, the legislature, and among the public. There is no doubt that Christie and DEP Commissioner Bob Martin will go down in history as having the worst environmental record ever, surpassing the “open for business” Whitman administration.

I also have criticized NJ Audubon Society, most recently for their role as:

a self-proclaimed “conservation” organization [that] has: 1) formed a “partnership” with Donald Trump; 2) taken money from a Wall Street billionaire to log forests to enhance opportunities for wealthy private hunters; and 3) formed a “Stewardship Council”with major corporate polluters, developers, and pipeline builders; then something apparently benign like a “buy local” sustainable forestry birdhouse program may seem like chump change, and just a short slide down the slippery slope of the Greasy Pole to Gomorrah (a process that Chris Hedges calls “our descent into corporate tyranny.”)

I am referring to NJ’s Audubon’s latest scam, run in cooperation with NJ State Departments of Environmental Protection (“Forest Stewardship”) and Agriculture (“Jersey Grown Wood“).

But the NJA corporate meeting behind closed doors at the Christie DEP Headquarters is perhaps one of the most insidious and craven moves of all.

So called “Corporate Stewardship” of the environment is a purely private matter.

NJ Audubon is a private organization that is well endowed and prone to pursue it’s own organizational interests over sound public policy and the public interest (e.g. witness the Trump partnership and the public manipulation and lies during the “Keep It Green” coalition’s $1 million open space campaign. – see the Bergen Record’s story

• Budget cuts doom state parks to disrepair

It is totally inappropriate for corporate officials to meet behind closed doors with DEP regulatory officials and allow that corporate conservation policy to mingle with public policy and regulatory matters.

The inside special private access provided to corporate interests has an undue influence on DEP policy and regulatory affairs, fosters personal and institutional relationships that lead to what academics call “regulatory capture”, and is inherently unfair to the public, who is shut out of these discussions.

The fact that it occurred behind closed doors with no paper trail defies all norms and laws regarding open and transparent government.

For a private “conservation” group to work this closely with private corporations inside government – while financially benefitting from both those same corporate interests and DEP grants – is totally corrupt.

Politically and from a public policy standpoint, the entire CSC program is an empty shell that amounts to nothing more than corporate public relations and green cover for a Christie DEP that has rolled back core environmental protections and ignored climate change for almost 8 years.

The next Administration in Trenton needs to redraw the lines between DEP regulators, corporate interests, and private self serving conservation groups like NJ Audubon.

[End Note: Kelly Mooij of NJ Audubon has an Op-Ed today in NJ Spotlight calling on the next Governor to expand funding for open space.

NJ Audubon did virtually nothing to pressure Gov. Christie to fund open space or criticize his opposition to new money or to continue NJ voters’ longstanding commitment to approve the issuance of bonds to fund the open space program.

Instead of battling Gov. Christie to adequately fund open space, to support new money, or back the issuance of debt, the cowards at NJ Audubon led the “Keep It Green” coalition in stealing existing money previously constitutionally dedicated to State parks maintenance, protecting water quality, and ensuring toxic site cleanup!

For NJ Audubon to now challenge the next Administration to expand the totally inadequate funding that NJ Audubon itself compromised on – and sold out & misled the public about – is obscene.

I request all public records regarding a November 3, 2016 “Annual Meeting” at DEP headquarters with NJ Audubon and the Corporate Stewardship Council, including meeting agenda, presentations, minutes, list of attendees, and communications between DEP, NJ Audubon and the Corporate Stewardship Council.  ~~~~ end update]

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the 5th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. So, because we depend on public libraries for WiFi access, today we repost this October 29, 2012 post, written in real time just as the storm was hitting the NJ coast:

• A Dirge To McHarg and Mumford – Who Are Rolling Over in Their Graves

Amazingly prescient post, if I must say so myself  (and note how it includes a prior July 6, 2012 post on infrastructure vulnerability – the same infrastructure that was devastated by Sandy).

Tragically, very little has changed and there has been very, very little accountability for the failures of the Christie Administration to prepare and respond and recover from Sandy in light of climate change risks.

But Enck Rolled Over As NJ Gov. Christie Rolled Back Federal Protections

Is Enck laying foundation for US EPA Administrator in 2020?

former EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck at NJ Superfund site (Cornel-Dubilier)

I just listened this morning to former EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck on a panel at the northeast NPR radio station WAMC (“The Roundtable” – listen here). I only heard a portion, but during the conversation, the panelists praised Enck for an opinion piece that ran in The Hill today regarding EPA budget cuts, see: We cannot weaken the EPA as hurricanes are growing worse (for some reason I can not access the content of that piece, so confine my remarks to the radio show).

I like Ms. Enck as a person and respect her qualifications and long career record of public service, both in government and environmental advocacy organizations.

But, I was deeply disappointed by her failure to hold the Christie Administration accountable and enforce federal environmental laws in NJ during her 7+ year tenure as head of Region 2, which oversees NY, NJ and Puerto Rico.

At the outset, we had high hopes for Enck, and looked to her for a strong federal oversight backstop against the Christie Administration’s regulatory and enforcement rollbacks. But she has been a disappointment.

I spoke with Ms. Enck personally shortly after her appointment. She seemed aware of many NJ skeletons in EPA Region 2’s closet, but she asked me to work with her in confidence in reforming EPA and more aggressively overseeing NJ DEP. I told her I didn’t operate that way and did everything publicly. After that, she declined to work with me.

During her tenure, I wrote her numerous times, on Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act compliance, stream buffer rollbacks, Superfund, RCRA, Dupont Pompton Lakes, Ford Ringwood, Barnegat Bay, BL England, Pinelands pipelines, NEPPS, EPA grant funding and more.

[update: Enck once called me to complain to explain that I got the facts and EPA’s position on enforcement and the taxpayer tab wrong on the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund site in this post. Read the update of that post to understand the disagreement. But an EPA RA calling a blogger?? Thin skin, no? ~~~ end update]

After some initial supportive replies and conversations, Enck simply stopped even responding and never really pulled the trigger or dropped the hammer on the Christie administration, despite an appalling record. (e.g. see this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and more).

It’s not as if Enck could not see all this coming.

During the 2009 campaign, candidate Christie said he looked forward to fighting the Obama EPA. In October 2009, Christie laid down the gauntlet:

“I’ve got a feeling that you will see, come January 2010, a lot of battles between the Christie administration DEP and the Obama administration EPA.” (watch YouTube)

The Christie administration basically created a model for the Trump administration, in terms of rolling back climate, renewable energy, environmental justice, and environmental protections via Executive Orders and regulatory policy; appointing industry hacks to run the Agencies (NJ BPU and NJ DEP); appointing industry scientists to DEP Science Advisory Board; slashing enforcement; dismantling environmental programs and intimidating career professionals; gutting and putting the burueaucracy on a short leash; allowing improper industry access to agency decision-making; and slashing budgets and diverting environmental funds to other purposes.

Many of these Christie policies impacted and possibly violated federally delegated and/or funded programs subject to Enck’s oversight.

On top of that, Enck looked the other way in the wake of Sandy, as the Christie Administration:

1) waived environmental review requirements for rebuilding infrastructure;

2) violated federal procurement laws in awarding contracts to political insiders;

3) failed to address climate change or renewable energy in rebuilding plans; and

4) blatantly ignored Obama Executive Orders on incorporating climate change in various federally funded and delegated programs.

Remarkably, in the wake of Sandy, Obama came to NJ to support Gov. Christie!

So, given that history, I found Enck’s aggressive critique of the Trump administration on today’s radio show somewhat opportunistic and hypocritical. Here’s why.

Specifically, today, Enck was highly critical of Trump administration $300 million electric grid rebuilding contract and failure to include renewable energy and local micro grids and climate adaptation & resilience in the Puerto Rico post hurricane rebuild plans.

Where was Ms. Enck when the Christie administration did virtually the same thing after Hurricane Sandy?

She also criticized the Trump administration proposed deep budget cuts at EPA.

Where was Ms. Enck when Obama proposed budget reductions at EPA? (e.g. see:

• Obama Budget Request Cuts $300M From EPA Funding

Where was Enck when Obama abandoned EPA scientist proposed Clean Air Act standard for ozone? At the time, even the NY Times critically noted:

“Reaction from environmental advocates ranged from disappointment to fury, with several noting that in just the past month the administration had tentatively approved drilling in the Arctic, given an environmental green light to the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Texas and opened 20 million more acres of the Gulf of Mexico to drilling.

Today, Enck piled on and also criticized the recent highly publicized gag on EPA scientists speaking at the Narragansett Bay National Estuary Program (NEP) conference.

But far worse than EPA Administrator Pruitt gagging scientists from speaking at a public event, Enck did nothing as Gov. Christie’s original Barnegat Bay “10 point management plan” failed to even mention climate change and Gov. Christie’s Barnegat Bay Restoration Strategy – after 8 years of study – totally ignored climate change impacts. (Barnegat Bay is part of the same Nation Estuary Program as Narraganset Bay.)

If that’s not opportunistic and hypocritical, I don’t know what is.

Enck challenged those EPA scientists to defy the EPA managers’ gag order and speak at the conference anyway.

When did Ms. Enck ever put here career on the line by defying political marching orders, from Albany or Washington DC?

Finally, Enck repeated a right wing talking point by saying it was impossible to fire EPA employees, even for cause. That is just not true and it was a cheap shot.

Ms. Enck’s criticisms show that it’s a lot easier to throw rocks from the outside than to lead and take career and political risks on the inside.

I know – been there, done that (and got fired for it too!)

[Endnote: Enck now talks a big game on renewable energy and climate change.

But in terms of the over-rated Obama energy and climate record, as EPA R2 Administrator, she went along with Obama’s Washington DC political message and talking points, not the policy merits.

In addition to Naomi Klein’s critique of Obama’s “all of the above” energy policy – does anyone recall that Obama bragged about record construction of pipeline miles and US fossil energy production? – and climate record, here’s a more recent cogent critique from a Jacobin article:

In true technocratic fashion, Obama sought a fix through executive orders, administrative measures, and elite international negotiations. His Clean Power Plan relied on the power of the presidency to reduce emissions by further regulating power plants and raising fuel standards using the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. In his final year in office, he made much of brokering an international agreement at the COP 21 in Paris — the first global climate agreement since Kyoto in 1997.

But his achievement was overstated, and so was liberal panic over its demise. The agreement fell far short of what climate scientists and activists alike agree would be necessary to avoid a dangerous 2˚C or higher warming — not least because Obama himself had pushed for it to be non-binding. Even implementing the set of commitments made in Paris would have required sustained political action, regardless of who controlled the Oval Office.

Paradoxically, Obama also got more blame for regulatory attempts than he probably deserved. Stricter emissions regulations are just one reason the demand for coal has been declining: activists have campaigned for the closing of coal-fired power plants and the prices of both solar power and natural gas have been plummeting. But Obama provided a convenient scapegoat for coal country’s continued decline — after all, he’d done little to alleviate the crisis of unemployment and need in places once dependent on the resource. The path was clear for someone like Donald Trump to run on a platform of bringing mining jobs back — even if he had no actual way of doing so.