Once Upon A Time In Trenton

Check out this Trenton Times editorial, from back in the day (2011):

EPA should release information on contaminated N.J. sites

“By failing to disclose these hazardous ratings, EPA keeps the public in the dark about risks in their communities and frustrates their efforts to hold polluters and government accountable,” says New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe.

He’s right. And PEER was right to file the suit since it appears that will be the only way to get the information.

Can you even imagine a NJ press outlet today agreeing with me and saying that I’m right?

Believe me, I haven’t changed over time, but have become a pariah.

How about this one, from two years prior, back in 2009. Could you now even imagine a media outlet quoting me criticizing a main stream Obama Democrat?:

Still, critics like Bill Wolfe, the former director of the state PEER group and a columnist for the Newark Star-Ledger, say Jackson has not done enough to regulate greenhouse gases in the state. Wolfe argues that the DEP had the power to curb emissions even before passage of the Global Warming Response Act in 2007. “Although Jackson is touted as a leader on global warming, few realize that she has done nothing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as NJ DEP Commissioner, despite having existing regulatory authority to do so,” wrote Wolfe in a recent column. “The Jackson record amounts to the same as the Bush policy — no regulation, no action, no reductions.”

Here is DEP’s own regulatory statements about DEP authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. As I wrote, DEP has since taken down the link, but buried on page 4 of Appendix 3: New Jersey Accomplishments and On-going Efforts with Respect to Greenhouse Gas Legislation, Regulations, Policies and Programs DEP wrote:

“CO2 as a Pollutant

“In November 2005, New Jersey adopted a new regulation under the authority of New Jersey’s Air Pollution Control Act to classify CO2 as an air contaminant. This rule enables the State to implement its responsibilities under the RGGI (discussed in greater detail below) and to enact additional rules to reduce CO2 emissions from other sectors as necessary. It also sends a powerful message in light of the federal government’s failure to regulate CO2 under its existing Clean Air Act Authority. New Jersey also added CO2 as an air pollutant in its emission statement program requirements. The emission statement program require the annual reporting of actual emissions of about 50 air contaminants by approximately 700 of the largest stationary sources of air pollution in New Jersey.” (page 100)

Or consider this one, criticizing Cory Booker as US Senator:

Count Bill Wolfe, director of New Jersey Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, as one of Booker’s immediate critics.

“Let’s just say Booker is no Frank Lautenberg on environmental issues,” said Wolfe by email. “He’s got lots of the buzzwords ‘sustainability’ and ‘environmental justice’ and ‘green jobs,’ but on the regulatory side, [he] did nothing to block the re-issuance of a garbage incinerator permit when that facility should have been shut down.” …

But that incinerator should have been closed for good, said Wolfe. “The retrofit with scrubbers was a band-aid.”

According to Wolfe, Booker has allowed Gov. Christie and corporate redevelopers to have their way with Newark without standing up much to either.

“Frank was a leader,” said Wolfe, “Booker not so much.”

Or how about this ABC TV News expose, slamming the deregulatory policies of NJ Gov. Christie:

“You’ve got safety risks posed because there’s lax government oversight and there’s this profit motive to drive the facility and maximize its profit and that kind of scenario leads to unacceptable risks,” said Bill Wolfe from the NJ Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Environmentalist Bill Wolfe spent 13 years with New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection. He says the massive spill in the gulf occurred because BP cut corners on safety while the regulators looked the other way. Wolfe says Governor Christie is making the same mistake by issuing executive orders that call for immediate relief from “regulatory burdens” and “waivers” from regulations.

Bill Wolfe: “This executive order will put into force of law, the exact same policies that led to the disaster in the Gulf.”

Eyewitness News Reporter Jim Hoffer: “You’re saying that this executive order will bring the polluters and government to an even cozier kind of relationship?”

Wolfe: “Right, it will make government facilitate, not regulate, but actually promote the interest of the polluters, protect the polluters, not the people of the state.”

How about this vindication, by the Bergen Record editorial Board:

My claim was validated by a killer 4/25/10 Bergen Record story and an April 30, 2010 highly critical editorial titled “Cleaner Water”. The Bergen Record editorial hammered Christie DEP Commissioner Bob Martin’s blatant lie:

Cleaner water 

… [DEP Commissioner] Martin’s new opinion came about after he was embarrassed publicly. The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility released e-mails sent to Martin from the EPA that made clear that even if the agency imposed a limit, 6 1/2 years could elapse before the rule was in place, Staff Writer James O’Neill reported. Martin would have been playing Russian roulette with the public’s health.

Let that sink in: the Bergen Record editorial board [correctly] accused the Christie DEP of “playing Russian roulette with the public’s health”. (but “embarrassed publicly” is a pretty lame dodge instead of calling out DEP Commissioner Martin’s’ blatant lie.)

You don’t see any of this anymore.

Why is that?

[Update – A reader just emailed me to suggest that I give up on legacy media and post to X. Hahahaha! Elon and X already shadow banned me!