Good morning and welcome to the Monday edition of the New York & New Jersey Energy newsletter. We’ll take a look at the week ahead and look back on what you may have missed last week.

ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY LOSES TWO — The Adirondack Park Agency, tasked with overseeing six million acres of New York state, suffered two significant court losses last week in lawsuits challenging separate decisions the agency took and stood by in spite of controversy and major opposition.

On Friday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Robert Muller ruled that the agency improperly approved the use of a chemical herbicide in Lake George. The APA, as the agency is known in the North Country, last year issued permits to allow the application of the chemical ProcellaCOR in two parts of the lake to go after Eurasian watermilfoil, a tricky weed. The judge found the agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously by not holding a public hearing on the issue.

“It was the second of two court decisions this week rebuking how the agency, charged with long-range planning and overseeing public and private development in the 6-million-acre park, conducts business,” the Adirondack Explorer’s Gwendolyn Craig wrote.

The other decision, issued Thursday, invalidated a permit the agency had approved to expand a marina at Lower Saranac Lake. That case pitted the former head of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Thomas Jorling, against current state officials and dredged up years of uncomfortable questions about whether the state has know-how and will to protect the Adirondacks. “While the decision from the state Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department, called the state’s failure to conduct a carrying capacity study of the lake ‘inexplicable,’ the court ruled that that failure did not prevent APA from determining the project would not have an adverse impact on the park’s surrounding environment,” the Explorer’s Zachary Matson reported.

The Lake George Association said in a statement about the herbicide case: “Should the Lake George Park Commission decide to proceed with its ProcellaCOR permit application this season, we look forward to once again participating in the regulatory process and to presenting expert scientific testimony at the adjudicatory hearing to clearly convey and document our many concerns.”

The APA told the Explorer it was reviewing the chemical decisions and acknowledged the marina decision will affect future agency action. — Ry Rivard

CORRECTION: An item on Friday should have said OxyChem launched a website urging people to protest a proposed settlement involving other companies accused of polluting the Lower Passaic River. A version of this newsletter incorrectly described the website’s intent.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING: Let us know if you have tips, story ideas or life advice. We’re always here at [email protected] and [email protected]. And if you like this letter, please tell a friend and/or loved one to sign up.

Here’s what we’re watching this week:

MONDAY
— The New Board of Public Utilities meets, 11 a.m.

— The New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee meets to consider, among other items, a bill that would allow companies to put new surcharges on water and wastewater bills, 1 p.m.

THURSDAY
— The New Jersey Senate Environment and Energy Committee meets, 10 a.m.

AROUND NEW YORK

— Wind energy lifts town that once thrived on fossil fuels — and has the name to prove it, Wellsville.

— NYT: “Ownership rates of electric cars have more than doubled in New York City and the surrounding area, propelled by more varied models, more charging stations and lower prices.”

— Astoria Post: “Beacon Wind project will repower ‘Asthma Alley’ with renewable energy facility in Astoria.”

— Mario Cuomo Bridge or Tappan Zee? New push to bring back old name.

— Exploding e-scooter battery fire causes ‘extraordinary damage’ in Bronx supermarket.

Around New Jersey

— Towns offered high-tech help with water projects.

— northjersey.com: “Now is the time to squash spotted lanternfly eggs in New Jersey, before it’s too late.”

— Booker on farm subsidies benefiting Iowa over New Jersey: “There is definitely a frustration that I have from the way that the system has worked against specialty crop farmers,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told NJ Advance Media.

What you may have missed

LOWER PASSAIC RIVER SUPERFUND PROJECT ADVANCES, A BIT — The EPA issued an administrative order requiring Occidental Chemical Corp. to design the “interim cleanup plan” the agency finalized in fall 2021 for the Lower Passaic River Superfund site. The order is the latest development in a long-running, amazingly expensive attempt to clean up a 17-mile stretch of river polluted by what one top EPA official has called “the greatest hits of environmental contamination.” — Ry Rivard

NJ GREEN SCORECARD — The New Jersey League of Conservation Voters released its annual scorecard for members of Congress this week and said last year was “the best year ever for climate action in Congress” but it gave worse scores to Republicans than in years past. The scorecard is part of a national project. — Ry Rivard

HOLTEC MAKES MOVES IN MICHIGAN — POLITICO’s Kelsey Tamborrino: The Energy Department offered new details Thursday on the next wave of funding under its $6 billion civil nuclear credit program, but the nuclear facility most poised to take advantage of the program is already opting out. Holtec International, a company with a major New Jersey presence, is planning to reapply to restart its Palisades facility in Michigan after being rejected in the first round of funding under the program, but has now decided to seek financial support from the department’s Loan Programs Office instead.

OFF THE WATERFRONT — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: The Supreme Court appears willing to let New Jersey unilaterally exit the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, a bistate police agency created to crack down on corruption immortalized in the Marlon Brando movie “On The Waterfront.”

All nine justices had tough questions for New York over the course of more than an hour of oral arguments on Wednesday. New York is trying to save the commission from New Jersey’s exit, a move that would effectively kill it. For New Jersey and the federal government, which is supporting New Jersey’s position, the justices seemed to mostly wonder how they could side with New Jersey without causing chaos and uncertainty for other multistate deals, like the one that created the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS CHALLENGE MURPHY IN COURT — POLITICO’s Caroline Petrow-Cohen: Environmental advocates who are suing the Murphy administration argued in court Wednesday that the state is not implementing necessary rules and regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They also called on the administration to set specific benchmarks for reducing emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Empower NJ, a coalition of 135 environmental groups including BlueWaveNJ, Clean Water Action and Food & Water Watch, was up against the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection before a Superior Court appeals panel in New Brunswick. The coalition alleges that Gov. Phil Murphy is not upholding the promises he made when he amended the Global Warming Response Act in 2020, while the administration says the benchmarks that advocates want are not necessary. The hearing comes less than a month after Murphy accelerated his plan for New Jersey to derive 100 percent of its power from clean energy sources by 2035. He also made 2035 the target year for all new cars to have zero emissions.

NYSEG/RG&E RATE PUSHBACK: Groups including AARP New York, Alliance for a Green Economy and the Public Utility Law Project have filed a motion for the state’s utility regulator to dismiss a rate hike proposal filed by the Avangrid-owned upstate utilities. The groups state that NYSEG/RG&E did not provide required information about project costs needed to evaluate their proposed increase in rates. The utilities have requested significant double-digit hikes, arguing the increases are necessary to maintain the systems and support the state’s clean energy goals. “These sloppy rate filings show how little regard this monopoly utility has for people’s hard earned money. They can’t even get their billing right, yet they have the audacity to ask for huge rate increases,” said Irene Weiser, coordinator of Fossil Free Tompkins. — Marie J. French

MURPHY REDUCES CLEAN ENERGY RAID, NOT CRITICISM — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget proposal scales back a series of controversial budget maneuvers that have been used to prop up New Jersey Transit but does nothing to tackle a massive budget hole coming down the tracks. For years, NJ Transit has relied on a much-criticized $82 million subsidy from the state’s clean energy fund for support, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars being taken from the agency’s capital budget to fund annual operations. Even so, the agency is projecting a $549 million deficit in the 2026 budget year, which begins in summer 2025.

ALSO IN THE BUDGET — $40 million to “seed a new Green Fund at EDA, which could attract up to $280 million in private capital to advance projects to advance the State’s new and bold environmental goals.”

NOT IN THE BUDGET — A surge of money to beef up staffing at the Department of Environmental Protection, which some lawmakers have suggested is needed to help meet the governor’s own environmental objectives.

ZEV POLICY BENEFITS: The Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council are out with an analysis backing New York’s adoption of California’s car standards that mandate 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales in 2035. The analysis indicates the proposed regulations, which require an increasing percentage of new car sales to be zero-emissions starting in 2026, would drive net benefits of about $138 billion in 2050. The benefits are from lower costs for car owners due to cheaper maintenance and fuel costs, lower electricity rates, health benefits and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. — Marie J. French

UTILITIES URGED TO SECURE FEDERAL MONEY: PSC Chair Rory Christian sent letters to leaders of the state’s investor-owned utilities and the Long Island Power Authority urging them to aggressively apply for federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The commission “views these federal programs as a singular opportunity to reduce costs to New York ratepayers, make critical reliability and resiliency investments in the electric grid, and further the attainment of the State’s energy policies as outlined in the” state’s climate law, Christian wrote. — Marie J. French

NYSERDA BACKS MORE OFFSHORE WIND TRANSMISSION: NYSERDA filed comments backing another finding of a “public policy transmission need” for offshore wind. The authority’s senior counsel wrote in comments to the Public Service Commission posted Monday that relying on the “piecemeal” process of the state grid operator’s interconnection queue to determine costs for hooking up new offshore wind projects results in higher costs for ratepayers as developers pass on the risks of high costs. Limited cable routes and the risks of congestion on the system were also cited as a reason for the PSC to identify a need for transmission solutions to plug offshore wind into the New York City grid. The New York Independent System Operator is currently running a process to select a transmission solution to the previously identified need for offshore wind hooking up to the grid on Long Island. — Marie J. French

PORT AUTHORITY REMAKE — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: Two of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s most trusted aides are joining the board of the powerful bi-state agency that oversees the region’s major airports, bridges and tunnels, as well as the East Coast’s largest port. The state Senate on Monday confirmed Murphy chief of staff George Helmy and deputy chief of staff Joe Kelley to the 12-member board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

BATTERY RECYCLING BOOST — POLITICO’s Kelsey Tamborrino: The Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office announced Monday it issued a conditional $375 million loan for the construction of a first-of-its-kind lithium-ion battery recycling facility in North America. The project will help support the “circular economy” for critical materials, the DOE said, in turn reducing U.S. reliance on global supply chains or new mining that is crucial for electric vehicles. The loan, if finalized, will help finance Li-Cycle US Holdings’ development of a commercial hydrometallurgical resource recovery facility located near Rochester, N.Y., which is expected to support about 203,000 electric vehicles annually once fully operational.

Follow us on Twitter


• Marie J. French @m_jfrench
• Ry Rivard @ryrivard

Follow Us