WEC in the News

Climate change is happening in New Jersey, and some of its impacts are already occurring: warmer summers, more days of extreme rainfalls, and increased frequency and intensity of floods due to rising sea levels. Hoping to kick off a statewide dialogue to fashion a comprehensive strategy for climate-change policy, Rutgers University and the New Jersey Climate Adaption Alliance gathered thought leaders at Duke Farm yesterday to begin hashing out strategies to deal with global warming and its consequences. “It is beginning to affect public health here in New Jersey,’’ Fatton said, adding the most vulnerable populations [...]

  In August 2010, Gov. Chris Christie signed the Offshore Wind Development Act and promised a commitment to offshore wind development in New Jersey. Seven years later, proponents of wind energy say the time for stalling is over. “For too many years, mid-August has become a bittersweet anniversary for New Jersey,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “That time is about to end.” On Wednesday, before the backdrop of several large wind turbines that power the Atlantic County Utilities Authority’s wastewater treatment facility, the environmental coalition Jersey Renews held a panel conference to discuss advancing offshore wind [...]

  Gov. Chris Christie refused to sign a bill Thursday that would provide local emergency responders with more information on the scores of trains hauling volatile crude oil through New Jersey, saying it could become a security threat. The measure, which was supported by firefighters, labor groups and environmentalists, required rail companies hauling hazardous materials to provide emergency response and cleanup plans with the state Office of Emergency Management. The state would then have to share those plans with county and municipal emergency personnel along rail routes like the 11 Bergen County towns where millions of gallons of oil pass through every week. [...]

  In Plainfield, school’s out early. “It’s good because if we stayed there we would be sweating and melt or something,” said second grader Keyly Portillo. Sweat hardly describes it for Portillo. Mercury reached well above 90 today, making for hazardous conditions in some classrooms. Across the state dozens of school districts called for early dismissal. "Off the top of my head, we have roughly 30 to 40 thousand students in New Jersey who are actually not attending school for a full day because of temperature control issues,” Jerell Blakeley from the New Jersey Work Environment Council said. Read [...]

"Hundreds of workers from community organizations, unions and faith-based groups rallied Sunday to observe Workers’ Memorial Day. Despite the Occupational Safety and Health Act, workers continue to find themselves at great risk of exposure to dangerous workplace conditions. In December 2016, Alvaro Esteban of Freehold died on the job at the Edgeboro Landfill in East Brunswick after being crushed by a trash compactor. He was 22. Though progress has been made in reducing the number of incidents, workers continue to be injured on the job. Those at the rally added that even today, not all injuries are reported. 'Seeing the names and photos of the [...]

The devastating 1995 Napp Technologies explosion in the heart of Lodi killed five men, created a plume of toxic black smoke that lingered over the county for days -- and led to the creation of a federal board that spent the next two decades investigating more than 100 chemical industry accidents across the nation. Now, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is slated to be eliminated under the President Trump’s proposed budget, worrying supporters who say the board has helped improve safety nationwide. The Chemical Safety Board has a budget of $11 million, which supporters say is meager compared to the current [...]