Tag: environment

Suddenly, thanks to the change in administrations, we have a surfeit of environmental legislation. Oh, green blooms in a new spring.

The New York Times praises Lisa Jackson, the East Windsor resident who heads the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for hitting the ground running and beginning to reverse course on the Bush environmental legacy. Some New Jersey environmentalists had been critical of her when she was state environmental commissioner, with good reason, but she is off to a good start. Let’s hope that, with a stronger commitment from her boss (President Barack Obama seems more committed to environmental issues than Gov. Jon Corzine), she can continue to make real strides.

Consider this interesting bit of news:

Public Service Electric and Gas Co. has asked state regulators to approve a $773-million plan to bring solar power to communities and customers throughout its service territory.

The proposal, filed today with the Board of Public Utilities, calls for the installation of solar panels on 200,000 utility poles – the largest such project in the nation – as well as on schools, municipal buildings, low-income housing and brownfield sites.

The panels would produce electricity that would be fed into the utility’s power grid.

This appears — at least at the moment, before the DEP and others have a chance to get into the nuts and bolts — to be a huge step in the right direction, diversifying our energy sources in a way that should cut costs down the road and reduce our reliance on dirty fuels.