News Highlights
A quick review of top environmental news stories from the past 2 weeks

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​Local

• Council plugs pandemic budget gaps, buys properties to block development
  
• ​Jersey City Council takes stand against construction of fracked gas power plant
  
• ​Madison Environmental Commission hosts solar power and battery backup
• ​Jackson residents condemn 1,100-unit housing
• ​Warren County permanently preserves its 300th farm
  
• ​Howell council members adopt ordinance targeting invasive plants
  
• ​Survey rates NJ beaches, Beachwood bans swimming
  
• ​South Orange is logging trees with an app not an axe
  
• ​"Gateway to the Passaic River" grand opening announced by Environmental Commission

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Around the country

• The fracking boom is ending, but its environmental impact is far from over
• Homeowners often oppose nearby solar farms. But do projects really hurt property values?
• ​Nuclear power has been top-down and hierarchical. These women want to change that.
• ​Walmart, Target, and CVS team up to reinvent single-use plastic bags 
• ​Construction begins on first-of-its-kind airport microgrid
• ​White House prepares to scrutinize intelligence agencies’ finding that climate change threatens national security
• ​Trump administration has been underestimating costs of carbon pollution, government watchdog finds
• ​Trans Mountain Pipeline’s lead insurer Zurich drops coverage
• Texas agency sued for easing enviro regs during COVID-19
• ​What would it take to make the Delaware ‘swimmable’?

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Opinion & analysis

In New Jersey

• NJ agency releases draft offshore wind strategic plan
• ​NJ policymakers face a steep climb in implementing climate-science report, analysts say
• ​Rutgers, seeking to go carbon neutral, may divest endowment of oil, gas and coal company stocks
• ​Poll: 76% of New Jerseyans support using renewable energy to reduce electric bills for low-income families
• ​NJ joins 14 states to accelerate bus and truck electrification
• ​New road map for Murphy Administration’s offshore wind ambitions
• ​Massive, diverse groups to NJ Assembly:  Pass nation’s strongest cumulative impacts bill
• ​Flood defense coalition pushes for stormwater investments in New Jersey
• First Lady Tammy Murphy talks climate change education
• Fossil fuel companies in the crosshairs of Senate Resolution 57
• ​NJ hits Trump Administration with water pollution lawsuit New Jersey American Water lifts ban, but sets limits, on outdoor water use
• ​Bacteria are fouling the water off NJ’s Beaches, Advocates warn. it’s from leaking septic systems, farms and more

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 Global

• Amazon customers want plastic-free options, says survey
  
• ​Most dietary guidelines are not compatible with global health and environmental targets
  
• ​Startup company recycles electric car batteries
  
• ​Scientists show how bad our plastic waste problem could get by 2040
  
• ​Antibiotics: Big ag’s can of worms
  
• ​Scientists unveil a plan to prevent the next pandemic (and save nature at the same time)

• COVID-19, racial injustice and climate change require a bold approach, not incrementalism
  
• ​Why ‘parklets’ for recreational use should replace some parking spaces
  
• ​Stop polluters from choking Black lives
  
• ​Why we hunger for a connection to the wild during quarantine
  
• ​The case for ‘managed retreat’

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The views expressed in these articles do not necessarily represent positions held by ANJEC.