The plan to open large portions of the United States’ coast to oil and gas drilling has riled environmental activists and beach-lovers along both coasts, but Trump administration officials apparently don’t want to face the negative comments, according to a report from the Associated Press.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management isn’t allowing public comment sessions at meetings on the proposal, instead restricting comment to one-on-one meetings or allowing people to type in online comments. No chance of large, loud meetings to demonstrate opposition to the plan. Environmentalists, however, are holding their own, boisterous, unsanctioned meetings before the official ones begin, the AP reports.
It’s unclear why the administration isn’t making efforts to correct the bad optics of the situation.
In the report, federal officials talk about the need for the United States to achieve energy independence but offer no explanation for throttling public debate on offshore drilling. The closest thing is Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s chief environmental officer, William Brown’s observation that “the people who are going to read your story are mostly using cars.”
Quote of the Day: “They’re dodging democracy. The government works for the people. I understand it’s uncomfortable to have a bad idea and be held accountable for it, but that’s what they’re proposing,” — Cindy Zipf, executive director of New Jersey’s Clean Ocean Action environmental group, on the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s refusal to allow attendees to speak at meetings on proposals to open most of the nation’s coast to oil and gas drilling.
Kirsten Gillibrand Signs Onto Cory Booker’s Marijuana Legalization Bill
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Madina Toure, Observer Read more
Phil Murphy, Lou Greenwald Map Out Gun Control Efforts in New Jersey
Gov. Phil Murphy vowed Tuesday to roll back Christie-era efforts to weaken concealed carry regulations while also tightening other state gun laws, including a plan that would limit the permitted size of gun magazines.
Steve Cronin, Observer Read more
Mikie Sherrill for Congress Replaces One Legacy With Another
Rodney Frelinghuysen’s announcement that he will not seek re-election ends the century and a half legacy of this famous N.J. family. However, it creates an opportunity to advance another, even greater, legacy—the tradition of electing strong women to Congress.
Donald Scarinci, Observer Read more
Rice, Singer to Introduce Bipartisan Marijuana Decriminalization Bill
Democratic state Sen. Ronald Rice and Republican Sen. Robert Singer plan to introduce a bipartisan bill on Thursday to decriminalize recreational marijuana, a move that could complicate Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign promise to legalize recreational pot.
Politico Read more
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NJ Transit said it has made progress in the installation of positive train control on its locomotives and that they are on target to complete installation by the end of 2018.
NJ101.5 Read more
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The Hudson County Sheriff’s Officer fired from the department for appearing in dominatrix films is vowing a fight to win her job back.
NJ.com Read more
Lights, Cameras, Pension Talk! How Phil Murphy Fared in His Very First ‘Ask the Governor’
Halfway through fielding questions from New Jersey residents, his suit jacket came off and he loosened his tie. It had some of the trappings of a town hall or monthly Ask the Governor programs familiar to New Jerseyans over the past eight years under Gov. Chris Christie.
NJ.com Read more
Stile: Anti-Trump Wave Is Republican Hugin’s Biggest Hurdle in U.S. Senate Race
Robert Hugin, the Big Pharma executive with the big bank account, stresses he will be an independent, pragmatic voice if New Jersey voters send him to the U.S. Senate in November.
The Record Read more
Does Republican Bob Hugin Have a Chance at Beating U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez?
Bob Hugin, the Republican who hopes to topple U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez in this year’s Senate race, formally announced his candidacy yesterday.
NJ.com Read more
Number of Flu Cases in Each County, as N.J. Explodes Past Last Season Total Even Before Peak
New Jersey’s flu season has yet to peak as officials have confirmed an additional 3,600 new flu cases in the past week and the second flu-related pediatric death in the state this season.
NJ.com Read more
NJ Transit Has a New Leader, We Asked Commuters What He Should Fix First
John Ohlson, a Morris & Essex line commuter, has a simple request of the new head of NJ Transit.
NJ.com Read more
Jersey City Moves to Ax Off-Duty Jobs for Cops
Mayor Steve Fulop and Public Safety Director James Shea announced at City Hall today that the city is moving forward with a plan to dismantle a program that allowed cops to work off-duty gigs, angering officers who say Fulop is punishing the entire force for the actions of a handful of bad cops.
Jersey Journal Read more
Can Stormwater Utilities Help N.J. Reduce Runoff Pollution
New Jersey may take another stab at creating new utilities to deal with stormwater runoff, the state’s most persistent problem fouling its waterways and causing major flooding.
NJSpotlight Read more
Toxic Secrets: How Poisonous Chemicals From a DuPont Factory Wound up Beneath 400 Homes
Pompton Lakes Mayor John Sinsimer desperately needed a Bible. One role of being mayor in the Passaic County town was to preside over marriage ceremonies, and the borough had a tradition of giving new couples a Bible. But when Sinsimer took office in January 1988, he found that the Bibles were locked in a cabinet. And the key was missing.
The Record Read more
Nationwide Concealed Carry Bill for Gun Owners Is Worrisome, Cops Say
A bill before Congress that would let people carry concealed handguns across state lines into the Garden State has some New Jersey law enforcement officials worried.
NJ.com Read more
Police in N.J. Patrolling Schools in Response to Fla. Shooting
Police in New Jersey are stepping up their presence around schools in response to a fatal mass shooting at a high school in Florida on Wednesday.
NJ101.5 Read more
‘Mad Horny’ Teacher Made Sex Tape With Student… N.J. Hired Her
In 2015, The New York Post wrote an Nrticle describing Nadine Sudlow’s sex tape with a student.
Asbury Park Press Read more
NJR’s Larry Downes Named Chairman of NJEDA
New Jersey Resources Chairman and CEO Laurence M. Downes has been named the chairman of the board of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the EDA announced Wednesday.
ROI-NJ Read more
NJHA: Trump Budget Takes Health Care ‘Two Steps Back’
The New Jersey Hospital Assn. is expressing deep concern over proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid—among other things—that are in President Trump’s $4.4 trillion proposed budget.
NJBiz Read more
Montvale Approves Settlement That Will Allow Eruv in Northern Part of Town
Construction of a religious boundary known as an eruv will be permitted in the northern part of town as part of a settlement agreement approved Tuesday by the Borough Council with a New York Orthodox Jewish group that sued the municipality for blocking expansion of the religious perimeter.
The Record Read more
ACLU: Lakewood Schools, Not Minority Parents, Should Ensure SCHI Diversity
A state lawmaker who said parents’ choices were causing a lack of diversity at a taxpayer-supported special education school in Lakewood wrongly shifts the blame, civil rights advocates said Wednesday.
Asbury Park Press Read more
Post Comparing Immigrants to Rabid Raccoons Doesn’t Cost Ex-Official His Public Day Job
Former Mendham Township Deputy Mayor Rick Blood’s government job in Roxbury appears safe, despite the uproar over his weekend Facebook post comparing undocumented immigrants to raccoons that led to his resignation.
NJ.com Read more
Offshore Drilling Foes, Denied Microphone, Hold Rallies
With giant inflatable whales, signs that read “Drilling Is Killing” and chants of “Where’s our meeting?” opponents of President Donald Trump’s plan to open most of the nation’s coastline to oil and natural gas drilling have staged boisterous rallies before public meetings held by the federal government on the topic.
Associated Press Read more
Trump Appointee From N.J. Under Fire for $122K Taxpayer-Funded European Trip
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, former president of Morristown Medical Center, became the latest Trump administration official to face scrutiny over his taxpayer-financed travel when a government watchdog Wednesday questioned a $122,334 trip to Europe last July.
NJ.com Read more
N.J. Opioid Antidote Naloxone Use Nearly Triples Since 2014
The use of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone—commonly known by the brand name of Narcan—has nearly tripled in New Jersey since rescuers and police officers began carrying it in 2014, according to figures released by the New Jersey State Police.
Asbury Park Press Read more
Memory of Child With Cancer Inspires Push to Expand N.J. Medical Marijuana Program
New Jersey would drop the two-ounce monthly limit on medical marijuana sales under legislation requested by parents who said the restriction interfered with their attempt to reduce their 7-year-old son’s pain before he died of cancer last month.
NJ.com Read more
N.J. Marijuana Legalization: Weed Image Problem Decades in the Making
Ronald Sage looked outside of his Freehold office one November day in 1975 to see three members from the Global Gospel Outreach’s Ocean Grove chapter holding signs that warned against the devil’s weed.
Asbury Park Press Read more
N.J. Marijuana Legalization: Toms River Shelves Weed Sale Ban
Could recreational marijuana some day be sold and grown here legally?
Asbury Park Press Read more
Hasbrouck Heights Bans Marijuana Sales in Preemptive Measure
The Borough Council banned marijuana sales Tuesday night, making Hasbrouck Heights what is believed to be the first town in Bergen County to do so.
The Record Read more
N.J. Marijuana Legalization: Menendez, Booker Tell Trump Hands Off Our Weed
Sixteen U.S. senators, including Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, both D-N.J., are formally urging the Trump administration to respect states’ laws regarding the regulation of marijuana.
Asbury Park Press Read more
Physical Therapists Want to Give Patients the Dry Needle Again
Physical therapists have relaunched a campaign to add “dry needling” to their list of services, just five months after New Jersey officials ruled the increasingly popular pain-relief technique was not within their professional scope of practice and should be left to acupuncturists.
SpotlightNJ Read more
As Demand Rises for Home-Hatched Eggs, Millburn to Regulate Hen Owners
While the final language of a measure regulating live poultry is still being ironed out, Millburn officials are hoping it won’t ruffle too many feathers.
Daily Record Read more
Animal Sanctuary Sues Rival for Defamation, Conspiring to Steal Its Livestock
A Sussex County-based farm animal sanctuary is suing another sanctuary for conspiring to steal its livestock and donors and damaging its good name.
Daily Record Read more
