At a special meeting held in Trenton on July 28, 2021, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved the following incentives under its New Jersey Solar Successor Incentive Program, or “SUSI.” These incentives will take effect in 30 days, at which time the Transition Incentive Program will close to new applications.» Read more
On July 9, 2021, Governor Murphy signed Assembly Bill A4554, which directs the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to establish within one year a long-term successor solar renewable energy certificate program to replace New Jersey’s existing Transition Incentive Program, also known as the TREC program.» Read more
On June 24, 2021, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) entered an order granting a blanket six-month extension to complete projects in the pipeline of New Jersey’s Solar Transition Incentive Program (TI Program), also known as the TREC program.» Read more
On April 7, 2021, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) published the New Jersey Solar Successor Program Straw Proposal, which outlined recommendations for a long-term replacement for the 2019 Transition Incentive Program. The Straw Proposal launched a stakeholder process for a permanent solar energy project for the state, the duration of which was scheduled to last little more than a month.» Read more
Spurred by federal, state, local, and utility incentives and the continuing emphasis on green energy, solar energy entities are building solar farms throughout the United States. These solar farms can take many forms. The most common is the PV or photovoltaic solar farm that consists of hundreds or even thousands of solar panels mounted on large racks.» Read more
Last week, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) issued a New Jersey Solar Successor Program Straw Proposal. The proposal outlines recommendations for a long-term replacement program for New Jersey’s existing Transition Incentive Program for solar projects in the state, which has been in place since 2019 and begins the stakeholder process for a permanent Community Solar Energy Program.» Read more
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey trial and appellate courts issued several key environmental law decisions in 2020. Recently, my colleagues, Martha Donovan and Margaret Raymond-Flood, and I have had the opportunity to present a seminar, entitled “Navigating the Recent Developments in Environmental Law and Coverage Affecting NJ Practitioners,” for the New Jersey State Bar Association, where my task was to review Appellate and Law Division decisions affecting New Jersey environmental attorneys.» Read more
With more and more emphasis on clean, renewable forms of energy, the development of solar energy farms is increasing rapidly. Solar energy farms are large-scale commercial power plants that use solar panels to convert sunlight into clean energy, providing a source of safe, locally-produced renewable energy for many years after construction.» Read more
On April 23, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued a significant decision regarding when National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits are needed for “point source” discharges under the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act forbids “any addition” of any pollutant from “any point source” to “navigable waters” without an appropriate permit from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).» Read more
When the Land Recycling Standards and Remediation Act, commonly known as “Act 2,” was enacted in 1995, the Pennsylvania General Assembly declared that:
- incentives should be put in place to encourage responsible persons to voluntarily develop and implement cleanup plans without the need for adversarial enforcement actions by the Department of Environmental Protection (the “Department”), “which frequently only serve to delay cleanups and increase their cost” and
- cleanup plans “should be based on the actual risk that contamination on the site may pose to public health and the environment, taking into account its current and future use…”
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