EELC Brings Constitutional Challenge Against FERC’s Use of Eminent Domain

According to the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Unfortunately for hundreds of homeowners and organizations, FERC is allowing pipeline companies to seize land unlawfully.   In a precedent-setting challenge, on behalf of NJ Conservation Foundation, EELC and Columbia Environmental Law Clinic filed a complaint charging FERC with permitting companies […]

Coalition Forms to Oppose Transco’s Fracked Gas Pipeline Enhancement

“If we don’t stop this project, the floodgates will be open to future projects,” says Barry Kutch, the leader of Central New Jersey Safe Energy Coalition, a new client of EELC.  Mr. Kutch is talking about NESE, a proposed Transco pipeline project by S&P 500 company Williams that would transport fracked natural gas through New […]

Appellate Court sends Highlands permit for sewage discharge back to the DEP

The NJ region’s Highland reservoirs provide drinking water for more than half of New Jersey’s residents. Reservoir flyover, November 1, 2016.In a long-running story for EELC and friends of Rockaway Creek, EELC Executive Director and attorney Aaron Kleinbaum won a major victory in court in the effort to prevent a sewage disposal plant from discharging […]

Smart meters and AMI unanimously approved by NJ Board of Public Utilities

Calling Rockland Electric’s proposal for smart meters and Advanced Metering Infrastructure “revolutionary” and “a future we have to embrace,” Commissioner Fiordaliso joined his fellow Board of Public Utilities members in unanimously approving the utility’s plan to provide 74,000 customers near-real-time data on their electrical usage.  EELC represented the Environmental Defense Fund and worked with the […]

Client Feature: NJCF scientist Emile DeVito stewards the Pine Barrens

  “I’ll have to call you back. I’m rushing an injured snake to the lab.” Emile DeVito, Manager of Science and Stewardship at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF), had just finished cleaning up yet another pile of garbage illegally dumped in the New Jersey Pine Barrens when I called.  Hiding among the debris was […]

State Judge bars Mahwah Hunt & Polo Club from participating in Township’s complaint against Ramapoughs

  UPDATE: EELC attorneys Aaron Kleinbaum and Raghu Murthy are in court defending the Ramapough against municipal summonses alleging that they have violated the zoning code by constructing teepees on their property.  Teepee summonses amount to harassment, Ramapough attorney argues. _____________________________ The Ramapough Lenape Nation – a State-recognized Tribe that owns land in Mahwah, NJ […]

EELC requests FERC hold evidentiary hearing on PennEast project

On Friday, in response to PennEast’s request for FERC to expedite project review, EELC renewed its own request to FERC for a hearing on the proposed Project.  EELC represents New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, who oppose the controversial PennEast Pipeline because it has not demonstrated any public benefits. Many others agree – including the […]

EELC helps broker agreement between Bergen SWAN and Suez Water Company

Last month, EELC helped Bergen SWAN negotiate two agreements with the Suez Water Company, which protect the environment and protect the quality of the Oradell Reservoir’s drinking water supply. The first agreement involves Suez’s proposed sale of its former headquarters property in Harrington Park. Both the north and south sides of the property border the […]

EELC fights in courts for flood ordinances and public waterfront in Hoboken

Waterfront communities throughout New Jersey are debating how they can protect themselves from the type of high-level flooding and tidal surges they experienced with Hurricane Sandy as they plan for climate change and the increasing storms and sea level rise it brings. Hoboken, with piers and development directly on the tidal Hudson River, has been in the […]

EELC appeals Pinelands pipeline: no public need and local processes circumvented

In a brief filed recently on behalf of the Sierra Club,  EELC charges that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities ignored state and local laws when it approved a proposal for a New Jersey Natural Gas pipeline in the Pinelands. According to EELC Senior Staff Attorney, Raghu Murthy, the BPU short-circuited the local approval […]

NJDEP undervalues wetlands in the Pinelands; EELC stops planned superstore

  On January 30th, in a victory for both environmental advocates and for the New Jersey Pinelands, the New Jersey state appeals court remanded a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) decision which failed to adequately protect a critical wetland habitat in Manchester Township, part of the Pinelands National Reserve.  Aaron Kleinbaum, EELC Executive […]

PennEast pipeline threatens farms

UPDATE (April 10, 2017): On Friday, April 7, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final environmental impact statement for the PennEast pipeline. For more on this latest development, read our press release here.   Recent articles: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/land-environment/2017/04/07/penneast-step-closer-approval-groups-plan-sue/100176130/   https://www.law360.com/articles/911159/ferc-gives-final-enviro-statement-to-1b-penneast-pipeline   When people think of New Jersey, rolling hills, horse pastures, and 18th-century colonial homes are not […]