Terminal pollution.
To the editor: Do we, the voters of Bar Harbor, want a cruise ship berthing facility for large cruise ships at the ferry terminal property?
Two large, berthed, cruise ships would use 640 gallons of diesel per hour.
It recommends laws that restrict the idling of semis and buses for no more than five minutes because of the noxious chemical compounds that are produced.
A semi truck, at idle, uses one gallon of 15 ppm sulfur diesel per hour.
The cruise ships’ 1,000 ppm sulfur fuel is 66 times more toxic than the semi trucks’ 15 ppm sulfur diesel fuel.
We have a municipal code in Bar Harbor that says no motor vehicle is allowed to idle more than five minutes anywhere downtown.
Do we, the voters of Bar Harbor, want a cruise ship berthing facility for large cruise ships at the ferry terminal property?
Do we want the exhaust from the equivalent of thousands of idling semi trucks blowing into our town and park?
Article 12 creates zoning that allows for a large-scale cruise ship terminal to be developed.

Scenes from Terrill Middle School Service Learning Presentation Day.
SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD, NJ — Seventh graders at Terrill Middle School presented their service learning projects to parents and other visitors to the school on Thursday, June 1.
Students were required to do three acts of service.
Among the issues they tackled were hunger, cyberbullying, water pollution, fair treatment of refugees, literacy, poverty and homelessness, animal welfare, and traffic safety.
"It’s not fair that people trapped in camps lack even clean water when they are trying to escape injustice," said Anna Saltzman, who along with Julia John, helped raise money for the International Refugee Committee (IRC) by holding a bake sale.
For a project on beach and ocean pollution, Alexa Gingold, Amanda Hill, Sophie Shapiro, and Marin Brace interviewed an Alaskan fisherman to ask about the impact of pollutants on fish.
For their project on obesity, Annette Liang and Emily Sicoli organized a "fun run" at Ponderosa Park and a healthy foods picnic.
Aidan Mooney and Isaiah Nathaniel met with Scotch Plains Mayor Al Smith and Police Chief Ted Conley to discuss installation of solar stop signs on Willow Ave. near Rte.
A number of students collected food, clothing and/or shoes for people living in poverty.
TAPintoSPF.net is Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s only free daily paper.

Hanover bald eagles near fledging: Video traces their lives from egg to today.
The eaglets hatched from their eggs on March 20 and 21, and the eaglets are now within a few weeks of the three-month point in their lives, the point at which young bald eagles usually start flying.
If all continues to go well, when the eaglets leave the nest they will mark the ninth time that the bald eagle pair at the nest monitored by viewers around the world on a web cam that live streams through the Pennsylvania Game Commission website have fledged eaglets.
The pair usually fledge two eaglets per year.
The nest near Hanover is one of more than 200 nests with growing eaglets in them across the state.
The commission does not believe that decline reflected an actual decrease in the state’s bald eagle population.
The much larger number of bald eagles in Pennsylvania today also could be contributing to lower counts because new pairs might build their nests between existing nests of other pairs and thus go undetected.
The bald eagle population has grown and spread across Pennsylvania to the point that most of us now live within a few miles of some likely spot for viewing the big birds of prey.
After ending decades of devastation of bald eagle populations by organochloride pesticides like DDT, water pollution and shootings, which brought the birds to edge of extirpation from Pennsylvania in 1983, the commission began a reintroduction program of hacking eaglets from protected platforms at sites like Haldeman Island in the Susquehanna River near Duncannon.
By 1998, Pennsylvania was home to 25 pairs of nesting bald eagles.

Bengaluru’s shame: Bommanahalli most polluted.
Bengaluru: The Bommanahalli Industrial area in city is one of most polluted places in the country, according to a study commissioned by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Bommasandra and Jigani industrial areas in East Bengaluru are also among the most polluted areas in the city.
There are a number of stone cutting and polishing units, which spew stone dust and stone waste is dumped in vacant lands.
According to the study Karnataka with 24 contaminated sites stood fourth in the country, behind Odisha (31), West Bengal (36) and Uttar Pradesh (41).
There are 320 contaminated sites in the country.
The report, funded by the World Bank, is prepared by a consortium consisting of consulting group COWI as lead partner in association with voluntary organization KADAM, with engineering firms Witteveen+Bos and Tauw as sub-consultants.
The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has confirmed the nine of the 24 sites were contaminated, and is examining the remaining 15.
As for Bommasandra Industrial Area, KSPCB officials admitted that there was contamination of electroplating waste, with stone polishing slurry, but was only one per cent.
KSPCB said the waste would be dried and sent to TSDF (Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility) in Bengaluru.

Intervenor: Frac-Out water pollution possible drilling to bury Northern Pass line.
InDepthNH.org CONCORD — Construction of the Northern Pass Transmission line will significantly impact North Country residents’ way of life, intervenors told company officials on Wednesday.
Carl Lakes of Easton noted the horizontal drilling to place the transmission line under water bodies, wetlands or highways could cause a “frac-out” or blow-out that could pollute the water.
The vaults will be under some of the roads the line would follow but also in the road right-of-way and in some cases under private property if an easement is granted.
Bowes said that is true when the vault was outside of the road right-of-way and said the company would be willing to do the same, but noted some communities like Franconia have not responded to the company’s outreach in 18 months.
Lakes noted the construction would last over two construction seasons.
“That is a long time for construction in residential areas,” he said.
“Do you understand how that could be offensive to local residents for an extended period of time?” Lakes said.
The Site Evaluation Committee is expected to make a final decision in September and Eversource officials said it will take between two and three years to construct the project.
The adjudicate hearings are expected to continue into August.

No provincial action coming for Muskrat Lake.
With the provincial government offering no concrete action to address the water quality problems in Muskrat Lake, Whitewater Region is planning to raise money for an eventual clean-up of the troubled body of water.
Renfrew County council reviewed a letter from Ontario environment minister Glen Murray who was responding to correspondence sent by Warden Jennifer Murphy in which she requested the province provide funding and collaborate with other ministries to undertake the studies required to confirm the nature and extent of the issues and to identify, develop and fund the remediation measures necessary to improve the water quality in Muskrat Lake.
In his April letter, Murray noted that the Cobden Water Pollution Control Plant had received $3.1 million through the Canada-Ontario Small Communities Fund and that the Muskrat Watershed Council continues to receive support from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Murray added that, “Our scientists continue to do research to better understand the underlying causes of blue-green algae blooms.” However, Murray did not indicate if the province will pay for the remediation that will need to be taken to clean up the lake.
One of Ontario’s highly sensitive lakes, the Muskrat suffers from phosphorus loading over the past 30 years due to high concentrations of bacteria and toxic blue-green algae blooms.
The poor quality of water not only affects those who currently live there, in terms of property values and public health, but could adversely affect future development.
“We’re not even on their radar,” Millar told County council during their May session.
But Millar said the municipality is embarking on a fundraising initiative beginning with their Canada Day Street Party set for July 1 in Cobden.
“We hope that in time governments will change and situations will change and that money will come into play.” SChase@postmedia.com

A government agency has contradicted claims made by environmentalists for the seventh time and found hydraulic fracturing doesn’t pose a grave threat to drinking water. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published a study Wednesday that examined 116 water wells across the energy-rich regions of Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. The study found nine examples of water contamination in the wells, but every case was either naturally occurring or not linked to fracking. “Another day, another study confirming fracking is not a major risk to groundwater,” Steve Everley, a spokesman for Texans for Natural Gas, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “This report comes less than a year after the U.S. EPA’s landmark study that also found no evidence of widespread water pollution from fracking,” Everley said. “It’s time to put to rest the…

Survey: Only 22% of Americans are familiar with the Paris Agreements.
June 1, 2017 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Reportlinker Insight – Today, President Trump will share with the world his decision to pull out or not of the Paris agreement.
ReportLinker conducted a survey to answer the following questions: Are Americans familiar with the Paris agreements?
What place do US citizens give to environmental issues?
And are they ready to make practical changes to reduce their impact on climate?
More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire – a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles.
Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products.
Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers.
Read for more info: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894.
Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country.

The Grass is Greener with Clean Air Lawn Care.
Whether they’re playing catch with their kids or fetch with their pets, Clean Air Lawn Care clients are breathing easier knowing environmentally friendly, child- and pet-safe practices are being used to maintain their yards this summer.
The local lawn care company offers a full range of sustainable services, from organic lawn treatments and solar-powered mowing to yard cleanup.
The company uses solar-powered equipment charged through the solar panels mounted atop the company vehicle that visits clients’ homes, which helps to reduce local air, noise and water pollution.
The green-friendly business, which also includes Martin’s wife, Katie Felts-Martin, takes a unique approach to lawn maintenance, considering the health of your yard, family, pets, neighbors and the local environment when caring for every blade of grass.
For clients who opt for long-term maintenance, Clean Air visits their yard every week to provide sustainable lawn care, including mowing and trimming with solar-powered equipment.
“And we mulch in grass clippings and leaves, putting all that nitrogen right back into the soil.” The nitrogen nourishes the turf, and the company’s strategy of cutting off just an inch of grass with each weekly mow allows lawns to grow greener and lusher, with less room for weeds and more space on each blade to bring in the sun and oxygen your yard needs to grow fuller, Martin explains.
Every five to six weeks from spring through fall, Clean Air returns to each client’s yard to apply a low volume of organic fertilizer, a granular product made with plant-based ingredients such as alfalfa, molasses and kelp.
We will be working on a yard, and the homeowners might not even know we’re here.” Additionally, the solar mowers don’t release toxic emissions into the environment, while Environmental Protection Agency studies have shown that small-engine mowers and trimmers account for 5 to 10 percent of annual air pollution, including chemicals such as nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and unspent fuel emitted at an hourly rate equivalent to the emissions of your sport utility vehicle after it travels several thousand miles.
“We take our time on each property; we want to make sure your lawn looks awesome every week,” Martin notes, adding that his business goes the extra mile to put on finishing touches, including trimming vertical edges on the lawn, blowing grass clippings from sidewalks and driveways, and pulling any weeds that may pop up to prevent them from spreading until he returns the next week.

Beach report: Spring Lake beach closed by bacteria.
Robert Allen/DFP A Spring Lake beach next to Wreck Pond was closed Thursday, following consecutive days of excessive bacteria in the water.
Two other beaches, both on the Bayshore and not open to swimmers, also registered unsafe levels in followup testing for a microbe that indicates the water is not safe for recreation.
No Ocean County beaches tested high for bacteria this week.
The results for those will be released Friday.
If Thursday’s samples prove to still be too high, then the beach would be closed on Friday and retested.
A state-of-the-art tunnel, which was finished in November, was designed to limit flooding in the area and improve water quality.
This kind of bacteria is considered a warning sign of dangerous pathogens.
Per NJbeaches.org, here are the beaches that tested above the safe swimming threshold on Wednesday, with today’s results in bold: Middletown, Ideal Beach, 440 cfu, 180 cfu Highlands, Miller Beach, 260 cfu, 310 cfu Sea Bright, public beach, 260 cfu, less than 10 cfu Ocean Grove, Spray Avenue, 160 cfu, 20 cfu Ocean Grove, Broadway Avenue, 220 cfu, less than 10 cfu Spring Lake, Brown Avenue, 330 cfu, 150 cfu Spring Lake, York Avenue, 110 cfu, less than 10 cfu Every Tuesday online, the Press and app.com will post water-quality test results from every Jersey Shore beach that exceeds federal safe swimming standards for fecal bacteria.
Watch this video to find out: EYE ON YOUR TAXES: Do you make more than an Ocean Co. municipal employee?