“The environmental commission is working on the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, (ANJEC), grant that we were awarded for the Middlesex Greenway Extension Plan,” Waldron said at the meeting. “We will be planning a walk along the Greenway to see what vision we have and the planner has for the development of this vital resource here in Metuchen.”

At a June 1, 2009 council meeting, Waldron had mentioned that the Metuchen environmental commission had received notice of an ANJEC award in the amount of $8,000, the maximum awarded, to conduct a study of the Middlesex Greenway. Additional funds in the amount of $10,000 from two developers and $4,000 from the borough will also go towards that study, according to Mayor Thomas Vahalla.

Metuchen’s section of the Middlesex Greenway is approximately one mile in length. But the Middlesex Greenway is just one small part of a much larger East Coast Greenway (wiki) that will run from Calais, Maine at the Canadian border all the way south to Key West, Florida. Started in 1991, it is planned as a beautiful 3,000 mile lowland Appalachian Trail that will run through almost every major city on the east coast on public-right-of-way by linking together locally managed trails into a continuous route. Work is projected to be substantially completed in 2010.

In New Jersey, the Greenway will consist of a 94 mile long path from Pennsylvania to New York. Some parts of the Greenway will run through urban areas such as Trenton and New Brunswick, while other parts of the path will be of a more traditional rural character. Nearly half of New Jersey’s section of the Greenway is on traffic-free paths, and our state has the second-most amount of Greenway completed out of all states participating.

The East Coast Greenway Alliance, (ECGA), is the non-profit organization that is spearheading the development of the East Coast Greenway.

At the July 13 meeting, Waldron also said that the environmental commission is going to submit a pre-application to the Local Government Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant Program, overseen by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). The purpose of the grant is to help move the state along towards reducing New Jersey’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 2006 emission levels by 2050.

“This is something we just discovered and will have single grants up to $300,000,” he said. “While we are not necessarily optimistic about [receiving] that amount, we are optimistic about our ability to suggest studies and opportunities to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, to create some more energy efficient programs here in town, and to identify more renewable energy sources. Among those being considered is a geothermal system or perhaps some type of biodiesel conversion.”

Waldron said that the grant does not require any matching funds by the borough. If the pre-application is given preliminary approval by NJDEP, Metuchen will be given the go-ahead to formally apply for the grant in November.

The answer to this question was discussed at a Nov. 3 Borough Council meeting, during which it was disclosed that the borough plans to apply to a state program to investigate how some municipal buildings could become more energy-efficient, and in the process, save taxpayer money.

“There are some estimates we can save 30 percent year over year [on energy costs],” councilmember William Waldron said.

“The program will assist us in identifying cost-justified energy efficient measures for buildings we identify as being part of the program,” he said. “It will help us to reduce energy costs and in turn hopefully lower the local tax burden. The [Clean Energy Program] is quite optimistic that all municipalities that participate will see some savings. It will also help us lower our carbon footprint in the world.”

The New Jersey Clean Energy Program (NJCEP), which is administered by the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU), promotes energy efficiency and the use of clean, renewable sources of energy, according to NJCEP’s website.  The BPU is a state government agency that works to ensure safe and proper utility services at reasonable rates across New Jersey.

“This is a first-come first-serve program, and it has been announced for three weeks now, so we are looking to get in before it is too late,” Waldron said.

According to the program’s publicly described guidelines, the state would study municipal buildings chosen by Metuchen and will reimburse the borough for 75 percent of the study’s cost. The remaining 25 percent may also be reimbursed if the borough implements the study’s recommendations, as long as the cost of the renovation work meets or exceeds that amount. The cost is capped at $100,000 to encourage as many local governments as possible to apply.

“Long story short, we would get all our buildings audited for energy efficiency at no cost to us,” Waldron said. “The only cost to us would be to implement the energy efficient recommendations they set forth.”

The time frame for the study would be six months from its start, he said.

“They will look at our historic energy consumption, and our energy conservation measures such as lighting and heating in the buildings. They will estimate the annual energy cost savings as well as the lifetime cost savings we could realize.”

Precisely which government buildings that would be part of the study had not been determined as of the Nov. 3 council meeting. Those that were suggested as likely candidates included borough hall, the library, the department of public works building, and the senior center.

For more information, go to NJCEP and click on “Local Government Energy Audit Program Now Available” at the right under Program Updates. For more general information how you can save on energy costs, please go to EnergySavers.gov.

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