Solar panels coming to utility poles in Montclair

The solar panels that Public Service Electric & Gas Co. has been putting up across northern and central New Jersey will soon be coming to Montclair.

Starting next Monday, Jan. 23, contractors for PSE&G will start suspending the panels about 15 feet off the ground on utility poles in the township, as they've done in many neighboring municipalities, including Clifton, Verona and Cedar Grove.

Cary Africk, the Township Council member for Montclair's 2nd Ward, said the 5-foot-wide by 2.5-foot-high panels are fine on major thoroughfares, where they will likely be camouflaged amid the busy streetscape. But Africk was concerned that the solar units could spoil the look of quieter, residential streets, he said.

"People will get used to it on streets like Grove Street, where there is so much other stuff," Africk said. "But in a residential area, it will have a much greater impact.

"It has the potential to be very ugly, depending on where they put them," Africk said. "It can blend in, or people can drive around and say, 'What is that?'"

The look of the panels has caused a stir in some nearby towns such as Verona, where PSE&G delayed installing the units after township officials expressed misgivings.

Verona's township manager, Joseph Martin, said last October that municipal officials were holding meetings with PSE&G reps about the program and he was hoping that, especially along Bloomfield Avenue, where the township invested money to spruce up its business district, "we can work with Public Service just to avoid putting panels in that area."

Fran Sullivan, a PSE&G spokesperson, said the panels are "no more intrusive than any other piece of equipment on those poles."

Sullivan was uncertain how many panels would be going up in Montclair. Work crews scout for locations that seem to fit the bill, and once they find a good spot they set up a unit, a process that takes 20 to 30 minutes.

Under PSE&G policy, utility poles with a clear exposure to the southern sky and that have access to the proper-voltage electric wires are eligible for the solar units. The panels will only be mounted on poles where they won't conflict with existing equipment.

"We don't pre-survey the town. The crews go out with a supply of panels and if they find a pole that meets the criteria, they install the solar unit," Sullivan said.

When the entire "Solar 4 All" project is complete later this year, there will be 180,000 to 200,000 utility-pole-mounted panels across the state providing a combined 40 megawatts of solar-generated electricity. That's enough energy to power about 6,500 average-size New Jersey homes annually. So far more than 120,000 panels have been installed.

PSE&G estimates that the project's environmental impact on air quality will be on par with removing about 3,800 cars from the road for one year.

In Montclair, workers will not be putting up the panels in designated historic districts, meaning the Upper Montclair and Montclair Center business districts and the Pine Street Historic District should not have any panels within their confines.

But the rest of Montclair is fair game, unless an objection is raised based on safety concerns. A complaint grounded solely in aesthetics won't be enough to have a panel removed or prevented from being installed.

"We can't go into some towns and follow this policy in this town and not in that town," Sullivan said. "We have been absolutely evenhanded about installing these solar units."

He said PSE&G is "willing to talk if there is some kind of real issue" with where a panel is situated, but generally "there are not a lot of exceptions."

The panels have undergone testing in which they have withstood 110 mph winds, plus PSE&G has not "had any incidents of snow falling off and injuring someone," Sullivan said. The panels heat up as they collect energy from the sun, and that rise in temperature prevents significant accumulations of snow from forming on the panels.

PSE&G decided to go with pole-attached units since its service area is heavily developed and populated, and this would provide a means to generate solar power without acquiring land or the rights to put up solar panels on the ground or on rooftops, Sullivan said.

Manja Kite Results in the Death of a Surat Village Woman

Manja kites are a type of fighter kite. They use a special abrasive cotton string coated in powdered glass. Fighter kites are a popular sport in Afghanistan, Chile, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

On Wednesday, January 5, 2012 a woman in Surat Village fell victim to a Manja. Sita Ishwar Patel was driving a scooter going to pick up her children from school. She came into contact with the glass-coated kite-flying string and this resulted in her throat being slit. She began to bleed profusely. She ultimately died as a result of this accident after being rushed to New Civil Hospital where they tried to treat her, reports Indian Express.

Regular kites come with their own set of dangers, such as ankle injuries and electrocution, but these fighter kites can be particularly dangerous due to their strings being intensely sharp.

During a fighter kite competition, two people will entangle the strings of their kites. They will then fly their kites and pull the strings to try and cut each other's strings. The competition is won when one kite is set free and one is still flying in the hands of a competitor. The person still holding the kite wins.

The loser's kite will then fly into the wind as it is cut completely free. Once fully free, children (and sometimes also, or only, adults) will chase down the free kite and attempt to catch it once it hits the ground. This is referred to as kite running.

In the Indian subcontinent, kite fighters will generally do battle from house rooftops. This also poses danger because fighters have been known to fall and become either seriously injured or die.

Many kite runners also lose their lives each year. Kite runners are often very fixated on the kite that they are chasing. This has resulted in them being hit by trains and vehicles, falling off of buildings or falling out of trees.

Of course, there are also dangers like the one that Sita Ishwar Patel experienced. This is obviously a rather extreme accident, but it is very real and can happen. Those participating in kite fighting or kite running are at risk for this. As evidenced in the news story above, innocent bystanders are also at risk.

While kites may seem like a harmless sport, they can pose a danger, especially when their components are altered. Those participating in this sport should take all possible precautions, and those around when it is taking place should also tread with extreme caution.

Hose reels from JSG Industrial Systems

Hose reels from JSG Industrial Systems are designed to offer quality, strength, durability and serviceability. 

JSG’s hose reels are designed to handle hoses from 1/4" to 2" to cater for most market requirements. Hose reels can also be supplied without aluminium parts for underground coal mining applications. 

Hose reels are available in manual, spring, air or hydraulic rewind configurations to meet material dispensing, ergonomic, environmental, OH&S and storage requirements.   

OH&S is a major issue for companies with hoses lying around shop floors or hanging from ceilings creating risk of injury to workers. JSG’s hose reels are designed to safely rewind and store hoses away from hazardous locations on service vehicles, machinery or shop floors to facilitate a safer working environment. 

Commonly dispensed products when using hose reels include air, water, oil and grease. While hoses are selected based on duty cycle, mode of retraction, product to be dispensed, hose capacity, pressure rating and flow rate, hose reel selection depends upon the intended use.

Danny MacAskill's Inspired Bicycles street bike now on sale

The 24in-wheeled street trials bike that Danny MacAskill used in both his Way Back Home and Industrial Revolutions videos is now available to the public. The Inspired Bicycles Skye is named after the Scottish island where MacAskill grew up and is described as "one of, if not the toughest street framesets available".

Features include a super-stiff forged one-piece bottom bracket/chainstay yoke, a CNC machined top tube/seatstay yoke and strengthening gussets on the top and down tubes. Through-axles at both ends stiffen things up even more, while dual brake mounting options (IS disc or hydraulic rim brake) add versatility and the oversize fork includes internal brake hose routing for a clean look.

MacAskill said: "It’s been awesome coming up with the bike of my dreams, something which stands up to all the abuse I give my bike whilst pushing for lines in videos." He added that the Skye has been designed with short chainstays and a low bottom bracket because this makes it "feel more stable, easier to hop and for me, easier to spin!".

The complete bike is decked out with many of the components MacAskill uses on his own rig, including custom Hope Pro II EVO and Pro II EVO Trial hubs, a Hope Stem and Atomlab rims. The full build as detailed below retails for £2,299, with the frameset set at £1,299. For more information, visit the Inspired Bicycles website.

Firefighters Taking Heat For Inappropriate On Camera Hose Usage

Firefighters in Los Angeles are being investigated for acting like how Samantha from Sex & The City thought they should act- by filming pornographic films while on duty.

The rescue workers aren't exactly getting hosed here; by all reports, it was pretty obvious that the pornographic films, featured on a very popular NSFW website, took place inside a Los Angeles fire house and feature Los Angeles Fire Department trucks prominently.


In one of the movies, shot at Venice Beach, LAFD Engine 263 is used as the backdrop by an actress performing lewd acts.

"Look at this fire truck," says porn actress Charley Chase, as she climbs on the engine and repeatedly exposes herself. "Isn't that nice?"

It appears that a group of firefighters are watching the movie being shot.

"I know them," one man says on camera in the reality-style porn flick. "I'm a firefighter."


It gets worse. Not only is obviously a LA firehouse, the firetruck used during the filming is illegally parked across two disabled parking spots and the truck is not within sight of the firefighters assigned to it. The entire video is policy violation central, and officials are all hot and bothered over the veritable orgy of rulebreaking captured on film.

For several minutes of the movie, the actress appears to have free access to the engine, and asks numerous passersby to fondle her.

"Look, I think we have more friends," she says, as a group of men stop to fondle the actress.

"Zero tolerance for that," said Capt. Tina Haro, an LAFD spokeswoman.

This isn't the first department in the City of Angels to be investigated for filming porn, nor is it the first investigation of its kind this year. In April, two traffic cops from the Department of Transportation did some penis acting of their own while in uniform and on duty.

Forcing the issue

A legal but controversial tool of oil and gas drillers across the nation is getting as severe a test as Gary Williams can give it.

Williams has single-handedly stalled a proposed 80-acre crude oil drilling project by one of the state's largest operators. Williams refuses to sign papers to allow drilling underneath or near his potentially oil-rich property.

Evansville-based CountryMark Energy Resources LLC, which proposes to sell the oil to the company's refinery in Mount Vernon, Ind. has responded by invoking a 64-year-old statute embodying what critics call eminent domain for drillers.

The technique, called "forced pooling," would allow CountryMark to send a remote access horizontal drill underneath or close to Williams' 0.83-acre property.

Thirty of his neighbors, in a 32-parcel drilling area, have already leased their acreage to the company. The other holdout did not sign a lease but is not resisting forced pooling.

Mostly, Williams makes a property rights case.

"It's our land, whether they're on top of it or below it," he said inside the Cape Cod house he shares with his wife, Elizabeth, and their four children in a rural enclave just off Middle Mount Vernon Road. "I couldn't just come up around your property and start — let's say I wanted to dig a cave to the other neighbors, I wanted a cool tunnel. I like tunnels.

"What would you say if I just started digging a tunnel underneath your property?" he asked.

Williams is appealing an Oct. 28 order from Indiana's Department of Natural Resources that "force pools" his property into the group of property owners who have signed off on the drilling. A hearing was held Friday before an administrative law judge in Jasonville, Ind. The judge hasn't made a ruling.

Williams, a 36-year-old chemist for a paint company, hopes a successful appeal establishes useful case law for other property owners inclined to fight oil exploration and production companies over their land.

"I'm thinking of all the other people this could happen to," he said.

Advocates say forced pooling — some form of which is legal in most states — allows companies to harvest valuable resources when a majority of property owners have agreed to participate.

Herschel McDivitt, director of Indiana's state Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas, said forced pooling serves the greater good by preventing one property owner from blocking the efficient harvesting of oil and gas on contiguous leased parcels.

"There's oil and gas conservation waste if you're drilling too many vertical wells when one horizontal well alone would be sufficient to drain the productive section of a (rock) formation," said McDivitt, who issued the order allowing forced pooling of Williams' property.

Indiana's forced pooling statute, adopted in 1947, states unwilling property owners "shall" be integrated into a drilling unit — provided there is equitable financial compensation — "for the prevention of waste or to avoid the drilling of unnecessary wells."

McDivitt said without forced pooling there would be "five times the surface disturbance," since the operation would require multiple horizontal wells.

But Williams has several other objections, including what he calls CountryMark's inadequate offer of royalties and signing bonus. He says CountryMark's guarantee falls short of protecting his well water from contamination. He also doubts the company's assertion that it would not use a controversial drilling technique in the cypress sandstone rock formation under his property.

Compensation size

Oil exploration and production has been big business in Southwestern Indiana for decades, with millions spent every year.

CountryMark estimates the Midway Acres subdivision project will cost the company $750,000.

"The majority of oil production is in the southwestern part of the state. That's just the way God made things," McDivitt said with a chuckle.

CountryMark President Charlie Smith has called the Illinois Basin, a 53,000-square-mile depression underneath Southwestern Indiana, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky, one of the best sources of domestic crude oil in the Midwest.

"Approximately 40,000 barrels of crude oil are produced daily from this region," Smith said in statement issued in 2008. "This is an extremely dependable, secure supply of energy for Indiana and surrounding states."

Indiana crude oil production has hovered at just under or over 2 million barrels annually since 2000. In 2010, the average price of oil per barrel was $73.46, higher than in all other years in the decade save 2008.

A Midway Acres resident who agrees to let CountryMark drill underneath his property can make some of the money for himself — a few thousand dollars — without bearing any of the financial risk.

Core Minerals Operating Co., the project operator before it sold part of its assets to CountryMark, told property owners in the subdivision that a well averaging 80 barrels of oil per day with oil priced at $65 per barrel could pay $5,931 in one year.

CountryMark has offered Williams the same $100 lease signing bonus that his neighbors got, plus the standard one-eighth of the total value of oil produced. That amount is proportionately divided among parcel owners according to the percentage of a drilling unit occupied by their properties.

The other seven-eighths goes to the operator, who in most cases assumes all of the costs and risks of the drilling. An unwilling property owner receives the same bonus plus royalties as his neighbors.

The state's forced pooling statute does not define the required "reasonable terms that give the owner of each tract an equitable share of oil and natural gas in the unit or pool."

The statute's seemingly definitive language appears to leave an unwilling property owner little room to negotiate in return for his cooperation.

"If the owners of separate tracts of land do not agree to integrate their interests, the commission shall, for the prevention of waste or to avoid the drilling of unnecessary wells, require the owners to integrate their interests and to develop the land as a drilling unit," it states.

Leslie Avakian, a leading activist against pending legislation to allow forced pooling in Pennsylvania's gas-rich Marcellus Shale, says that robs property owners of their negotiating power.

"If they're saying, 'Look, we're going to take your asset in court,' where's your negotiating power?" said Avakian, founder of ProtectMyRightsPA.org.

McDivitt says the statutory requirement to compensate an unwilling landowner after a forced pooling makes the procedure fair, given that oil would still be drained from underneath his property if the well path only traversed close to it.

"One of the fundamental principles in fairness with forced pooling is to make sure that somebody doesn't drill a well and unduly drain oil from somebody else's property and they don't get to share in it," he said.

But McDivitt acknowledged that the unwilling landowner's oil would not be flowing into a well in the first place unless someone were taking it.

"It's kind of like pulling the plug in the bathtub. Until you pull that plug and create that, we'll call a pressure sink, the water stays in your tub," he said. "But once you pull it, every drop of water that's in that tub, if the drain is constructed properly, is going to eventually drain."

'Quasi-DNR employee'

Indiana property owners who wish to contest being force pooled are subject to a procedure before McDivitt's division. The Division of Oil and Gas's informal hearing schedule shows 15 forced pooling cases since August 2008, with Williams' case being the only one unresolved.

None of the other 14 cases were successful in preventing a forced pooling.

McDivitt acknowledged that while his agency regulates the drilling, operation and abandonment of oil and gas production wells in Indiana, it is also an advocate for development.

"We're not just strictly a regulatory, permitting, environmental protection agency," he said. "We still look at that resource.

"In fact, our mission statement is to encourage responsible development of oil and gas, but in a manner that's protective of landowners' rights, human health and safety, doesn't waste the resource and certainly does not adversely affect the environment."

Operators pay a 1 percent severance tax on the value of all oil and gas that is produced. The money — more than $1.3 million in 2010 — is used to support operating expenses of the Division of Oil and Gas.

"We have no financial benefit or incentive, or I don't see how you can make that connection," McDivitt said. "We're just doing our job."

Hearing officer Sandra Jensen, who heard Williams' appeal of McDivitt's Oct. 28 order, is "a quasi-DNR employee," McDivitt said. "Well, officially she is a representative of the Natural Resources Commission."

McDivitt acknowledged that Williams or CountryMark can litigate Jensen's ruling in state court.