TRENTON - New Jersey's acting environmental executive wants a fuller diagnosis of Barnegat Bay's problems, strongly supports erecting wind turbines off the coast and has serious concerns about proposed liquefied natural gas facilities offshore.

"I don't believe we've done enough research on the entire bay. . . . We have pockets of data," said Bob Martin, acting commissioner for the state Department of Environmental Protection. "I believe we need a full environmental assessment of Barnegat Bay."

Oyster Creek decision

NATIONAL PARK, N.J. -- After more than two decades of debate and lawsuits, on Monday an Army Corps of Engineers dredge contractor carved away the first loads of silt in a $310 million project to deepen the Delaware River shipping channel.

But minutes after the dredging pipe was scheduled to bite into the river bottom, New Jersey's governor vowed to push on with a fight against the deepening, saying the work "makes no sense economically and it is dangerous environmentally."

Gov. Chris Christie made the remark as Delaware officials conceded that the first section of the dredging project would begin without a state permit.

Supporters of a $310 million Delaware River channel-deepening plan won the latest round in a court fight Wednesday, clearing the way for dredging to start as early as Friday.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel denied a request to block the project until an appeal by a coalition of environmental groups and the State of New Jersey can be heard.

Critics accused the Army Corps of Engineers of violating federal and state environmental laws as well as the corps' own rules in pressing ahead with a proposal to deepen the 102-mile channel to 45 feet from its current 40-foot depth between Camden and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Teamsters union and environmental activists have formed an unlikely and outspoken alliance aiming to clear the air in American ports, and perhaps bolster the Teamsters' ranks in the process.

The labor-green alliance is getting under the trucking industry's skin by asserting that short-haul trucking companies working in ports - and not the truck drivers, who are often considered independent contractors - should spend the billions needed to buy new, low-emission rigs that can cost $100,000 to $175,000 each.

Many, if not most, of the products that we have in our homes first passed through one of the country's seaports. As gateways of global trade, our seaports give consumers access to a wide range of goods at a low cost. However, these gateways also create enormous amounts of pollution. And for those Americans that happen to live near a seaport, this pollution is a serious health hazard leading to negative health outcomes and even death.

But Los Angeles is not the only city where port activities impact local residents. In the communities surrounding the Port of Newark and Elizabeth, the health consequences of port-related emissions are just as real.

When it's icy or it snows, officials drop tons of salt and other de-icers on roads in Monmouth and Ocean counties to help make them safer.

But what's the environmental impact of all the salt that's been deployed this winter, which has featured three major snowstorms so far?

Officials aren't sure but recommend limiting use of rock salt and other products.

However, a DEP water quality report released last year said "road salting and improper salt storage are major contributors" to pollution from dissolved solids and "need to be better addressed by the department's water quality management programs."

Top state officials and environmentalists are intensifying their fight against a controversial Delaware River dredging project that could start in Delaware next week.

Environmentalists fear a fast-track decision by U.S. District Court Judge Sue L. Robinson, who ruled that stopping the project on environmental grounds is "long past," could influence two New Jersey federal court lawsuits delaying the project.

The state is suing to stop the project primarily because officials said the project would deposit 80 percent of the dredge spoils along New Jersey towns. State leaders and environmentalists also have other environmental, cost-benefit and procedural concerns.

The state's largest environmental advocacy group, which last fall endorsed Governor Christopher Christie over former Gov. Jon Corzine and former Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Christopher Daggett, has misgivings about Christie's plans to reduce the current fiscal year's deficit.

New Jersey Environmental Federation (NJEF) Campaign Director David Pringle said that his group is "very concerned" over Christie's plans to "dilute clean energy funds and mass transit efforts" in order to shore up the budget.

Five environmental groups have appealed a federal court's refusal to block the start of a more-than $300 million main channel deepening along the Delaware River.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Delaware Nature Society, National Wildlife Federation, New Jersey Environmental Federation and Clean Water Action filed a notice that they will ask the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the project before it starts.

Delaware U.S. District Court Judge Sue L. Robinson on Wednesday rejected a preliminary injunction request originally sought by Delaware against the Army Corps of Engineers, which plans begin the deepening next week.

Five environmental groups are appealing a federal judge's Jan. 27 decision allowing the deepening of the Delaware Bay and River shipping channel to begin.

The groups filed a notice of appeal Friday in U.S. District Court in Delaware in hopes of stopping deepening work from beginning in a section south of Wilmington, Del., that Judge Sue L. Robinson opened to deepening. Robinson held up deepening elsewhere in the channel, which spans from the Delaware Bay west of Cape May north to Philadelphia.