The first meeting of the board overseeing New Jersey's new program to privatize the clean-up of contaminated sites began with the usual questions over how the process will work.

This difference was, this time they came from members of the new state Licensed Site Remediation Professional Board.

Even as it organized, the board found itself playing catch-up toward its goal: speeding the clean-ups of some 20,000 contaminated sites that are currently the responsibility of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Moving faster to remove pollution and return sites to productive use is a key to New Jersey's economic growth, said DEP Commissioner Robert Martin, the board's nominal chairman. Based on a program in Massachusetts, the initiative "is a priority for myself and for the Governor," he said. "It will not fail."

Allowing the owners of polluted properties to hire their own licensed experts to oversee clean-ups already has more companies volunteering information to the DEP, Martin said.

"Major companies, including major oil companies, are stepping forward," he said. "They're saying things like 'I've got 300 sites and I'm putting them all into the program.'"

Clean-ups at many sites have dragged on for years, or decades, because of legal battles, a lack of funding or other priorities. Martin said he expects the new initiative to make inroads into the backlog, because with property owners hiring their own consultants, "it makes it a lot more predictable" for them.

Alcatel-Lucent, the telecommunications giant, announced recently that it will host a solar power system at Bell Labs headquarters in New Jersey. The site will be outfitted with a 1.2 million megawatt solar power system. The cutting edge photovoltaic system will be designed and implemented by SunPower and ConEdison.

California-based SunPower will utilize its solar technology to install a solar panel system on the grounds. SunPower's T0 trackers follow the sun's movement during the day, resulting in smaller land use requirements and increases in sunlight capture by as much as 25 percent. The T0 trackers will be arranged over 3,700 solar panels.

Alcatel-Lucent estimates that the solar power system will generate approximately $2.5 million in savings over the next 15 years. Jeong Kim, president of Bell Labs, praised the potential effects of the solar plant, proclaiming his excitement that the "alternative energy can provide a sustainable way to power communication systems and give people access to the benefits of" the technology even if they had no access to power grids.

Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough and Pennington have won awards from Sustainable New Jersey for working to make the Valley more green.

Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for New Jersey municipalities that want to implement environmentally friendly policies and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term.

"The energy around the awards and the Sustainable Jersey lunch is incredible. We have over 250 mayors and municipal staff registered for the awards lunch, and we are still trying to accommodate people that want to be a part of it," said Fred Profeta, chairman of the New Jersey Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future, a committee of the League of Municipalities and Sustainable Jersey program partner.