Good morning and welcome to the special Tuesday edition of the New York & New Jersey Energy newsletter. We hope you had a wonderful New Year's and are ready to dive back in. We'll take a look at the week ahead and look back on what you may have missed.

DEP LOOKS FOR TRUST IN TOMS RIVER — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: When New Jersey officials announced a deal to turn one of the state’s most notorious Superfund sites into 1,000 acres of open space, they hailed their own work as “historic.” But the plan is running into local opposition and it’s hard to tell if the state is getting a good deal.

The Department of Environmental Protectionreleased a proposed settlement last month that would drop any legal claims against BASF Corporation for damages to state natural resources at the old Ciba-Geigy chemical plant in Toms River. The deal struck by Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration allows BASF to pay no fine and to develop about 250 acres of the site in the future. In exchange, the company must leave 1,000 acres as open space and turn much of that land into a sort of public park. It's hard to tell if that’s a fair trade because state officials are withholding a key document that informs their decision making.

Perhaps the most forceful opposition to the settlement is coming from Republican officials in Toms River. Mayor Maurice "Mo" Hill wondered why the state is allowing the company to pay no fine and then profit from land at a site its predecessors ruined.

GATEWAY GETS REAL LOCAL— POLITICO’s Ry Rivard and Danielle Muoio Dunn: The White House is on board. So are the governors of the two states. But a few things still stand in the way of one of the nation’s largest infrastructure projects: demands for soundproof windows and squabbles over where to put debris.

Developers of the Gateway project have seemingly nailed down the big stuff as they move to build two new rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York to supplement century-old tubes that are in shambles. The $16 billion project has been decades in the making after fits and starts. Now, New York and New Jersey — after on-again, off-again support — have agreed to pay for the tunnels, and the project is among President Joe Biden’s top infrastructure priorities for the whole country.

Yet before construction crews can break ground in the fall of 2024, transit officials are working to tie up some hyperlocal loose ends in neighborhoods on both sides of the Hudson.

Also: Nearly $300M awarded for Gateway Program's Hudson tunnel project, by POLITICO’s Danielle Muoio Dunn.

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Here's what we're watching this week:

WEDNESDAY

— The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbormeets at noon.

— New York’s legislative session begins.

THURSDAY

— The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is holding a virtual stakeholder building about energy and benchmarking of commercial buildings, 3 p.m.

— The BPU is holding a hearing about several PSEG matters,4:30 p.m.

— NYSERDA offered a lovely New Year’s gift to everyone with the release of the long delayed Great Lakes Wind feasibility study.

— And just in time ahead of any other big new pledges on energy from Hochul, the new proposal to subsidize energy storage is also out for comment.

— BILL ACTIONS: Hochul signed a bill to apply extended producer responsibility to rugs and carpets, a right to repair measure and one backed by environmental justice advocates to require consideration of cumulative impacts for environmental reviews. She vetoed a measure to limit school construction near highways.

— Syracuse Post-Standard’s Tim Knauss dives deep on heat pumps in upstate New York.

— Newsday has an exit interview with former Assemblyman Steve Englebright.

— Criticism has been leveled at Hochul and local leaders for the response to the devastating blizzard in Buffalo.

— DEC adopted California’s car standards aimed at ending the sale of gas cars by 2035.

— Off the waterfront: New Jersey lawmaker loses port job over absenteeism.

— The offshore wind turbine manufacturing site in Paulsboro takes shape. (The article also says that New Jersey is doing a better job at capturing the offshore wind supply chain than neighboring New York, which we’re certain will spark some debate – let us know your thoughts!)

BIDEN SEEKS WOTUS MIDDLE WAY — POLITICO’s Annie Snider: The Biden EPA on Friday finalized a rule cementing Clean Water Act protections for a broad swath of the nation’s streams, creeks and wetlands – the latest move in a decades-long battle over the scope of the powerful 1972 law, but one that could be swiftly rendered moot by the Supreme Court.