JOHN HURDLE / NJ SPOTLIGHT – New Jersey has met a short-term goal of trimming carbon emissions but must make radical changes to transportation, electric generation, construction and industry if it is to achieve a much bigger reduction by the middle of the century, the Department of Environmental Protection said Thursday.

In a report on progress toward a legal requirement of cutting emissions by 80% from 2006 levels by 2050, the DEP called for “steep and permanent” reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions within the “next several years” …