Christie's $225M Exxon settlement wins judge's approval


A state judge Tuesday approved a controversial $225 million settlement negotiated between ExxonMobil and the Christie administration related to decades of extensive pollution at two of the oil giant’s former refineries in Linden and Bayonne and other sites around the state, James M. O’Neill reported this afternoon for The Record.

The settlement had drawn intense criticism from both environmentalists and Democrats in the state legislature because it was so much smaller than the nearly $9 billion the state had originally sought when it first filed the case in 2004 during the McGreevey administration.

“After giving considerable time and thought to its task,” Superior Court Judge Michael Hogan wrote in his decision, “the court finds that the proposed consent judgment is fair, reasonable, in the public interest, and consistent with the goals of the Spill Compensation and Control Act,” the state law under which the state had originally sued Exxon.

The settlement also covers natural resource damages at 15 smaller sites, including a Teterboro fuel tank farm, as well as nearly 1,800 gas stations, that were not originally part of the case.
Several environmental groups vowed to appeal the decision to the appellate division.

“Exxon’s massive damage to New Jersey’s environment couldn’t have been more clear,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey.

“Today’s decision by the Court sadly rubberstamps the Christie Administration’s sell-out settlement. This settlement still stinks. The disregard of a generation of pollution at hundreds of Exxon facilities around the state is a slap in the face to New Jersey. Exxon has created a legacy of pollution and public health risks in our state, and we will be taking further legal action to hold the Christie Administration accountable.”

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Pines exec hurled fastball win as team was still lacing up

How must it feel to be standing in the cleats of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission‘s ace, rookie, relief pitcher Robert Barr. Denied? Relieved? Confused?

Barr got called up this year from the political minors when his team was in big trouble. 

Here’s why,

Last season, team owner, Gov. Chris Christie, and General Manager Jeff Van Drew (the local state Senator) had promised big-time, corporate ticket-holder, South Jersey Gas, a pleasing outcome.
But the Pinelands Pipelayers saw their pennant hopes slip away when a bunch of local enviros fielded a Green Team that took the corporate squad into extra innings in the season’s final game.

Looking decidedly Double-A alongside the Commission’s Yankee pinstripes, the greenies nonetheless hung in with sterling defensive plays and support from screaming fans. As darkness descended, the game was halted–in a tie.  

In a postgame cell-burner from somewhere out of state, Christie growled into Van Drew’s ear:

"I don’t like losers, understand numbnuts? I don’t support losers. I don’t hire losers and I don’t hang out with losers (pause) except for that nerd Wildstein back in high school."

"Make no mistake, sir," Van Drew said. "I’ve got the answer for the new season, a fireballer named Barr. All we have to do is get rid of somebody so we can put him on the roster." 

Fast, fast forward to this season. Barr’s in the bull pen. The enviros are shaking. With the big game almost ready to start, and most of the Pipelayers still in the locker room checking stock picks on their smartphones, their pitching coach Nancy Wittenberg  strides to the mound. Yes, pitching coach.
Amazingly, it only takes Nancy ONE pitch to save the season.

Some claim it was an inside fastball. Jeff Tittel insists it was a spitter. No matter, Wittenberg delivered. And Barr? Not a single pitch thrown. Who’d have thunk it.

If the foregoing fable makes no sense to you, fear not. Our interview with Carleton Montgomery, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance‘s Executive Director Carleton should clear it up.

[Actually, Carleton is not as happy today as when the photo at right was taken, but who could blame him.]

Interview with Carleton Montgomery
(Click on the little arrow to launch the audio)

Pines exec hurled fastball win as team was still lacing up Read More »

Is revised NJ Energy Master Plan too fossil-fuel heavy?

                                                                                                                                   
                                       
“Dozens of speakers asked the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to update the state’s 2011 Energy Master Plan with increased goals for renewable energy at a public hearing Monday afternoon at Stockton University, ” Michelle Brunetti Post reports in the Atlantic City Press.
“I’m embarrassed our master plan seems to focus on fossil fuels,” said Ron Hutchison of Northfield, a member of 350.org, which works to combat global warming.
Like many other speakers, he said the plan should take into account the social costs of using carbon-based fuels, including the price of dealing with climate change, rising sea levels, and health problems from particulate air pollution. 

Many asked the BPU to return to standards in the 2008 Energy Master Plan, calling for 30 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable energy such as wind and solar by 2021. That percentage was decreased to 22.5 percent in the 2011 plan.
About 70 people came out to give their input, or listen to others. Speakers took up almost the full four hours, from 1 to 5 p.m.
BPU President Richard Mroz ran the meeting. He opened by saying the state has been doing well meeting the 2011 plan’s five major goals of driving down energy costs, creating a diverse portfolio of clean new energy generation in-state, rewarding efficiency and conservation, promoting emerging technologies and using renewables.

New Jersey League of Women Voters President Nancy Hedinger said she was disappointed the public hearings were being held in August, a time when many people are vacationing and cannot participate.

Richard Jackson, executive director of the New Jersey Energy Coalition, made up of 55 members including all the state’s major electric and gas utilities, said he hoped the new master plan puts emphasis on investment in electric and natural gas infrastructure projects that improve efficiency and safety, and lower costs.
Before the hearing, environmental groups and renewable energy promoters, including the New Jersey Sierra Club, Fishermen’s Energy, 350.org, Environment New Jersey, Clean Water Action, and Citizens United for Renewable Energy held a news conference to call for approval of renewable energy projects such as the Fishermen’s Energy wind farm.
 
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Did NJ Pinelands pipeline battle just end without a vote?



Did the cantankerous battle over a natural gas pipeline through the Pinelands just end without the firing of a single shot? 


That may be the case as the Pinelands Commission staff on Friday issued a “Certificate of Filing” which declares that an application from South Jersey Gas to build the 22-mile natural gas pipeline along roads through the Pinelands is complete and ready for review.

It also eliminates the need for an approval vote by the full commission, something that critics of the pipeline feared had been cinched with Gov. Chris Christie’s contested appointment of a new commissioner to replace a panel member who had cast the ‘no’ vote that sunk the pipeline on a previous occasion. Christie’s new Pinelands nominees trigger enviro alarms


Environmentalist fought the appointment which narrowly passed the Senate on March 16. Pinelands supporters outraged by vote to replace Commission member who voted against pipeline

Since then, opponents have been dreading an expected new vote, so Friday’s action came as a surprise–although equally unwelcome–and made some wonder if the new appointee also had decided to vote against the plan. 

Matt Katz, in NJ Spotlight, reports that Commission Executive Director Nancy Wittenberg told the commission that the decision “does not need to come before them for a vote because the project is a private development for use only within the Pinelands, and the gas pipeline will feed a power plant that will provide electricity to the area.”


Briana Vannozzi filed the video report at the top for NJTV News.


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Did NJ Pinelands pipeline battle just end without a vote? Read More »

Water contamination bill sitting on Gov. Christie’s desk

A bill sponsored by NJ Assemblyman Herb Conaway that requires the Department of Environmental Protection to establish maximum contaminant level for 1,2,3-
18 trichloropropane in drinking water is awaiting a signing decision by Gov. Chris Christie.


Conaway, a physician and a Democrat, represents the 7th Legislative District comprising municipalities in Burlington County.In the  video, he explains the reason why he introduced A-3954 and why he thinks the governor should sign it.






The contaminant, not currently regulated by drinking-water standards, was found in Moorestown NJ’s water supply last October, causing town officials to shut down two of its primary wells. Toxin leads Moorestown to shut two wells


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New Jersey says it will hire a consultant on offshore wind

New Jersey plans to bring on a consultant to advise it on developing offshore wind farms, a step that may finally move New Jersey to act on a five-year-old legislative mandate, Tom Johnson reports today for NJ Spotlight.

Board of Public Utilities President Richard Mroz said the yet-to-be-hired consultant would help the state write regulations essential to developing wind turbines off the Jersey coast. The regulations, four years behind schedule in being adopted, would spell out a financing mechanism to have utility customers fund the projects.

Mroz told the Senate Judiciary Committee of the agency’s plans during a reconfirmation hearing yesterday, at which senators criticized the board for not moving quicker to comply with a law aimed at promoting offshore wind farms. Mroz and fellow BPU Commissioner Joseph Fiordaliso won confirmation from the Senate later in the day.

“Why hasn’t the BPU done its job?’’ asked Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), a leading proponent of the state moving more aggressively on developing renewable energy.

“Institutionally, the BPU has failed us in the establishment of wind energy.’’

Without the regulations, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to line up financing from Wall Street to help fund the projects, which could easily run to more than $1 billion. The regulations would pay the developers for the electricity the wind turbines produce through credits paid for by ratepayers.

Critics of the administration of Gov. Chris Christie have long complained about the lack of action on offshore wind, something the governor had supported during his first campaign. Some claim that the BPU has done nothing but deny offshore project applications since Christie began exploring the possibility of a run for President and started courting large, potential campaign contributors like  the Koch Brothers who are heavily invested in fossil fuels and have underwritten efforts to discount or oppose alternative energy technologies like wind and solar. What do you think? Is the BPU plan to hire an offshore energy consultant, sincere or simply a delaying tactic? Use the comment box below to share your thoughts.


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