NJ out to block suit challenging Exxon pollution settlement

S.P. Sullivan reports today for NJ.com that New Jersey State officials are "looking to block a coalition of environmental groups and a ranking Democratic lawmaker from intervening in a multi-million dollar settlement agreement between the state and Exxon Mobil over pollution at industrial sites across New Jersey."

Oral arguments are slated for Friday in the dispute, which pits the state Department of Environmental Protection and attorney general’s office against critics who say they settled for pennies on the dollar in the decade-long pollution lawsuit.

In court papers filed Monday, lawyers for the state called the agreement — which stems from contamination at two refineries in Hudson and Union counties — an "historic resolution of natural resource damages."

They argue that separate motions to intervene in the suit filed by the environmental groups and State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union) last month "would only serve to complicate and lengthen an already old and complex case."

The settlement, which still needs to be approved by a Superior Court judge, would require the Texas oil giant to pay $225 million to compensate the public for decades of contamination at the two refineries, as well as gas stations and industrial sites across the state.

Lawmakers and environmental advocates cried foul when the details of the agreement were made public because attorneys for the state argued at a trial last year that the damage wrought by Exxon was worth $8.9 billion.

National Resources Defense Council reaction: 

Throughout and following a long trial last year, New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection argued that ExxonMobil owed the state $8.9 billion in damages to restore and replace the damaged natural resources–and make New Jersey residents whole for their loss. That figure was based on calculations from extensive state-commissioned expert studies. In April of this year, however, the parties proposed settling for just $225 million, with no explanation for the drastic reduction. To make matters worse, the proposed settlement wraps in and releases Exxon from paying natural resource damages at all of its current and former gas stations (more than 800 total, according to news estimates) and sixteen other sites across New Jersey.

The proposed settlement is a giveaway to this big polluter, at the expense of the people of New Jersey. Exxon should be held accountable for its dirty legacy, and restore the area to its former glory, once and for all.                                  

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NJ Gov. Christie signs legislation paving the way for private development of Liberty State Park; park lovers concerned


“Governor Christie signed into law Monday night a bill intended to quell concerns over the future of Liberty State Park – but his signature did anything but that,” Dustin Racioppi and Scott Fallon write today in The Record.

Instead, environmentalists and park
enthusiasts say, the so-called cleanup bill would plot a course toward private
development of the state’s most-visited park, despite its many changes the last
several weeks. The sprawling park along the Hudson River has been eyed over
four decades for private development but each proposal has been fended off by
advocates. Christie, a Republican running for president, has viewed the park as
a revenue generator and commissioned a report last year on possibilities for
development there.

“It would be like a president privatizing the National Mall in
Washington, D.C.,” said Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State
Park advocacy group.  

The law would allow the NJ Sports & Exposition Authority to review and
possibly finance private development at Liberty State Park — a goal of the
Christie administration, which has long seen the park, its 5 million annual
visitors and its spectacular views of Manhattan as an untapped revenue
source.  
The bill would give the final decision to the Department of
Environmental Protection commissioner, who oversees state parks. Pesin said
that was one of the bill’s positive changes, but Jeff Tittel, director of the
Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, said, “that’s not a fix because the DEP
commissioner works for Christie.”



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The greening of the Big American Beer supply chain

Two major American beer brewers are growing greener –and we’re not talking about producing that colored stuff that some pubs serve on Saint Patrick’s Day. 
GreenBiz Group Associate Editor Lauren Hepler writes in the article below that "the big names in beer are also refining their own production methods to maximize efficiency and address nagging sustainability challenges."
For most casual drinkers, beer is beer. It can be hoppy or mild, light or dark, but the finished product often doesn’t convey the months of intense agricultural legwork and processing that it takes to get your favorite brews bottle-ready.
As craft brewers continue to gain market share, particularly in urban markets flush with disposable income, the big names in beer are also refining their own production methods to maximize efficiency and address nagging sustainability challenges.
Water use and the process of growing barley are two primary areas of focus for MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev, particularly as risk factors like water scarcity become more prevalent and new precision agriculture technologies hit the market.
"It really needs to be farmer centric," John Rogers, global director of agricultural development at Anheuser-Busch InBev, told GreenBiz. "We look at economic value creation as well as environmental."
beer sustainable brewing
                 

Faferek – There’s much more than meets the eye involved in brewing beer.

That process increasingly entails not only calculating the relatively straightforward economic costs of producing beer, but also harder-to-quantify natural capital costs.
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) this week released new disclosure and accounting guidance for sectors including the alcoholic beverage business. Among the biggest issues facing the beer industry: water and energy usage, agricultural risks, waste generation and local impacts on communities where ingredients are grown.
As the two biggest brewers in the U.S., Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors have outsized potential to forge models that address these sustainability challenges — and there are high financial stakes for both.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has dual headquarters in Brazil and Belgium and a market cap of $197 billion, has cornered about 25 percent of the global beer market with brands like Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois. The company uses 5 million metric tons of barley annually and works directly with upwards of 20,000 barley growers.
MillerCoors, meanwhile, was born in 2008 with the launch of a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company. The Chicago-based U.S. arm of the companies produces and markets beers including Miller, Coors, Molson and Blue Moon. All told, the company tallied $7.8 billion in sales last year.
“We need to be really strong leaders with what we’re doing," MillerCoors Chief Sustainability Officer Kim Marotta told GreenBiz.

Watering down risks

To make beer, you need water. By some academic estimates, the liquid resource accounts for 90-95 percent of beer by mass.
 
In addition to California’s ongoing severe drought, many major brewers — along with big, industrial users in many other sectors — rely at least in part on water from other severely depleted sources, like the Colorado River.
Agricultural and brewing operations that rely on fragile watersheds expose beer companies to enhanced risk.
"Because alcoholic beverage companies rely heavily on access to a large volume of clean water and water stress is increasing in different regions globally, companies may be exposed to supply disruptions that could significantly impact operations and add to costs," SASB explains.

"Companies operating in water-stressed regions that fail to address local water concerns may face further risk of losing their social license to operate."



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Will DuPont spinoff be able to cover all its cleanup bills?

Lisa J. Riggiola wasn’t among those cheering DuPont’s official spinoff of the Chemours chemical company this week, Jeff Montgomery and Jeff Mordock report in The News Journal (Wilmington, DE). 
Riggiola, a Pompton Lakes, NJ, resident who grew up in the borough and served on its council, worries Chemours could be crippled by the weight of nationwide pollution cleanup bills the company carried away from DuPont’s remaining enterprises. Those expenses, she said, might weaken Chemours’ ability to follow through on a more-than-500-acre cleanup at a former DuPont explosives plant in her community.
“To me, it’s a sad day because I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Riggiola, a member of a community advisory group. The organization recently asked federal officials to investigate the new company’s ability to meet its obligations for cleaning up mercury, lead and other pollutants in soil, lake sediments and groundwater, including toxic solvent vapors surfacing under hundreds of homes.
Chemours this week completed its spinoff from DuPont and launched as an independent, publicly traded company, with headquarters in Wilmington.
“DuPont managed the environmental liabilities extremely well, and I am confident we will continue to do that.”

Marc Vergnano, Chemours CEO

At spots around Delaware, New Jersey and across the country, Chemours is now tied to 190 current or potential DuPont legacy cleanup sites under various programs.
Company legal disclosures estimated the cleanup liability at $295 million, with a possibility of topping $1 billion. Thousands of toxic-exposure, asbestos and contamination claims also are working through court systems nationwide, with a large number focused on water-supply contamination in West Virginia and Ohio.
Company officials have said they are confident the obligations will be covered, although Pompton Lakes, a former explosives plant, was identified as the lone site where expenses might have a “material” effect on company liquidity for a period, but not its overall financial position.
“These are well-characterized liabilities,” said Marc Vergnano, a former DuPont executive vice president and Chemours’ first CEO. “DuPont managed the environmental liabilities extremely well, and I am confident we will continue to do that.”

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Proposal would require faster reporting of pipeline spills

                                                                                                                                   UPI photo by Brian Kersey


A proposal requiring pipeline operators to report spills within an hour of their discovery will help mitigate damage, the U.S. transportation secretary said, UPI reports.

The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is proposing a mandate that would require pipeline operators to issue spill notifications no later than one hour after a confirmed release.
"We constantly seek to raise the bar on safety," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. "This proposed rule will improve safety in a number of ways, including a notification time limit which eliminates any ambiguity about timeliness in reporting and is crucial to the ability to mitigate damage and protect people, property and the environment following an incident."
Existing federal regulations only advise operators to issue notifications at the earliest practicable opportunity, which the government estimates at between one and two hours after a confirmed release.
A pipeline operated by Plains All American leaked as much as 2,500 barrels of oil in Santa Barbara County in mid-May. The company said it notified federal authorities one hour and one minute after shutting down pumps controlling the pipeline May 19.
According to an account from the National Transportation Safety Board, Enbridge took 17 hours to recognize a leak on Line 6b in southern Michigan in 2010. The leak was among the largest ever inland spills in U.S. history.

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Gov Christie nominates two for farming and water panels

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie filed the following nominations on June 29.
Both are subject to the advice and consent of the State:
State Agriculture Development Committee
Farmer representative
Walter Scott Ellis (Hamilton, Mercer)

Water Supply Advisory Council
Agricultural Community Representative
David R. Specca (Bordentown, Burlington)


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