Capitol Hill Calendar: January 30, 2014



Hearings on Energy and Environment Issues and Legislation


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THURSDAY, JANUARY
30, 2014

SENATE

10:00 a.m. Senate Chamber
Senate will continue consideration of S. 1926,
Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, with up to four roll call votes
starting at 11:15 a.m., and a vote on final passage of the bill at
approximately 2 p.m.

SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND
TRANSPORTATION
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere,
Fisheries, and Coast Guard
10:00 a.m. SR-253 (202) 224-8172
To hold hearings to examine West Coast
and Western Pacific perspectives on Magnuson-Stevens Act re-authorization.

SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
9:30 a.m. SD-366
Oversight hearing to examine
opportunities and challenges associated with lifting the ban on United States
crude oil exports.

SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear
Safety
9:30 a.m. SD-406

Oversight hearing to
examine the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) implementation of the
Fukushima Near-Term Task Force recommendations and other actions to enhance and
maintain nuclear safety.

Capitol Hill Calendar: January 30, 2014 Read More »

UPDATE on Delaware River oil spill at Delta refinery

** Update -5:40 p.m. PADEP spokesman tells MetroPhilly that today’s cold temperatures and wind direction helped minimize the containment and cleanup of the oil spill at Delta’s refinery in Trainer**  


** Updated at 1:25 p.m. with addition of PADEP statement**

The Philadelphia Business Journal and NBC10 report that some 1,000 gallons of crude oil has spilled into the Delaware River in Trainer, Delaware County near the Monroe Energy oil refinery and close to the Commodore Barry Bridge. 

Monroe Energy refinery


Workers were moving the crude oil from a boat in the
river when a line ruptured. Boaters started to notice the oil around 1 p.m. Monday and called it into the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, according to a report from NBC10. 

A response team arrived at the scene, using boom to contain the spread. Crews used skimmers and vacuums to remove the oil from the water.

At this point, it’s uncertain just how much oil the crews were able to remove and how much remains.

Monroe Energy is owned by Delta Airlines which purchased it from the Phillips 66Company in an effort to keep its fuel prices down. According to Monroe’s website, it “entered into strategic supply and marketing arrangements with BP and Phillips 66.”


UPDATE: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released this statement on the Delaware River oil spill:

DEP emergency responders reacted immediately when notified yesterday afternoon of a crude oil spill at the Monroe Energy refinery in Trainer, Delaware County. 

DEP emergency responders joined the U.S. Coast Guard and other members of an incident management team to assess the release of about 1,000 gallons of oil into the Delaware River.

Monroe Energy promptly reported the spill, which occurred when a pipe ruptured as crews were off-loading crude oil, and took the necessary actions to minimize environmental impacts.

“While any spill into our waterways is unacceptable, reporting protocols were followed and we were able to respond quickly and effectively – the frigid weather and quick containment response have helped to minimize the impacts of this incident,” DEP Secretary Chris Abruzzo said. “DEP staff is on the scene and will continue to monitor and assist with the cleanup until it has been completed, and we will review the cause of this incident to determine whether additional action is warranted.”  

Recent posts: 




UPDATE on Delaware River oil spill at Delta refinery Read More »

What do NJ and Blanche Dubois have in common?

 A Streetcar Named Desire characters Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski
 

What do New Jersey and Blanche Dubois have in common?

Before the answer, a little background.

Two competing approaches to the vexing problem of funding open-space, farmland, and historic sites preservation bumped heads in the New Jersey Legislature last session and went nowhere.

One approach takes the traditional route of public bonding. The other would dedicate a portion of the state’s sales tax to the purposes above so no future governor could ‘re-direct’ the funds (some dare call it stealing) to other uses (like closing budget gaps).

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A new, two-year term is under way and Senator Bob Smith is the first out of the gate with his bill that takes the sales-tax-dedication approach.

In a pitch for SCR-2 this morning in the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, Smith played up a lesser-known feature of the legislation–funding for the purchase of flood-prone properties.

NJ State Senator Bob Smith

Devastated by Hurricane Sandy, he noted that New Jersey has no stable funding source for such buyouts and is relying solely on federal funds–support won’t last forever.

What’s this got to do with Blanche Dubois, the memorable character in Tennessee Williams’s
A Streetcar Named Desire?

Listen to this excerpt from today’s hearing.

Related environmental news stories:
Open-Space Funding Debate Spills Over Into New Legislative Term
How to pay to preserve what open space land NJ has left

Recent posts:
Get 2 free issues of EnviroPolitics–then add 30 more!
NJ Gov. Christie vetoes bill to limit forest fire impacts
NY Gov. Cuomo’s brownfields plan targets upstate sites
Pa sets more hearings on proposed drilling rules
Pa Gov. Tom Corbett touts his Energy=Jobs plan
NJ Gov. signs bill extending LSRP cleanup deadlines  

What do NJ and Blanche Dubois have in common? Read More »

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NJ Gov. Christie vetoes bill to limit forest fire impacts

Forests-Prescribed Burns

Legislation designed to lessen the size of forest fires through controlled burns of underbrush on forest floors has been pocket vetoed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.


A-329 was one of some 100 bills signed or pocket vetoed by the governor on Jan. 21.
The Governor’s Office provide no explanation for the veto.

Lawmakers passed a bill last week that promotes more prescribed burning in the state. That technique, largely carried out by the state, intentionally sets small areas of forest floor ablaze to burn the dead leaves, branches, grass, and pine cones that could fuel a major forest fire if one broke out.
"The risk we face in terms of catastrophic wildfires in New Jersey is in large part due to the fact that we have long suppressed fire," said Kelly Mooij, an official with the New Jersey Audubon Society. "Fire is a normal and necessary process in our forests, particularly in the Pinelands."
She said that being too restrictive of fire prevents important ecological functions on which some plants and wildlife, such as those that dominate the Pinelands, depend. Fire stimulates new growth, coaxing some pine cones to release their seeds. It opens up gaps in forest canopies to help species on the ground and clears sandy areas that provide a home to the pine snake.

Jaclyn Rhoads, assistant executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, said the state does not carry out enough prescribed burns, due to staffing, funding, and other concerns.
"The restrictive approach to prescribed fires in New Jersey means very little forest gets burned, which does not provide sufficient protection for nearby residents, and the way it gets burned does not serve the ecological functions needed to reproduce the effects of wildfires," she said. "Furthermore, private landowners are hesitant to contract prescribed burns on their properties due to insurance requirements. This piece of legislation helps to address these issues and gets us closer to where we need to be."

Related environmental news stories:
Prescribed burning bill clears NJ Assembly committee (Story and video)
Fort Benning conducting controlled burning Jan. 22
Santa Fe NF Prescribed Burn Update for 1/21/2014
  




NJ Gov. Christie vetoes bill to limit forest fire impacts Read More »

NY Gov. Cuomo's brownfields plan targets upstate sites

  Gov. Andrew Cuomo presents his 2014-15 executive budget
proposal in Albany on Jan. 21, 2014 (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

New York’s Brownfields Cleanup Program would be extended by another decade, with an emphasis on redeveloping upstate sites, that will also include “important reforms to protect taxpayers,” according to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s 2014-15 state Executive Budget.
T. J. Pignataro  reported yesterday in The Buffalo News:

The Brownfields program – designed to “enhance private-sector cleanups” of industrial sites where potential contaminants, like hazardous wastes or petroleum, are impediments to redevelopment – provides tax credits associated with cleaning up and redeveloping such sites.

Brownfields dot the Western New York landscape once home to much heavy industry. Buffalo’s waterfront now attractive for development has numerous contaminated sites that require some level of remediation before they can be built upon.

Cuomo’s tax reforms include allowing remediation tax credits only for “actual cleanup costs” with redevelopment credits being “rationalized to only cover sites that have been vacant for over a decade, worth less than the cleanup costs, or are priority economic development projects,” according to the budget statement.

NY Gov. Cuomo's brownfields plan targets upstate sites Read More »