Gov. Christie makes appointments to LPG safety board

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie yesterday announced the following appointments to the state’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas Education and Safety Board:
 

Industry Representatives
Appoint Michael G. Merrill (Chester, Morris)
Reappoint William P. Curcio (Sparta, Sussex)
Reappoint Larry A. Horowitz (Perrineville, Monmouth)
Reappoint Thomas A. Leahy (Brick, Ocean)

Representative of a Gas Public Utility Involved in the Storage and Distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Reappoint Gene Doughtery (Franklinville, Gloucester)

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Public Members/Fire Safety Professionals

Appoint Louis B. Kilmer (Cinnaminson, Burlington)
Appoint Robert H. Zander (Colts Neck, Monmouth)

Public Member
Appoint Michael Ticktin (Roosevelt, Monmouth) 

Environmental Community Representative

Appoint Chuck Feinberg (Rockaway Township, Morris) 

The LPG board functions under the Division of Codes and Standards within the Department of Community Affairs (DCA). The board is required to meet quarterly to advise the Department on the enforcement of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Safety Act and the DCA’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas regulations. 

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As tech lowers cost, fuel cell commercial uses expand

Recently, Wal-Mart placed an order for 1,738 fuel cell powered forklifts that move products in the giant retailers’ warehouses.

Gibbons attorneys Uzoamaka N. Okoye and Samuel H. Megerditchian write in their firm’s Environmental and Green Issues blog that this: "highly publicized order spotlights the emerging commercial markets and the technologies and patents that have made the production of energy through fuel cells more cost effective."

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The attorneys note that the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index shows that "for the last decade fuel cell related patents outpaced all other clean energy technology patents until 2013 when solar patents for the first time surpassed fuel cell patents."

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As tech lowers cost, fuel cell commercial uses expand Read More »

Want shore protection funds? Make your beaches public


With New Jersey spending more tax dollars on shore protection projects after
Superstorm Sandy, advocates for greater public access to beaches see the
time is ripe for legislative change.

Tom Johnson reports today in NJ Spotlight that a bill moving in Trenton (S-183) would
require any shore protection projects receiving public funding to include public access
to the waterfront, an amendment urged by a conservation group in a vote by a committee considering the bill last month.

Beyond the public access requirement, the measure also would require the DEP to establish a priority system for ranking shore protection projects.
It also requires all shore protection projects that include a structural component, such as seawalls and other permanent facilities, to also include non-structural components, like sand dunes. Towns with dunes fared much better during Hurricane Sandy than those without these natural barriers.

Want shore protection funds? Make your beaches public Read More »

Looking for environmental seminars? Here's the place

You’ll be surprised by the number of valuable environmental seminars, forums, meetings, workshops, webinars and other great educational and networking opportunities available each week in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. And most of them are free!



Where can you find them? On our free Enviro-Events Calendar. 


Be sure to use the form in the upper right to sign up for free email updates.
You’ll receive one when we add new events–at least several times a week.

Tell your friends and colleagues, too, so they can subscribe to this great service.

Bonus: Submit information on your upcoming environmental event to:
Editor@EnviroPolitics.com  We’ll list it for free.

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Should chemicals pass safety tests like pharmaceuticals?

Should Congress shift the burden of proof about a chemical’s safety or toxicity to the manufacturer before the chemical can be released into the environment?

Two prominent women physician believe that chemical makers should share the same burden as pharmaceutical companies when it comes to product safety.

Jeanne A. Conry, MD, PhD, and Linda C. Giudice, MD, PhD, write in The Hill that the Toxic Substances Control Act, unchanged since its passage in 1976, could do much more to protect the public — especially pregnant women and children– from unsafe chemical exposures.

"U.S. and global chemical production has risen steadily, with a more-than-15-fold increase between 1947 and 2007. A reformed Toxic Substances Control Act can give us a greater understanding of the risks posed by toxic chemicals in our environment, and better equip us to inform and care for our patients"
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Why do Conry, who is president of the American Congress of Obstetricians, and Giudice, the past president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, think this is necessary?

"Studies have documented that dozens of toxic chemicals are found in virtually every pregnant woman in the United States," they write "Robust scientific evidence demonstrates that preconception and prenatal exposure to toxic chemicals can have a profound and lasting impact on health across a patient’s life, including increased risk of cancer in childhood and impairment of reproductive health development in adulthood, such as infertility."

Read the full post here

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Bill would repeal 'Summer gas' rule in Pittsburgh area


The Environmental Resources and Energy Committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would eliminate the requirement for summer blend gasoline in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler,
Fayette, Greene and Washington Counties.

The legislation, SB 1037, sponsored by Senators Elder Vogel and  Timothy Solobay,
passed the Senate 46-0 on March 19.

In a memo accompanying the legislation the sponsors write that, in 1998, the state Department of Environmental Protection adopted a 7.8psi RVP (Reid Vapor Pressure) fuel standard for southwestern Pennsylvania to address federal air pollution control measures.

"Since that time, ethanol became mandated by the federal government, increasing the RVP value of fuel. This resulted in an exclusive “boutique” fuel mandate for southwestern Pennsylvania."

The sponsors say that the law has resulted in "gas prices averaging 10 to 15 cents higher in western Pennsylvania than in neighboring counties and also across the border in Ohio."

"In Pennsylvania, this boutique fuel is only required for the Pittsburgh region, and demand for the product is low. This equates to a hidden tax drivers must pay in southwestern Pennsylvania that is not required anywhere else," they argue.

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The Pittsburgh-based Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) opposes the measure.

“Southwestern Pennsylvania and much of the northeastern United States struggle to meet federal health-based standards for ozone for a number of years,” said its Legal Director Joe Osborne. “The summer gas requirement is one of the most common sense and cost-effective ways to reduce ozone emissions in the area.” 

Related environmental news stories:
Bill to Do Away With ‘Summer Gas’ in Pittsburgh Passes Senate

 

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