Residents sue FirstEnergy over coal-ash impoundment

Little Blue Run coal-ash impoundment – Beaver County Times photo

Nearly 60 West Virginia residents are suing FirstEnergy, claiming that Little Blue Run,
the company’s 1,700-acre impoundment in adjacent Beaver County, Pa is to blame for groundwater pollution, consistently wet yards, shifting home foundations, and mold on
their properties.
Nearly 60 landowners in Hancock County, W.Va filed a October 10 in the U.S. District Court in Wheeling, W. Va., against the Akron-based company on claims of negligence, reckless conduct, trespass and creating a nuisance, the Beaver County Times reports.

The impoundment, which straddles two states, is located in Beaver County, Pa., and Hancock County, W.Va. It has served as the disposal site for Shippingport’s Bruce Mansfield coal plant, which has produced 550,000 tons
of fly ash and 98,000 tons of bottom ash per year since 1974, when there were no requirements for lining such an impoundment. 

The lawsuit says the unlined impoundment has leaked arsenic and other substances into groundwater, and the air has been polluted by “noxious odors” from hydrogen sulfide. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials have said in the past that sulfate, sodium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, arsenic, selenium and boron have been detected in groundwater near the impoundment.

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Hear what brought Tony Russo back to New Jersey

Tony Russo may be new to the position of Executive Vice President – Government Affairs and Communications – at the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey, but he is anything but new to environmental regulations and legislation in the Garden State.

Tony has been actively involved for more than 20 years in shaping environmental policy. He started out with the NJDEP and expanded his knowledge by working for two private consulting firms and then, most notably, for the Chemistry Council of New Jersey. After a stint spent learning how lobbying works in D. C., he’s returned to Trenton where he directs CIANJ’s government relations office.


In our newest EnviroPolitics Podcast episode, Tony recalls the path he’s followed to his new position. He discusses why he returned to New Jersey from Washington, what his new job is all about, some of the special events the CIANJ offers, and what environmental issues its members find to be of paramount importance.

If you have an interest in the environment, politics, trade associations, business or lobbying, you’ll enjoy this episode. Click the triangle inside the circle below to launch the interview.

Tony is the first of what we hope will be a long line of energy and environment experts with whom we’ll be speaking in future episodes of the EnviroPolitics Podcast. Is there someone you’d like to hear us interview?

Send your suggestion(s) in an email to Editor@EnviroPolitics.com

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Our daily newsletter also tracks NJ & PA legislation—from introduction to enactment 

Our most recent posts: 
Chowder-lovers help ‘Re-Clam’ NJ’s Barnegat Bay
Third NJ hearing today on hurricane recovery problems 
EPA extends Maywood Superfund site comment period  
North Jersey also felt Superstorm Sandy’s punch    
New study finds lower methane leaks from fracking  

Hear what brought Tony Russo back to New Jersey Read More »

Chowder-lovers help 'Re-Clam' NJ's Barnegat Bay


Thousands of clam lovers travel to Beach Haven, NJ each October to sample and vote 
for their favorite red and white chowders served up by local restaurants. The competitors vie for coveted ‘best’ awards and bragging rights in a 25-year-old tradition dubbed ‘Chowderfest.’

An environmental beneficiary of the 2013 cook-off, held on Sunday, Oct 6 in the heart
of the tourist town’s Bay Village, was Re-Clam the Bay. 

The local volunteer organization builds and maintains clam nurseries (upwellers)
to nurture baby seed clams that will repopulate the Barnegat Bay.

Watch the video below to learn what they do and why it’s important.




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Related stories:
Chowderfest 2013: Asbury Park Press photo gallery

Our most recent posts:
Third NJ hearing today on hurricane recovery problems
EPA extends Maywood Superfund site comment period 
North Jersey also felt Superstorm Sandy’s punch   
New study finds lower methane leaks from fracking 

Chowder-lovers help 'Re-Clam' NJ's Barnegat Bay Read More »

NJ Sandy stories: Stingy insurers, bungling bureaucrats


Senator Bob Smith and Assemblywoman L. Grace Singer discuss
why their environmental committees are conducting public hearings
and what they learned at their most recent session yesterday in Trenton

—————————————————————————————————–

Frustrated home and business owners, association execs and environmental organizations lined up yesterday in Trenton to tell their stories at the New Jersey Legislature’s third hearing on the status of  the state’s Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts.

We attended the hearing and thought Associated Press reporter Wayne Parry nicely summed up much of the testimony with his lead: "The water came in torrents; the aid
is being parceled out drip by drip."

Joanne Gwin of Toms River got $101,000 on a $250,000 flood insurance policy, and she wonders why.

"Why can’t the insurance companies write us a check for the policy we paid for?" she asked. "We have a need for that money and we only received 40 percent of what we need to rebuild our home."

Kathleen Fisher of Ventnor said when her small insurance check arrived, it took three months for her mortgage company to sign it. She said the response of those who are supposed to help has been numbing.

"Nobody showed any kind of compassion for any of us," she said. "We’re treated like criminals, like we’re trying to get something for nothing when we’re just trying to get the insurance money we thought was due to us."

The target of many of the complaints yesterday was the state’s Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) program that is supposed to provide individual property owners with up to $150,000 in grants for rebuilding or home elevations. State officials concede, however, that the program so far has not paid out a dime to Sandy victims, many of whom are still living in rental properties or are crammed into small livable portions of their damaged houses while they wait for repairs.

Officials blame the delay on paperwork-processing safeguards designed to limit the over-payments and fraud that plagued a similar FEMA program following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Critics counter that the state hired inexperienced workers each of whom have received only a few hours of training and consequently are fumbling many of the applications for assistance.  

In the video interviews below, Adam Gordon, an attorney with Fair Share Housing Center, and Staci Berger, executive director of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey recapped for EnviroPolitics Blog what they told legislators about problems their clients are encountering in Sandy’s aftermath.

Related environmental news stories:
Sandy victims say they are tired of waiting; need answers now 
Storm victims want help with insurers, bureaucrats  
Insurance claim delays are prompting some Sandy victims to sue

Our most recent posts:
Third NJ hearing today on hurricane recovery problems
EPA extends Maywood Superfund site comment period
Water privatization contract for Dover Air Force Base  
North Jersey also felt Superstorm Sandy’s punch  
New study finds lower methane leaks from fracking 

For more information like this, try a FREE, 30-day subscription to EnviroPolitics.    
Our daily newsletter also tracks NJ & PA legislation—from introduction to enactment
  

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Third NJ hearing today on hurricane recovery problems

Situated at the southwestern base of Route 72 bridge to Long Beach Island, Beach Haven West is one of many Jersey Shore neighborhoods that were devastated 11 months ago by Superstorm Sandy.

In today’s Star-Ledger, MaryAnn Spoto reports that many homeowners here are still struggling to make their homes livable again. Some are still renting elsewhere, others are crammed into usable portions of their houses while using what funds they have to make repairs. All are still waiting for promised government relief.

"Many homeowners have been promised help in the form of grants from the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation Program (RREM) to rebuild or elevate their homes," Spoto reports. "But as summer slipped into fall, residents are still waiting, wondering if they can rebuild without going bankrupt.

"We’re not getting relief at all," said Jackie Terefenko, of Morris Boulevard. "We’re all on freeze with no money."

beach-havem2.JPGJackie Terefenko becomes emotional as she shows two visitors the cluttered
condition of the master bedroom she and her family have been forced to live
in while working to repair their Hurricane Sandy-damaged home on Morris Blvd.
Photo: Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger


"This cozy section of Stafford (Township) sits directly west of Long Beach Island and is a triangular maze of lagoons bounded by busy Route 72 to the north, the Mill Creek to the south and Manahawkin Bay to the east. About 1,080 homes in Beach Haven West were substantially damaged by Sandy and must be rebuilt to new standards set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. About 450 have to be torn down, according to Mayor John Spodofora. And, he said he suspects many homeowners underestimated damage to avoid FEMA regulations, including elevating their homes. The damages — just in this section alone — dropped the township’s ratables by $200 million, Spodofora said.

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"With money from their flood insurance claim, Terefenko, 59, and her husband Michael, 70, started repairing their two-story home, but quickly ran out of cash. They are among 211 full-time residents of Stafford approved for the RREM program, which provides grants of up to $150,000.
"The Terfenkos were counting on the RREM money, but the process has been painfully slow, she said. After registering in July, they still have a long way to go in the 11-step process. No one has received any money from that program yet, state officials have acknowledged.

Legislative hearing today in Trenton will examine state recovery programs
The plight of families like the Terefenkos likely will be raised this morning in Trenton at a
joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly Environment Committees. It will be third time in recent months that the two panels have met to explore the progress and shortcomings of government programs in the wake of the October, 2012 hurricane.

Previous hearings
At the committees’ August 15 hearing in Atlantic City (Lawmakers hear other side of NJ’s Sandy recovery), EnviroPolitics Blog conducted video interviews with Senate Chairman Bob Smith and Assembly Chairwoman L. Grace Spencer. We also spoke with environmental experts: Mark Mauriello, Rod Scott, Wayne DeFeo, Jeff Tittel and Debbie Mans. 

The committees met again on September 17 in Jersey City: North Jersey also felt Superstorm Sandy’s punch.

Third NJ hearing today on hurricane recovery problems Read More »

Why EPA's draft power plant standards won't affect NJ


The Obama administration is proposing new rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants, but the draft standards should have little impact on New Jersey’s efforts
to promote additional generation being built in the state, NJ Spotlight reports today.

Why?  Two reasons.

1. Governor Chris Christie, who is aggressively pushing for the construction of new power plants in energy-hungry New Jersey, insists that his state will not permit any new coal-fired plants which are the primary targets of the proposed new EPA rules; and

2. Although the new limits on CO2 also would apply to natural-gas plants, New Jersey’s  emissions limits on that greenhouse gas already are stricter than what the federal government is proposing.

NJ Spotlight‘s energy and environment reporter Tom Johnson has the details here.  

Related environmental news stories:
Obama moves to limit power-plant carbon pollution
New power-plant emissions limits lack initial impact
Obama administration not waging war on coal, EPA chief says

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