PA honored for Clarion County abandoned mine project


The Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation within the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has received the 2013 Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) Pennsylvania State Award for an abandoned mine project in Farmington Township, Clarion County.

The project consisted of grading material into a pit in order to return the surface to its original contour, draining and removing two water impoundments and eliminating 3,500 linear feet of hazardous high walls. The reclamation will provide cover and habitat for wildlife and a safe place of for local residents to visit while enjoying the outdoors.

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The total project covered 25.3 acres, with 5,381 newly planted trees covering 12.3 acres. Federally funded through the Office of Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement, the total cost of the project was $367,480. Reclamation was completed May 13, 2013.


ARRI is a coalition of citizens, members of the coal industry and government agencies dedicated to restoring forests on coal mined lands in the Eastern United States.

ARRI Excellence in Reforestation Awards are presented each year to honor active and abandoned coal mine reclamation operations from every state in the Appalachian Region that best exemplify the use of the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) in conducting reclamation operations. Highly productive forestland can be created using FRA by planting trees on reclaimed coal mined lands.

The project was designed and inspected by PADEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation staff in Cambria. The area was reclaimed by Gralan Corporation of West Port Ann, New York.
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Ex-Port Authority cop advised to ignore corruption?

Jerry Speziale in 2002 – AP Photo

On May 9, Bruce Golding of the New York Post reported:

The former No. 2 cop at the Port Authority is suing the agency and an ex-honcho implicated in the “Bridgegate” scandal — claiming he was hired to clean up corruption and then told to look the other way when he found “illegal conduct.”

Jerry Speziale, also a former NYPD cop and Passaic County sheriff, says in the suit that he was recruited in 2010 by then-PA official David Wildstein, who has since quit over his role in last year’s crippling closure of approach lanes to the George Washington Bridge.

Speziale says Wildstein told him to “root out corruption” and crack down on waste so he could one day take over the PA’s 1,700-member police force. But in his first week on the $198,500-a-year job, Speziale met with his boss, Superintendent Michael Fedorko, who allegedly ordered Speziale to “not interfere with any operations of the Port Authority and intimated that Speziale should essentially do nothing.”

Speziale claims he ignored that warning and immediately uncovered “numerous instances of illegal conduct, improper conduct and abusive conduct. 

Speziale says he then suffered retaliation that included revocation of his official vehicle, denial of security credentials and cancellation of medical benefits for his terminally ill wife, Maggie, who died of breast cancer last month on Easter Sunday.

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The day after Golding’s story broke, the Post’s Philip Messing wrote that Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye ordered a top-to-bottom internal probe by the agency’s inspector general to investigate Speziale’s claims of corruption. 

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Ex-Port Authority cop advised to ignore corruption? Read More »

Former NY manufacturing site added to Superfund list


The Wolff-Alport Chemical Company site in the Ridgewood section of Queens, New York has been added to the federal Superfund list of hazardous waste sites by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Soil and nearby sewers were contaminated by radioactive material from past industrial activities at the site, according to the EPA. "Testing indicates that there is no immediate threat to nearby residents, employees or customers of businesses in the affected area along Irving and Cooper Avenues, " the agency said in a news release.

"Since exposure to the radioactive contamination may pose a threat to health in the long-term, in December 2013, the EPA took action to reduce people’s potential exposure to the radiation and address the potential health risks from the site.

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The now-defunct Wolff-Alport Chemical Company operated from 1920 until 1954, processing imported monazite sand and extracting rare earth metals. Monazite contains approximately 6% to 8% thorium, which is radioactive. Radiation can increase a person’s risk of developing cancer such as cancer of the lung or pancreas, according to the EPA

Until 1947, the company disposed of thorium waste in the sewer and on its property. The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission ordered the company to stop those practices in 1947.
More information on the Wolff-Alport site is available here

Former NY manufacturing site added to Superfund list Read More »

Christie team under fire for energy, enviro decisions

The new week is off to a rough start for the administration of NJ Governor Chris Christie.

In news stories yesterday and today, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Board of Public Utilities came under fire for:

1. delays in reporting the results of tests into the extent of PFC contamination in public water supplies (Jon Hurdle reporting in NJ Spotlight);

2. the transfer of dioxin-cleanup funds from the DEP to the General Fund for use in narrowing the administration’s $800 million budget shortfall (Tom Johnson reporting in NJ Spotlight),
and

3. the involvement of former BPU officials in the controversial award of a contract to oversee the funding of clean energy projects. (Jean Rimbach reporting in The Record)

News coverage is not likely to get any kinder tomorrow when Christie staffer Christina Genovese Renna testifies before a joint legislative panel investigating Bridgegate.
(Charles Stile reporting in The Record)

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Environmental bills in committee this week in Trenton


It will be a busy week in Trenton with numerous committees scheduled to meet on Monday and Thursday. Here’s the schedule of committees handling environmental bills:

TODAY, MAY 5, 2014

SENATE ECONOMIC GROWTH
5/05/14 10:30 AM
Committee Room 1, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

A-2642  Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Riley, C.M. (D-3); Space, P. (R-24); Dancer, R.S. (R-12)
Allows contributions to NJ "Farm to School" program. Related Bill: S-1908
 
A-2643  Space, P. (R-24); Riley, C.M. (D-3); Dancer, R.S. (R-12); Wilson, G.L. (D-5)
Establishes "Best in New Jersey ‘Farm to School’ Awards Program" to annually recognize the best farm to school programs implemented by a school or school district.
Related Bill: S-1907
    
S-1902  Barnes III, P.J. (D-18)
Requires Department of Agriculture to post on its website certain information regarding State’s farm to school program. Related Bill: A-156
 
S-1907  Barnes III, P.J. (D-18)
Establishes "Best in New Jersey ‘Farm to School’ Awards Program" to annually recognize the best farm to school programs implemented by a school or school district.
Related Bill: A-2643
 
S-1908  Barnes III, P.J. (D-18)
Allows contributions to NJ "Farm to School" program.  Related Bill: A-2642
 
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THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014

ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS

05/08/14  2:00 PM
Committee Room 11, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
 
A-1726  Eustace, T.J. (D-38); Lagana, J.A. (D-38); Mosquera, G.M. (D-4)
Amends "Flood Hazard Area Control Act" to require DEP to take certain actions concerning delineations of flood hazard areas and floodplains.  Related Bill: S-308
      
A-2303  DeAngelo, W.P. (D-14)
Requires certain State departments, divisions, commissions, and authorities to consider use of green or blue roof in construction of certain new State buildings, facilities, and structures.
    
A-2340  Greenwald, L.D. (D-6); Spencer, L.G. (D-29); Lagana, J.A. (D-38)
Requires report and public hearing prior to DEP recommendation of site for inclusion on Superfund list.
 
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ASSEMBLY COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
05/08/14  2:00 PM
Committee Room 16, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

A-2728  Pintor Marin, E. (D-29); Johnson, G.M. (D-37); Singleton, T. (D-7)
Extends deadline for developer to submit temporary certificate of occupancy for an Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant Program qualified residential project.
 
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ASSEMBLY HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
05/08/14  2:00 PM
Committee Room 9, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
 
A-1907  Burzichelli, J.J. (D-3); Bramnick, J.M. (R-21); Singleton, T. (D-7)
Reinstates moratorium on imposition of Statewide non-residential development fees
until January 2015.   Related Bill: S-897

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