Barnegat Blitz: As many pick up, Sierra Club puts down

** Updated to add news story on Oct 22, 2012**

With thousands of volunteers expected to join today
in a third massive cleanup of the Barnegat Bay watershed sites, a notable state environmental organization is on the sidelines, trash-talking
instead of trash-collecting.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin will be making a number of stops along the cleanup trail to thank participants and seek media attention for the Barnegat Bay Blitz, the third such cleanup led by the NJDEP and NJ Clean Communities Council.

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Stuffing bags with trash and litter collected from area streams, wetlands, catch  basins, storm drains and Barnegat Bay itself will be volunteers from local schools, businesses and a variety of organizations including MATES Academy at the Ocean County Vocational School, the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Waste Management, the Barnegat Bay Partnership, ReClam the Bay, United Water, ShopRite, Wawa, Rowbear Consulting Co., and the American Council of Engineering Companies.


The New Jersey Sierra Club‘s contribution to the cleanup effort?  A press release dismissing the event as a “publicity stunt.”  

“As
the science mounts about the problems with the Bay, the Christie administration
is out doing another publicity stunt instead of developing a real clean up plan
for the Bay,” chided NJ Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel.

“Commissioner Martin,
politicians, and DEP staffers are out picking up trash when they are actually
enacting policies that hurt the Bay and make it dirtier,” he said. 

In July the Rutgers Institute of Marine and
Coastal Sciences released a report on the deteriorating health of
Barnegat Bay. The report documents that
pollution is worse in the Bay than previously thought as a result of nitrate
and phosphorus pollution and eutrophication.


The Christie Administration says its 10 Point Plan is the way to stem the Bay’s deterioration. The Sierra Club and some other environmental organizations want the state to limit new development in the region and impose strict Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) discharge standards. 


According to the DEP, the inaugural version of the Barnegat Blitz in October 2011 and the follow-up event in May of this year resulted in 6800 volunteers collecting more than 3,200 bags of trash and recyclables and filling 40 dumpsters.


We wonder if Mother Nature cares who picked up the trash or what motives propelled them? Tell us what you think in the comment box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line  


Related:
Thousands of Volunteers Sweep NJ Beaches
Barnegat Bay Blitz Set for Thursday  
Barnegat Bay Blitz No. 3 slated for October 18  


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Barnegat Blitz: As many pick up, Sierra Club puts down Read More »

Pa’s top court hears shale-drilling vs. local zoning appeal

Photo by Ari Moore

Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices listened to nearly two hours of arguments in Pittsburgh yesterday over whether parts of the state’s new Marcellus Shale drilling law take too much power away from local governments.
State attorneys were contesting the Commonwealth Court’s July decision to overturn a portion of Act 13, the law that limited what local zoning rules can and cannot address regarding drilling activity, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
A majority panel of that court sided with a set of municipal officials, who argued that the new law was unconstitutional because it would require them to allow well pads and compressor stations in areas where the activity would otherwise be prohibited by their local development plans.
The Tribune-Review reported that the standing-room-only crowd of attorneys, local officials ad cheering anti-fracking activists ‘inspired a raucous atmosphere,” and, after some of the 130 people applauded in the normally staid courtroom, Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille demanded order and threatened to throw out those who did not pipe down. 
There was laughter when Matt Haverstick, a Philadelphia attorney representing the state Public Utility Commission and the Department of Environmental Protection, responded to a question on whether zoning is intended to mainatin similar uses in an area by stating that is one–but not the only–purpose of zoning.
Justice Castille’s warning followed a round of applause after Justice Seamus McCaffery commented that under the law, residential communities “can now be turned into industrial areas.” 

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Haverstick defended the law, repeating prior arguments that all municipal zoning rights are given by state government and those rights can be changed at any time by the General Assembly. He said there’s no constitutional protection against having some incompatible uses in a particular zoning district, arguing that both property owners and their neighbors have protected rights.  

“All other things being equal, owners of property should be free to use their property the way they want to,”  Haverstick said.
Attorneys for the mostly southwestern towns involved in the challenge argued that Act 13, approved in February, places the offer of a predictable regulatory environment to gas drillers above ensuring residents the knowledge of what type of development might occur in their neighborhoods.
Attorney John Smith said state officials also must weigh the same criteria that towns do in determining zoning: whether it protects the health, safety and welfare of residents.
“That analysis was not undertaken by the General Assembly because the General Assembly didn’t understand it was zoning or didn’t care,” Mr. Smith said.
The Justices gave no indication of when they would rule on the constitutionality of the 8-month-old law.

Related environmental news stories:
State Supreme Court hears arguments over Marcellus Shale law  
Large, lively crowd turns out for Supreme Court arguments on gas drilling laws 

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Pa’s top court hears shale-drilling vs. local zoning appeal Read More »

Gibbons law firm expands NJ environmental practice

Gibbons P.C., a 230-attorney law firm operating in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia,
and Delaware, is expanding its Real Property & Environmental
Department.

In a news release, the firm reports the addition of  environmental attorneys William S. Hatfield and Camille V.
Otero who join the firm as Directors, and Harry H. Clayton, IV, and Adam C.
Arnold who join as associates. All four are from Day Pitney LLP.

The four join the firm’s active Environmental Team that also recently welcomed noted practitioner David J.
Freeman in New York.

“This
team has a stellar reputation and high-level practice that expands the scope of
services we offer clients in the environmental arena and enhances the depth and
breadth of an already prominent practice,” says Patrick C. Dunican Jr.,
Chairman and Managing Director of Gibbons. “With more than a dozen attorneys,
the Gibbons Environmental Team is well positioned to provide clients throughout
the Mid-Atlantic with exceptional, business-oriented solutions.”
The Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business ranks Gibbons as one of
the top environmental practices in the state, with clients saying that the
group “is esteemed for its litigation capabilities, particularly in the area of
natural resource damage, and also maintains a well-regarded regulatory
practice.”
William S. Hatfield has 20 years of experience in
litigation involving CERCLA, RCRA, CWA, underground storage tanks, toxic torts,
and the New Jersey Spill and Landfill Closure Acts. He counsels clients on
numerous matters related to the oversight of environmental investigations,
cleanup under the NJDEP, ISRA applicability, compliance, remediation
activities, natural resource damages, permitting, air emissions, waste water,
storm water discharges, and enforcement issues specific to the USEPA, NJDEP,
and NYSDEC. He has been listed in the Chambers
USA Guide and New Jersey Super
Lawyers. He earned his J.D. cum laude
and M.S.L. summa cum laude from
Vermont Law School and his B.A. from Brown University.

Camille V. Otero focuses her practice in
environmental and toxic tort litigation, representing clients in an array of
environmental matters involving CERCLA, RCRA, and the New Jersey Spill and
Landfill Closure Acts. Ms. Otero has extensive experience assisting clients in
remediation activities, compliance, and environmental due diligence. She also
has been listed in the Chambers USA
Guide, as well as in New Jersey Super
Lawyers Rising Stars. She earned her J.D.
from Rutgers University School of Law and her B.S. from Bloomfield College.
.

Harry H. Clayton, IV, counsels clients on
permitting, compliance, enforcement, and transactional matters under both
federal and state environmental laws, with a focus on CERCLA, the New Jersey
Spill Compensation and Control Act, and natural resource damage law. He earned
his J.D. from William & Mary Law School and his B.A. from the University of
Pennsylvania




Adam C. Arnold focuses his practice on
environmental litigation arising under both federal and state law, specific to
CERCLA and the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act. He earned his
J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and his M.A. from the University
of St. Andrews.


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For thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment 
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Those who support fracking will march in Albany today


Political demonstrations over fracking are not only for opponents of the controversial natural gas drilling technique.

This morning, in Albany, farmers, small business owners, laborers, homeowners, students and business organizations will be marching to show their support for fracking and to pressure Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lift his moratorium. 

Buffalo Business First reports that: 

In November 2010, New York put a hold on hydrofracking permits until the state Department of Environmental Conservation reviews thousands of public comments to provide rules and regulations for how to drill and where to drill, while addressing environmental concerns.

The DEC review was expected to be complete by December. But on Sept. 20, the DEC announced it was seeking help from state Health Commissioner Nirav Shah, who will review possible public health aspects of hydrofracking.

“We are now going to do a complete health review, so there’s no firm time frame,” DEC spokesman Emily DeSantis said on Oct. 9.

The latest delay has infuriated fracking advocates who see relatively unimpeded drilling taking place in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 
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For thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment 
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Our most recent posts:
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Those who support fracking will march in Albany today Read More »

Can't either political gang shoot straight?

Radical Kathy

First, the National Republican Congressional Committee cranked up a fear-mongering campaign aimed at convincing Bucks County, Pa voters that Democratic Congressional candidate Kathy Boockvar has ties to the notorious convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Then Pennsylvania’s former Governor and former National Democratic Committee chairman
Ed Rendell called a press conference–a great opportunity to provide a factual rebuttal.

What happened?  The Democrats’ spin machine got so revved up that it broke a belt
and spun right off the fact track.

Newsworks‘ Dave Davies throws flags against both sides: Politicians just can’t tell it straight

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For thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment
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Our most recent posts: 
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Feathers flying at Perdue chicken-pollution trial in Md


A trial with potential implications for Maryland’s poultry industry began Tuesday with a lawyer for poultry giant Perdue claiming that an environmental group was looking for a way to “get Perdue” when it sued, Jessica Gresko reports for the Associated Press.

The New York-based Waterkeeper Alliance brought the lawsuit now being heard in federal court in Baltimore. The group claims that a Maryland farm raising chickens for Perdue polluted a nearby river, violating the federal Clean Water Act. The group says Perdue, which owns the chickens and monitors their growth, should be responsible for the pollution.

But lawyers for the chicken farmers and for Perdue, which is based in Salisbury, say there’s no evidence of pollution. They say the farm operates just like others and that it would be unprecedented and catastrophic to the industry if its ordinary practices are found to pollute. Perdue, meanwhile, says that even if the farm is polluting, the company shouldn’t be responsible for environmental violations at its contract farm.   

During the trial’s opening Tuesday, George Ritchie, an attorney for Alan and Kristin Hudson, the farmers being sued, said the Waterkeeper Alliance was looking for someone to sue “no matter what” and that the Hudsons had done nothing wrong. 

Michael Schatzow, a Perdue attorney, said the environmental group wants to end the poultry industry in Maryland and several years ago “declared war on Maryland’s poultry industry.”

But Jane Barrett, a law professor at the University of Maryland representing the Waterkeeper Alliance, gave her opening statement standing next to photographs of fans that ventilate the two chicken houses on the Hudson’s farm in Berlin—fans she said contribute to pollution. She said the farm is responsible for pollution in a river that ultimately empties into the Chesapeake Bay. 

See the full story here.

***********************************************************************************************************For thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment  



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How you can track FOIA requests pending at the EPA

Feathers flying at Perdue chicken-pollution trial in Md Read More »