Freeman re-elected as Brownfields Partnership president

David J. Freeman
David J. Freeman, a Director in
the Real Property and Environmental Department of Gibbons P.C., has been
unanimously reelected to a second term as president of the New York City Brownfield Partnership, a public/private nonprofit organization dedicated to
promoting the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields in New York City.
The Partnership is a
member organization of more than 40 real estate developers and owners,
community organizations, governmental agencies, and environmental professionals
who are active on brownfield matters.

Working
with the New York City Office of Environmental Remediation, the
Partnership serves as an information resource on a range of brownfield
development issues; encourages collaboration among stakeholders in the
brownfields process; helps communities understand their brownfield issues;
highlights successful projects through an annual awards program; supports the
education and training of brownfield professionals; and provides information
and insight to help the city’s development community better navigate the
process of redeveloping vacant and underutilized land with environmental
issues.

“David joined Gibbons
earlier this year as part of a strategic expansion of our environmental
practice throughout the region,” says Patrick C. Dunican Jr., Chairman and
Managing Director of the firm. “His work with the Brownfields Partnership
raises the profile of our practice in New York City and strengthens our ties
with critical contacts and organizations in the field.”
At Gibbons, Mr. Freeman represents
buyers, sellers, and developers of properties in all environmental law areas,
including brownfields, due diligence, hazardous waste cleanups, and
sustainability. He litigates matters related to remediation, cost recovery,
property damage, and exposure to toxic substances.

Previously in his career, he
served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Frank E. Moss and a trial
attorney for the Federal Trade Commission. He has been listed in such peer- and
client-review publications as the Chambers
USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and Super Lawyers and is a frequent author
and speaker on environmental law topics who received a 2012 Burton Award for
Legal Achievement for his work as “an outstanding law firm author.”

In addition
to his role with the Brownfield Partnership, Mr. Freeman serves as vice chair
of the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and as co-chair of
the New York State Bar Association Environmental Law Section’s Committee on
Hazardous Waste/Site Remediation, as well as co-chair of the Section’s
Brownfield Task Force.

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Where to find environmental seminars in NJ & PA
Sandy brings out the crooks. There’s an app for that
Prepare to say goodbye to Norfolk. Atlantic City, too
Sandy’s environmental damage could have been worse 

Freeman re-elected as Brownfields Partnership president Read More »

NJ Senate to vote on two alternative-fuel vehicle bills


Two of 30 current pieces of legislation offering a variety of incentives to encourage the use of alternative-fuel vehicles in New Jersey are on Thursday’s voting agenda in the state Senate.

S-2194, sponsored by Middlesex County Democrat Bob Smith and fellow Democrat Linda Greenstein of Mercer County, requires the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and South Jersey
Transportation Authority to provide
natural gas refueling and electric vehicle recharging stations at certain rest
areas on New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City
Expressway.

SR-81, also sponsored by Smith, urges automobile manufacturers to develop and sell natural gas vehicles in New Jersey.  


A third Smith bill, S-2250, co-sponsored by Republican Jennifer Beck of Monmouth County, was voted out of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee on November 19 and referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. The legislation requires use of constitutionally dedicated moneys to fund conversion of certain diesel vehicles to compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, or electric.


To see a full copy of any of the above bills, click on its number. 


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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:
Where to find environmental seminars in NJ & PA
Sandy brings out the crooks. There’s an app for that
Prepare to say goodbye to Norfolk. Atlantic City, too
Sandy’s environmental damage could have been worse 
NJ Governor signs two medical-disposal bills into law                










vehicles.

NJ Senate to vote on two alternative-fuel vehicle bills Read More »

Where to find environmental seminars in NJ & PA

You might 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!

Like the seminar below. It’s a free solid waste and recycling training and outreach seminar offered
by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.


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

While visiting the site, 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.

Our most recent posts:
Sandy brings out the crooks. There’s an app for that
Prepare to say goodbye to Norfolk. Atlantic City, too
Sandy’s environmental damage could have been worse 
NJ Governor signs two medical-disposal bills into law 
NJ Sierra Club rips the ‘Board of Promoting Utilities’ 
Green coalition applauds as NJ open space bills advance 


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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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Where to find environmental seminars in NJ & PA Read More »

Sandy brings out the crooks. There’s an app for that

 Removing Sandy debris in Union Beach, NJ  Photo Credit: Reuters/Eric Thayer


A devastating storm like Sandy can bring out the crooks – and not just opportunistic looters and burglars, the news service Reuters reports today.

Officials dealing with the destruction in the U.S. Northeast say one of their biggest headaches is debris-removal fraud committed by greedy contractors who inflate their share of the millions in cleanup funds doled out by federal agencies.

But new digital technology created by private companies and municipalities in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Irene is making it much easier to stop firms from overcharging by claiming they have trucked away more wreckage than they have.

The new software combats fraud and also streamlines the vexing municipal task of documenting every last dumpster of debris or broken tree branch to prove to Federal Emergency Management Agency auditors that the money was properly spent.

Read the full story here.
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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: 
Prepare to say goodbye to Norfolk. Atlantic City, tooSandy’s environmental damage could have been worse 
NJ Governor signs two medical-disposal bills into law 
NJ Sierra Club rips the ‘Board of Promoting Utilities’ 
Green coalition applauds as NJ open space bills advance 

Sandy brings out the crooks. There’s an app for that Read More »

Prepare to say goodbye to Norfolk. Atlantic City, too

The New York Times carried maps yesterday that sketch what percentage of currently
dry land in a number of U.S. cities will be under water if sea levels continue to rise.

It’s a pretty scary picture.


What Could Disappear

Maps show coastal and low-lying areas that would be permanently flooded, without engineered protection, in three levels of higher seas. Percentages are the portion of dry, habitable land within the city limits of places listed that would be permanently submerged. (The projections below are based on a sea-level rise of 25 feet–Editor)



Downtown Newark, downtown Jersey City,
Atlantic City, most of the state’s coastal towns
and the Cape May peninsula are all gone.



Downtown Boston shrinks to mostly Beacon Hill.
Many shore communities are flooded


Much of the historic district and South Philadelphia
are submerged, as is the vast refinery complex
along the Schuylkill River. The Delaware swells to
five miles wide.

                            Say good-bye to all of Long Island’s barrier islands.

No immediate need to start work on your arc, however. See the ever-important Notes on Sea Level Estimates.

To get the full effect of the interactive maps, you need to click here and try the 5 feet, 12 feet and 25 feet selections. Each automatically paints different sea-level scenarios on each of the city maps. It’s a very cool use of graphics that would not be possible in the newsprint edition of the paper. One more reason to love the Internet.

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Sandy’s environmental damage could have been worse

Ventron/Velsicol Superfund site – EPA file photo

The (Bergen) Record reports today that while the environmental damage brought about by superstorm Sandy is significant, it could have been much worse: Officials said Sandy did not cause any major disruption at the region’s worst toxic sites, even the ones that were in the path of the storm’s record tidal surge.

“The integrity of the sites doesn’t seem to be compromised,” said Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. “We were out on the ground with the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] right after the storm, and everything we checked out seems to be fine.”

In a heavily developed region dotted with toxic sites — 2,835 in Bergen County and 1,394 in Passaic County — flooding tends to bring a barrage of pollution within close proximity to residents. Superfund sites — the worst toxic sites in the United States — present the biggest because they contain deadlier pollution.

Despite the powerful storm surge, federal environmental officials said contamination did not seep from 11 active Superfund sites in Bergen and Passaic that are in various stages of cleanup.But in the storm’s aftermath, testing has been done at only one Superfund site in New Jersey.

And while some outside of government agree that there may not be an immediate public health threat, they are skeptical that pollution stayed in place considering that toxic substances have often migrated from some sites under normal conditions. For instance, mercury has trickled from the Ventron/Velsicol site in Wood-Ridge into Berry’s Creek for decades. Likewise, coal tar and arsenic have leached from the Quanta Resources Superfund site in Edgewater into the Hudson River.

View the entire story here
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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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Sandy’s environmental damage could have been worse Read More »