Search Results for: RGGI

NJ court orders hearing on ‘no further action’ decision

This post may interest businesses and property owners affected by New Jersey’s contaminated site cleanup rules and be of particular value for attorneys and consultants who make a living interpreting and executing those directives.

The Cole Schotz law firm’s Environmental and Energy Department reports today on a NJ Appellate Division ruling that a property owner is entitled to
have an administrative hearing regarding the rescission of a no further
action letter (“NFA Letter”) by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

In this case, a subsidiary of
Hartz Mountain Industries, a former landlord of an industrial tenant
named Crompton Colors, Inc., appealed DEP’s rescission of an NFA Letter
issued in 2002 and the denial of its request for a hearing to contest
the decision.

You’ll find attorney Douglas I. Eilender‘s full report here.

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Investor Peter Nieh on future of U.S. solar panel industry


To draw attention to its upcoming Thin Film Solar Summit USA, PV Insider has released an interview with Peter Nieh, the founder of Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global venture capital firm that manages over $2 billion of capital commitments.


In a Q and A, Nieh addresses the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solyndra funding debacle and the damage it has caused the solar panel industry; why the investment was misguided from the start; what panel companies and technologies merit backing; why the Chinese solar industry is booming (and why it may be cresting); why he’s confident in U.S. solar development and what his firm looks for before it invests in a new company. 

Interested in solar? We recommend that you read the interview here.

And please return here to share your views in the comment box below.  If you don’t see one, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

Related:
Solyndra gave bright forecasts as it ran out of cash |

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EPA awards pollution prevention grants in NJ and NY

Students and faculty at Rowan University and Rutgers University in New Jersey and Rochester Institute of Technology in New York will benefit from pollution-prevention grants awarded today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Rowan will use a $106,194 EPA grant
to assist the pharmaceutical industry in implementing source reduction,
pollution prevention, and green engineering design through an engineering
clinic program. In these clinics, Rowan professors and students will
demonstrate to industry representatives how they can reduce energy consumption,
water consumption, hazardous material releases and save money in their
manufacturing processes.

With the help of a $50,000 EPA grant, the Rutgers
University Center for Advanced Energy Systems will implement a smart electrical
metering system on their Busch and Livingston campuses in Piscataway. Smart
meters record energy consumption and communicate that information to utilities
and their customers. This system will allow Rutgers to identify ways to achieve
energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption, while reducing emissions of
greenhouse gases and energy costs.

Rutgers will received a separate $150,000
grant to recruit high school students as “Water Champions” to lead
water conservation changes throughout their communities. These students will
educate their communities about water conservation, recruit local retailers to
participate in selling water efficient devices, gather data and calculate water
saved from installations of water efficient devices, share project results and
encourage participation from other organizations.

Rochester Institute of Technology is receiving a $69,000 grant to
promote wet cleaning in dry cleaners throughout the state. Traditional
dry cleaning uses an environmentally hazardous solvent, while wet
cleaning uses water-based biodegradable detergents. The New York State
Pollution Prevention Institute will select two dry cleaners as case
studies, and will provide technical assistance and funding to defray
equipment costs for converting to wet cleaning. Information will be
shared with other dry cleaning businesses.

In addition, the EPA is providing the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) with $180,000 to train college students to work as
interns in pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities conducting pollution
prevention assessments of their operations. The goals will be to
achieve measurable reductions in energy and water use, minimize
contaminants present in wastewater discharges, and reduce operational
costs.

EPA is also providing NYSDEC with $90,000 to reduce hazardous
chemicals being used, stored and generated by New York State high school
laboratories by providing assistance with chemical inventories, the
development of chemical hygiene plans and the distribution of green
chemistry guides.
Our most recent posts:
First NJ public school to earn a top green-building score



NJ Technology Council’s final call for presentations



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First NJ public school to earn a top green-building score

A public school in Sayreville, NJ that serves 175 students with autism
and multiple disabilities, has received the top certification by a
national green-building organization.

The Center for Lifelong Learning (CLL) has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum level certification–the highest of four LEED Certification levels developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The facility, designed by USA Architects of Somerville, NJ and constructed at a cost of $23 million, opened in 2009.

It offers 24 classrooms, as well as physical therapy,
gymnasium, and aquatics space, which will also be used by Sayreville’s
Brain Injured Children’s Swim program.

In addition to its LEED-standard
design features, with an emphasis on energy performance, the school includes an interior garden and nature trail that weaves
through the 28-acre site.

LEED conservation features at CLL range from recycling of rainwater,
control flow meters on appliances, white roofs to reduce heating and
cooling costs, and drought tolerant landscaping such as wildflowers.

Additionally, waste management during the building process itself,
including separating asphalt, beverage containers, concrete, drywall and
plastic into separate recycling containers, was another important
environmentally friendly factor.

Our most recent posts:

NJ Technology Council’s final call for presentations

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More gas drilling ahead for Pa’s federal and state forests

Gas drilling in Pennsylvania’s Tioga State Forest — PennFuture photo

Environmentalists, conservationists and others opposed to natural gas drilling in state and federal forests have  been dealt a stinging defeat as a U.S. appeals court ruled that the owners of mineral rights in a
national forest in Pennsylvania don’t have to wait for an environmental
study before drilling.

The 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a Pennsylvania district court’s
ruling that mineral rights owners don’t have to wait for an
environmental impact study from the U.S. Forest Service to start
drilling in the Allegheny National Forest, according to a report by the Platts news service.

The U.S. Forest Service in 2009 opted to call for a long-term
environmental impact assessment of the national forest as part of a
settlement with the Sierra Club and other advocacy groups.

The Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association and other groups sued to
return to 1980 measures that require a 60-day notice before drilling
operations begin.

The federal appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision, saying
the owners of mineral rights would suffer an undue burden while waiting
years for the EIS.

Natural gas production from the Marcellus shale gas play in
Pennsylvania was reported at 1.87 billion cubic feet per day during the
first half of 2011, a 22 percent increase over production reported in
the second half of 2010.

Corbett planning to drill Pennsylvania out of debt?

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported today that the Republican administration of Gov. Tom Corbett is considering the expansion of gas drilling in forests and other state-owned land.

“Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration in Harrisburg is considering
leasing more state land, though there are no firm plans at the moment,
said Corbett spokesman Eric Shirk.

“The January 2010 lease sale under former (Department of Natural Resources and Conservation) Sec. (John) Quigley
included 18,000 acres of ecologically sensitive wild and natural areas
which can only be accessed underground and which brought in $128 million
for taxpayers,” wrote Patrick Henderson, Gov. Corbett’s energy
executive, in e-mailed comments. “Done correctly, it is possible to
develop our commonwealth’s natural resources while ensuring the
protection of our public lands.”

About 800,000 acres of the 1.5 million acres of state land in the
Marcellus fairway are unleased. Most of the unleased land either is in
ecologically sensitive areas or cannot be accessed without cutting
through those areas, according to a study by the DCNR.

The state forests have a long history of hosting other drilling and
mining, but the Marcellus rush has only just begun. The Marcellus wells
there have nearly doubled over the past year to 175. Another 125 to 150
will go in next year on land already under lease, department
spokespeople said. Initial department estimates posted on its website
had figured for nearly 6,500 wells on nearly 1,100 well pads. 

The push is for money. Once a seven-figure trickle, the state’s Oil
and Gas Lease Fund has exploded from new oil and gas money. It earned a
combined $444.1 million in 2009 and 2010, more than double what it made
in its previous 61-year history, according to department figures.

“I knew this was opening Pandora’s box. It was too successful, and
the numbers were just staggering,” said Quigley, who helped oversee the
last round of leasing under then-Gov. Ed Rendell. “I can’t criticize
Gov. Corbett for doing the same thing my boss did. … The danger is
that some could look to the state forest as a way out of financial
problems, as easy money.”

DCNR expects to bring in a record of $58 million in rent and
royalties alone in the 2011-12 fiscal year, spokeswoman Christina Novak
said.

Last month, Gov­er­nor Corbett’s Sec­re­tary of Eco­nomic and Com­mu­nity
Devel­op­ment, Alan Walker, said that increased drilling in
Pennsylvania’s state forests could bring in “close to $60 bil­lion” over
the next three decades. ““That allows us to solve just about every
eco­nomic prob­lem we have that is hang­ing out there, he said, “includ­ing
un-funded pen­sion lia­bil­ity and infra­struc­ture prob­lems.” .

What’s your opinion on expanded natural gas drilling in national and state parksa Uses the comment box below.  If one isn’t visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comment’ line.

Related:
OK to drill in Pa. forest, court rules 



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NJ Technology Council’s final call for presentations

Our friends at the New Jersey Technology Council asked us to pass the information below to our readers. We are happy to oblige.
__________________________________________________________________________

FINAL Call for Presentations – Delaware Valley
Technology Research Symposium
October 6, 2011 at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ
Deadline for Entries – September 19th at 11:45 pm  

 

The New Jersey Technology Council is
delighted to announce a new effort in conjunction with Rowan University – the Delaware Valley Research Symposium
which will take place at Rowan University on the afternoon of October
6th.  Submission is for Research Projects in the
fields of Information Technology/Software, Electronics/Advanced Materials,
Environment/Energy, Life Sciences and Telecom/Media which is in the early – mid
development stages.

Either corporate or university graduate, post doctoral
fellows or researchers can participate.  Entries from South Jersey (Princeton
South), Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are sought.
The focus of this competition is partnering, collaboration and visibility, not
funding. 

Two participants
(one representing corporate and one educational for each category) will be
selected to present their concept at the event on the afternoon
of October 6 in a six minute presentation.  With
permission, a video recording will be made of their presentation and will be
made available for viewing on www.njtc.tv.

Selected
presenters will also have an exhibit table at the event and individual
opportunities to meet with potential collaborators.

For
more information on submitting a very short and simple presentation, click HERE. 
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USGBC offers free green jobs training for NJ employers
The right and left debate RGGI in New Jersey



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USGBC offers free green jobs training for NJ employers

To help workers and businesses better compete in a
difficult economic climate; The US Green Building Council-New Jersey
(USGBC-NJ) has entered into a new partnership with the state
Department of Labor and Workforce Development (LWD) to provide free, on-site  “Green Jobs” training to its chapter members.

The training will center
around the field of Green Building to help USGBC-NJ members align
themselves with the ever-changing demands on workforce skill. The new
trainings will focus in large part on LEED® (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) test preparation enabling members to obtain
accreditation that will enable them to compete for the proliferation of
green oriented work that is on the horizon.

The organization says the training will help “companies compete effectively and acquire a
greater percentage of the jobs created under the State’s Energy Master
Plan.”

The customized educational
programs will be made available at no cost to USGBC-NJ individual
chapter members. The training will be conducted onsite at an
employer’s office or in one of the designated USGBC-NJ training
facilities.

The two part program will
include LEED® Training which includes LEED® Green Associate
recommended modules. The first part of the training will include the
LEED® & Fundamentals of Sustainability . The second part of the
training will include a variety of customized training programs for
multiple disciplines also inclusive of LEED® Technical Review and Exam
Review.  Customized Programs include but are not limited to: Operations
& Maintenance, Facilities Management, Construction Management &
Trades, Legal Considerations in Green Building & LEED, Real Estate
& Development, LEED Neighborhood Development, Green Building &
Labs, and Corporate Sustainability, LEED & Schools.

More information on the USGBC-NJ training program can be found by clicking on this link

Our most recent posts:
The right and left debate RGGI in New Jersey


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Which governor is ditching renewable energy?

A major state newspaper yesterday reported:

“The __________ administration is de-emphasizing renewable energy and energy conservation, eliminating programs created by previous Democratic and Republican administrations as it focuses on natural gas…”

How would you fill in that blank?
If you live in New Jersey you’ll probably answer: Christie.
The administration of Governor Chris Christie has just finished a series of public hearings on a revised Energy Management Plan which would reduce the state’s goal of using energy generated from alternative sources like wind and solar. The proposed plan supports what the governor’s office has been actively pushing–the construction of new power plants fueled by natural gas–and also leaves the door open to the expansion of some of the state’s nuclear energy facilities. Christie also is withdrawing the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) which provides funding for alternative energy technologies.
However, if you live in Pennsylvania, your likely answer would be: Corbett.
Which is correct?
Probably both.
Yesterday’s story, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, reports how the administration of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett 

“quietly but systematically…has all but shut down the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Energy and Technology Deployment — the state’s primary energy office — and removed directors and reassigned staff in the Office of Energy Management in the Department of General Services and the Governor’s Green Government Council.”

The newspaper says that the administration has also “forbidden state executive agencies from signing contracts that support clean energy supply.”

Why?

“The administration says merely that any changes are part of a new approach of Gov. Tom Corbett’s energy executive, Patrick Henderson, who has been overseeing development of the administration’s Marcellus Shale gas policy. But environmental organizations and former DEP officials and staffers say the dismantling of successful programs promoting renewable and sustainable.”

Could this be as nakedly political as it sounds? Well, let’s recap:

  1. Renewable and sustainable energy programs are being chopped at the orders of a guy who’s in charge of Marcellus Shale (natural gas) policy.  
  2. The Corbett Administration has been bending over backwards to do whatever it can for the natural gas drilling industry which contributed substantially to Mr. Corbett’s election campaign.  
But why, a reasonable observer might observe, must renewable and sustainable energy development be downsized? Can’t Pennsylvania be equally supportive of programs that generate energy from endlessly renewable wind and solar sources as those that require the extraction, treatment and transmission of nonrenewable natural gas?   
Why can’t we have both?

It’s a question that’s relevant in both states. Why can’t we have both? In fact, is it not irresponsible to exclusively support the exploitation of nonrenewable fossil fuel, knowing that the inevitable day will come when oil and natural gas runs out and the nation’s energy needs will have to be met by renewable sources?   

Who is making these decisions that seem to fly in the face of common sense? And why? 

Tell us what you think in the comment box below. If one isn’t visible, click on the tiny ‘comments’ link.

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Our most recent posts:
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Up next: Moving PA’s Marcellus Shale gas to market
Crucial tax credit bill introduced for offshore wind
 
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NJ bans fracking. NY un-bans it. PA skips a frack tax

What a difference a state makes.

Within several days of each other, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania reacted, respectively, to the controversial natural gas extraction technique of hydrofracturing (fracking) by:
           1. banning it;
           2. un-banning it, and
           3. letting it proceed unabated and untaxed.

In New Jersey, lawmakers in both houses passed and sent to the governor legislation that would prohibit the use of fracking anywhere in New Jersey.

That’s a bit less courageous than it might sound since God didn’t see fit to locate the gas-rich Marcellus Shale underneath the state.

Bill sponsors argue, however, that other layers of shale do lie below NJ, and it’s just a matter of time before the gas industry comes poking around.
 

In New York, the state DEC announced it would lift its current moratorium on natural gas drilling, as it released recommendations
for state regulations that call for:
  • A fracking ban in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds
  • No fracking within 500 feet of an aquifer
  • A ban on surface drilling on state-owned land; and 
  • Strict regulation of fracturing on privately held lands.
 

In Pennsylvania, where legislation to ban fracking has never gotten even inches off the ground, and where drilling on private and public land is turning some sections of the state into swiss cheese, the GOP-controlled legislature dropped plans to vote on a bill to impose ‘impact fees’ on shale gas wells.

Lawmakers backed down immediately after Republican Gov. Tom Corbett huffed and puffed that he’d veto any such attempt.

What will be interesting to watch now is whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will veto the fracking ban bill that’s been dropped on his desk.

Signing it will only further inflame environmentalists, already enraged by the governor’s decision to pull the state out of RGGI, a regional compact set up to combat climate-altering carbon emissions.

With no drilling taking place, his signature would be an easy way to avoid an unneeded controversy. But controversy is Christie’s middle name.

It’s something to look forward to in July as news-making slides into its summer slumber.

Tell us what you think about hydrofracturing and the divergent approaches to regulation taken by New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.  Use the comment box below. If one isn’t visible, click on the tiny ‘comments’ line to open it. 

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Winning hearts and minds of six-year-olds–for fracking

Hi boys and girls. Meet Tailsman Terry, the Friendly Fracosaurus.

He’s going to tell you all about the wonderful world of fracking.

It’s healthy. It’s patriotic. And best of all it’s fun.

Have your parent or older brother or sister read the fun story of fracking to you as you use your crayons to color in the pictures of happy drilling sites.

See the happy trees and animals and the smiling sun.

Look at the happy trucks and pipelines that you may get to see when Tailsman Terry and his friends start getting energy from the ground near you.

Hey, look, there’s a mom and dad smiling with a man from the fracking company who just got permission to drill on your property.

And isn’t it great that everything will be put back nice and clean and happy when they’re all done? 

What? You don’t have the Friendly Fracosaurus Coloring Book?  Don’t worry, little friend. You can get one for free at the next community picnic or your mom or dad can use their computer to get one just for you.

So, get those crayons ready and have a happy fracking day.

NOTE TO GROWNUPS: For more information on the gas industry’s educational campaign for kids, check out Color Me Fracked in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

 
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