For Pa Gov. Corbett, some are more equal than others

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett


Even as he continues to grapple with tight finances and cuts to state departments and agencies, Gov. Corbett has quietly granted five-figure raises to a handful of his top staffers.
At the end of September, Corbett approved $10,000 raises for four aides on his 15-person executive and high-level staff, according to payroll records. The increases come just over 20 months into his first term, and as other departments have struggled with layoffs and unfilled positions to accommodate Corbett’s policy of reined-in spending in tough economic times.

See full Philadelphia Inquirer story here
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Marcellus Shale deposits deeper and cheaper to drill

For Pa Gov. Corbett, some are more equal than others Read More »

Marcellus Shale deposits deeper and cheaper to drill

Don’t think that environmental battles over drilling in the Marcellus Shale are likely to end anytime soon. Two new reports show that the supply of natural gas buried in the formation
is not only more plentiful than previously believed but also is less costly to than in any other gas field in the U.S.  

From the Associated Press: 

The Marcellus could contain “almost half of the current proven natural gas reserves in the U.S,” a report from Standard & Poor’s issued this week said. 

Another recent report from ITG Investment Research, a worldwide financial firm based in New York, found that a detailed analysis of Marcellus well production data suggested that federal government estimates of its reserves “are grossly understated.”  

The new information increases the likelihood that natural gas will be used for more and more energy needs, such as city buses, industrial use, and electric power generation, according to Manuj Nikhanj, the head of Energy Research at ITG. 

And though low wholesale prices have squeezed drilling companies’ revenue, the S&P report says the Marcellus has the lowest production cost of any natural gas field in the nation, adding to the likelihood of a continued boom

“The amount of resource that’s available at relatively low cost is fairly enormous,” Nikhanj said. 

The Marcellus is a gas-rich formation thousands of feet below much of the four states, but current production is centered in Pennsylvania and West Virginia

From the Standard & Poor’s report



Related environmental news stories:
Reports: Marcellus reserves larger than expected 
How the Marcellus Shale is changing he dynamics of the U.S. energy industry

Marcellus Shale deposits deeper and cheaper to drill Read More »

NJ revises public-access rules for beaches and waterways


Municipalities, businesses and property owners along New Jersey’s coastline and waterways–and beach-goers and recreational fishermen, too–all have a stake in the extensively re-written ‘public-access’ rules adopted this month by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.  

Attorneys in the Environmental Group at the Wolff Samson law firm provided a nice background and summary for their clients. We appropriated and reproduced it below. Thanks, guys.

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NJDEP Finalizes Public Access Rules

On
October 4, 2012, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)
Commissioner Martin signed a final rule that significantly re-writes NJDEP’s
public access requirements. As a result, the final Public Access Rules
completely change the way NJDEP will require public access to beaches and
tidal waterways as part of coastal permitting.
By way
of background, NJDEP originally wrote its public access requirements in 2007.
Those public access requirements added a Public Trust Rights Rule to the
Coastal Zone Management Rules, as well as other ancillary requirements,
commonly known as the “Public Access Rules.” These rules imposed
extensive access requirements on all coastal permittees, such as those
obtaining Coastal Area Facilities Review Act and Waterfront Development Act
permits. In some cases, coastal permitting ground to a halt as permittees and
NJDEP negotiated public access requirements that were expensive and, in some
cases, unnecessary since certain properties already provided public access. These
requirements were also criticized as threatening public safety, because
access requirements were imposed at night, or on facilities not suited for
public access. The burdens imposed on municipalities and industries resulted
in a public outcry for reform.
The
breadth of these Public Access Rules was challenged both in court and in the
public policy arena. In 2007, the Borough of Avalon successfully overturned
certain municipal access requirements in the existing rules. Further, after
Governor Chris Christie was elected in 2009, the Public Access Rules were
identified early-on as one set of rules that needed significant reform. In
fact, the Governor’s Red Tape Review Group identified the Public Access Rules
as one of several rules that “offends common sense.”
After
commencing a stakeholder process, NJDEP proposed a complete re-write of the
rules on April 4, 2011. Significant amendments to the proposal were published
by NJDEP on March 19, 2012.
The new
Public Access Rules adopted this month emphasize public access planning by
municipalities. Specifically, the new rules allow municipalities to create
“Municipal Public Access Plans” (MPAPs) as part of the town’s
master plan, which, once adopted by NJDEP, would become the mechanism by
which coastal permittees would provide public access. Opportunities for
public access can include actual access to the shoreline, or other
opportunities such as boat ramps or piers for fishing. In addition, the rules
allow municipalities to develop provisions that permit a monetary
contribution in lieu of providing public access. Municipalities would be
required to dedicate a public access fund, which could be used for new or
enhanced access to waterways. There are specific rules governing access to
certain types of facilities obtaining coastal permits in municipalities that
have not adopted MPAPs.
The new
rules also generally emphasize maintenance of existing public access. In
certain circumstances, the rules do not require new public access for
existing properties. For example, for existing industrial development, no
public access is required if there is no existing public access on site where
the proposed activity consists of the maintenance, rehabilitation, renovation,
redevelopment or expansion that remains entirely with the parcel containing
the existing development. If an existing industrial development already has
public access, it is to be maintained or equivalent onsite public access is
to be provided. Similar provisions apply to other types of development,
including residential and commercial development, homeland security
facilities and ports.
If you
would like further information on the new Public Access Rules, including
details on specific access requirements for certain types of facilities,
please contact:
John G. Valeri, Jr. |
Member of the Firm | jvaleri@wolffsamson.com | (973)
530-2030
Dennis M. Toft |
Co-Chair, Environmental Group dtoft@wolffsamson.com | (973) 530-2014 
Daniel T. McKillop | Associate | dmckillop@wolffsamson.com |
(973) 530-2066
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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  


Our most recent posts:
Pa’s top court hears shale-drilling vs. local zoning appeal
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Those who support fracking will march in Albany today
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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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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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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 

Our most recent posts:
Gibbons law firm expands NJ environmental practice
Those who support fracking will march in Albany today
Can’t either political gang shoot straight?
Feathers flying at Perdue chicken-pollution trial in Md 
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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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Our most recent posts: 
Those who support fracking will march in Albany today
Can’t either political gang shoot straight?
Feathers flying at Perdue chicken-pollution trial in Md 
McLean joins enviro group at McCarter & English 
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Gibbons law firm expands NJ environmental practice Read More »