The Koch Brothers, 1930’s Philadelphia style

                                             Photo: April Saul, Philadelphia Inquirer
The Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook, Pa  is the remnant of the oil
      and shipbuilding empire built by the Pews, who handpicked candidates.

“Before the Koch brothers’ dollars lubricated today’s Republicans, there were Philadelphia’s Pew brothers, funding the party in its leanest years. They showed what political money could do –
and couldn’t.”


That’s the lead to Joseph N. DiStefano’s short but interesting history lesson in the Business pages of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.  

You’ll find it at: Philly Deals: What election money can buy, and not


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Fracking in New York: How will Gov. Cuomo proceed?

Protesters outside
Schlumberger’s  fracking supply depot in Horseheads, NY, Aug. 11. (Photo: Shaleshock)

“Two months ago, Gov. Andrew Cuomo confidently promised a rapid roll out of his plan to introduce high-volume fracking to New York State in a few rural upstate counties.
“But his trial balloon for the initiative drew intense negative reactions, to which the governor has responded with dead silence. That has left both sides of the natural gas drilling debate wondering whether Cuomo will stick with the plan that all but flopped in its public test or go back to the drawing board.”
That’s how Peter Mantius began his Natural Resources News Service report yesterday on how New York State arrived at its present state of deadlock over hydrofracturing–the natural gas drilling technique that we all know as ‘fracking.’ 
We found Cuomo’s Fracking Plan: Politics Trumps Science to be a good way to get up to speed on this contentious environmental issue. You might, too.

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Take heart, environmental attorneys, litigation rebounds

Former NJDEP Deputy Commissioner Michael Catania recalls the halcyon days of the mid 1980s…

…when environmental laws and regulations were being adopted at a fairly frenetic pace, the opponents of virtually every major law, rule and DEP regulatory decision were quick to challenge things, either in administrative hearings before the Office of Administrative Law, or in the Appellate Division of Superior Court. 

Michael Cataniaa

The pace (and complexity) of legal disputation grew to such a level that the New Jersey Supreme Court created a committee to offer recommendations. There was even talk of creating a special court to hear and resolve environmental disputes, much like bankruptcy or family courts.

Eventually (defined as ‘too many years later’ if you were a business paying the legal fees or ‘almost overnight’ if you were a litigator or defense attorney) agencies like the DEP began running out of things to regulate.

The bimonthly New Jersey Register, which had ballooned into XXX size range, regained its normal waistline, and corporations stopped fretting over how to hide their ghastly legal expenses in the annual report’s appendices.

Consumers who ultimately bore the cost of all the wrangling could welcome the surcease. But not those who had piled up a mountain of student loan debt throughout college and law school only to graduate in time to hear the air whoosh out of the environmental bubble.

Too late to go back to class to become Google or Facebook engineers, the attorneys trudged on.

Now, Catania detects, new hope.

...the litigious among us no longer need to feel nostalgic, for recent years have seen a noticeable resurgence in both the role of the courts and the willingness of players in the environmental policy arena to utilize the judiciary as a principal weapon in their arsenals.

Where does he see the rebound taking place?

See for yourself in The Judiciary Rediscovered  (August 6, NJ Spotlight)

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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K&L Gates moving toward merger with Australian firm

K&L Gates, a law firm with roots in Pittsburgh, Pa. and active environmental practices in Newark, New York and Harrisburg, is in merger talks with Australian firm, Middletons. The combination would create a firm of more than 2,000
lawyers in 45 offices throughout Australia, North and South America,
Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

“Our leadership teams believe that the client-driven consolidation and
globalization evident in the market for legal services will continue
unabated and the potential synergies that would arise from the
combination of our firms deserve (and are receiving) serious
consideration,” said K&L Gates Chairman and Global Managing Partner
Peter J. Kalis and Middletons National Managing Partner Nick Nichola in a news release.

The firms say they have been in discussions for several months and expect formal
proposals to be presented to both partnerships later in 2012.

A company that has grown through mergers

Pittsburgh-based Kirkpatrick & Lockhart was founded in 1946, and
merged with London-based
Nicholson Graham & Jones Ltd. in 2005 to become
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham.

On January 1, 2007,
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham merged with Seattle-based Preston Gates & Ellis to form Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis. The name was later shortened to simply K&L Gates.

In January 2008, K&L Gates combined with Hughes & Luce, a Dallas-based firm of 150 attorneys with offices in Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth.

In July 2008 K&L Gates combined with Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman LLP, a North Carolina-based firm of 200 attorneys with offices in Charlotte, Raleigh and Research Triangle Park.

On March 1, 2009, K&L Gates merged with Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, a Chicago based firm with approximately 215 attorneys with offices in Chicago, San Diego and Washington, D.C.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh is of counsel to the firm’s Washington office.


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Judge suspension may affect Pa fracking law challenge

In July, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court struck down key provisions of a new law
(Act 13) that permits gas fracking companies to drill just about anywhere–including residential zones.

The Administration of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, which has displayed unwavering
loyalty to gas industry interests, appealed the decision to the state’s supreme court.

Yesterday, Penn Future explained why the suspension of one of the top court’s jurists provides hope to those who would like to see the decision upheld.

See: In This Case a Tie Does Not Result In a “Push”

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NJ’s largest paper wants more action on Barnegat Bay

Photo credit: 
Andy Mills/The Star-Ledger

The editorial board of New Jersey’s most influential newspaper, The Star-Leger, today declared that it is time for drastic action to reverse the environmental deterioration of Barnegat Bay.

The editorial appeared two days after a state legislative hearing in Lavallette at which Rutgers research professor Michael Kennish reported on a multi-year study that found pollution spreading southward from more densely populated areas adjacent to the bay’s northern reaches.

“…after the most comprehensive testing of the bay to date, a Rutgers scientist says pollution has spread through its waters over the past few decades ‘like a human cancer,’” the editorial said.

The newspaper calls for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to step in, under the Clean Water Act, to set strict limits on nutrient pollution entering in the bay.  


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Although the Star-Ledger has been a frequent critics of the administration of Republican Governor Chris Christie, its editorial board credited the governor with taking the problem more seriously than his predecessors and making “some good efforts” including winning an agreement “to hasten the closure of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant, which was built before cooling towers were required and spews huge quantities of heated water into the bay, accelerating its decline.” 


Even the New Jersey Sierra Club, which generally appears inclined to blame Christie for every environmental malady stretching back to Noah’s flood, was less hostile on Monday when we asked its director, Jeff Tittel, about the Rutgers study.

See: Rutgers prof warns: Action needed to save Barnegat Bay

What do you think should be done about Barnegat Bay? Should Governor Christie do more? Should the EPA step in? Or is this just a bunch of liberal hysteria like Global Warming? (Yes, we are kidding). Let us know in the comment box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.
  

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