In Pa, a supreme court justice is hit with felony charges

Pa. Justice Joan Orie Melvin, center, makes a statement to the media on Friday
after pleading not guilty to felony charges relating to the use of  court staffers
for political campaign work. Photo: Heidi Murrin
| Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Joan Orie Melvin is proving to be an argument in favor of the appointment (as in New Jersey), rather than the election, of state supreme court justices. 

On Friday, in Pittsburgh, Melvin pleaded not guilty to nine criminal charges filed by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., including four felonies, based on a 75-page grand jury
presentment.

Melvin, 56, is charged with using her former Superior
Court legal staff to campaign on her behalf in 2003, when she
unsuccessfully ran for the state’s highest court and in 2009 when she
won a Supreme Court seat.

Prosecutors say it was a family affair. Melvin’s two sisters earlier were charged with similar offenses.

Former state Sen. Jane Orie, 50, a Republican from McCandless, was convicted by a jury in March of misusing her state staff for campaign work and knowingly introducing forged documents as evidence during a trial. She resigned her Senate seat today and is scheduled for sentencing on June 4.

Janine Orie, 57, who worked on Melvin’s court staff, is scheduled for trial in August on
similar charges. Prosecutors said they might seek to join her case with
Melvin’s.

Yesterday, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial concluded:

Similar to the Bonusgate scandal, which has led to the jailing of a
number of former state lawmakers and aides, the allegations against
Melvin and her sisters portray politicians as all too willing to break
the rules to get elected.

That’s always a risk in politics, which
is why Pennsylvania should end partisan judicial elections that require
candidates to amass campaign war chests. The Melvin case has become
Exhibit No. 1 on the need to enact the judicial merit-selection
legislation pending in Harrisburg.

Related:
Convicted Pa. Sen. Orie submits resignation
State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin hit with four felonies 


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Our most recent posts:
Solar energy industry rescue bill advances in New Jersey
Legislation to save solar energy in NJ gets hearing today
Big wind energy starting to blow south of the border

If Newark gets new power plant, do residents get shaft?
Over coffee and pastry, talk about Pa’s gas-drilling law


In Pa, a supreme court justice is hit with felony charges Read More »

Solar energy industry rescue bill advances in New Jersey

At the top of yesterday’s Senate Environment and Energy Committee meeting addressing a bill to rescue New Jersey’s collapsing solar energy industry, committee chairman (and bill sponsor) Bob Smith explained:

“We are a victim of our own success. We’ve had so much solar built in New Jersey and so many SRECs available that the market for these Solar Renewable Energy Credits (once selling at $600 and now  under $100 per credit) has crashed and there are lots of unintended consequences.”

Among those unintended consequences:

1. Public entities caught in a squeeze – Counties and municipalities contracting for the installation of solar energy projects are finding that the SREC prices are not high enough to repay the public bonds floated to finance the projects. If a project already is under way, taxpayers are stuck with the bill for the shortfall. If a project has not yet started, it likely will never get off the ground.

2. Negative future for private projects – Bankers often look at SRECs as collateral, providing them with the confidence to lend money for construction. If the fluctuating value of the solar credit cannot be relied upon to remain sufficiently high over the life of the loan, banks won’t take the risk.

The bottom line is what Smith describes as a “crisis.”  Without a prompt legislative solution to stabilize solar credits, the market will dry up and scores of solar-installation companies will fail and jobs will be lost.

That point was underscored yesterday by the attendance of dozens of solar employees who jammed the hearing room and listened throughout three hours of testimony.

Rescue bill gets general support from solar industry participants
Industry members, unions, and businesses that have saved energy costs through solar systems (including the North Jersey Media Group, news publisher of The Record) were supportive of the legislation (S-1925), although numerous changes were recommended.

The legislation seeks to bolster the value of solar energy credits by requiring utilities to obtain more
of the power they sell to customers from solar sources, capping the size of large-scale solar farm developments, and giving the state Board of Public Utilities review authority over large projects.

Major business organizations worried about costs
Representatives of  general business organizations, however, like the NJ Business and Industry Association, NJ Chamber of Commerce, and the Chemistry Council of NJ, cautioned against additional government mandates that would drive New Jersey’s already high energy prices even higher.

Noting that the program will reach $190 million by 2016–and that the state’s largest employers will bear 60 percent of that cost–the Chemistry Council’s Hal Bozarth said:

“At some point the Legislature has to say to the solar industry: we’re cutting you loose.”

Bill released from committee but what happens next?
The bill was released, but it’s not clear whether it or a similar measure in the Assembly can be passed and sent to the governor before the Legislature takes its summer recess at the end of June.

One  positive note for solar panel installers is that the Republican governor’s office appears
to be working with the legislature’s Democratic majority on details of the bills as they move along.

At the end of the last session, similar legislation passed both houses only to be vetoed by the governor.  Gov. Christie Proposes Alternative To Solar Energy Legislation In N.J].

Read more details about the legislation in:
Can the State Save New Jersey’s Solar Sector? 
NJ Senate panel OKs solar boost
Solar power industry feeling strain of dramatic fall in energy prices
NJ looking to rescue ailing solar industry
Smith, Sweeney bill to stabilize NJ energy market advances

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Our most recent posts:
Legislation to save solar energy in NJ gets hearing today
Big wind energy starting to blow south of the border

If Newark gets new power plant, do residents get shaft?
Over coffee and pastry, talk about Pa’s gas-drilling law


Did you miss NJ’s LSRP site cleanup program deadline?

Solar energy industry rescue bill advances in New Jersey Read More »

Legislation to save solar energy in NJ gets hearing today

On Monday, NJ Spotlight’s Tom Johnson asked: Can Legislators Prevent Solar Sector From Flaming Out?

The answer may be provided today in Trenton where the New Jersey Senate’s Environment and Energy Committee, at 10 a.m., takes up legislation that some believe will be the solar-energy ilndustry’s last chance to salvage its previously booming New Jersey market.

Committee Chairman Bob Smith’s new bill, S-1925, has been the subject of intense negotiation among often disagreeing parties within the solar industry, including solar equipment installers, utilities, unions and financial interests. 

Johnson wrote on Monday:

The widely diverse solar sector has a range of problems with the bill
… mostly dealing with
whether the measure [S-1925] could stabilize the market so that it can continue
to grow and create thousands of jobs in the state, second only to
California in the number of solar installations.

For the first time this year, the price owners of solar systems get
for the electricity their units produced traded for less than $100 last
month, a steep drop from the more than $600 the so-called solar
renewable energy certificates were earning last summer.

If New Jersey’s solar sector is going to continue to grow, many
industry advocates say the price of the certificates needs to approach
$250 at the least. How to achieve that goal, however, remains a major
source of contention.

The bill up for discussion this week tries to stabilize the market by a
number of means, including accelerating over the next three years the
amount of electricity power suppliers must buy from solar systems. 


Flett Exchange, a company that maintains a public auction for solar energy credits, weighed in with a bulletin  stating that the bill “addresses the recent overbuilding in solar in New Jersey and
attempts to bring the SREC market back into equilibrium.” 

“It also
increases the amount of solar development for the next few years to
provide a robust labor market for the solar installation community. The
fine levels that power companies used to have to pay have been ratcheted
down to $350 from the previous $600+ range. The reduced cost of solar
in the past few years has enabled the NJ program to reduce SACP levels
AND increase the amount of solar installed in the short term. Depending
upon the final numbers, ratepayers will realize over 3.5 billion dollars
in savings, or over 1 billion dollars in NPV.(8.37%) during the course
of the program out to year 2028.”

Flett provided the following summary of the environmental legislation’s main points 

1.Increase the RPS starting in Energy Year 2014. (this is the amount of SRECs that the power companies are required to purchase)

2. Lower the SACP (this is the fine that power companies must pay if they cannot purchase SRECs.)

3. Switch the RPS to a percentage from a fixed number. (this makes it easier for power companies to plan SREC purchases and also protects ratepayers in case overall power consumption drops statewide in the future)

4. Limit solar farm (grid connected solar) development to 100mw per year for 3 years.

5. Requirement for solar farms to obtain BPU approval to receive SRECs in the future. (this will help prevent large solar farms from overbuilding and give latitude to the BPU to approve projects that meet certain criteria)

6.Introduction of net-metering for schools and municipalities. (this allows for these public entities to site solar in a 3 square mile radius from buildings and net-meter)

7. Establishes a Solar Registration Program for new projects. (this will
provide a much needed insight   into the pipeline of solar projects in
development)         


Are you following all that? Yeah, we know, solar is a complicated business.

Another way to follow the issue and the arguments is to listen to today’s committee hearing. You can hear it live on the state legislature’s website   A recording also will be available when the meeting concludes.


Do you have an interest in the solar industry and/or the outcome of today’s debate? Share our thoughts or concerns in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link.

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For
thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and
regulation 
in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a free, 30-day subscription to our daily
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EnviroPolitics. We track environmental/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.
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Our most recent posts:
Big wind energy starting to blow south of the border

If Newark gets new power plant, do residents get shaft?
Over coffee and pastry, talk about Pa’s gas-drilling law

Did you miss NJ’s LSRP site cleanup program deadline?
Ford’s latest recycling idea: Outfit new cars with old cash 

Legislation to save solar energy in NJ gets hearing today Read More »

NJ energy & environment bills in committee on May 17

The Senate Environment and Energy Committee has posted an ambitious agenda
of nine bills for consideration on Thursday.

Topics of the legislation range from proposed changes to the state’s farmland assessment law and the use of flags to mark pesticide applications to loans for brownfield remediations and exemptions from the state’s Noise Control Act for beach bars.
You think Snooki will testify?


Forest harvesting and solar energy are the headliners

A bill to allow trees to be taken for logging in state forests under certain circumstances (S-1085) drew heavy opposition from environmental organizations in the last session.
It has been modified and will make its 2012 debut before the committee..

Legislation viewed by some as the last chance to save New Jersey’s formerly high-flying solar-energy industry from a disastrous year also will be put to a committee vote (S-1925).

Starting at 10 a.m. in Room 11 on the fourth floor of the State House Annex, the committee will consider:

A-2395 Coughlin, C.J. (D-19); Coutinho, A. (D-29); Benson, D.R. (D-14)
Changes priorities for financial assistance from Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund.
Related Bill: S-1246

S-589 Beck, J. (R-11); Sweeney, S.M. (D-3)
Revises certain provisions of farmland assessment law.

S-755 Scutari, N.P. (D-22)
Requires use of uniform silver flags to mark certain pesticide applications.

S-1085 Smith, B. (D-17); Norcross, D. (D-5)
Establishes forest harvest program on State-owned land.

S-1246 Vitale, J.F. (D-19)
Authorizes zero-interest loans to local governments for certain brownfield remediations; changes priorities for financial assistance from Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund.


S-1754 Whelan, J. (D-2)
Eliminates requirement that a beach bar must have been in existence prior to August 31, 2011 for purposes of qualifying for exemption from “Noise Control Act of 1971.”

S-1925 Smith, B. (D-17); Sweeney, S.M. (D-3)
Revises certain solar renewable energy programs and requirements; provides for aggregating net metering of Class I renewable energy production on certain contiguous and non-contiguous properties owned by local government units and school districts.

SCR-59 Buono, B. (D-18); Gordon, R.M. (D-38)
Determines that proposed DEP rules and regulations establishing procedure for waiver of DEP rules are inconsistent with legislative intent.

Up for discussion only (no vote) is:

S-368 Beach, J. (D-6); Singer, R.W. (R-30)
Authorizes prescribed burning in certain circumstances. 

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For
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Our most recent posts:
Big wind energy starting to blow south of the border
If Newark gets new power plant, do residents get shaft?
Over coffee and pastry, talk about Pa’s gas-drilling law

NJ energy & environment bills in committee on May 17 Read More »

Big wind energy starting to blow south of the border

Mexico, the world’s 14th largest economy, ranked only 24th on the list of  installed wind-energy capacity last year. But thanks in part to one of the earth’s most impressive natural wind tunnels–and supportive government policies–the country is expected to surge into the #20 spot by the close of 2012.

“Most of the increase will come from giant wind
farms along the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest point between the
Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico,” writes David Alire Garcia for Reuters.  There, he says, “sudden gusts of wind can rip roofs off buildings and knock over tractor trailers.”

The isthmus is the narrowest point between the
Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The difference in temperature between the Gulf
of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean in the southern state of Oaxaca creates
one of the planet’s strongest wind tunnels as gusts tear through gaps
in the Sierra Madre mountains.

 “When the wind blows hard here, buses fall over and entire trees are uprooted,” said shopkeeper Miriam Luis in La Ventosa, the area around which 18 of Mexico’s 27 wind
plants now operate.

Foreign companies helping Mexico make environmental and energy news

Spanish company Acciona
says its $600 million project there alone will be enough to power 700,000
Mexican homes, generating 306 MW of energy with 204 turbines. That
investment will be followed later this year by an even bigger wind farm
owned by the Macquarie Group’s Mexico hedge fund, in partnership with
Mitsubishi Corp and PGGM, a leading Dutch pension fund.

At the other end of the country, Mexico will
begin its first-ever wind power exports next year to San Diego,
California from a giant farm in the Baja California peninsula.

By turning to wind, Garcia reports, Mexico aims to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels that now power some 80 percent of electricity.

Government incentives also play a role. 

Garcia reports that:

“The government is giving incentives to
companies to use wind energy and Cemex, one of the world’s largest
cement makers, bread maker Grupo Bimbo, the Mexican arm of Wal-Mart, and
mining company Penoles are among the corporations signing up.

“The
Federal Electricity Commission, or CFC, offers companies a discount on
electricity prices if they sign long-term power contracts with wind
farms. As a result, the CFC is able to seek international financing at
attractive rates to improve transmission infrastructure and promote the
boom.

“Some firms take advantage of
government tax breaks to build the farms themselves and others simply
buy the energy from wind plants already being built, mainly by Spanish
developers.

“Under the government’s
scheme, companies get credit for feeding the national grid with extra
electricity they don’t use, leading to savings up to 10 percent on their
electricity bills.

“Investors can
also make good money from wind projects in emerging markets such as
Mexico, said Rupesh Madlani, head of clean technology research at
Barclays Capital.”


 View the entire Reuters story at: Mexican wind energy boom plays out on gusty shores

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If Newark gets new power plant, do residents get shaft?

A 7-1 vote by Newark’s planning board on Thursday allowing Hess to build a 655-megawatt natural gas power plant in the city’s Ironbound section has outraged some residents and environmentalists. But a city  official applauded the decision.

“They just sent a death notice to the city of Newark,” said Kim Gaddy, a
resident and head of the North Jersey Chapter of the New Jersey
Environmental Justice Alliance.

The Sierra Club’s Jeff Tittel agreed:

“You’re taking a community that has had more impact of pollution than
almost any other place in the United States and now you’re going to put
up a power plant,” he said.
“Instead of helping a community overcome its industrial past and move
forward, you’re throwing it backward.”  

Adam Zipkin, Newark’s deputy mayor of economic development, sees it differently.

He says that the city’s independent experts “have scrutinized the potential impact of
this proposed plant on Newark’s air quality.”

“Based on the
results of that analysis, we believe that the project is likely to
result in a net improvement to air quality by allowing the more
polluting generators in our area — the coal and peaker plants — to run
less often.”

The plant is expected to bring 400 new jobs during the three years of construction
and 26 when it becomes operative, according to John Schultz,
vice president of Energy Operations for Hess

Hess promises to pay the city about $100 million over the next 30 years.

The Star-Ledger reports that the first $25 million will come right away in easements,
environmental programs, a boiler replacement program and rehabilitation
of the Ironbound Stadium.  The rest will come in payments in lieu of taxes — $2.6 million a year over the course of 30 years.

The $750 million plant would be erected near Newark Bay on a site, near a police firing range and the Essex County Correctional
Facility, where Hess currently has maintains storage tanks. The property is a mile from the nearest private residence.

The proposed plant still needs City Council approval as well as permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

What do you think? Let us know in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, active it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments line.’  While signed comments are appreciated,  we also accept submissions from your shy anonymous types. 

Related:
Power plant is approved and Newark residents are outraged
Newark Approves Hess Power Plant In Ironbound Amid Local Opposition (Video)
Vote on Controversial Newark Power Plant Expected This Week


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