EnviroPolitics Blog

Over coffee and pastry, talk about Pa’s gas-drilling law

In the community room above McCaffrey’s Supermarket in Lower Makefield (Bucks County), more than 60 constituents listened politely over coffee and pastry as their freshman state representative yesterday morning started ticking off the current hot news topics at the State Capitol in Harrisburg–the budget, infrastructure, education and taxes.

But the attendees, dominated by retirees, appeared to focus their attention when former attorney-turned-school teacher Steve Santarsiero (D-31) got around to one of his favorite topics–shortcomings that he and fellow House Democrats see in Act 13, the new state law governing natural-gas drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale.

Last week, Santarsiero and his colleagues announced a six-point legislative package, dubbed the Marcellus Compact, which they claimed would “put Pennsylvanians first” rather than “the oil and gas industry for whom, and by whom, Act 13 was written.”

The Democrats provided a fact sheet explaining their package and a chart that they said illustrated the differences between the current law and the changes they’d like to make.

In the five-minute video above filmed at yesterday’s breakfast meeting, Santarsiero summarizes what he
finds lacking in Act 13 which was pushed through the General Assembly by
Republican majorities and signed by Republican Governor Tom Corbett, an
ardent supporter of the drilling industry.

Following his presentation, Santarsiero fielded questions on a number of topics but the perceived environmental risks posed by gas fracking drew more audience comments than any other.

Santarsiero posed and answered a question others might raise. Why would Bucks County residents care about natural gas drilling and its controversial hydrofracturing technique when the Marcellus Shale formation lies so many miles from their communities?

It’s because the Delaware River is the primary source of drinking water for 15 million people downstream, he said, including many in Bucks County.

And, while gas drilling is proceeding at an active pace in other sections of the state, a moratorium in the state’s northeast could be lifted as soon as any one of the representatives on the Delaware River Basin Commission from New York, Delaware or the federal government changes their vote to side with Pennsylvania and New Jersey which stand ready to approve the drilling.

What do you think about Pennsylvania’s drilling law? Are Democrats just playing politics, or are Republican leaders being overly generous to the drilling industry? Anything else bother you about the issue? Let us know in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link.

Over coffee and pastry, talk about Pa’s gas-drilling law Read More »

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

If you own contaminated property in New Jersey and still have not engaged an LSRP
to clean it up, watch out!

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has your name and number and likely is already figuring out how much to fine you before it takes control of your project.

With few exceptions (underground storage tanks being one), every site owner with an environmental contamination problem was required to hire a Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) and file a cleanup plan with the DEP by the May 7, 2012 deadline.

If you have not, hoping the problem would magically go away, you miscalculated badly.

Not only are you subject to significant fines but you also have lost the opportunity to use a private-sector LSRP to oversee the project.

Now you’re stuck with a DEP project manager. Which do you think will be focusing on a cost-efficient remediation?

Related environmental news

The industry publication Dredging Today provides a nice summary of the state’s new approach to site cleanups in New Milestone Reached in Reform of Contaminated Site Cleanup System.

Commercial property owners express lingering questions to NJBIZ in At site cleanup deadline, program offers progress, but also questions.

More LSRP stories:
What is an LSRP? Fox, watchdog, rat or scapegoat?
What do you want from NJ’s LSRP program?
Interest high as new NJDEP site-cleanup program nears

Looking for an LSRP?
The association that represents them in New Jersey provides a 30-page member directory.

What do you think about New Jersey’s LSRP program? Use the comment box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link.

Our most recent posts:
Ford’s latest recycling idea: Outfit new cars with old cash
Don’t ever miss a great environmental event opportunity
New Jerseyans raise a glass to unfettered wine purchases

To control jet fuel costs, Delta buys its own refinery

Philadelphia’s Sunoco acquired by TX pipeline company

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

Ford’s latest recycling idea: Outfit new cars with old cash

Ford is researching ways to go green (and save some too) by turning old greenbacks into trays and bins in upcoming models.

Yes, it sounds crazy, but here’s the story.

Some eight to ten thousand pounds of worn-out paper currency is said to be shredded every day in the
U.S. alone. Then it’s compressed into bricks and either buried or
burned.

Rather than waste it, Ford is experimenting with a way to re-use retired dollar bills in the manufacture of trays and bins, in the same way wheat straw is currently used in the Ford Flex.

Or like the soybeans the company processes and plows back into cushions in all its North American
vehicles. The latter saves some five million pounds of
petroleum every year.

That’s just the start of Ford’s recycling innovations.

Paul Ridden writes in gizmag that:

the 2013 Ford Fusion is said to contain the equivalent of a little
more than two pairs of blue jean denim used for sound dampening
material

the new Escape features door bolsters made from kenaf (a
tropical plant in the cotton family) which saves 300,000 pounds of oil-based resin annually

wood fiber is being used
in the doors of Ford’s new Focus Electric, and

plastic bottles are finding their way into seat fabric and carpeting,
and cotton from t-shirts, sweaters and denim is being re-used in the
manufacture of dashboards.

To be sure, this isn’t all earth-friendly altruism on the automaker’s part.

Ford’s research into green alternatives to petroleum-based automotive
components began in the early part of this century, Ridden notes, when a barrel of oil
was priced at $16.65. It reached a staggering per-barrel price of $109.77 earlier this year.

Think of how much money can be saved on each vehicle that uses old t-shirts (or old money) instead of petroleum for its padding and parts.

But who cares? The recycling efforts are truly impressive. We hope they save Ford a bundle.

Do things like this matter to you when you shop for a new car? Are you aware of similar recycling efforts by other automakers? Share your thoughts in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line

Our most recent posts:
Don’t ever miss a great environmental event opportunity
New Jerseyans raise a glass to unfettered wine purchases

To control jet fuel costs, Delta buys its own refinery

Philadelphia’s Sunoco acquired by TX pipeline company
Database lets you search Pa Marcellus shale well sites
NJ celebrates 25 years of recycling with levels on the rise

Ford’s latest recycling idea: Outfit new cars with old cash Read More »

Don’t ever miss a great environmental event opportunity

Interested in learning about the status of solar energy in New Jersey?
How about the latest requirements for underground storage tanks in Pennsylvania?
The future of New Jersey’s forests? How to grow commercial algae?

Want to learn how you can volunteer for the May 9 Barnegat Bay (Cleanup) Blitz?
Or how to cash in on troubled real estate?.

Whether your goal is education, recreation or environmental-business networking,
you will find something of value in our Enviro-Events Calendar

It’s updated daily. If what appears today doesn’t tickle your fancy, tomorrow’s additions might.

There’s no need to to try remembering to check in regularly.
We’ll send you email alerts when the list is updated.

How? Just us the form in the upper right corner of the calendar site.

TIP: Don’t forget to check our calendar when you’re planning your next
event.
It might save you from selecting a date that conflicts
with a competing event.

And be sure to send us your event information. We’ll post it without charge.

Questions? Contact us at: Editor@EnviroPolitics.com or leave a message: 215-295-9339.

Our most recent posts:
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To control jet fuel costs, Delta buys its own refinery

Philadelphia’s Sunoco acquired by TX pipeline company
Database lets you search Pa Marcellus shale well sites
NJ celebrates 25 years of recycling with levels on the rise

Don’t ever miss a great environmental event opportunity Read More »

New Jerseyans raise a glass to unfettered wine purchases

We’re all shopping online theses days–for books, clothing, computers, music–you name it. But until today, New Jersey wine lovers were prohibited from ordering from vineyards in California, New York or any other state.

And New Jersey wine growers faced a similar blockade–no direct shipments were permitted to customers inside the state or to potential customers outside state borders.

All that changes today as a new law becomes effective that loosens restrictions on wine sales. Now, New Jersey winemakers can ship
bottles directly to consumers and out-of-state wineries that produce less than 250,000 gallons of
wine a year can start shipping to New Jersey, too.

In today’s Atlantic City Press, Lee Procida reports:

Local wineries received orders before the law became effective May 1, and growers said they would start shipping this week.

“We’re
excited that it’s finally happened after such a long period,” said
Charlie Tomasello, co-owner of Tomasello Winery in Hammonton, the
state’s largest winery.

The changes were spurred by a lawsuit
filed nine years ago that resulted in a federal court striking down the
state’s regulations as unconstitutional.

The state previously
banned New Jersey wineries from shipping directly to consumers. In-state
wineries were allowed to open retail outlets, but out-of-state wineries
were not allowed. The court found that the bans restricted interstate
commerce.

After years of legislative wrangling, the Legislature
approved a law to mostly resolve the issue in January and Gov. Chris
Christie signed it.

New Jersey’s 40+ vineyards are one of the fastest growing segments of the state’s agricultural community. Many of them feared they would be forced to sell their farms
had the legislation failed.

Now they can get back to focusing on growing the grapes and bottling the wines
that have propelled the Garden State into the No. 6 spot in national wine production.

We think this is great. How about you? Tell us what your first online wine purchase (from a New Jersey or other vineyard) is likely to be. Or suggest a vineyard to visit
for a tasting. Use the comment box below. If not visible, activate it by clicking on
the tiny ‘comments’ line.

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New Jerseyans raise a glass to unfettered wine purchases Read More »

To control jet fuel costs, Delta buys its own refinery

** Updated at 5:05 p.m.**

Delta Airlines has made a bold move to control the cost of the fuel its jet fleet consumes by buying its own refinery outside of Philadelphia.

Delta said today its subsidiary Monroe Energy agreed to buy
ConocoPhillips’ Trainer oil refinery, located on the Delaware River about 10 miles south of
Philadelphia, for $180 million,
and will enter into deals with BP and ConocoPhillips for sourcing and
marketing of fuel.

The deal to purchase the refinery, which can process up to 185,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was made possible because of $30 million in assistance from the state of Pennsylvania.

The plan is for Delta to produce as much jet fuel as it can get out
of each barrel of oil and then make gasoline, which it will hand over to
BP, swapping it for jet fuel in other parts of the country.

The company estimates that will meet 80 percent of its annual fuel needs. In 2011, Delta used 3.86 billion gallons of jet fuel, for which it paid $11.8 billion, or 36 percent of its operating expenses.

Some analysts were skeptical.

“It goes way beyond Delta’s core competency,” said Stephen Schork,
editor of energy publication The Schork Report. “When you have companies
like Hess, Sunoco and ConocoPhillips refining oil on the East Coast
for generations and they can’t make money on it, I don’t know how Delta,
with this not being their expertise, can do it.”

In September, ConocoPhillips discontinued manufacturing petroleum
products in Trainer citing severe market pressure on East Coast refining
due to product imports, weakness in motor fuel demand and costly
regulatory requirements.

The decision resulted in the elimination of the jobs of some 700 employees and contractors at the facility.

Since the refinery was idled, workers, many of whom are
represented by the United Steelworkers Union Local 10-234, have lobbied
various state and federal officials to save their jobs.

In March, ConocoPhillips administrators decided to extend the sale of
the Delaware County plant by two months to allow more time for
discussions with potential buyers to take place. Initially, the deadline
had been March 31, and union officials raised concerns that management
declared the company’s intention to begin demolition of the site at that
time.

Delta Subsidiary to Acquire Trainer Refinery Complex

Delta to Buy ConocoPhillips Refinery for $180 Million
Delta, ConocoPhillips finalize deal for Trainer refinery
Delta buys ConocoPhillips’ Trainer refinery in Pennsylvania to make jet fuel
Q&A: What does Delta’s refinery purchase mean?

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To control jet fuel costs, Delta buys its own refinery Read More »