NJ Licensed Site Professional bills advance

After two and a half years of negotiations with “stakeholder groups,” numerous public hearings and dozens of amendments, members of the environmental committees in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly yesterday afternoon unanimously released two identical bills creating a Licensed Site Professionals (LSP) program within the Department of Environmental Protection.

The bills are now in position for floor votes in both houses. Governor Corzine would like to have them delivered to his desk for his signature before the Legislature recesses for the summer.
Despite a backlog of 20,000 sites and no prospects for funding to increase staffing at the DEP, the state’s major environmental groups continued their inexplicable, all-out opposition to the legislation at yesterday’s hearing.

The bill sponsors, committee members (gathered in a rare joint meeting) and representatives of various industry groups that have been active in the negotiations process, all saluted the work of Assistant DEP Commissioner Irene Kropp who oversees the Department’s site remediation program.

Kropp responded to enviro-critics who have been spreading misinformation about the bills by pointing out that the legislation:
  1. Does not lower any cleanup standards and, in fact, strengthens DEP’s enforcement capabilities

  2. Provides greater protections for schools, child care facilities and residential housing

  3. Furthers DEP’s ability to require cleanups to unrestricted standards

  4. Does not privitize, does not deregulate and does not eliminate DEP enforcement or limit the Department’s review to 10 percent of all cleanup project submittals

  5. Insures DEP review of all documents (not done today)

  6. Provides for the toughest requirements at “recalcitrant” sites (those where responsible parties try to evade or postpone cleanup)

  7. Reinforces and strengthens the ‘polluter pays’ concept

  8. Holds licensed site professionals (LSPs) to a higher standard of performance, makes them accountable for their work, requires their licensure, and provides significant penalties, including criminal prosecution, against any LSP who violates cleanup rules and law

Newspaper coverage of the hearing can be found at:
Contaminated sites bill progresses after two-year debate (Bergen Record)
Trenton puts cleanups on a fast track (Star-Ledger)You can listed to a tape of the entire hearing here.A number of readers have appended interesting comments on the LSP issue to our most recent post on the subject at NJ Licensed Site Professional bill’s encore. If you’d like to add your two-cents worth, we suggest that you comment at that post so all reaction can be found at one location. If you’re the type who prefers to color outside the lines, feel free to add your opinion to this post by clicking on the ‘comment’ line below.

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Some Friday fun: Clean Coal Air Freshener

Our thanks to the Forced Green blog for turning us onto the Coen Brothers video below which spoofs the coal industry’s latest ‘green’ campaign slogan.

If their name sounds familiar but you just can’t quite place it, Joel and Ethan Coen are the brothers who directed such hard-boiled films as: Raising Arizona , Simple Blood and No Country for Old Men .

In a totally different vein (no coal industry pun intended), they’re also responsible for what may be the greatest slacker film ever made, The Big Lebowski. If you haven’t seen it, we recommend that you rent it this weekend.

Click here to start YouTube video

Some Friday fun: Clean Coal Air Freshener Read More »

NJ Licensed Site Professional bill’s encore

It’s hard to believe but legislation designed to breathe life into New Jersey’s near moribund site cleanup program (20,000 contaminated properties and counting) is up in the Legislature’s two environmental committees on Thursday for the fourth time since June.

And despite the fact that the legislation (S-1897 and A-2962) has been amended again and again to meet objections raised by the Sierra Club and others, there’s no guarantee that it will get out of committee this time either.

Wait a minute. Isn’t this the bill that DEP Commissioner Mark
Mauriello and his predecessor, Lisa Jackson, testified is essential to get cleanups going? Yes it is.

Isn’t this the bill that mirrors a program in Massachusetts that has spurred the cleanup of hundreds of polluted sites over the past 15 years? Yes, again.

Isn’t it a bill personally sponsored by the powerful chairmen of the environmental committees in both houses–Senator Bob Smith (left) and Assemblyman John McKeon? Yup.


And backed by the governor?

Right, again.

So what’s the problem?

Jeff Tittel doesn’t like it.

Actually, it’s just that simple.

Jeff Tittle leads the state’s Sierra Club, an organization you’d think would be screaming bloody murder over the fact that 20,000 sites contaminated sites have been virtually ignored for years.

Isn’t this, after all, the same organization that doesn’t want a single house going up within hundreds of yards of certain streams? Don’t 20,000 aging and possibly leaking contaminated sites pose a far greater threat to groundwater?

So what’s Jeff’s problem?

He says that the legislation, which will allow the DEP to license environmental engineers to oversee individual cleanups, under the state’s oversight, puts the fox in charge of the hen house.

Jeff’s apparently convinced that the owners and managers of highly respected engineering firms are going to risk their professional reputations and their firms’ million-dollar-operations by cutting corners for clients.

What are the chances of that ever happening? If the bill ever gets passed, one imagines some folks actually could try it. But the bill’s significant penalties, combined with DEP oversight and public censure, all combine to argue against it.

But what if some actually did? What if an astonishing 10% of those 20,000 sites did not utilize the very best cleanup technologies and didn’t remove every molecule of contamination?

In fact, let’s pose the worst case scenario. What if 10% of all the cleanups turn out to be absolute frauds?

Well, wouldn’t that still leave 18,000 sites cleaned up? And available for new use–many in municipalities desperate for new business, new jobs and new ratables?

Isn’t that a gamble worth taking? The DEP and the governor and the environmental leaders in the Legislature think so.

But Jeff Tittle doesn’t. And for some reason, on issues like these, his opinion seems to be the only one that counts.

What do you think? Let us know in the “comment” section below.

MORE:

Op-Ed: LSP stands for ‘Lets Stay Polluted’
Op-Ed: New Jersey needs licensed site professionals
Editorial: An imperfect but needed cleanup solution
Jeff Tittel, Jersey’s Enviro-Vigilant Go-To Guy


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Week’s top environmental & political news in NJ and PA: Feb 16-20 2009



Below are just a few of the environmental and political news stories for New Jersey and Pennsylvania that appeared in EnviroPolitics during the week of February 16-20

New Jersey Politics

Corzine to replenish one trust fund with cash from another For years, New Jersey’s unemployment trust fund was used as a piggy bank. Now, is it disability fund’s turn? Inquirer

> Governor prepares to take ax to rebates Corzine is running out of options, sources say Star-Ledger

As budget crisis worsens, Corzine seeks 2-day furloughs The governor calls for a two-day furlough of state workers and warns of more furloughs or layoffs if unions do not accept a wage freeze starting in July Star-Ledger Inquirer Gannett

Governor warns layoffs could be next step Gov. Jon Corzine dug in his heels against the state workers unions yesterday, saying a two-day furlough is within his authority to balance the budget and that he will turn to layoffs if a stalemate over wages continues Star-Ledger

NJ may get $6B with new stimulus The economic stimulus bill President Barack Obama is scheduled to sign into law today contains more than $6B for NJ, according to a comprehensive yet preliminary analysis of the $787 billion measure Gannett



New Jersey Environment

Cleanup on tap for Hudson County sites NJ authorities and a Pittsburgh corporation blamed for chromium pollution throughout Hudson County reach an agreement for cleaning up a site in Jersey City within five years. PPG Industries will remediate soil and other sources of chromium contamination on the 16 acre site of a chromite ore refinement plant that operated from 1924 to 1963. The deal will not be finalized until after a 30-day public comment period Star-Ledger Jersey Journal



AAA asks Corzine to veto $9.5M of DRPA plan The AAA Mid-Atlantic auto club asks Gov. Corzine to veto plans by the Delaware River Port Authority to spend $9.5 million on economic-development projects in Camden and Philadelphia, including a President’s House memorial near the Liberty Bell Phila Daily News

‘UFO’ mystery solved… The hot chunk of metal that crashed through the roof of a Jersey City business wasn’t space debris after all. It was the missing tooth of a gigantic wood mulching machine located roughly three football fields away Jersey Journal

…Next mystery: Strange red lights in the sky Daily Record



NRG subsidiary sued by the EPA A subsidiary of Princeton-based NRG Energy Inc is the target of a lawsuit filed by federal environmental regulators that alleges the company’s coal-fired plant in Louisiana does not have proper emissions controls AP

Port Authority to put dredging contract up for bid A multibillion-dollar effort to create a network of deeper channels that will allow bigger ships to safely navigate the Port of NY and NJ has turn into a fight involving political muscle, mounting lawsuits and other battles among companies looking for a piece of a $2.5 billion project. The fight is expected to get even more complex after a decision behind the scenes last week to bid a crucial part of the contract Star-Ledger



New Jersey’s enviro-vigilant, go-to-guy



Over the past two years, NJ Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel was quoted 400 more times than Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts. The state’s “grumpiest greenie” grouses that Christie Whitman was the ‘brownest’ governor but Jon Corzine might yet outdo her Star-Ledger

The Green Governors It isn’t often people say nice things about New Jersey’s governors. But when it comes to protecting the environment, they deserve some praise Star-Ledger



Bill gives windmills same status as schools, hospitals A bill making its way through the Legislature would declare renewable energy facilities “inherently beneficial,” making them more difficult for local zoners to deny AC Press

Pennsylvania Environment

Pennsylvania announces $21.5M in ‘growing greener’ projects Governor Edward G. Rendell today announced the investment of more than $21.5 million in 144 Growing Greener projects to reduce pollution from stormwater runoff and farms, treat acid mine drainage, reduce flooding and improve water quality across the commonwealth PA-DEP

EPA probing creek for fly ash pollution Federal technicians are checking a complaint that fly ash disposed in Mahanoy Township is polluting the mine pool and threatening water quality in Mahanoy Creek Hazleton Standard-Speaker



State out of money for septic-system checks Pennsylvania has run out of money for reimbursing local sewage agencies for most of the cost of issuing permits for and inspecting septic systems AP



Philadelphia weighs trash pickup fee City officials are seriously considering a $5 weekly garbage-collection fee as part of the response to the current fiscal crisis Inquirer



Stimulus to pump billions into PA Separate funds totaling $224M can pay for water infrastructure projects in the state. And alternative energy investments will have access to more than $101M through the state’s energy program Morning Call

Study: Turbine not a threat to birds A nearly two-year independent study finds that a wind turbine poses no overt threat to bird and bat life while it generates supplemental power at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center at Presque Isle State Park in Erie

Gant Daily

Pennsylvania Politics

Bonus probe costing millions The state legislature has burned through $5.8M in taxpayer money so far on legal fees and other expenses stemming from an investigation into staff bonuses and potential misuse of public resources AP

Fumo trial wraps up A lawyer who told then-state Sen. Vince Fumo he could continue the “normal course of district office business” after a nonprofit organization that he founded was served with a grand-jury subpoena in April 2004 said under cross-examination yesterday that did not mean Fumo could delete e-mails Phila Daily News

A sweeping new plan for Philadelphia schools Controversial proposal includes shutting down failing schools and potentially reopening them as charter schools, reducing class sizes, and overhauling teacher hiring Inquirer



Rendell’s former law firm does well by the DRPA The Delaware River Port Authority spent nearly $2M on outside legal firms in 2007 and 2008, and the biggest beneficiary was the former firm of Gov. Rendell, who chairs the DRPA Inquirer ‘toon

Knocks on budget make Nutter open up With the reputation of his administration on the line, Philadelphia’s mayor shelves what critics view as a go-it-alone governing style for a more transparent approach that harks back to his election campaign Inquirer

Laurie Magid named U.S. Attorney for Eastern PA Acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid has been appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, making her the first woman to hold this position in this district Express-Times

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Natural Resource Damages ruling helps, hurts New Jersey’s DEP

In a double-edged decision last month, a state court ruled that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection can order responsible parties to pay for Natural Resource Damages (NRD) even if the site contamination occurred prior to the April 1, 1977 adoption of the state’s Spill Act.

The ruling was a defeat for ExxonMobil which, under a 1991 Administrative Court Order, has been remediating refinery sites in Linden and Bayonne while actively opposing the payment of pre-Spill Act NRD claims.

That portion of the decision was a big victory for the state and is likely to lead to substantial financial awards. The state says its prosecution of NRD cases has already produced $55 million for restoration projects.

But the judge also ruled that the state could not recover its attorney fees incurred in pursuit of pre-Spill Act NRD claims.

That has to be a serious blow to the Department since it has used private law firms to pursue virtually all of its major NRD claims on a contingency fee basis.

For more, check out:

Saul Ewing environmental attorney David C. Apy’s analysis of the ruling

N.J. going after ExxonMobil $$$ (Jersey Journal article)

N.J. wins court round in ExxonMobil spill case (NJBIZ)

A September, 2003 DEP policy directive on natural resource damages

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