New Jersey DEP loses Natural Resources Damage appeal

If you are a company or attorney fighting a Natural Resource Damages claim brought by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), you may take heart in an appeals court ruling that denied the DEP $8 million it was seeking under the Spill Act.

In a bulletin to clients, Cole Schotz environmental attorney Douglas I. Eilender explains the background to the NJDEP v. Essex Chemical Corp case that the Department was appealing, why the appellate court ruled against the DEP, and what the decision could mean for others subject to similar environmental  damage claims.

You can read Mr. Eilender’s summary here.

Have an insight you’d like to share? Use the comment box below.  If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link 


***********************************************************************************************************

Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics
Try it free for 30 days!
  No obligation. Cancel anytime with one click

***********************************************************************************************************

 

New Jersey DEP loses Natural Resources Damage appeal Read More »

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/12/12

Business, government and environmental leaders who subscribe
to EnviroPolitics accessed full versions of the news
stories below
on April 12, 2012
-and dozens more!



In Pennsylvania

Judge puts hold on shale zoning law
A
judge granted a 120-day halt to provisions in a new Marcellus Shale drilling
law that override local zoning laws Inquirer

DEP highlights ‘deficiencies’ in Cabot investigation The
state DEP found “several deficiencies” including “definite
evidence” of a spill or seep in a natural gas driller’s report that the
company had said disproved a whistleblower’s claims of failures at its well
sites Daily
Review
 


In New Jersey

Fire destroys 100 acres near Meadowlands sports complex
Treacherous ground and fast-moving flames
kept crews from directly fighting a large grass fire near the Izod Center
Wednesday Star-Ledger


Beach smokers get better with their butts Cigarette butts no longer lead the list of debris collected in an
annual sweep of New Jersey’s 127 miles of beaches and bays
Statehouse
Bureau

 

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/12/12 Read More »

Judge grants temporary freeze on Pa’s new fracking law

A judge on Wednesday ordered a temporary halt to a portion of
Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus shale law that limits the power of
municipalities to regulate the booming natural gas industry, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports today.

Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Keith Quigley issued the 120-day
injunction after hearing arguments in Harrisburg. The eight-week-old
law’s local zoning provisions were scheduled to take effect on Saturday.

A group that includes South Fayette in Allegheny County and Peters,
Cecil, Mt. Pleasant and Robinson in Washington County sought the
injunction to give the municipalities time to argue their claims that
the law, known as Act 13, unconstitutionally takes away local powers and
should be overturned.

************************************************************************************************************
Stay on top of fracking-related news stories. Try a free, 30-day subscription to EnviroPolitics
***********************************************************************************************************

“Municipalities must have an adequate opportunity to pass zoning laws
that comply with Act 13 without the fear or risk that development of
oil and gas operations under Act 13 will be inconsistent with later
validly passed local zoning ordinances,” Quigley wrote.

His order halts only any part of the law that might “pre-empt
pre-existing local ordinances” but denies the rest of the
municipalities’ injunction request to stop the entire law from going
into effect.

“What we were seeking was 100 percent what the court granted,” said John Smith, the solicitor for Robinson and Cecil.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition issued a statement saying the natural
gas industry group is “confident that the legal merits of this law —
aimed at ensuring the safe and responsible development of clean-burning
American natural gas in the commonwealth — will be recognized and
upheld accordingly.”

To issue an injunction, a judge must find that the request meets six
standards, including that “there is likely success on the merits.”
Quigley wrote in a footnote to the order that he “is not convinced that
petitioners’ likelihood of success on the merits is high,” but he
ordered the injunction because five other factors were compelling. Read full story here

Related:

What The New Impact Fee Law Means For Pennsylvania
Fracking bill moves forward in California Legislature 
Catskill Mountains town bans natural gas fracking

Corrupt Pennsylvania history holds lessons for fracking


***********************************************************************************************************

Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics
Try it free for 30 days!
  No obligation. Cancel anytime with one click

***********************************************************************************************************

Judge grants temporary freeze on Pa’s new fracking law Read More »

EPA grants for hotels, restaurants, markets in NY & NJ

Restaurants, supermarkets and hotels stand to benefit from some $441,000 in pollution-prevention grants awarded this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 2 office.

The EPA provided the New York State Restaurant Association Educational Foundation
an $83,800 grant to expand its
pollution prevention training program for New York City restaurants to
restaurants in Nassau and Westchester County, New York. The restaurant
association will provide group training sessions at restaurants on
pollution prevention techniques such as using water-saving devices,
cleaning products and energy-efficient equipment. It will disseminate
the results through case studies and a green restaurant workbook to
restaurants throughout New York State.


The New Jersey Institute of Technology will use a
$178,060 grant to develop an online toolkit that will provide training
to supermarkets on ways to reduce energy through lighting improvements
and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning controls, and reduce the
release of hazardous materials from cooling system leaks. NJIT will
disseminate the toolkit to supermarket chains throughout New Jersey and
provide training to the supermarket staff through direct outreach and
webinars.


The EPA is providing the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection with an $180,000 grant that will be used to
promote sustainability in New Jersey’s hotel industry by providing
training on ways to increase energy and water efficiency, reducing the
use of hazardous materials and saving money. NJDEP will train hotel
owners and managers on methods to achieve efficiency in their lighting,
space health/cooling, water heating, refrigeration and appliances. 


This
NJDEP project will target small to medium-sized hotels in Cape May and
Atlantic counties, which have the largest concentration of hotels in the
state. NJDEP will provide outreach through four workshops, hotel job
training at Atlantic Cape Community College, as well as direct mailings to
all hotels in New Jersey.


“Pollution prevention is some of the most important
work being done to protect the environment,” said EPA Regional
Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The EPA Pollution Prevention grants help
businesses, colleges and state agencies identify strategies to reduce
the use of toxic materials, save energy, protect human health and save
money. These grants support programs that reduce or eliminate waste at
the source, preventing the need to treat it after it is generated.”

The grants are part of the approximately $4 million
in grants that the EPA awards each year aimed at preventing pollution
across the nation. For more information on the EPA pollution prevention
program, visit
http://www.epa.gov/region02/p2/.


***********************************************************************************************************

Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics
Try it free for 30 days!
  No obligation. Cancel anytime with one click

***********************************************************************************************************

EPA grants for hotels, restaurants, markets in NY & NJ Read More »

Christie Administration redefining ‘Smart Growth’ in NJ

“If
New Jersey is ever going to embrace smart growth, advocates and
stakeholders are first going to have to agree as to what it is — and
isn’t.” 

That’s NJ Spotlight‘s setup line for its roundtable discussion on Friday in Trenton dubbed
The Growing Conflict Over Smart Growth.

Over a free lunch, you can learn how the Republican administration of Gov. Chris Christie is overhauling the State Plan
and crafting a new strategy aimed at spurring
economic growth while preserving New Jersey’s few remaining open spaces
and farmland.
Previous administrations have taken their own approaches to channeling growth with generally disappointing results. Will the Christie administration’s vision prove more effective?

That’s just one of the questions to
be explored by a panel of planning experts including:
Dan
Kennedy
, Deputy Director, Office for Planning Advocacy, Business Action
Center, Department of State; Eileen Swan, former Executive Director,
Highlands Council; Peter Kasabach,  Executive Director, New Jersey
Future;  Robert Antonicello, Executive Director, Jersey City
Redevelopment Agency, and John Weingart, Associate Director, Eagleton
Institute of Politics, Rutgers University.  Tom Johnson, environment editor and co-founder of NJ Spotlight, will be the moderator.

Sounds like an interesting discussion. Did we mention that lunch is free?  

For a link you can use to register, visit our Enviro-Events Calendar where you’ll find dozens more upcoming events. 

Suggestion 1:  While you’re on the site, use the form in the upper-right corner to sign up for free email alerts when new events are added. 
Suggestion 2:  Get free publicity for your upcoming event by submitting details to:
Editor@EnviroPolitics. To guarantee speedy listing, please follow our style.

***********************************************************************************************************

Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics
Try it free for 30 days!
  No obligation. Cancel anytime with one click

***********************************************************************************************************

Christie Administration redefining ‘Smart Growth’ in NJ Read More »

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/10/12

Business, government and environmental leaders who subscribe
to EnviroPolitics accessed full versions of the news
stories below
on April 10, 2012
-and dozens more!



In Pennsylvania

Coal
plants’ permits draw challenge
Conservation and
clean air groups filed an appeal late last week with the state in an attempt to
force the DEP to review outdated air-quality permit renewals for coal plants
across the state, most of which are in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Tribune
Review

Bass
blotches, intersexing could be linked
Vicki Blazer, a U.S. Geological Survey fish biologist with the U.S.
Geological Survey, who was honored as the Protector of the Potomac for her
groundbreaking work investigating intersexed fish on that river, said there may
be a link between the intersexing in Susquehanna River small mouth bass and the
blotches reported by anglers Daily
Item


In New Jersey


GAO report
disputes Christie’s Hudson River rail fears
A federal report released
this morning has sparked a fight over whether Governor Christie inflated the
cost of a Hudson River rail tunnel project to justify his decision in October
2010 to shut the project down
The Record
  Statehouse Bureau 
NY Times


Firefighters gaining control of large
NJ wildfire
Firefighters
have contained about 75 percent of a wildfire that has consumed about 1,000
acres in southern New Jersey
AP
> Wind-fueled fires burning homes and land Star-Ledger
>
Wildfire
burns 1,000 acres in Burlington County
Inquirer

 

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/10/12 Read More »