No green light on fracking in NY, but gearing up for jobs

Associated Press photo

While New York State still has not announced when it will allow drilling for natural gas to begin in its part of the Marcellus Shale, industry is already lining up prospects for the jobs that fracking will bring.

The New York Times‘ Green blog reports today that:

Broome County Community College, a business group and a coalition of landowners are holding a “career and education expo” on Wednesday ( April 11) for residents interested in learning about jobs in the gas industry.

Susan Oliver, a spokeswoman for the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York,
a group representing those who plan to lease their lands to gas
companies for drilling, said the event would highlight the economic
opportunities that natural gas development opens up, including jobs for
engineers, land surveyors, mechanics, welders, and wildlife and wetlands
specialists. It is to be held from 3 to 7 p.m. at the college, in
Binghamton, N.Y., and there is no admission charge.

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Excess energy: The Northeast would love such a problem

Photo credit: Jamie Francis, The Oregonian

If you live in an energy-deficit state like New Jersey or New York, where some folks are battling against new high-power energy lines, new gas-powered electricity plants and someday maybe even against the expansion of existing nuclear generating facilities,
reports of  “excess” energy might sound like a cruel April Fool’s joke.

But it’s a reality in the Pacific Northwest where spring rain, warmer temperatures, snow melt and blustery wind are combining to generate more hydro and wind electricity than anyone can use. That might be good for electricity customers but it’s bad for wind-farm owners who are being forced to curtail production and stand to lose millions of dollars in the process.

The Oregonian explains it all in:
BPA braces for strong spring runoff, excess power and wind power cuts 


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Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/5/12

Business, government and environmental leaders who subscribe
to EnviroPolitics accessed full versions of the news
stories below
on April 5, 2012–-and dozens more!


In Pennsylvania

Energy
Firm a Romney stop Ryan
Andrews hopes to show GOP presidential front runner Mitt Romney how his
shale-gas related business in Tunkhannock fits with big themes in 2012 election Times
Leader

Municipalities get expedited hearing in suit against
state shale law The seven municipalities challenging the
state’s new law governing natural gas drilling activities get their day in court
next week Post-Gazette


In New Jersey


Greenwood Lake water level failing to recover The bi-state
Greenwood Lake Commission is praying for rain. Without significant rainfall
soon, Greenwood Lake may not entirely recover from this past winter’s five-foot
drawdown N.Jersey.com


NJ
touts plan to reduce pollution at Essex incinerator In late March, the
Christie administration trumpeted an agreement that would lead the Essex County
garbage incinerator to sharply reduce pollution from its facility in the
Ironbound section of Newark. It probably would not have happened if the
public and citizen groups, had not intervened NJ Spotlight 

 

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/5/12 Read More »

A NJ epic coming May 7 to a contaminated site near you

More than three years in the making…

Assembled by a vast cast of legislators, regulators, environmental attorneys, consultants, engineers and pissed-off environmentalists…

On May 7 the epic journey begins... 

New Jersey launches its daring plan to cleanup up tens of thousands of contaminated sites…

And places responsibility in the hands of  (gasp) private-sector experts!

Watch as a newly minted cadre of LSRPs (Licensed Site Remediation Professionals) attack the backlog…

…and the Sierra Club lies in wait, legal paratroopers sharpening their briefs, and foot soldiers chafing to storm the DEP at the first whiff of impropriety or confusion.

Yes, enviro-drama fans, the wait it nearly over… 

Coming to a contaminated site near you, it’s the…..

 2009 Site Remediation Reform Act (ta da)!

(OK, so the name needs a little work but the  background is all pretty legit)

For the details, we turn you over to the environmental legal department at Cole Schotz where Susan C. Karp authored an illuminating article for the New Jersey Law Journal.

Her article, Watershed Date for N.J. Site Remediation: May 7, 2012 summarizes what has already happened and what is about to take place.

And if you assume that attorneys are only about dry-bones facts, check out Susan’s observation that hundreds of former DEP remediation site case workers have quietly
been reassigned to the department’s enforcement section.

Is DEP about to launch “much more aggressive enforcement initiatives” she asks? 
Wow, talk about a cliffhanging subplot. 

We’d love to hear what you think about NJ’s Site Remediation Reform. Too much? Too little? Too complicated? Tell us what you think in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link.  Signed comments are appreciated. Anonymous submission  also accepted.
NJDEP wants to help. Really, they do. Stop snickering

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Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/5/12

Business, government and environmental leaders who subscribe
to EnviroPolitics accessed full versions of the news
stories below
on April 4, 2012–-and dozens more!


In Pennsylvania

Gas work impacting
area streams The
latest way to measure the negative impacts to water quality from natural gas
development activities are displaying some earth disturbances impacts in
Lycoming County Sun-Gazette

Pittsburgh Council
supports challenge of shale regulations Pittsburg City Council, a well-known foe of
the Marcellus Shale industry, this morning sent a message of support to seven
municipalities that sued the state over the new natural gas drilling law Post-Gazette

In New Jersey


DEP’s
pre-season trout stocking slated for Thursday Good
fishing times are here again. The DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife says it
will complete the pre-season stocking of more than 180,000 hatchery-raised
trout on Thursday, in preparation for the opening day of trout season on Saturday
AP
Press


Beacon of Jersey City
sold after hitting rough times The sprawling landmark is testing the limits of Jersey
City’s success. A planned high-rise in nearby Journal Square is stalled, and a
renovated factory featuring loft-style apartments overlooking the Pulaski
Skyway is also struggling financially Statehouse
Bureau
 

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/5/12 Read More »

Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/3/12

Business, government and environmental leaders who subscribe
to EnviroPolitics accessed full versions of the news
stories below on April 3, 2012–-and dozens more!

In Pennsylvania

State
to allow Keystone Landfill to accept more waste State regulators
have approved the landfill’s application to take in 2,500 more tons of waste
daily. The landfill in Dunmore and Throop applied last May to increase its
maximum daily disposal capacity from 5,000 to 7,500 tons and its average daily
intake from 4,750 to 7,250 tons, largely to dispose of more rock waste from
Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling Scranton
Times-Tribune

Toxins
allowed to seep into waterways Two
environmental groups are pushing PPG Industries to clean up toxins such as
arsenic and lead that are seeping into the Allegheny River and white-washing
portions of a hillside Tribune-Review


In New Jersey


Fine print: New Jersey, maybe not so green Clean energy advocates and lawmakers like to tout
the success of New Jersey in developing the nation’s second biggest solar
market; a distinction they say has created thousands of jobs in an economy that
otherwise has been shedding jobs like paper. Now, a new report by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics suggests the state may not have that much to brag about NJ Spotlight

Airport runway may cost more A new crosswind runway to make Ocean County Airpark
safer for pilots could be approved by the Pinelands Commission. But
commissioners could demand a higher price from the county in the form of new
spending to save 485 acres as compensation for the project, without using the
county’s existing Natural Lands Trust AP
Press


Top 2 environmental news stories for PA & NJ – 4/3/12 Read More »