Coal residue from NJ could help reclaim old PA mine site

Old coal mine in Scranton, Pennsylvania

For decades, Pennsylvania mined the coal that powered New Jersey industries.  Now a New Jersey utility wants to send a byproduct of coal burning back to Pennsylvania to help reclaim an old mine property in Hazleton.

There’s a sense of symmetry to the idea. But like any proposal that involves shipping one state’s waste to another state for disposal–especially waste that could contain harmful materials–this one is already stirring opposition.

Here’s the quick version.

Hazleton Creek Properties wants to reclaim 53 acres of former mine property for the construction of an amphitheater to attract concerts to the city. New Jersey’s largest energy company, PSEG, wants to dispose of waste material that is produced in its coal-burning power plants when limestone is injected into exhaust gases to minimize sulfur emissions.

The Pennsylvania DEP scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for Aug. 3.

Proponents are assembling their scientific studies to show the material will cause no environmental harm.  Critics are gearing up, too, and will be questioning the levels of potentially hazardous elements in the residue and their potential impacts on groundwater.

For a more detailed discussion, check out the story in today’s Standard-Speaker:
Developer looks to fill reclaimed mine land with N.J. plant residue

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Shale gas industry adds Tom Ridge to its lobbying stable

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, the lobbying arm of the natural gas drilling companies in Pennsylvania, announced yesterday that former PA governor and national homelands security director Tom Ridge will become a “strategic adviser” working for their interests.

What will Ridge be doing?

The official line from coalition president Kathryn Klaber:

“[He will] stress our industry’s commitment to environmental and work-force safety and the positive and overwhelming economic benefits that responsible shale gas development continues to generate across the region.”

Translation:

He’ll use his political clout to:

     – Convince state legislators not to impose a tax on natural gas 
     – Keep the DEP from imposing overly burdensome/costly regulations on gas drilling
Ridge’s name and stature also may help to reassure Joe and Jane Voter that the industry’s controversial drilling method called hydrofracturing (fracking) won’t destroy aquifers or kill fish in streams.

Related:
Marcellus Shale Coalition hires Ridge as adviser

Editorial: Shale’s shill

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PADEP Secretary and ‘Gasland’ filmmaker trade jabs


PADEP’s John Hangar

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger says film director Josh Fox was dishonest in his presentation in the award-winning film ‘Gasland.’

Hanger says that the documentary “intentionally highlights mistakes that the industry made.”

“Mr. Fox clearly has an advocacy position. He wants to shut down gas drilling. He presents only information that supports his goal,” Hangar said.

The DEP Secretary’s remarks were reported today in The River Reporter, a weekly newspaper out of Narrowsburg, NY. The publication has been actively covering Marcellus Shale drilling activities in New York and Pennsylvania.

Filmmaker Josh Fox

Fox, a filmmaker who lives in Milanville, PA, a small hamlet in Wayne County, shot back:

“It is Mr. Hanger that is being dishonest—not ‘Gasland’—by ignoring the problems that drilling has caused all over the state and by attacking the film and the citizens who are voicing their severe contamination issues and health problems.

“Contamination is widespread and severe. It is not only in Dimock and Fort Worth; it is everywhere the industry goes,” he said.

Related:
Delaware board says no to ‘Gasland’
Gasland exposes a big fracking mess 
‘Gasland’ – Do the pictures tell the fracking story? 

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EPA proposes new coliform rule for public water systems


Public water system operators take note:  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing changes to its Total Coliform Rule that will may affect your operations.

The proposed revisions, published in the July 14 Federal Register, would revise the EPA’s Total Coliform Rule (TCR), a national primary drinking water regulation which became effective in 1990. That rule set health goals (MCLGs) and legal limits (MCLs) for the presence of total coliform in drinking water. It also detailed the type and frequency of testing that water systems must undertake.

EPA says its proposed revisions are designed to protect public health by ensuring the integrity of the drinking water distribution system and monitoring for the presence of microbial contamination. The proposals, which are based on recommendations by a federal advisory committee, would:

  • require public water systems that are vulnerable to microbial contamination to identify and fix problems, and
  • establish criteria for systems to qualify for and stay on reduced monitoring, thereby providing incentives for improved water system operation.

Public information sessions on the proposed revisions will be held in Washington, Chicago and San Francisco. 

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EPA’s updated Toxics Release Inventory available online

The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest data on industrial releases and transfers of toxic chemicals in the United States–and in your hometown–is now available online. It covers the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2009.

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) database contains environmental release and transfer data on nearly 650 chemicals and chemical categories reported to EPA by more than 21,000 industrial and other facilities. 

Using either of two online tools — TRI Explorer or Envirofacts— you can learn about releases and transfers of chemicals in your home town –or anywhere else in the U.S.

I tried Envirofacts and found it easy to use.  The amount of information in the database is amazing. You would expect information on major utilities and chemical and petroleum facilities, but you’ll also find that the federal law can require submissions from your local gas station, auto body shop, and many other enterprises you might not expect, like schools and various commercial facilities. Envirofacts also includes a rich set of demographic and economic census data about the town you’re searching.

Facilities must report their data by July 1st of each year. Because the data is now submitted electronically, it is available for public inspection within weeks of the submission deadline.

What you’ll find today represents more than 80 percent of the data expected to be reported for 2009. The   EPA says it will continue to process paper submissions, late submissions, and to resolve issues with the electronic submissions.  The agency will update the data in August and again in September.

The EPA says it encourages the public to review the TRI data while the agency conducts its own analysis, which will be published later this year.

What’s your experience, as a business or individual, with the TRI reporting process? Does its value outweigh the time and cost of preparing and submitting the information?  How accurate do you find the data?  Does the information it makes available to anyone about specific facility locations (street addresses and aerial maps) pose an unwarranted security risk?  What else? Let us know.

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Canadians challenge Deepwater Wind in Rhode Island

A Canadian company that says it can provide Rhode Island with renewable power at a cheaper price than New Jersey-based Deepwater Wind is urging state regulators to stop their review of a long-term contract involving the offshore-wind developer, the Providence Journal reports today.

TransCanada Power has filed a motion to dismiss a case before the state Public Utilities Commission for a power-purchase agreement between National Grid, Rhode Island’s main electric utility, and Deepwater, the New Jersey company proposing an eight-turbine wind farm in waters off Block Island. The PUC will hold a hearing on the motion Tuesday morning.

TransCanada argues that the Rhode Island law governing renewable-power contracts violates the Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution because it favors in-state projects. The law, enacted a year ago, discriminates against out-of-state energy producers and thereby restricts interstate commerce, says TransCanada.

See the full story: Deepwater deal opposed by rival firm

Deepwater Wind, which is based in Hoboken, NJ, has a 20-year agreement to sell to National Grid up to 28 megawatts of electricity to be generated by the 8 turbines it plans to install off Block Island. It also plans to build the larger-scale 106-turbine Rhode Island Sound Wind Farm in federal waters about 15 miles from nearest landfall, for which it will need to execute a separate power purchase agreement.

Deepwater also is partnering with PSEG Renewable Generation on a joint venture, Garden State Offshore Energy, a proposed 350 megawatt wind farm in New Jersey waters some 20 miles east of Avalon. 

Related stories:


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