A Call for a Summit on the Delaware Estuary

Jennifer Corbett/News Journal

The governors of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania convene every year to evaluate the progress of joint efforts to insure a positive environmental future for the Chesapeake Bay.

W. Michael McCabe, who served as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Mid-Atlantic regional administrator and deputy administrator from 1995 to 2001, thinks it’s time that the states devote equal attention to the Delaware River and its estuary.

In an Aug. 24 op-ed piece in the (Wilmington) News Journal, McCabe notes that 50 years ago industrial pollution had turned the Delaware River into “a biological dead zone,” so bad that the U.S. Navy was able to reduce ship maintenance by anchoring vessels its waters “because it was so polluted nothing would grow on the hulls.”

But times have changed. Marine scientists from the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies and Rutgers University recently discovered a colony of sponges and reef-building worms stretching for more than a mile along the bay floor.

McCabe says the fact that rich pockets of aquatic life still exist in what once was one of the nation’s most polluted industrial rivers is
“a tribute to pollution control laws and the tenacity of nature.”

Additional progress is noted in a recent report by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary which examined not only just the Delaware River and Bay, but the whole estuary system, including the tributaries that feed into it.


News Journal file photo
McCabe says the study found “dramatic reductions in oxygen-robbing sewage and chemicals and dangerous toxins.”
Anyone who’s tempted to run up a “Mission Accomplished” banner should note that the State of the Estuary Report also found that “run-off from pesticides, fertilizers, sediment and transportation-linked pollutants” are now the greatest threat to the estuary’s water quality and that “contaminants derived from chemicals that aren’t regulated under water quality programs — such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products” are an emerging concern.

In addition, the Partnership reports that the Delaware’s extensive wetlands are under tremendous pressure from development, with an analysis showing a 12 percent loss of tidal marshes over the last decade.

Delaware residents will select a new governor in November who will face a number of important issues relating to the river, including “a proposal to deepen the ship channel to 45 feet, the location of a disposal site for dredging the Port of Wilmington, and recent lawsuits requiring industry to use the best available technology to limit the discharge of heated wastewater.”

McCabe recognizes that the Delaware River “is not only a living resource supporting a diverse environment, but also a working river supporting a population of almost 8 million people and the commerce they generate.”

The challenge for the incoming governor will be to balance all interests while engage neighboring states in a cooperative effort to assist the river’s environmental rebound.

Anyone for a summit meeting?

A Call for a Summit on the Delaware Estuary Read More »

Court ruling could shake up garbage flow

A federal appeals court ruled this month that Lebanon County, PA and its affiliated Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority (GLRA) did not act improperly when they required a private municipal trash hauler to use the county’s landfill even though there were cheaper disposal alternatives outside the county.

The ruling that could have impacts in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey where so-called “waste-flow” rules directing all haulers to specific county transfer stations or landfills have been the subject of numerous challenges in federal court.

The landmark “Carbone” decision in 1994 invalidated the bulk of government waste-flow plans as violations of interstate commerce, but subsequent decisions have allowed local governments to direct waste to their facilities under certain conditions.

James J. Kutz, Esq., a Partner in the Harrisburg Office of Philadelphia-based law firm Post & Schell, P.C., which defended GLRA in the complaint brought against it by hauler Lebanon Farms Disposal, Inc., of Schaefferstown, Pa., said the ruling reverses a July 2006 U.S. District Court decision that found the county’s comprehensive solid waste plan unconstitutional because it discriminated against interstate commerce.

“The appeals court decision constitutes a clear change in Third Circuit (Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey) precedent,” commented Kutz. “Counties can now require that all waste generated within the county be disposed of at their municipal landfill.

“Previously, counties were prohibited from imposing such a restriction absent compelling circumstances.” Kutz added, “The ruling gives the Commonwealth and its counties a new, reasonable option with which to finance, monitor, and enforce environmentally sound waste disposal practices without running afoul of the federal Commerce Clause.” He noted that the appeals court remanded the matter to the lower court.

This blog counts among its subscribers numerous environmental attorneys and consultants who are experts in the area of solid waste management. If you’re one of them, we’d love to hear your
opinion on the decision and its possible impacts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

To share your views with our readers, click on the “comment” line below.

If you’re not already a subscriber to our blog, sign up today by sending a blank email to: epfreeblog@aweber.com There is no cost or obligation and you can cancel at any time.

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NJDEP escapes worst of early retirements

The Department of Environmental Protection was one of the sectors of state government sweating the most when New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed legislation on June 24 offering extra pay and health benefits to state workers who would agree to take early retirement as a way of reducing overall state spending.

Two months earlier, DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson had candidly told members of the Assembly Budget Committee that, unlike in the previous tight budget year when she testified that her Department could learn to “do more with less,” this time she faced a “do less with less” situation.

Jackson’s projected operating budget of $230 million for FY 2009 was taking a hit of $19.6 million from the previous-year level and, though she didn’t mention it, she had to be well aware that the governor’s early retirement proposal held the potential for real disaster.

In all, 85 percent of the DEP’s workforce would have been eligible for early retirement under the governor’s original plan which would have been open to qualified workers as young as 52.

Fortunately for the DEP, the Legislature raised the qualifying age to 58, which shrunk the size of the potential retiree pool. And then something happened that few expected–the offer failed to interest anywhere near as many as workers as the governor’s staff had anticipated.

In fact, only a little more than one-third (1,488) of the eligible 3,828 state workers overall took the deal, leaving Corzine with some 6,540 more employees than he had hoped for.

At the DEP, 121 of 250 eligible workers said adios, leaving the department with about 3,090 employees, almost 300 short of its total when Jackson took over for Bradley Campbell on Feb. 28, 2006.

The retirements will hurt the agency for sure. Gone are 24 permit writers in its land use section which gets 7,000 applications each year. But it could have been much worse.

“We could have lost the entire seasoned cadre in our air quality section,” a senior DEP official told us, “but only one–Lou Mikolajczyk–took the offer.”

Of the 121 who will be departing, most are not high-profile names recognizable in the business community. Exceptions are Frank Coolick, who had served as administrator of the Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Program, and Frank Peluso, a long-time member of the Department’s Office of Recycling. Another, Barker Hamill, who has a national reputation in water supply circles, also is departing but has agreed to a seven-month extension.

NJDEP escapes worst of early retirements Read More »

Cleaning up New York’s Brownfield law

The idea behind state brownfield laws has always been to encourage the development of former industrial sites and other contaminated properties which otherwise would sit idle or abandoned.

Through state subsidies and tax credits, developers could clean up stagnant properties and return them to the local tax rolls as shopping centers, office complexes, sports facilities…you name it.

One of the major problems with New York State’s brownfield law, according to Gibbons attorney Eileen D. Millett, was that “credits for cleanup and development had been lumped together, so a company that spent the bulk of its money on redevelopment rather than cleanup would still get a lucrative package,” according to Gibbons attorney

“Companies thus had little incentive to go beyond minimum standards for cleanup. Indeed, the old program had not achieved the desired result in struggling areas, and had provided large windfalls to large projects that were not meeting the state’s goals of assuring environmental cleanup while spurring economic development,” Millett writes in an alert to her firm’s clients. (You can read it here.)

To fix this and other problems with the cleanup program, state lawmakers passed S-8717 prior to leaving Albany for their summer recess. The measure is designed to overhaul the cleanup program by tilting incentives more toward cleanup and less to redevelopment.
In signing the legislation, Governor Peterson said:”The purpose of the brownfields law was to clean up the environment, not clean out the state treasury.” MORE:
New Law Turns Brown Into Green for New York State (NY Times)
Governor Paterson Signs Brownfields Reform Legislation (NYDEC)

Cleaning up New York’s Brownfield law Read More »

New Jersey’s epic beach-access battle

[Updated with additional news clippings on 8/21 and 8/23/08]

One of the longest-playing environmental soap operas in New Jersey involves a cast of rich oceanfront property owners, out-of-towners seeking to claim their DEP-given right to enjoy a day in the sun (especially if it involves ticking off the rich property owners in the process), and local mayors forced to plop port-a-pottys up and down their pristine beaches.
The story plays out against a backdrop of devastating hurricanes, a rapidly eroding shore line and the threat of rising tides spurred on by melting polar icecaps. But wait…it also includes (bugle call in the distance) the chance of a last-minute rescue by an army of slide-ruler-wielding engineers driving bulldozers.

A bit over the top? Perhaps, but this, after all, is New Jersey and things tend to be a bit more dramatic here.

A bit of history…and then a request for your opinion.

For almost eight years now, Garden State residents have been following media accounts of state and federal efforts to encourage, entice, educate and, when necessary, threaten those holdout property owners along Long Beach Island who are still resisting all entreaties to cede legal access (easements) to their properties for a massive program of beach replenishment and dune building.

The $72M project, experts say, will stabilize beaches and dunes where eroding sands have left some homes perilously perched over the sea. It also may help save many more properties along the barrier island when the next major hurricane hits–an event some forecasters say is overdue.

Why would a property owner not jump at the chance to allow the government to save their properties?

Well, some are afraid that higher dunes will block their view of the ocean. Others fret about the noise and mess of construction (such a nuisance, after all, during afternoon cocktails) or the possibility of a lawsuit if a worker is injured on their property. Some just don’t trust government. A smaller number, we suspect, are just plain ornery.

Government, however, holds the trump card. It won’t allow the Army Corps of Engineers to pump one grain of new sand onto on beach in any town unless and until every oceanfront property owner therein grants the access.

The prospect of all your neighbors’ properties being washed out to sea because of your intransigence likely would, on its own, bring even the staunchest hold out around. But New Jersey went and upped the ante

Its Department of Environmental Protection decided that protecting the Shore and its valuable tourism economy (and, yes, all those million-dollar-plus, property-tax-paying homes, too) might be all in a good day’s work. But they also seized on the threat of withholding beach-replenishment funds as an effective tool to implement the social-equality goal of “equal beach access for all.”

So the DEP constructed a beach-restoration policy that not only requires towns to get everyone to waive their property rights when it comes to beach paving and dunes-building but also to provide for easy public access (including parking availability and toilet facilities) to all beaches–including those in residential neighborhoods and at private beach clubs and marinas.

The resulting regulations mandate public access to the beach at ¼ mile intervals along the island’s entire length–and the installation of restroom facilities every ½ mile.

The best argument for this policy is that the ocean belongs to everyone and that millions of dollars of in tax money should not be spent to protect properties that block access to it.

But it clearly has stiffened the opposition among some of the access holdouts. Many of them claim that the DEP is overstepping its role as environmental protector and is now pursuing a social-engineering mission.

Some argue that a person who has worked hard enough to afford a two million dollar home in an upscale town like Loveladies, in the northern half of the island, has earned the right to enjoy its traditional exclusivity—and that this privilege extends to not having port-a-potty placed alongside their property so that out-of-towners can frolic in the surf there instead of at any of the island’s numerous public beaches. Those public beaches, they add, already provide parking and rest rooms–in addition to the restaurants, shops, amusements and marinas that make for the traditional Jersey Shore experience.

What do I think? I think that I shall never make enough money to afford a seaside property in Loveladies (or anywhere else for that matter). But I don’t resent those who do, and I don’t expect the state to assure me access to every nice thing that super successful people enjoy.

How about you? Click on the “comment” line below and share your opinion.

MORE:
It may appear private, but it’s for everybody (Atlantic City Press – 8/23)
Beach-lane privacy may not be enforceable (Atlantic City Press – 8/21)

Beach replenishment on hold (Associated Press – 7/20)

New Jersey’s epic beach-access battle Read More »

Wind, solar energizing Pennsylvania’s economy

Pennsylvania is still sitting on sizable deposits of coal–perhaps more than 300 years worth, according to some estimates. And coal is still the primary fuel source for most of the state’s power-generation.

But two new alternative energy players –wind and solar–are off to impressive starts. Why? In large part due to the financial and regulatory encouragement received from state leaders who recognize the new industries’ potential–not only to generate electricity without coal’s pollution–but also to create new manufacturing and service-sector jobs.

A few days ago, we tipped our hat to the state’s new wind-energy industry in A cleaner puff of Pennsylvania is on the way. Today, Philadelphia Inquirer writer Sandy Bauer, in a story detailing the industry’s emergence, declares that wind has become “the dominant renewable-energy fuel in Pennsylvania.”

Pennsylvania already has nine commercial wind farms with a total of 175 turbines and a capacity of 294 megawatts – enough to power 78,000 households, Bauer reports in Wind power gains momentum.

“Five more wind farms under construction will double that by year’s end. About 70 more projects are in development.”

Perhaps as important as energy production is the industry’s potential benefit to the state’s economy. Gamesa Technology Corp. Inc., part of a Spanish company that’s one of the world’s largest turbine makers, already has 600 workers working round-the-clock, six days a week, at its $34M plant on the former U.S. Steel site in Bucks County (and a second in western PA).
Orders for the parts they’re making are sold out through 2010.

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The state’s other alternative energy industry–solar–made headlines this week with announcement of plans for the largest solar energy farm east of Nevada. Funded through private investment (and some state support) it would be located in the Carbon County community of Nesquehoning, an area suffering the ravages of decades of coal mining.

For coverage, see: Inquirer Standard Speaker Morning Call

Dubbed “Pennsylvania Solar Park,” it would be the largest solar energy plant in Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the U.S., generating enough electricity to power 1,450 homes and eliminate more than 320,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions within 30 years of operation.

Both solar and wind developers have benefited from a requirement that 18 percent of the state’s energy come from alternative and renewable sources by 2020.

Electric utilities are already looking to enter into contracts with alternative energy providers in order to meet that deadline.

Hmmm. Big hungry customers looking for your service. Not a bad way for a fledgling industry to get started.

Wind, solar energizing Pennsylvania’s economy Read More »

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