EnviroPolitics Blog

‘Price’s Pit’ site in NJ to get $16M treatment plant

A former landfill near Atlantic City, where millions of gallons of chemicals were dumped in the 1970’s, is in line for a groundwater treatment plant to be paid for with federal stimulus funds.

Price’s Pit, in Pleasantville, NJ was considered one of the most dangerous sites in the nation when it was added to the national Superfund list in 1983 because of the chemical brew it contained and its proximity to local drinking water supplies.

In the early stages of its cleanup, nearby residents were connected to water lines, and the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority abandoned wells near the site and relocated them about two miles northwest in 1985.

Construction of the plant will begin this summer and is expected to take up to two years to complete. When it is put into service, the plant will treat about 500,000 gallons of polluted water per day.

Water discharged from the plant will be piped to the Atlantic County Utility Authority’s (ACUA) wastewater plant in Atlantic City for final treatment.

The Press of Atlantic City reports that the federal Environmental Protection Agency will reimburse the city for the volume of water discharged into the ACUA treatment system.

Related:
EPA’s description of the site

Our most recent posts:
Harrisburg incinerator works best burning money
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Harrisburg incinerator works best burning money

Remember years ago when incinerators were sold to the public as the perfect waste-disposal solution?

The big burners would eliminate the need for landfills. They’d burn up all the trash and generate steam in the process that could be sold to heat nearby buildings or generate electricity.

And if your city or county was the first to build one, you could corner the disposal market. Other towns would send their trash to you and, eventually, you’d be making a tidy profit.

It didn’t quite work out that way for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

An Incinerator Becomes Harrisburg’s Money Pit is how the New York Times summarizes that city’s experience.

Michael Cooper reports that the problems started soon after the incinerator was built in 1972.

“Although its original price tag was less than $15 million, it required so many repairs and refinancings that it was saddled with $94 million in debt by the time the federal government shut it down in 2003 because it was polluting the air with dioxin. “The city’s decision to borrow another $125 million to rebuild and expand it was essentially a double-down bet. Harrisburg’s gamble was that by expanding the incinerator so it could burn up to 800 tons of trash a day, it would be able to burn more garbage from neighboring counties. The fees it would collect, the city hoped, would pay off the debt. But, Cooper says, some counties decided not to take their garbage to the incinerator.

“Dauphin County, of which Harrisburg is a part, does take its trash there, but pays lower fees than the incinerator originally anticipated — and about a third of what Harrisburg itself pays. “The final insult may well be that Harrisburg now pays some of the highest trash disposal fees in the country — all to prop up the incinerator that it built. The money goes to the public authority that owns the incinerator, but whose inability to pay off its debts has left Harrisburg on the hook. The resulting debt has forced the city to lay off 32 workers and increase taxes a few years ago. The city’s mayor says taxes need to be raised again, but city council is balking.

This month, Moody’s Investors Service warned that Harrisburg’s guarantee of the incinerator debt results in “a continuing burden that will stress the city’s finances for the foreseeable future, negatively affect its creditworthiness and jeopardize its future access to the public credit markets.”

Our most recent posts:
DEP attorney to watch over gas drilling in PA
Leave Jersey, save money. Right? Maybe not
Where was the BPU while PSEG dodged fees?
What caused the BP oil disaster in the Gulf?
Chris Christie: You got a problem with that?

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DEP attorney to watch over gas drilling in PA

Nels Taber, an attorney and a 17-year PADEP veteran, has been named to lead the DEP’s northcentral regional office in Williamsport, Pa.
The move thrusts Taber into the high profile position of overseeing natural gas drilling operations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region.Taber, who has been serving as regional legal counsel since 1993, will direct an office covering a 14-county area.

He replaces Robert Yowell, who retired April 30 after nearly 16 years as regional director. See Star-Gazette‘s New Environmental watchdog for region for more.Our most recent posts:
Leave Jersey, save money. Right? Maybe not
Where was the BPU while PSEG dodged fees?
What caused the BP oil disaster in the Gulf?
Chris Christie: You got a problem with that?
Who’s on NJ-DEP’s Science Advisory Board?

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Leave Jersey, save money. Right? Maybe not

The conventional wisdom is that you can’t afford to live in New Jersey.

Real estate and other taxes now run the short gamut from punishing to absolutely crushing.

Move to Pennsylvania or Florida and keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket, not the mayor’s or governor’s!

Right? Well, maybe but maybe not.

The Star-Ledger‘s intrepid videoguy, Brian Donohue, questions a tax adviser about the wisdom of getting out of Dodge. The Ledger’s editorial cartoonist, Drew Sheneman, joins in with some very clever graphics.

We recommend that you view their report before you call your moving man.

And don’t forget to tell us what you think in the comment box below. If one isn’t visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

Should I Stay or Should I Go: Three case studies of people leaving New Jersey

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Where was the BPU while PSEG dodged fees?

“While New Jersey’s gas and electric customers have over the past decade paid more than $4 billion in a special surcharge funding special energy programs, an unregulated affiliate of Public Service Electric & Gas has paid nothing, even though it uses about one-third of the gas sold by the utility.”

That’s the lead to a May 7 story written by former Star-Ledger reporter Tom Johnson in NJ Spotlight, a new online news and public affairs publication.

In PSE&G’s Largest Gas Customer Dodges Major Utility Fee,
Johnson writes:

“PSEG Power, a supplier of power and PSE&G’s largest gas customer, has avoided paying the fee, known as the societal benefits charge (SBC), even though critics say regulatory rules explicitly state that the charge cannot be bypassed.

“By one industry lawyer’s account, the supplier should have paid $47 million into the SBC fund in 2009 alone. Last year, the fund raised $740 million from other customers to finance half a dozen energy-related programs, including reduction of energy consumption, promotion of solar and wind power, and assistance for the poor in paying their utility bills. “

Critics say that by escaping the SBC, PSEG Power is in effect being subsidized by other rate payers and gaining an unfair advantage over competing energy suppliers—some of which pay as much as $2 million in SBC charges.

How has PSEG managed to get away with it?

Stefanie Brand, acting state Public Advocate and director of the state’s division of rate counsel, told Johnson she was baffled.
“Look at the statue,” she said. “It says the SBC is non-bypassable.”

Which raises the question: Where was the state’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the folks who are supposed to review the financial operations of regulated public utilities and their unregulated subsidiaries, while all this was going on?

The BPU says it became aware of PSEG Power’s nonpayment of surcharges only during a recent rate-hearing case. It has since submitted a brief asking an administrative law court judge to order PSEG Power to make an accounting of the money that should have been paid into the SBC and other funds.
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Our most recent posts:
What caused the BP oil disaster in the Gulf?
Chris Christie: You got a problem with that?
Who’s on NJ-DEP’s Science Advisory Board?
EPA adopts final greenhouse gas emissions rule
NJDEP Commissioner briefs state lawmakers

Where was the BPU while PSEG dodged fees? Read More »

What caused the BP oil disaster in the Gulf?

Still wondering what caused the BP oil rig to explode on April 20, triggering a seabed rupture that continues to spew more than 200,000 gallons each day into the Gulf of Mexico?

A worker on the Deepwater Horizon who jumped into the sea to escape and an engineer hired by the Obama administration to investigate the disaster combine to paint a picture for 60 Minutes that points the finger of blame squarely at BP.

It looks like the disaster could have been prevented had warnings of equipment problems been heeded and had BP not overruled Transocean on a crucial decision.

To start the video, click on the triangle in the lower left corner of the screen.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

If that didn’t make you sick, consider BP chief executive Tony Hayward’s recent comment that “the overall environmental impact will be very, very modest.”

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Like this? You’ll love our daily newsletter
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Our most recent posts:
Chris Christie: You got a problem with that?
Who’s on NJ-DEP’s Science Advisory Board?
EPA adopts final greenhouse gas emissions rule
NJDEP Commissioner briefs state lawmakers
Environmental bills this week in NJ Legislature

What caused the BP oil disaster in the Gulf? Read More »