EnviroPolitics Blog

Cullen and Dykman LLP Grows Its Environmental Law Practice with the Promotion of Amie Kalac to Partner

Princeton, NJ – Cullen and Dykman LLP, a leading Northeast regional law firm, is proud to announce the elevation of Amie Kalac to partner, effective January 1, 2024.

Amie’s appointment aligns seamlessly with the firm’s strategic growth plan, reinforcing our commitment to meet the escalating demands within our environmental department. With 25 years of legal expertise, Amie consistently delivers top-tier service, specializing in environmental, land use, toxic tort, and products liability matters.

Her extensive environmental experience encompasses cases involving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act), among others. Amie has provided valuable counsel to clients, guiding them through the complexities of federal and state environmental statutes, environmental and land use permitting, regulatory compliance, enforcement matters, real estate transactions, and professional negligence. Her proficiency extends to advising clients on environmental insurance coverage and representing them in toxic tort and products liability matters.

“We are thrilled to welcome Amie to our partnership at Cullen and Dykman. As we build on our growth and momentum heading into the new year, Amie’s industry expertise and proven track record in the field of environmental law will help move our clients’ business goals forward,” said Christopher H. Palmer, Managing Partner of Cullen and Dykman. “We look forward to her continued success.”

Amie added, “I have thoroughly enjoyed working side by side with experienced colleagues at the firm. I look forward to continuing to work with the firm’s clients and expanding on the work we do.”

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Climate change challenges NJ’s costly beach replenishment cycle

The recently completed beach replenishment in Strathmere, Cape May County, is part of a $33.7 million project that will add almost 113,000 dump trucks’ worth of sand to beaches in Ocean City, Upper Township, and Sea Isle City.

By ANDREW S. LEWIS, NJ Spotlight, JANUARY 18, 2024 |

Just as the last sand-and-seawater slurry was pumped onshore and bulldozed into place on the beachfront at Strathmere, Cape May County, earlier this month, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency. Yet another powerful winter storm was bearing down on the New Jersey coast. As the Atlantic began to churn, the inevitable question surfaced: How much sand would be clawed back by the ocean this time?

The Strathmere replenishment is one segment of an ongoing $33.7 million project by the Army Corps of Engineers that, when completed in spring, will see 1,353,000 cubic yards of sand — almost 113,000 dump trucks’ worth — pumped onto barrier island beaches in Ocean City, Upper Township (Strathmere), and Sea Isle City. Another recently completed project, in Cape May City, saw 517,000 cubic yards of sand pumped onto 2.6 miles of shoreline — price tag $16.1 million.

Neither effort is an emergency measure, but periodic “nourishment” cycles that are part of a 50-year commitment between New Jersey and the Army Corps, established in the early 1990s, in which the federal government covers the majority of the projects’ costs. In the case of this winter’s Ocean City/Upper Township/Sea Isle City replenishment, the federal government is responsible for 65% of the cost; the state and local municipalities will split the remaining 35%.

In the replenishment project that just ended earlier this month, Strathmere received another 456,000 cubic yards of sand — almost the same amount that was pumped onto its shoreline in 2016.

Sea level rise, combined with the slight but steady subsidence of the coastal plain upon which southern New Jersey rests, has for years been the climate-change bogeyman most often blamed for the staggeringly fast erasure of equally as staggering amounts of sand from the Atlantic shoreline. While sea level rise does play a role — the Atlantic City tide gauge shows over 18 inches of rise since 1910, a foot of which has occurred since 1950 — more recently, climate change’s impact on localized weather events has been an increasing concern.

Read the full story here

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Pennsylvania awarded $39M to replace diesel fleets

Sixteen applicants received funding to incorporate electric vehicles into their fleets as part of a statewide initiative

electric vehicle charging station — Kevin McGovern | stock.adobe.com

POSTED BY TESS KAZDIN, Waste Today,| JANUARY 12, 2024

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded 16 applicants more than $39.6 million, funded by the Environmental Mitigation Trust Agreement for State Beneficiaries, to replace diesel-fueled fleets with zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) as part of the 2022-2023 Medium and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicle Pilot Grant.

Part of the Driving PA Forward program, DEP says this grant was developed to improve air quality statewide by switching from diesel engines to ZEVs.

“Clean air is crucial in ensuring a healthy environment,” DEP Interim Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley says. “That’s why we see it as our mission to address one of the most significant air quality challenges facing our commonwealth—emissions from transportation.

These recommendations mark the highest-dollar awards in any round for any Driving PA Forward Initiative funding program, showing a step forward in Pennsylvania’s effort to reduce these emissions by getting more clean trucks on the road in the communities that need them.”

DEP is awarding $39,605,578.58 to 16 applicants for the battery-electric replacement of dozens of vehicles, including home delivery trucks, refuse and recycling trucks, terminal tractors, and the hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle replacement of two terminal tractors and their supporting charging infrastructure.

The borough of Munhall and the city of Chester were awarded $1,681,008 and $1,575,074, respectively, to replace three Class 8 waste collection trucks with three battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and install the necessary charging infrastructure. The city of Erie was awarded $3,120,000 to replace five Class 8 waste collection trucks with BEVs and install the necessary charging infrastructure.

Two companies were awarded funds to replace collection vehicles as well. Portage, Pennsylvania-based Pro Disposal Inc. was awarded $6,190,500 to replace 16 Class 8 waste trucks with BEVs, and Grove City, Pennsylvania-based Tri-County Industries Inc. was awarded $2,785,505 to replace five Class 8 waste trucks with BEVs. This funding includes the installation of the necessary charging infrastructure.

The 2022-2023 Medium and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicle Pilot Grant focuses on funding projects located in underserved and disproportionately impacted communities.

Pennsylvania awarded $39M to replace diesel fleets Read More »

Coming in summer – The next threat to Biden’s climate agenda

A worker in a jacket shovels snow on the steps in front of the Supreme Court. — *A government employee shovels newly fallen snow from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. | Win McNamee/Getty Images*

By NIINA H. FARAH. Politico, 01/18/2024 06:10 PM EST

The stage is set for the Supreme Court to make it even harder for the Biden administration to defend its climate and energy policies in courts across the country.

A potentially blockbuster ruling expected to come this summer is likely to set limits to a legal theory known as the Chevron doctrine, which tells judges to favor federal agencies’ readings of ambiguous laws, as long as those interpretations are reasonable.

The high court’s rulings in Relentless v. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo hold broad implications for just about any kind of agency action — and could make judges less likely to acknowledge federal agencies’ authority to limit planet-warming pollution.

That would put a dent in President Joe Biden’s climate agenda, providing fuel for expected legal challenges on everything from EPA’s efforts to limit power plant pollution to the Department of Energy’s planned efficiency standards for a range of household appliances.

How far will the court go?

Read the full story here

Coming in summer – The next threat to Biden’s climate agenda Read More »

Frosty flowers cover a reservoir in Wyoming like a sea of ‘sagebrush’

On an ice fishing trip to Wyoming’s Boysen Reservoir, Ed and Deanna Reish, along with grandson McCrae Puckett, stumbled on to a beautiful phenomenon — the lake was covered with a field of large hoarfrost crystals that looked like a sea of frosty “sagebrush.”

By Andrew Rossi, Cowboy State News

Deanna and Ed Reish were taking their 6-year-old grandson McCrae Puckett on his first ice fishing experience on Boysen Reservoir recently when they found something they hadn’t seen before — a field of frost flowers covering the crystal-clear ice of the lake.

“I kept looking out at the lake and I was like, ‘That looks weird,’” Deanna told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. “It looked like these round things were all over. We thought it was snow, then once we got out of the truck, these things were all over the ice.”

The crystal-clear ice was covered with clusters of large, delicate ice crystals. It was like a vast expanse of white sagebrush stretching as far as the eye could see.

“Our grandson tried to pick some up for me,” Deanna said. “He said, ‘I want to give (Grandma) a rose.’ So, he would bend over and try to pick them up off the ice, and they would just crumble apart.”

The Reishs were surrounded by delicate frost flowers for the entire fishing trip. Soon after, they were gone.

Read the full story here

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Small solar project funding available from the DOE

From the Department of Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced the Small Innovative Projects in Solar (SIPS) 2024 funding opportunity. This annual funding opportunity will award $6.5 million for seedling R&D projects that focus on innovative and novel ideas in photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) and are riskier than research ideas based on established technologies.

This funding opportunity is designed to streamline the application process to encourage applications from early-career researchers who have never applied or been selected for a SETO project award. Applicants must submit a plan to broaden the participation of well-qualified members of underrepresented groups on their teams. These efforts will help achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to increase the diversity of those working in applied energy research fields.

SETO expects to make approximately 14 to 24 awards, each ranging between $250,000 and $400,000. Diverse teams from universities, federally funded research and development centers, nonprofits, community-based organizations, state agencies, local governments, and solar developers are encouraged to apply. 

Learn more about the topics in this funding opportunity and apply by March 6 at 5 p.m. ET. 

Small solar project funding available from the DOE Read More »

Cullen and Dykman LLP Grows Its Environmental Law Practice with the Promotion of Amie Kalac to Partner

Climate change challenges NJ’s costly beach replenishment cycle

Pennsylvania awarded $39M to replace diesel fleets

Coming in summer – The next threat to Biden’s climate agenda

Frosty flowers cover a reservoir in Wyoming like a sea of ‘sagebrush’

On an ice fishing trip to Wyoming’s Boysen Reservoir, Ed and Deanna Reish, along with grandson McCrae Puckett, stumbled on to a beautiful phenomenon — the lake was covered with a field of large hoarfrost crystals that looked like a sea of frosty “sagebrush.”

Small solar project funding available from the DOE

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