How will you follow the Inauguration today?


How and where will you be watching or listening to today’s historic event?

Have you brought a TV or radio to work ?
Will you be ducking into the nearest coffee shop with a wall mounted set?

Following it all online via your desktop or laptop? Or cellphone?

Or are you sneaking a sick day, staying in bed, and viewing it all on your HD flat screen?

If you’re in the mood to witness history via non-traditional media, check out these two:

The Inauguration Will Be Televised — and Tweeted and Flickr’d

5 Best Ways to Watch the Obama Inauguration Online

Whatever you’re planning, let us know. Click on the comment line below and tell us how you plan to watch (or listen to) the swearing-in of President Barack Obama–and other inaugural festivities.

How will you follow the Inauguration today? Read More »

Proposed NJ electric power line prompts PR clash

New Jersey’s largest power company, PSE&G, is embroiled in a growing public relations battle with environmental groups and some local government leaders over the proposed Susquehanna-Roseland high-power transmission line which the company wants to erect between the Delaware Water Gap in Warren County and the town of Roseland in Essex County.

For months, both sides have been fighting to win public and government support for their respective positions, for and against the construction. PSE&G contends the lines are necessary to address deteriorating infrastructure and the region’s growing energy demands. Opponents say the project would harm the environment and import “”dirty” electricity from coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania and other western states.

The combatants have clashed on the classic PR battlegrounds –in newspaper stories covering the controversy, in media events staged by opponents, in press releases, and in letters to the editor.

On Jan, 15, PSE&G opened a new PR front, with a paid advertorial Caution: Blackouts Ahead… which appeared on the opinion page of the state’s largest daily newspaper, the (Newark) Star-Ledger. The piece summoned up a bleak picture of 1926-era power lines “staining to carry voltage” which, according to an industry expert, could “break and fall to the ground causing a potentially dangerous situation…” not to mention “permanent damage to transmission infrastructure and catastrophic power outages.”

An opponent group, Stop The Lines, fired back two days later, using the same newspaper’s free, public blog section, NJ Voices. The opponents contended that the PSE&G piece was ” deceptive, fear-mongering, and baseless.”

On Jan 12, PSE&G formally applied to the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) for permission to build the 45-mile, $650 million line. That immediately triggered protests from environmentalists who claimed the petition was an attempt by PSE&G to circumvent the process of seeking local approvals in each of the 15 towns affected by the project.

In addition to making its case before the BPU, the power company apparently also must win the approval of the state’s Highlands Council which controls development in all environmentally sensitive areas of the New Jersey’s northwest, including the power line’s proposed pathway.

Getting the BPU to rule on the proposal could take up to a year, according to some estimates.

That virtually guarantees a lot more coalition-building, news conferences, press releases, paid adversorials, opinion poll contentions and op-ed submissions from both sides.

MORE:

Our previous posts:

Proposed NJ electric power line prompts PR clash Read More »

Jackson promises to un-Bush the EPA


Photo: Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times
In testimony at her confirmation hearing today before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, EPA-Administrator nominee Lisa Jackson pledged that science, not politics, would guide future decisions at the agency.
“Science must be the backbone of what E.P.A. does,” Ms. Jackson said in her prepared opening statement. “If I am confirmed, I will administer with science as my guide. I understand the laws leave room for policy-makers to make policy judgments. But if I am confirmed, political appointees will not compromise the integrity of E.P.A.’s technical experts to advance particular regulatory outcomes.”

The former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, who had worked previously at the EPA, said that the Obama administration’s environmental priorities would focus on curbing global warming, reducing air pollution, cleaning up hazardous waste sites, regulating toxic chemicals and protecting water quality.
As the New York Times noted, Jackson’s confirmation “appears on track” as “the ranking Republican on the committee, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a skeptic on global warming, called her ‘accessible and reasonable’ and said he planned to vote to confirm her.”
Check out the initial stories on Jackson’s testimony below. We’ll update this post as others of note appear tomorrow.Nominee signals big change for EPA (Washington Post)
Jackson Promises to Put Science First at E.P.A. (New York Times)
Jackson vows to take agency in new direction (Star-Ledger)
Jackson vows resolve at EPA helm (Bergen Record)
Jackson outlines aggressive agenda for EPA (Bergen Record)
EPA nominee vows to follow science (Philadelphia Inquirer)
EPA Pick… Bold Promises, Will She Keep Them? (Tort Deform)
A new Lisa on life (Grist)
Obama choices widely hailed (Treehugger)
For our earlier coverage of the Jackson nomination and the controversy it stirred up among environmental organizations, see: Lisa Jackson’s EPA confirmation hearing

Jackson promises to un-Bush the EPA Read More »

Beating the nuclear drum in Pennsylvania

In an effort to get Pennsylvania legislators and voters to warm up to nuclear power, a group calling itself The Pennsylvania Energy Alliance yesterday released the results of a poll claiming that 57 percent of those questioned somewhat or strongly agreed that nuclear power will reduce the effects of global warming.

Eighty-two percent somewhat or strongly agreed that it is reliable, and just over 66 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that nuclear power is safe, according to Terry Madonna, an independent pollster and professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.

Did the poll include questions about the safety of handling or disposing of spent nuclear rods? If so, we didn’t see any responses in the Alliance’s news release.

The Alliance is funded by Exelon Corp., which operates 10 nuclear power stations across the country. Members of the Alliance include:

– Pete Duncan and Dave Hess, former secretaries of the DEP- Forrest J. Remick, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering at Penn State – James MacVay and William Lynch, former Adjutants General and commanders of the PA National Guard- Dr. Ivory Nelson, President of Lincoln University- Dr. Steven King, Director, Division of Health Physics and Radiation Safety Officer, Hershey Medical Center – Former Governor Mark S. Schweiker – Terry Peck, Business Manager, UA Local 520 Plumbers and Pipefitters Union – The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry

Alliance members must have been heartened to learn that Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Department of Energy supported building at least some new nuclear energy plants in response to questions during his confirmation hearing yesterday. MORE:
Coalition announces nuclear power support
New Statewide Coalition Formed to Promote Nuclear Energy
Nuclear reactor owners rush to extend licenses

Beating the nuclear drum in Pennsylvania Read More »

Lisa Jackson’s EPA confirmation hearing

Here are some of the latest national news stories and blog posts on EPA Administrator nominee Lisa Jackson, whose confirmation hearing will be held in Washington tomorrow at 10 a.m.(Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009) before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Lisa P. Jackson (New York Times profiles of Obama cabinet selections)
Obama chooses moderate to head EPA (DC Progressive Examiner)

Transparency Concerns Raised about EPA Nominee (OMB Watch)

Key Questions for Lisa Jackson, Nominee for EPA Administrator (Heritage Foundation)
Why Some Enviros Hate Obama’s EPA Pick (Mother Jones)

Our previous posts on Mrs. Jackson’s nomination can be found at:
We will update this post should additional stories become available today and will cover Mrs. Jackson’s confirmation hearing in a future post.

Lisa Jackson’s EPA confirmation hearing Read More »

Hearings for NJ, PA environmental regulators


Lisa Jackson’s confirmation may travel a smooth path, John Hager’s a rocky road.

President-elect Barack Obama wants the U.S. Senate to confirm his nomination of New Jersey’s former DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Governor Ed Rendell wants the senate in the Keystone State to confirm his nomination of John Hanger as secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Jackson will get her Senate hearing this week in Washington and is expected to be confirmed without much difficulty. She has the support of the state’s two U.S. Senators, the governor, and all of New Jersey’s major environmental organizations.

Jackson is likely to face some questions about her performance at the DEP, however, based on allegations made by several former department employees and the leader of a wetlands organization in Edison that she wasn’t tough enough on enforcement issues.

Hanger, a former state PUC commissioner, was nominated by Rendell, a Democrat, in August and has been serving as Acting DEP Secretary while waiting for the Senate to consider his nomination. He will make his case for the position before the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee at a date expected to be announced soon.

His road to confirmation is likely to be far rockier than his former environmental colleague on the opposite side of the Delaware.

That’s due to the fact that, after leaving the PUC, Hanger served as an aggressive advocate on environmental issues for the statewide organization, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (Penn Future).

In that role, he didn’t win many friends in the business community and crossed swords, more than occasionally, with several legislators. The most notable of them happens to be Mary Jo White, the powerful Republican chairwoman of the committee that now controls the future of his nomination.

When asked by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about his prospects, Hanger said:

“I don’t hold grudges. I respect those who come into the public arena and fiercely make their points. That’s what democracy is all about.”

Do Senator White and her Republican colleagues share the same philosophy?

Time will tell.

MORE:

Jackson’s EPA bid has support of many state environmentalists

Ten Questions the Senate Should Ask Lisa Jackson
NJ Sierra Club – Lisa Jackson Great Choice to Lead EPA
Environment New Jersey Hails Obama’s Historic Pick
Daily Kos weighs in on Jackson-EPA debate
NJ’s Lisa Jackson may get top EPA job

Hearings for NJ, PA environmental regulators Read More »