Week’s top environmental & political news

Some of the top environmental and political news stories for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and beyond appearing in EnviroPolitics from February 25 – 29, 2008.

New Jersey Environmental News
Report blasts plan for landfills, seeks probe When EnCap got state approval to transform Meadowlands landfills into a luxurious complex of golf courses, offices and hotel rooms, the company said it had the money and skills to get the $1 billion job done. But a report released yesterday by state Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper concluded EnCap significantly misrepresented its qualifications and financing and has asked the AG’s office to consider a criminal investigation Star-Ledger NY Times AP Press

The Miracle in the Meadowlands? As sold to the public, the EnCap Golf project sounded great. A vast stretch of Meadowlands swamps and landfills would morph from toxic wasteland into a bastion of the good life — a golf-themed mini-city with upscale housing and easy access to New York Bergen Record Horseshoe crab ban considered Legislation banning horseshoe crab harvesting along NJ shores was sent to the state Assembly yesterday, as lawmakers rushed to protect a shore bird that relies on crab eggs for food during spring migration Star-Ledger Agriculture Department essential, state farmers say Farmers and agriculture supporters are sending the governor the message that his proposal to eliminate the state Department of Agriculture ”doesn’t save much at all and would decimate the leadership of the industry” AC press

Farmers say Corzine’s scythe could be their ruin Gov. Jon Corzine’s budget would leave the Garden State without a Department of Agriculture Star-Ledger
> Budget leaves farmers fuming Express-TimesLegal ruling seen as shield against property seizure In a decision that lawyers believe could affect the efforts of towns to take private property for private redevelopment, a state appeals court rules that local governments must give owners clear and timely warnings that they could lose their property Star-Ledger Highlands Council’s definition sparks enviros’ ire It looks like a simple question. What construction materials can water pass through? Gravel? Concrete? Grass? Star-Ledger Outages cut radiation monitors’ data stream New Jersey, which still had five radiation monitors that aren’t working on and around the Oyster Creek nuclear plant site in Lacey last week, is confronting a new problem: repeated Internet outages AP Press
New Jersey Political News

Feds argue affair gave ex-mayor a motive Prosecutors plan to use tickets to a boxing match in Tennessee to help prove that former Newark Mayor Sharpe James had an intimate relationship with a city businesswoman who allegedly reaped nearly $700K in profits from questionable land sales Star-Ledger

Two UMDNJ doctors admit to embezzling Cardiologists plead guilty to federal embezzlement charges, admitting they were paid $870,000 as faculty members of the state’s medical university for doing little more than referring patients Bergen Record

NJ braces for cuts sought by governor From emergency rooms in city hospitals to hayfields in horse country, residents began bracing on Wednesday for the upheaval NY Times

Corzine seeks to cut NJ budget and work force Declaring that the state had reached an irrevocable “turning point” because of years of bad fiscal habits, Gov. Jon S. Corzine proposed a budget on Tuesday that would reduce the state’s work force by 3,000 people, close three departments and prune expenses for services including colleges and hospitals NY Times

Booker might be witness in James trial Newark Mayor Cory Booker emerges as a potential witness in the corruption trial of his predecessor and former political rival Star-Ledger Ashcroft relents, will testify on Christie contract Facing the threat of a subpoena, former Attorney General John Ashcroft agreed yesterday to testify before a congressional committee that has questioned a lucrative assignment he received from U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to serve as a corporate monitor in a New Jersey case Star-Ledger Jersey schools got tainted meat from California plant Tainted meat from a California meatpacking plant, which was shut down after the nation’s largest beef recall, made its way to more than 100 New Jersey schools participating in federal lunch programs, state officials said yesterday Star-Ledger

Pennsylvania Environmental NewsNRC chairman says report on napping guards at Peach Bottom not fully reviewed The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged Thursday that more should have been done to thoroughly investigate a tip that security guards routinely took naps while on the job at a Pennsylvania nuclear plant Delaware County Times

Biodiesel maker sets sights on Neville Island Diamond Star Energy CEO Susan Ostrowski has presented a plan to Neville commissioners and is seeking the township’s support as her company works to convert an existing plant on the island to manufacture biodiesel, a clean-burning alternative fuel produced from renewable resources Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Discussion highlights divisive debate over Chesapeake cleanup Municipal officials charged Tuesday night that the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy places an unfair burden on taxpayers while giving farmers, a major source of harmful nutrients, a free pass Carlisle Sentinel Somerset windmill plan judged deficient by state A controversial proposal to build 30 wind turbines in an ecologically sensitive watershed containing a wilderness trout stream on Shaffer Mountain in northeastern Somerset County has been judged deficient by the state Post-Gazette Scientist tells crowd bay needs a cleanup The tremendous cost of cleaning up Chesapeake Bay, and its coming impact on midstate residents, has been getting much attention. But the reasons often get overshadowed, a scientist told a panel discussion sponsored by the West Shore Chamber of Commerce Patriot-News Governors defending use of coal State leaders pushing alternative energy are not shying from coal, a major culprit in global warming but also a homegrown energy source and an economic lifeline for many states Associated Press Rendell intervention saved Fish and Boat exec’s job A move by the state Fish and Boat Commission board to remove its executive director was thwarted last month when a Gov. Rendell staffer intervened, according to sources close to the agency Times Leader Bay cleanup costs loom for PA Few residents in the central Pennsylvania town of Huntingdon regularly, if ever, head to the Chesapeake Bay to enjoy its many recreational opportunities, though they may be saddled with higher sewer bills to help clean it up
Press-Enterprise

Pennsylvania Political News

State lawmakers want tighter scrutiny of slots Legislators signal greater scrutiny for PA’s slot-machine law as they press for answers after a casino owner was charged with lying to gambling regulators to win his license Inquirer

Most doubt slots will yield tax cuts PA voters expect slot machines will raise an additional $1 billion a year by 2012, yet they’re not so optimistic that the extra revenue will mean much of a property tax cut for them Patriot-News Rendell: Subsidized health care would help small businesses Gov. Ed Rendell tells the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business that his plan to subsidize health care for the uninsured would relieve a burden on small businesses The Bulletin

PA smoking ban: Not if, but how One is a Vietnam veteran from north-central Pennsylvania, a lifelong smoker fighting for the rights of fellow vets to light up in VFW halls Inquirer

No country for old men? Seniors weigh in on McCain Frankie La Rosa likes everything about John McCain’s politics. He likes his moderation. He likes his integrity. He even read one of his books. But when Pennsylvania’s primary rolls around on April 22, he plans to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton Morning Call

New York/Region/WorldHess to pay $1.1M fine for NY enviro violations Newsday
Spitzer calls off sale of land near Javits Center NY Sun
New York City’s black taxis going green Reuters
Court upholds DEC on brownfields Times Union Ithaca Journal
Revenue estimates endanger NY budget Democrat & Chronicle
An experiment to get shellfish to tidy up a bit New York Times
Indian Point agrees to pay $650,000 siren fine Journal News
House votes to end big oil’s tax breaks Washington Post
Alaska to sue BP over 2006 Prudhoe spill Reuters

Try a no-obligation, 30-day subscription to EnviroPolitics: Free Trial

Week’s top environmental & political news Read More »

Connecticut’s LNG solution? Put it in Jersey

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is outraged that Shell is proposing to erect a liquefied natural gas storage facility in Long Island Sound. He calls it “an environmental atrocity, a serious security risk and a navigation nightmare.”

But he acknowledges that Connecticut and New York need more natural gas – and perhaps large LNG facilities (like Shell’s proposed Broadwater terminal) – to feed a growing demand for energy.

So what alternative does he propose? Put the damn thing in New Jersey.

No kidding. In an opinion piece published today in Newsday, Mr. Blumenthal offers up the Garden State as the ideal facility host, arguing:

“Exxon Mobil’s proposed BlueOcean LNG terminal off the New Jersey coast, for example, would be in open water away from shipping lanes and environmentally sensitive areas and would require less underwater pipeline, while providing 20 percent more natural gas capacity to the Northeast market than Broadwater. “

And if that isn’t acceptable? Guess which are find his #2 and #3 choice locations?

“Other terminals under consideration – also worthy of support – are Crown Landing in Logan Township, N.J., and Safe Harbor Energy off the coast of New Jersey.“

Normally, attempting to foist off an “environmental atrocity” on New Jersey would bring a prompt rebuke from the guy in charge in Trenton. But that might prove a bit awkward in this case, since New Jersey’s attorney general has already gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the state’s right to host the above mentioned Crown Landing LNG facility in the Delaware River just off Logan Township.

That LNG proposal brought the Delaware of Governor bristling into court, claiming New Jersey was poaching in its territorial waters.

In these confusing days of shrinking energy supplies and expanding political bravura it’s difficult to judge who is right or wrong.

Got an opinion on any or all of this? Click on the comment line below and let us know what you think.

SIDEBAR: AG Blumenthal’s full comments can be viewed here
Our previous posts are: New York postpones LNG facility decision
and NY and CT face off over LNG terminal

Connecticut’s LNG solution? Put it in Jersey Read More »

A big new wind blowing out of Texas

We all know they like ’em big in Texas.

Big ranches. Big boots. Big hats. Big ole nasty bulls. Big Cadillacs (some with big ole nasty bull horns on the grill). Big bar-b-que.

And, of course, Big Oil.

Well, move over boys, there’s a new sheriff in town – Big Wind.

The New York Times reports that:

“Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines.”

Texas surpassed California as the top wind farm state in 2006. In January alone, new wind farms representing $700 million of investment went into operation in Texas, supplying power sufficient for 100,000 homes.

Even legendary oilman Boone Pickens is fixin to get into the alternative energy business. Not surprisingly, the quintessential Texan plans to erect the biggest wind farm in the world, a $10 billion behemoth that could power a city by itself.

” I like wind because it’s renewable and it’s clean and you know you are not going to be dealing with a production decline curve, ” Mr. Pickens said. “Decline curves finally wore me out in the oil business.”

And it turns out there are big profits to be earned, too. Just ask Louis Brooks who fetches $500 a head for each wind turbine he allows to be placed on his ranch in Sweetwater. There are 78 of them so far, 76 more on the way.

How does he like the sound of the blades, each as wide as the wingspan of a jumbo jet, whirling and humming overhead?

“That’s just money you’re hearing,” drawls Mr. Brooks.

Enjoy the entire story here

A big new wind blowing out of Texas Read More »

The dark side of energy independence

Is America’s burning desire for energy independence being exploited by profiteers in the coal industry? A story in today’s Toronto Star examines coal-extraction practices in Appalachia that raise disturbing environmental and public health issues. The political machinations alone are enough to turn your stomach. An excerpt:

“This is the new face of coal mining in Central Appalachia. It is called mountaintop removal. Instead of extracting coal the old-fashioned way, by burrowing, the mountain is extracted from the coal – blown up sequentially to reveal each black seam. Everything left over – trees, soil, plants and rock – is considered “overburden.” It’s dumped into the valleys below, filling them up.

Some say as many as 470 mountains in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia have been flattened this way. For the industry, it’s a financial jackpot – fast, cheap and thorough. But for the mountains, and the communities nestled between them, it’s war.

Their homes have been flooded, walls cracked, wells poisoned, streams polluted; their jobs have been forfeited, cemeteries unearthed and communities abandoned. Many suffer from early-onset dementia and kidney stones. And they’ve lost their ancestral home.”We’re mountain people. You don’t understand our connection with the land,” says Gibson, who traces his heritage back 120 years to this very spot. He had never ventured beyond the company store, halfway down the mountain, until he was 11. “We didn’t live on the land, we lived with it.” People who live here think of themselves as collateral damage – accidental victims of a war to feed the nation’s insatiable demand for energy.

Read the entire story: Coal mining ravages Appalachia

The dark side of energy independence Read More »

Week’s top environmental & political news

Some of the top environmental and political news stories for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and beyond appearing in EnviroPolitics from February 19 – 22, 2008

New Jersey Environmental News

New Jersey polluters cut emissions Factories, power plants and other polluters cut their emissions of lead, mercury and other hazardous chemicals by 10 percent in 2006, the EPA reports. PSEG’s switch to a cleaner-burning coal at its Jersey City power plant had the greatest impact Bergen Record

Alec Baldwin to nuke critics: Don’t let Corzine off hook “Exelon makes $150 million in profit at that plant (Oyster Creek in Lacey). I don’t think they’ll close it down if they have to build cooling towers,” the actor tells audience at a forum Wednesday night. Exelon’s response: the towers aren’t necessary and could cause environmental problems Gannett

PSEG has big plans for Power profit Expecting to generate between $2 billion and $2.5 billion in excess cash during the next three years, the Newark-based energy company is considering investments in conservation, alternative energy, and maybe a new nuclear plant in South Jersey Star-Ledger

Feral cat colonies pose risk to endangered birds, funds The cats vs. birds struggle in the Victorian seaside resort of Cape May has come down to the carrot vs. the stick AP Press

Trenton rallies behind a bird A migratory shorebird threatened with extinction may soon get a reprieve from New Jersey Bergen Record Gannett

New Jersey Political News

Creamed in the polls, Corzine considers Plan B If there is one thing Jon Corzine learned as chief executive of Goldman Sachs, it is how to count. Yesterday he acknowledged the cold, hard numbers confronting his grand plan to fix state finances through higher tolls: There simply aren’t enough lawmakers willing to vote for it Star-Ledger Bergen Record Gannett Cartoon

Running ’em out of state … on a poll New Jerseyans are generally dissatisfied with Corzine, Lautenberg, Menendez and state legislators, too, according to new poll data Star-Ledger

Corzine’s approvals plummet on tolls Gov. Jon Corzine has an upside-down approval rating of 37%-52%, down from 46%–43% in December, and 73% of voters oppose his plan to raise tolls, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll PolitickerNJ

The ax hovers over most of state budget Gov. Jon Corzine is considering making more high-income residents ineligible for tax rebates, closing some state parks, reducing hours at motor vehicle offices and slicing aid to colleges, hospitals and towns, according to administration and legislative officials familiar with his plans for a no-frills state budget Star-Ledger

Christie faces a grilling over Ashcroft role A congressional committee has called for New Jersey’s U.S. attorney, Christopher Christie, to testify at a hearing next week about his appointment of former Attorney General John Ashcroft to a lucrative assignment as a corporate monitor Star-Ledger

Pennsylvania Environmental News

Rendell: Record oil costs show need for energy independence After consecutive record-setting days where oil futures closed above $100 per barrel, and with expectations that oil-cartel nations will cut production in coming weeks, the governor says Pennsylvania should be investing in homegrown alternatives Gant Daily

‘Unfunded mandate’: Senators focus on $1 billion price tag for upgrades It may be hard to imagine that a body of water that does not border Pennsylvania could cost the commonwealth more than $1 billion Lewistown Sentinel

‘Nobody free pass’ on Chesapeake Bay mandate There was no silver lining in comments Wednesday by state DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty about the potential $1 billion impact of a federal mandate to clean up the water flowing from PA into the Chesapeake Bay Sun Gazette

Hearings set on costs of Chesapeake Bay cleanup Lawmakers in Harrisburg will try to figure out this week how to keep municipalities from being bankrupted by the cost of cleaning up the bay Lancasteronline

Army Corps nixes dam on Susquehanna River The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced this week that it’s denying a permit for an inflatable dam to be built across the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre Morning Call

Pennsylvania Political News

Street jury says it is deadlocked on 7 charges After two full days of deliberations, the federal jury considering fraud and tax charges against T. Milton Street Sr. announced yesterday that it was deadlocked on seven charges Inquirer

Liquor reform on the rocks? Former Gov. Dick Thornburgh has two words for the backers of the latest bill to dismantle the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board: “Keep plugging” Patriot News

Fumo back surgery spurs rumors he might quit race Daily News

21 state lawmakers plan to retire this year Ask state Sen. Gerald LaValle if his support for the legislative pay raises in 2005 is the reason he’s retiring from the Legislature this year and you’ll get a blunt answer Post-Gazette

New York/Region/World

The parks, he knows. The trees, don’t ask NY Times
Funds in doubt for new Tappan Zee Bridge LoHud.com
Bruno chases cold cash in warm weather Times Union
Utility, state settle case over coal plant Post-Standard
Condos next in Catskill factory do-over Times Union
State grows Adirondack preserve Times Union
Mayor, council may spar over E-recycling New York Sun

Try a no-obligation, 30-day subscription to EnviroPolitics: Free Trial

Week’s top environmental & political news Read More »

DE’s wind-power debate has implications for NJ

This post was updated on Februray 20.

The battle over a proposed 150-turbine windfarm off Delaware’s Rehoboth Beach intensified Saturday as the president of Delmarva Power published an op-ed letter in the Wilmington News Journal attacking Bluewater Wind project as too costly.

The outcome of the debate has implications for New Jersey which also is preparing to consider proposals for ocean wind farms. Neighboring Pennsylvania is ahead of both states in wind-energy development.

“Fifty million dollars to $70 million per year for 25 years — well over a billion dollars — this is what is at stake in this critical issue for our customers, ” wrote Gary Stockbridge.

The Delmarva executive said his company is seeking proposals from 20 regional wind energy developers and expects those bids will be some $50 million less, per year, than Bluewater Wind’s offshore proposal.

“There is only one reason to rush into a 25-year contract for $5.6 billion that will not even start for five years, ” he wrote, “a fear that the alternatives will present a far more attractive proposal.”

Stockbridge contends that Delaware has explored only a single renewable solution–the Bluewater Wind offshore proposal.

The Bluewater project also is the subject of a new round of hearings in the Delaware State Senate which are expected to run through early March.
More than 100 attended a hearing on February 7 at which Delaware Audubon Society Conservation Chairman Nicholas A. DiPasquale accused committee chairman Harris B. McDowell, III of “trying to derail the offshore wind energy project” and open a debate over green energy alternatives, such as cheaper land-based wind turbines.
But the meeting also attracted critics of the wind-power project, including University  of Delaware Engineering Professor Charles Boncelet who testified that offshore wind turbines would still require conventional fuel backup and would drive up consumer costs.
The Delaware debate is no doubt being monitored by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine’s administration which also has expressed an interest in offshore wind projects. The pace of that development has been slower in the Garden State primarily because the NJ Board of Public Utilities wants to get a handle on the financial nuances of such a project and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection is commissioning studies, in advance of public debate, to address the inevitable questions about the effects of wind turbine operations on birds and ocean life.
In Pennsylvania, Governor Rendell saw the advantages of wind energy early in his first term of office. He helped woo Gamesa Corp., a major Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, to the Commonwealth where it’s building a manufacturing plant for wind turbine generator blades in Ebensburg, Cambria County. That project will involve up to 500 construction jobs and create more than 200 permanent manufacturing positions.
Gamesa also has decided to locate its U.S. headquarters and East Coast development in Philadelphia. In all, the facilities will combine for a $40 million investment in the state.
Gamesa has worked out 600 megawatts’ worth of agreements to sell wind-generated power to Pennsylvania utilities, with a goal of reaching 1,000 megawatts, enough to power more than 300,000 homes.
Numerous on-land wind farms built across Pennsylvania in recent years with state funding incentives already account for a total of 129 megawatts, with another 84 megawatts scheduled to come on line within the next year.

Care to share your views on the Delaware debate or any other aspect of wind energy? Just click on the “comment” line below and have at it!

DE’s wind-power debate has implications for NJ Read More »