EnviroPolitics Blog

It’s not only The Washington Post: Some 3/4 of major American newspapers aren’t endorsing anyone for president this year

**Led by risk-averse corporate owners, dozens of the biggest U.S. newspapers have decided their editorials should express opinions on everything except who should be president.**

I can’t remember the last time I was as shocked by a news-industry number as I was by 200,000. Specifically, the 200,000 Washington Post subscribers who NPR’s David Folkenflik reported cancelled their subscriptions in the days after the paper announced it wouldn’t be endorsing in the 2024 presidential race. (Not long after, the number grew to “more than 250,000” — a number the Post’s own reporters later confirmed.)

I have all the respect in the world for Folkenflik, but my brain refused to believe it at first. 2,000? Sure. 8,000? Okay. Even 20,000? Those seemed within the realm of possibility. But 200,000 was consumer action on a scale unseen in the modern news business — and without any organized force pulling the strings. All this at an outlet that had, only weeks earlier, been chuffed about an increase of 4,000 subs so far in 2024. Post owner Jeff Bezos, the man behind the non-endorsement call, didn’t help things with a tone-deaf op-ed packed with C-minus arguments.¹

Perhaps Bezos thought he would avoid customer outrage because declining to endorse for president is a growth industry in America — and has been since Donald Trump first came down that escalator. I first wrote about this two years ago when it became clear that the country’s largest newspaper chains — all either private equity-owned or -adjacent — were growing allergic to making the call. Using a database of newspaper endorsements from The American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara, I tracked how many of the 100 highest-circulation newspapers had declined to endorse for president. The trend line is rather clear:

2004: 9
2008: 8
2012: 23
2016: 26
2020: 44

In five election cycles, endorsing for president went from a “nearly everybody” thing to a “barely half” thing. You can find all the details in that story, but the truth is that, in 2016, newspapers overwhelmingly backed Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump and faced enormous blowback from Trump supporters — in the form of cancellations and, in some cases, threats that led to papers hiring extra security for their employees. That, combined with the continued decline in the U.S. newspaper business — which led some publishers to question the value of annoying any sliver of their remaining customers — led to a widespread abandonment of endorsements in 2020. Papers that had endorsed Clinton in states that Trump won were the most likely to bail.

Read the full story here

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Maine’s land-application ban triggers questions about PFAS and sewage sludge in other states. Feds ducking out?

The U.S. EPA has yet to offer guidance on how to address forever chemicals in the organic material from wastewater treatment facilities.

By Jacob Wallace, Waste Dive

Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, many wastewater treatment plants have operated with a simple environmental trade-off — they treat water from population centers, industrial sources, landfills and elsewhere, and the leftover solids can be sent to farms to use as fertilizer.

But that arrangement has neared a breaking point in recent years, strained by new understanding of pollutants like PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. In communities around the U.S., the chemicals are exiting the plants via its sludge, known as biosolids, and in some cases contaminating farmland.

A recent history of sludge (Columbia Missourian)

The question of where the biosolids can go now — either for treatment or reuse — has left the waste industry and policymakers around the country mired in tough policy decisions.

Some feel left in the dark by the U.S. EPA, which recently argued in court that it’s under no obligation to regulate PFAS in biosolids at all, or even place them on its list of pollutants to watch. Instead, the agency has issued nonbinding guidance on addressing contamination which emphasizes reducing pollutants, as well as monitoring programs and collaboration with manufacturers.

Read the full story here

Maine’s land-application ban triggers questions about PFAS and sewage sludge in other states. Feds ducking out? Read More »

NJ Republican dynamo of the 1990’s, Chuck Haytaian, dies at 86

*Former New Jersey Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian. (Photo: Eagleton Institute of Politics/Rutgers University).*

By Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Former New Jersey Assembly Speaker Garabed “Chuck” Haytaian, one of the leading figures of the Republican wave that took over Trenton in the 1990s and a lawmaker for more than two decades, has died at age 86, state officials said Friday.

A cause of death is unclear, though Haytaian reportedly suffered health issues in recent months, officials said.

A lawmaker from the northwestern corner of the state, Haytaian was often blunt, loyal to his party, and combative with the press — in some ways, a precursor to some modern GOP politicians.

Haytaian — pronounce Hi-TIE-an — assumed the top post of the state Legislature’s lower house in 1992 as Republicans took control of both chambers in a voter revolt over Democratic Gov. Jim Florio’s $2.8 billion in tax increases. Republican Christie Whitman ousted Florio in the next election.

Haytaian later ran for U.S. Senate in 1994, when he unsuccessfully tried to unseat Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, falling by 3 percentage points. Haytaian was then head of the New Jersey Republican Party from 1995 to 2001.

Read the full story here

Related news:
GOP powerhouse nearly unseated Frank Lautenberg in 1994 U.S. Senate race (NJ Globe)
Rest in Peace, Chuck Haytaian, (Insider NJ)

NJ Republican dynamo of the 1990’s, Chuck Haytaian, dies at 86 Read More »

Record drought drives up costs for veteran NJ cranberry farmer

*A pump is used to help bring in water from the reservoir at Lee Brothers Cranberry Farm. Continued lack of rain could mean more pumping. photo: Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer*

By Frank Kummer, Philadelphia Inquirer

Generations of the Lee family gathered this fall, as they have every year since 1868, to harvest cranberries at the Lee Brothers Farm in Chatsworth, Burlington County.

Stephen V. Lee III, 78, has farmed the fruit for decades. He walked Thursday on the sand road of a bog filled with scarlet berries that bobbed at the water’s surface.

Workers, including family members, stood hip-deep in the water, raking berries toward a submerged vacuum that sucked the fruit to the top of a truck. There, a machine washed them as they bounced along a conveyor that spewed them by the thousands into a truck.

Cranberry harvesting is an annual colorful ritual in New Jersey. But this year is anything but

“I haven’t seen this in my lifetime,” Lee said of a drought that farmers trace to summer.

The hues of the turning leaves that surround the farm are subdued. The grass is brown. A reservoir that pulls from the nearby Wading River is nearly empty. Campers along the nearby Batona Trail are prohibited from lighting campfires.

As Lee climbed into his truck, the temperature was heading toward an all-time high for the day of 82 in Philadelphia, last reached in 1946.

Read the full story here

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U.S. needs more lithium battery recycling. This sure won’t help

Large Fire, Explosion at Lithium-ion Battery Plant Results in Evacuations

From Powder Bulk Solids

A large fire at a lithium-ion battery processing plant just outside Fredericktown, MO, took place around 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2024.

Smoke could be seen rising from Critical Mineral Recovery, a company that recycles lithium-ion batteries and related materials.

Anyone within the smoke plume, which wind was carrying north of the fire, was urged to shelter in place indoors by closing windows and doors and turning off air conditioning.

Madison County 911 posted on Facebook around 2 p.m. on behalf of the county sheriff’s office telling residents north and west of Fredericktown to leave the area.

The post says, “If you can see or smell smoke in this area, you need to evacuate!”

Fredericktown Fire Department, Cherokee Pass Fire Protection District, Madison County Ambulance District, Fredericktown Police Department, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, and Missouri State Highway Patrol were attending the blaze.

There were no reported injuries at the time of the reports.

Around 7:45 p.m., an emergency dispatcher told The Independent crews were still fighting the fire.

The 225,000-sq.-ft Critical Mineral Recovery battery processing plant in Fredericktown is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.

In a press release in November 2023, which announced the launch of the battery plant, CMR reported it would discharge up to 250 tons of lithium-ion batteries per day, process up to 6,000 tons per month, and send up to 99% of incoming battery contained nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper to refineries and smelters for post-processing and critical mineral recovery.

U.S. needs more lithium battery recycling. This sure won’t help Read More »

Maine picks two offshore-wind developers in a lackluster auction

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor

In a significant step forward for renewable energy in New England, the U.S. Department of Interior has concluded its first-ever wind energy lease sale in the Gulf of Maine, though with more modest results than some previous auctions. Two energy companies secured rights to develop floating offshore wind turbines across four parcels, with combined bids totaling approximately $22 million.

The Winners and Their Investments

The provisional buyers are Avangrid Renewables, which purchased two lease areas totaling 223,462 acres for around $11.2 million, and Invenergy NE Offshore Wind, which purchased two lease areas totaling 215,634 acres for around $10.7 million. Invenergy already holds leases off California and New Jersey.

A More Modest Outcome

While the auction represents a crucial milestone in the Biden administration’s ambitious clean energy goals, the results were notably more subdued compared to recent wind energy auctions. For context, developers bid $4.37 billion for six lease areas off New York in early 2022 and $757 million for five parcels in California later that same year. Only half of the available parcels in the Gulf of Maine auction received bids, with prices hovering around the government’s baseline of $50 per acre.

Despite the relatively modest bidding, industry experts and environmental advocates remain optimistic. Kate Sinding Daly from the Conservation Law Foundation noted that while high inflation and economic challenges have impacted the offshore wind industry, the sale demonstrates continued developer interest in the Gulf of Maine’s massive energy potential.

Maine’s Strategic Position

The Gulf of Maine presents unique challenges and opportunities for wind power development. Unlike other regions, its deep waters require floating turbines rather than bottom-mounted installations. Maine is positioning itself as a potential hub for this emerging technology, with the University of Maine developing specialized floating turbine technology alongside industry partners.

“Responsibly developed offshore wind will make us more energy independent, reduce harmful air pollution, and deliver good-paying jobs, all while protecting ocean wildlife and avoiding key fishing grounds,” said Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Looking Ahead

The lease sales represent only the initial step in a longer process. As Interior Secretary Deb Haaland emphasized, these leases grant companies the right to submit project plans for federal review but do not yet authorize construction. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the newly-leased areas could potentially power more than 2.3 million American homes.

The development includes important stipulations requiring companies to:

Make every reasonable effort to enter into labor union agreements for construction
Develop communication plans with Native American tribes
Engage with local agencies and fisheries
Protect marine resources and fishing interests

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