EnviroPolitics Blog

How refinery methane emissions are being hidden from satellites

*Gas is flared at the Ineos-owned Grangemouth oil refinery. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian*

By Tom Brown and Christina Last, The Guardian, May 2, 2024

Oil and gas equipment intended to cut methane emissions is preventing scientists from accurately detecting greenhouse gases and pollutants, a satellite image investigation has revealed.

Energy companies operating in countries such as the US, UK, Germany, and Norway appear to have installed technology that could stop researchers from identifying methane, carbon dioxide emissions, and pollutants at industrial facilities involved in the disposal of unprofitable natural gas, known in the industry as flaring.

Flares are used by fossil fuel companies when capturing the natural gas would cost more than they can make by selling it. They release carbon dioxide and toxic pollutants when they burn as well as cancer-causing chemicals.

Despite the health risks, regulators sometimes prefer flaring to releasing natural gas – which is 90% methane – directly into the atmosphere, known as “venting”.

The World Bank, alongside the EU and other regulators, has been using satellites for years to find and document gas flares, asking energy companies to find ways of capturing the gas instead of burning or venting it.

The bank set up the Zero Routine Flaring 2030 initiative at the Paris climate conference to eradicate unnecessary flaring, and its latest report stated that flaring decreased by 3% globally from 2021 to 2022.

But since the initiative, “enclosed combustors” have begun appearing in the same countries that promised to end flaring. Experts say enclosed combustors are functionally the same as flares, except the flame is hidden.

Tim Doty, a former regulator at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said: “Enclosed combustors are basically a flare with an internal flare tip that you don’t see. Enclosed flaring is still flaring. It’s just different infrastructure that they’re allowing.

Click to read the full story

If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

How refinery methane emissions are being hidden from satellites Read More »

NJBIA 2024 Environmental Regulatory Conference

June 4, 2024
Delta Hotels by Marriott Woodbridge

Join the New Jersey Business and Industry Association for an insightful half-day event where three dynamic panel discussions converge to shed light on critical environmental issues shaping the landscape of business practices today.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain crucial knowledge and strategic insights from industry leaders at the forefront of environmental policy and practice.

Panel topics will include:
Site Remediation and Waste, Emerging Issues
Environmental Justice Implementation
How to Improve DEP Regulatory Programs: Lessons Learned from the Inside and Outside

Registration and event details

NJBIA 2024 Environmental Regulatory Conference Read More »

New Jersey is taking another spin at elusive offshore wind energy

After watching previous attempts to attract ocean windmills collapse, the Murphy administration is seeking new proposals for offshore energy

By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight News

The Murphy administration has again asked for proposals to build offshore wind projects off the Jersey coast, a step aiming to advance its struggling clean-energy goals despite recent events that have created turmoil in the sector.

In a unanimous vote, the state Board of Public Utilities began accepting bids from wind developers Tuesday, looking to build new offshore wind capacity of between 1.2 gigawatts and 4 gigawatts. If developed, it would vault New Jersey to well more than half of its target of 11 gigawatts by 2040.

That is perhaps a big if, however since supply chain constraints and steeper borrowing costs led New York to cancel three offshore wind projects it had granted provisional approval to earlier this month. Ørsted, the world’s biggest offshore wind developer, walked away from two projects off the Jersey coast last fall.

“The latest solicitation is further proof of our commitment to building a strong and thriving wind industry that will deliver undeniable economic and environmental benefits to our state, for both this generation and the next,’’ said Gov. Phil Murphy in a press statement following the action. The window for bids closes on July 10.

“We look forward to consider the next round of applications as we continue to combat the intensifying climate crisis and solidify New Jersey as a national offshore wind hub,’’ said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, president of the BPU.

New Jersey has no offshore wind turbines currently operating, but has approved three projects, including two to build 3.7 gigawatts off the coast in January, enough to power about 1.8 million homes. Other states up and down the East Coast also are pursuing the technology as a way of fighting climate change and creating tens of thousands of jobs, but only two are operating.

Long a source of clean energy in Europe and Asia, the industry has navigated a host of challenges in recent years in the U.S. Supply chain constraints and steeper borrowing costs have slowed, delayed, and killed projects in recent months, as well as an outcry about the cost to utility customers, who will see higher energy bills.

Click to read the full story

New Jersey is taking another spin at elusive offshore wind energy Read More »

NJ lawyer and plumber team up to land a 718-pound bluefin

Family, friends, and restaurants share in the catch

By Cecilia Levine, Ocean Daily Voice, 4/28/2024 8:45 p.m.

The 51-year-old Hillsborough attorney has caught thousands of fish of a wide array of species, having been angling since he was just a kid with his dad. And each time feels like the first.

“It’s a good feeling, it’s the best feeling,” he said, “and it doesn’t go away no matter how many fish you catch.”

But the bluefin tuna that Goldberg reeled in with his mate Mike Resetar on Saturday, April 20 was unlike anything he’s experienced on the water before.

We’re talking 718 pounds, 112 inches, and the first trophy tuna caught off the New Jersey coast this season.

“My mouth dropped and I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said Goldberg. “And I’m someone who has seen these fish many times, but not this size.”

And it’s not even bluefin season yet.

Friday, April 19 was far from a banner day for Goldberg, who’d gone out looking for striped bass and come back with only a handful. He had plans to go back out for the same the very next day with Resetar, a plumber, but in an attempt to avoid further disappointment, they made a quick change of plans.

Goldberg had heard murmurs of other fishermen in the area having spotted giant bluefins, so — despite bluefin season beginning in May or June — Goldberg and Resatar took their chances.

Saturday was foggy and it was rainy, but Goldberg and Resetar were determined to make something of it. They headed out to sea and had their lines in the water at 9 a.m., about 10 miles northeast of Manasquan. Thirty-five minutes later, they had a bite.

A big bite.

Click to read the full story

NJ lawyer and plumber team up to land a 718-pound bluefin Read More »

The nation’s largest waste association has a new leader

A group of people, including NWRA CEO Michael Hoffman, stands in front of the U.S. Capitol — *Incoming NWRA CEO Michael E. Hoffman, in center with bowtie, stands with industry colleagues in Washington, D.C., on April 18, 2024. Permission granted by National Waste & Recycling Association*

By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive

The National Waste & Recycling Association announced that Michael E. Hoffman will be its next president and CEO, capping off an extended search process.

Hoffman, a financial analyst who currently covers the sector for Stifel, brings nearly 40 years of environmental industry experience to the role. He is well-acquainted with executives at the association’s top member companies and was inducted into NWRA’s Hall of Fame in 2020.

“I am excited to join NWRA as president and CEO at this pivotal time in the industry,” said Hoffman in a statement. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to bring heightened focus to advocacy and safety for the environmental services industry. Working in close cooperation with Chairman Don Ross and the Board of Trustees, NWRA can be the go-to membership organization to bring market-based solutions for the breadth of environmental topics facing our society.”

Darrell Smith exited this role last August for unspecified reasons. Ross said in a statement at the time that “it’s important that NWRA continues to evolve with our members by continuing to build the strategic vision of the organization.”

Jim Riley, NWRA’s chief counsel and senior vice president of government affairs, has been serving as interim president and CEO.

The leadership shakeup kicked off a process that drew interest from multiple industry figures. NWRA’s Board of Trustees said the decision to hire Hoffman came after a “comprehensive search and interview process that included a pool of highly qualified candidates from inside and outside of the waste and recycling industry.”

Click to read the full story

The nation’s largest waste association has a new leader Read More »

Ongoing probe shows why you don’t want to cross George

The South Jersey Transportation Authority’s chief engineer wrote that the agency was “not permitted” to give new work to engineering firm T&M Associates, whose executive had defied South Jersey political boss George Norcross.

By Andrew Seidman and Jeremy Roebuck, Philadelphia Inquirer, Published Apr. 29, 2024, 5:00 a.m.

The invoice was unremarkable.

Like many others submitted before and after, the payment request to the South Jersey Transportation Authority — which operates the Atlantic City Expressway and Atlantic City Airport — detailed services rendered, project costs, and time sheets.

At first, the state agency’s response was as routine as the paperwork filed by Middletown, N.J.-based engineering firm T&M Associates. The authority’s engineering department head marked the $22,449.74 bill — for a garage replacement project — as “approved for payment” on Jan. 25, 2023, and it was added to a list of invoices to be considered for approval at the agency’s next board meeting, in February.

Then something unusual happened.

After the board secretary sent a summary of those bills to the agency’s commissioners, the following day, Feb. 8, she received an email from board vice chairman Christopher M. Milam: “Please make an official note that I will be voting NO on the below listed bills. Just for point of clarification it is all the bills for T&M Assoc.”

Twenty minutes later, the secretary received a nearly identical email from another commissioner, Bryan J. Bush, saying he, too, would vote against approving T&M’s bills, which totaled about $68,000 for more than a half-dozen different projects, including the garage maintenance.

Related:
George Norcross investigation expands to include SJTA (Inquirer)
Tax Break Scandal Leads to $5 Million Fine (New York Times)
The contractor holdup (Politico)

The following week, the six commissioners in attendance voted unanimously to approve invoices submitted by nearly a dozen vendors — except T&M’s. The nine-member board continued to withhold payment until May, by which point the authority owed the contractor more than $165,000, records show.

The emails and invoices — among hundreds of documents obtained by The Inquirer through a public records request — offer a behind-the-scenes look at an episode that is now the subject of a grand jury investigation led by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and the FBI.

Click to read the full story

Ongoing probe shows why you don’t want to cross George Read More »

How refinery methane emissions are being hidden from satellites

NJBIA 2024 Environmental Regulatory Conference

New Jersey is taking another spin at elusive offshore wind energy

NJ lawyer and plumber team up to land a 718-pound bluefin

Family, friends, and restaurants share in the catch

The nation’s largest waste association has a new leader

Ongoing probe shows why you don’t want to cross George

Subscribe For Latest Updates