EnviroPolitics Blog

Ban on semiautomatic weapons upheld by Illinois Supreme Court

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld the state’s ban on the sale or possession of the type of semiautomatic weapons used in hundreds of mass killings nationally.

The law bans dozens of specific brands or types of rifles and handguns, .50-caliber guns, attachments and rapid-firing devices. No rifle is allowed to accommodate more than 10 rounds, with a 15-round limit for handguns. The most popular gun targeted is the AR-15 rifle, which can be found in at least 25 million American households, according to 2021 research by Georgetown University.

In a 4-3 decision Friday, the high court found that the Protect Our Communities Act does not violate the federal Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the law nor the state constitution’s bar on special legislation.

The court also decreed that state Rep. Dan Caulkins, a Decatur Republican, and like-minded gun-owners who brought the lawsuit had earlier waived their claims that the law infringes on the Second Amendment to own firearms and could not raise it before the Supreme Court.

The Second Amendment claim is alive, however, in several federal lawsuits filed in southern Illinois, later consolidated and awaiting appeals court action.

Read the full story here

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Estimated cleanup cost soars $24.6M for N.J. Superfund site

But EPA says the previously chosen cleanup method is still the best choice for Woodbrook Road Dump in South Plainfield

From the Environmental Protection Agency

NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended the public comment period for its proposed changes to address contaminated soil and debris at the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site in South Plainfield, New Jersey to September 13, 2023. EPA held a public meeting at the South Plainfield Township Courtroom on July 27, 2023, to explain the proposed changes to the public.

The proposed changes that are being announced today document that the estimated cost of the selected cleanup rose from $45.4 million in 2018 to $70 million in 2023 due in part to inflation and increased construction costs. In addition, in 2021, New Jersey created the Peter J. Barnes III Wildlife Preserve which includes the Woodbrook Road Dump site.

In 2020, EPA reviewed the selected cleanup plan for the site. The results of EPA’s review, carried out in coordination with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, confirmed that the 2013 selected cleanup plan remains the best option.

EPA’s cleanup plan for the site was originally documented in a 2013 Record of Decision and modified in a 2018 Explanation of Significant Differences. The cleanup plan includes:

Removing an estimated 4,000 cubic yards of soil and debris that contains capacitors, capacitor parts and PCB-contaminated soil and debris with PCB concentrations greater than 100 parts per million (ppm) to an approved off-site disposal facility.
Removing an estimated 143,000 cubic yards of soil and debris that contains PCBs at concentrations greater than 1.1 ppm to an approved off-site disposal facility.

Written comments on the proposed Explanation of Significant Differences may be mailed or emailed to Diane Salkie Sharkey, Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway – 18th Floor, New York, NY 10007, Email: salkie.diane@epa.gov.

For additional background and to see all changes in the proposed Explanation of Significant Differences, visit the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site profile page.

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Metals company to pay $103M for contaminating properties in Carteret, NJ

By Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A metals refinery company that operated in Middlesex County for decades has agreed to a $103 million settlement for the wrongful emission of toxic wastes from smelting operations, according to court documents.

United States Metals Refinery Co., of Delaware, owned a smelter from the early 1900s to 1991 on Middlesex Avenue in Carteret that discharged a by-product known to cause cancer and other health issues affecting adults and children, according to lawsuits filed in state and federal courts.

“The contaminants primarily consisted of lead, copper, arsenic, benzene, and other chemicals and heavy metals,” said Boris Shmaruk, one of the attorneys representing Carteret residents.

The total settlement of $103 million will be broken down into two categories – $61 million for cleanup, remediation, community outreach and additional sampling and analysis. The other $42 million will be paid to about 1,200 affected property owners in the “zone of contamination.”

Each property owner will receive about $18,000, according to the Vlasac & Shmaruk law firm.

Read the full story here

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KAHULUI, Hawaii (AP) — A wildfire tore through the heart of Maui on Wednesday with alarming speed and ferocity, destroying dozens of homes and businesses in a historic tourist town, killing at least six people and injuring at least two dozen others, and forcing panicked residents to jump into the ocean to flee the flames.

CORRECTS DATE TO AUG. 8 – People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. Maui officials say wildfire in the historic town has burned parts of one of the most popular tourist areas in Hawaii. County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin said in a phone interview early Wednesday says fire was widespread in Lahaina, including Front Street, an area of the town popular with tourists. (Alan Dickar via AP) HIHO102 HIHO102

People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui, on Tuesday. Officials say wildfire in the historic town has burned parts of one of the most popular tourist areas in Hawaii…. (Alan Dickar via AP)

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and AUDREY McAVOY, Associated Press

KAHULUI, Hawaii (AP) — A wildfire tore through the heart of Maui on Wednesday with alarming speed and ferocity, destroying dozens of homes and businesses in a historic tourist town, killing at least six people and injuring at least two dozen others, and forcing panicked residents to jump into the ocean to flee the flames.

Fire was widespread in Lahaina Town, including on Front Street, a popular shopping and dining area, County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin said by phone early Wednesday.

Photos posted by the county overnight showed a line of flames blazing across an intersection and leaping above buildings in the town center that dates to the 1700s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Aerial video from after sunrise revealed entire blocks of buildings reduced to ash and thick smoke in the air.

“Do NOT go to Lahaina Town,” the county tweeted hours before all roads in and out of West Maui’s biggest community were closed to everyone except emergency personnel. More than 2,100 people spent the night in evacuation centers.

Crews on Maui were battling multiple blazes concentrated in two areas: the tourist destination of West Maui and an inland, mountainous region. In West Maui, 911 service was out and residents were directed to call the police department directly.

Read the full story here

Conversations on the future of natural gas in NJ and NY

By RY RIVARD and MARIE J. FRENCH, Politico

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities held a two-day technical conference looking at the future of natural gas utilities in the state last week. The proceeding, which is expected to produce a report next summer outlining the regulators’ view of the industry’s future, was ordered by Gov. Phil Murphy in a major speech earlier this year on climate change and clean energy.

Some of the discussion may have been more reassuring to the industry than the governor’s sweeping goals might seem. Murphy has, on paper, pledged to help hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses dump natural gas by the end of the decade and has pledged to move the state to clean energy. But in opening remarks that got a lot of attention, BPU President Joseph Fiordaliso said gas isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“Gas is here to stay,” Fiordaliso said. “What we have to do is improve the quality of it. We need backup. We don’t have enough clean energy to generate the energy that is necessary to supply the 9.3 million here in the state of New Jersey with energy. And, until that day comes, things like nuclear power and gas will help us to provide the reliability that the citizens of New Jersey demand and should have every day of the week.”

Other notable quotes and exchanges from the conference:

“I think the whole point of this proceeding should be — is that really true? Is gas here to stay? Or do we have a moral and economic imperative to basically end as quickly as possible the use of gas?” — John Reichman of EmpowerNJ

“We’re not even 100 percent sure on the questions and we wanted to make sure we were getting input before we framed a proceeding and missed something.” — Stacy Peterson, deputy executive director for BPU.

“Sometimes businesses say, ‘The [business] climate isn’t so great here, I’m going to Pennsylvania,’ in Pennsylvania they say, ‘Hey, it’s not so great here, I’m going to West Virginia’ — eventually you end up in Texas where they don’t believe in capacity markets and the grid does down or Florida, where you’re uninsurable.” — Eric Miller, New Jersey energy policy director for NRDC

“Certainly at this point we should not be paying subsidies to support expansion of the gas system.” — The state’s ratepayer watchdog, Brian Lipman, on gas main extensions.

“Cows defecate at a pretty stable rate.” — Andrew McNally, from South Jersey Gas, on the stability of investments in non-traditional gas, like methane capture from cows. — Ry Rivard

Read the full story here

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‘Stay out of our ocean!’ | ‘Big Wind’ comes face to face with its fiercest American critics – New Jerseyans

Officials from one of America’s biggest offshore wind projects underway by Shell and EDF endured an uncomfortable evening as they were lambasted by a raucous group of sector opponents.

By Tim Ferry, RECHARGE

New Jerseyans are known for being forthright (some might even say “rude”), so in some ways it’s not surprising that representatives of the 1.5GW Atlantic Shores offshore wind development heard an earful at the project’s recent public scoping hearing in Atlantic City.

Held at the city’s headquarters, the hearing was ostensibly aimed at gaining comments on the Shell-EDF joint venture (JV)’s proposed landing site for the project on the beach at 35th Street and the onshore transmission cable route beneath city streets to the point of grid interconnection at the Cardiff substation in nearby Egg Harbour Township.

Offshore wind’s supporters came to the meeting ready to lay out the benefits of the industry to an area whose last great economic revival came from the casinos that line its seafront.

Related offshore wind energy news:
Opponents fill Atlantic City offshore wind hearing
Wind Execs Catch Hell At Atlantic City Public Hearing

What the wind power employees and other officials may not have been prepared for, however, was the sheer level of vitriol on display from the 100 or so attending, who had more on their minds than cables and whose views reflect the extreme end of a wave of opposition that’s making life uncomfortable for offshore wind projects from New Jersey to Eastern England.

“You are greedy, evil, lying people. We don’t want you here – get out! Stay out of our ocean!” Atlantic City resident Louise Rosanio shouted into the microphone just feet away from Atlantic Shores’ representatives to raucous cheers from the crowd, with the police and security staff looking on providing a clue that this would be no genteel affair.

Rosanio’s comments were typical and Atlantic Shores’ outside counsel Jim Boyd, meeting chair, repeatedly stopped proceedings to allow the stenographer to hear and transcribe each speaker.

“It’s unfortunate that these are the only opportunity people have to be heard,” New Jersey resident and prolific industry critic Mike Dean told Recharge on the sidelines.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WDUXEG0vcvU

Dean claimed that the developer hasn’t publicised similar hearings in the past, and at other meetings, didn’t allow public comment.

“It’s one of the few opportunities people have to express their opposition,” he added.

The developer didn’t respond directly to any of the comments at the hearing but instead will release a document addressing each one.

“One of Atlantic Shores’ core values is ‘be a good neighbour’ and we think public hearings are just one of many ways for the community to have their voice heard on major infrastructure projects,” a representative for the developer told Recharge.

What became clear during the meeting was that any legitimate concerns expressed at the meeting were mixed in with half-truths and conspiracy theories of the kind familiar on certain regions of the internet.

Read the full story here

‘Stay out of our ocean!’ | ‘Big Wind’ comes face to face with its fiercest American critics – New Jerseyans Read More »