Washington State Senate votes for ban on assault weapons

The Washington state Senate on Saturday approved a ban on assault weapons including AR-15s, AK-47s and M-16s. (Elaine Thompson / The Associated Press, 2017)
The Washington State Senate on Saturday approved a ban on assault weapons, including AR-15s, AK-47s , and M-16s. (Elaine Thompson / The Associated Press, 2017)

 
By Jim Brunner, Seattle Times political reporter

The state Senate on Saturday approved a ban on the sale of assault weapons in Washington, setting up the measure to go to Gov. Jay Inslee for a signature in the final weeks of the legislative session.

After more than four hours of debate, the Senate approved the assault weapon ban, House Bill 1240, on a 27-21 vote. The proposal passed the state House last month on a 55-42 vote.

Because the bill was amended in the Senate, it must now go back to the House for a vote to concur on the final language. Inslee has expressed his support for the ban and is expected to sign it once the House gives final approval.

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States Are Banning Assault Weapons. Courts Could Stop Them

During the floor debate on the ban, which has been proposed but failed to pass for the past several years in the Legislature, the majority Democrats pointed to the unending string of mass shootings carried out by people using AR-15s and other assault-style weapons.

“We have to take stock in the common denominator in all of these tragedies. … When we’re talking about mass shootings, and the killing of people quickly and without warning, we’re talking about assault weapons. And that’s why we’re here today. We’re here to say enough is enough,” said state Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, who brought up the recent massacres at schools in Uvalde, Texas, and Nashville, Tenn.

Republicans blamed mental health problems and moral decay for mass shootings and said the ban would only punish law-abiding citizens who own semiautomatic guns for hunting, recreation, and self-defense.

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First-ever hybrid ferry planned for New York Harbor


By the Brooklyn Eagle Staff

The city government and the Trust for Governors Island released plans on Wednesday to create the first-ever hybrid vessel in the ferry fleet. 

According to the mayor’s office, it will be launched next summer, traveling between Governors Island and Manhattan through the New York Harbor. 

The new ferry will be equipped with a hybrid propulsion system that will reduce air pollution by allowing it to toggle between zero-emission battery-only power and battery-assisted hybrid with diesel backup. 

The battery-assist mode will allow the new ferry to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 600 tons annually. Future plans for rapid vessel charging installation will enable the ferry to operate with zero-emission battery-only propulsion, at which point emissions will drop to nearly zero.

After criticism from the public and city officials last summer, ferry usage in Brooklyn is remaining steady. The city’s restoration of the stop at India Street in Greenpoint last November – and the new hybrid Governors Island Ferry – shows the high potential of ferry transit in waterfront neighborhoods.

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NY Mayor assembles seasoned climate team. Will they deliver?

The president of the New York League of Conservation Voters says action is needed on bike and bus lanes, waste collection, curbside composting and outsize emissions from the city’s buildings.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, with former President Bill Clinton (and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, speaks during a press conference hosted by Empire State Realty Trust to formally announce the publication of the new "Empire Building Playbook: A Guide to Low Carbon Retrofits," at the Empire State Building in April 2022. Credit: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, with former President Bill Clinton (and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, speaks during a press conference hosted by Empire State Realty Trust to formally announce the publication of the new “Empire Building Playbook: A Guide to Low Carbon Retrofits,” at the Empire State Building in April 2022. Credit: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images.


By Laila Gad, Inside Climate News

Just over a year after challenging an incoming New York mayor to become a global leader in the fight against climate change, the head of the New York League of Conservation Voters says Eric Adams has taken the first essential step: recruiting and promoting deeply experienced senior staff members.

In January, the mayor reached back to the administration of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg by recruiting Rohit T. Aggarwala as commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, and chief climate officer.  Under Bloomberg, Aggarwala created an Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, and he later founded a program of environmental grants at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Adams promoted Kizzy Charles-Guzman to executive director of a newly created Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, which consolidated four existing arms of city government. Charles-Guzman also served in the Bloomberg administration, advising the mayor on air pollution, leading the city’s first program to address rising temperatures and heat waves, and overseeing a range of health and adaptation initiatives.

And the mayor persuaded Vincent Sapienza to stay on as chief operations officer at the DEP, an agency with a $1.6 billion budget where he served as commissioner under Adams’ predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasio.

While praising the appointments, Julie Tighe, the league of conservation voters president, said those leaders would need to make rapid progress on environmental issues ranging from bicycle lanes, bus lanes and automobile traffic to heat-trapping emissions from New York City’s buildings. Buildings are estimated to account for around 70 percent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions because so much of the energy for their lighting, heating and cooling comes from burning fossil fuels. 

Tighe lauded the uniting of two critical issues in the new Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. Still,  she reports that the office has been hindered by a struggle to fill staff vacancies. 

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Economically disadvantaged to receive free solar on Cape Cod

After five years of bureaucratic limbo, Cape Cod clean energy program finally comes to fruition

By Sarah Shemkus, Energy News Network

After five years of rejections, revisions, appeals, and resubmissions, a Cape Cod energy organization has received state approval for a first-of-its-kind pilot program providing a package of solar panels, heat pumps, and battery storage to low-income households. 

The program called the Cape and Vineyard Electric Offering will provide all three technologies, free of charge, to 25 low-income homes in the region. Another 75 homes — a mix of low- and middle-income households — will get low- or no-cost whole-home heat pumps and solar panels, as well as advice on financing a battery purchase if desired. The program is expected to roll out to the public in April. 

“It’s a relief and a great sense of satisfaction in being able to serve a customer group that has been underserved,” said Maggie Downey, administrator of the Cape Light Compact, the regional energy organization behind the plan. “You can’t just electrify those homes that are owned or lived in by people of means — you have to include a path forward for every demographic in the commonwealth.”

Supporters have cheered the long-awaited approval of the program, but say the protracted process to get to this point demonstrates the need for the state to be more assertive in its attempts to lower emissions.

“It should have been approved a long time ago,” said Caitlin Peale Sloan, vice president for Massachusetts at the Conservation Law Foundation. “It should have been saving their customers money for years at this point. It took years of work to try to get this thing which should have been a no-brainer.”

Massachusetts is widely considered a national leader in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. The state has longstanding incentives for the adoption of solar panels and has recently increased its rebates for home heat pumps. Many homeowners with battery storage can enroll in utility programs that will pay them for sending power to the grid during times of peak demand. 

Studies show, however, that all of these technologies are far less likely to be adopted by low- and moderate-income residents, despite their potential to cut costs for those who use them. The upfront price is often too high and many homes might need expensive upgrades before equipment can even be installed. 

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A 12-count indictment names 2 Wildwood officials, ex-mayor


By Bill Barlow, AC Press

WILDWOOD — A grand jury has returned a 12-count indictment against two current city officials and a former mayor alleging they claimed state health benefits for which they were ineligible, state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said Wednesday.

The announcement is the latest legal woe for Mayor Pete Byron, who pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax fraud Friday.

Also listed in the grand jury indictment are former Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. and current city Commissioner Steve Mikulski, meaning two-thirds of the three-person Wildwood Board of Commissioners are under indictment.

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Wildwood mayor, 2 others indicted for receiving illegal health benefits
Wildwood, NJ mayor pleads guilty to tax Fraud

They each face four counts including official misconduct, theft by unlawful taking, tampering with public records, and falsifying or tampering with records.

All three have pleaded not guilty in front of Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury Jr.

Byron said he intends to remain mayor but declined to comment further, directing questions to Cape May County public defender Eric Shenkus.

Read the full story here

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Report by feds, anglers cites offshore wind impacts on fish

BY WAYNE PARRY Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY — A joint study by two federal government scientific agencies and the commercial fishing industry documents numerous impacts that offshore wind power projects have on fish and marine mammals, including noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields, and heat transfer that could alter the marine environment.

It comes as the offshore wind industry is poised to grow rapidly on the U.S. East Coast, where it is facing growing opposition from those who blame it for killing whales — something numerous scientific agencies say is not true.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance issued their report Wednesday after a 2½-year-long study of the impacts existing offshore wind projects have on fish and marine mammals.

The goal was to solidify existing knowledge of the impacts and call for further research in many areas.

NOAA and BOEM are among the agencies that say there is no link between offshore wind preparation and whale deaths. Their co-authorship of a report detailing potential negative impacts on fish and marine mammals may intensify an already highly politicized controversy.

Asked Friday about the likelihood of this happening, NOAA spokesperson Lauren Gaches reiterated the agency’s position that offshore wind is not causing the whale deaths, which remain under investigation.

“We will also continue to explore how sound, vessel, and other human activities in the marine environment impact whales and other marine mammals,” she said.

The fishing industry is concerned that fish near construction sites may be killed or chased away for prolonged periods even after the turbines are built, according to the report.

“Physical changes associated with (offshore wind) developments will affect the marine environment — and, subsequently, the species that live there — to varying degrees,” the report read. ”These include construction and operation noise and vibration, electromagnetic fields, and thermal radiation from cables, as well as secondary gear entanglement.

Read the full story here

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