EnviroPolitics Blog

EPA finishes groundwater plant at Chem-Fab Superfund Site

From the Environmental Proection Agency

(May 19, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today the completion of the groundwater treatment system at the Chem Fab Superfund Site in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, thanks to $2.9 million under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to expedite the cleanup.

“This historic funding boost from the BIL invests $3.5 billion in Superfund cleanups nationally, making a dramatic impact on EPA’s ability to address legacy pollution that threatens the health of communities across the country,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “By expediting these cleanups, we’re ensuring the protection of affected communities and moving these sites closer in the direction for potential redevelopment.”

Don’t miss environmental news like this Click for free updates

The Chem Fab Superfund Site is located on North Broad Street in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. From the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, Chem Fab, Inc. operated an electroplating and metal etching facility which stored and disposed of processing chemicals on-site.

Groundwater underlying the Site is contaminated with metals, volatile organic compounds, and per-and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS). The chemicals in the groundwater are commonly found in solvents and degreasers and associated with electroplating operations. Volatile organic compounds were previously detected in two municipal and several residential wells.

EPA also issued a proposed cleanup plan for public comment from May 10 through June 9 to address soil and sediment contamination on the site. This proposed cleanup plan is another step towards a final comprehensive long term site clean-up.

For more information visit: : https://www.epa.gov/superfund/chemfab

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

EPA finishes groundwater plant at Chem-Fab Superfund Site Read More »

Curbside recycling once paid for itself. Now it’s a municipal burden. No cheap solutions on the horizon

By South Jersey Times Editorial Board

It was 1981. Faced with a near-capacity landfill that would soon shut down, Woodbury became the first municipality in New Jersey — and, arguably, the nation — to adopt a mandatory curbside recycling program.

Don Sanderson, a Republican city councilman who might well be unable to win a primary election in today’s GOP, pushed hard for the program, citing both the need to preserve disposal space and the waste of tossing reclaimable glass, paper, and metals into ordinary garbage. Even 42 years ago, there was political pushback for requiring that households separate reusable items from regular trash.

The rest, as they say, is history, and mandatory recycling later became the law all over New Jersey and elsewhere.

Recycling soon became more sophisticated. Sorting centers allowed for “single stream” pickups. Participation rates improved, since metals, glass, paper, and plastic didn’t need to be separated at home.

In recent years, though, municipal programs have been threatened by a declining resale market. The programs stopped providing enough revenue to pay for themselves. The biggest jolt was a 2017 decision by China to stop taking in mixed and often dirty shiploads of U.S. paper and plastic.

Still, curbside recycling programs have survived, even if they have not thrived.

Until now, it seems.

Read the full editorial here

Curbside recycling once paid for itself. Now it’s a municipal burden. No cheap solutions on the horizon Read More »

Former NJDEP Commissioner Bob Shinn dies at 85

Burlington County Times obituary

Robert C. Shinn, Jr. of Hainesport, passed away at his home on Friday, May 5, 2023. He was 85.

Born in Mount Holly, Bob was a graduate of Rancocas Valley Regional High School and attended Drexel University. He served in the US Army during the Korean War.

Mr. Shinn was a lifelong politician and public servant. His distinguished career spanned more than four decades, serving the public at multiple levels of government. During that time, Shinn made immeasurable contributions to safeguarding and improving environmental quality, deeply and positively influencing countless people along the way.

He was the former Mayor of Hainesport Township in 1973-1974, served as a member of the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1977-1985, serving twice as Freeholder Director.

Bob was a former Member of the NJ General Assembly from the 8th district from 1985-1994 and former Commissioner of the NJ DEP from 1994-2002 under Governor Christie Todd Whitman. He helped lead the “Environmental Commissioners of the 50 States” (ECOS) organization for the entire country in driving National environmental public policy in the 1990s. His knowledge of the environment and vision in addressing climate change and environmental results-based management (25 years ago) were unparalleled.

In addition to politics and environmental issues, Mr. Shinn was the founder and president of Material Handling System, S2 Concepts, and Hollyford Enterprises, Inc. He was always busy tinkering around and held two US mechanical patents. He was also a member and Past President of the Mount Holly Rotary Club. Bob was completely down to earth and treated everyone with dignity and respect. He enjoyed speaking and joking with everyone.

Bob is survived by his wife Paula of Hainesport; his daughter Debbie Shinn of Delran; step-daughter Jody Meeks of Woodland Township and step-son Scott Wiedemann of Atco; a grandson Dave Meeks. He is also survived by his sister Michelle Shinn, a nephew Nigel Encinas, and his former wife Barbara Shinn of Mount Laurel.

A Viewing will be held on Thursday, May 18, 2023, from 12 pm – 3 pm at the Perinchief Chapels, 438 High St., Mount Holly. A Service will follow at 3 pm. Contributions in his memory may be made to Rancocas Valley Regional High School for a scholarship that will be started in his name.

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

Former NJDEP Commissioner Bob Shinn dies at 85 Read More »

Climate change forcing some in Florida Keys to consider moving

Longtime residents of the Florida Keys are being driven out by tidal flooding, skyrocketing costs and turbo-charged hurricanes. Many want to stay, but can they survive the dual threat of rising seas and wealthy investors?

Dwayne Hope stands next to his car destroyed by Hurricane Irma on Big Pine Key, Fla., in September 2017. Hope lived on a boat for 20 years and tried to shelter in the car before retreating to a nearby house. The Category 4 hurricane took all his possessions. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

By ARIANNA SKIBELL, Politiico

Climate change is making it more dangerous — and much more expensive — to live on the subtropical islands at the southern tip of Florida.

Daniel Cusick writes that extreme heat, tidal flooding and severe hurricanes are driving out longtime residents of the Florida Keys and driving up the cost of basic needs: rent, food, water, power and gasoline.

That has meant the departure of more low- and middle-income residents, many of whom work the service and labor jobs undergirding the Keys’ multibillion-dollar tourism industry. Now people with greater wealth and more mobility are moving in, further increasing housing prices. Meanwhile, the climate clock is ticking as sea levels rise.

New affordable homes under construction at Seahorse Cottages at Big Pine Key, Fla., development site in January 2023. — New affordable homes are under construction at Seahorse Cottages at a Big Pine Key, Fla., development site in January. | Daniel Cusick/POLITICO’s E&E News

This is all happening in a state with a governor who has described himself as “not a global warming person.” Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential nominee, once prefaced resilience plans for sea-level rise with assurances that Florida was just a “flood-prone state.”

Necessary retreat? The population of Big Pine Key dropped 15 percent after Hurricane Irma in 2017. The area is now home to about 4,800 people.

While Big Pine Key is rebuilding, real estate values have nearly doubled since Irma.

Read the full story here

Climate change forcing some in Florida Keys to consider moving Read More »

The Manhattan high-rise that shrunk itself down

In 1986, a New York zoning activist made a startling discovery: A newly constructed building was over a dozen floors too high. What followed was one of the strangest outcomes in the history of big-city housing.

By Michael Waters, The Hustle Animation: Zachary Crockett

In the fall of 1992, residents of the Upper East Side of Manhattan could not escape the sense that they were witnessing history.

For the first time as far back as city officials could remember, a building was shrinking itself down in size.

Laurence Ginsberg, who ran the real estate company Algin Management, intended the newly erected 108 East 96th Street to be a home for high-earning renters who wanted to live by Central Park. It would have a 24-hour concierge, a fitness center, a sun deck, and marble bathrooms.

There was just one problem: The building was too tall.

Ginsberg had built 108 E. 96th — now called The Parkview — to contain 31 floors. But the site he had picked, it turned out, was zoned for buildings no more than 19 floors tall. The Parkview was a dozen stories over the mark.

After a five-year legal battle, in which Algin Management begged the city, including then-Mayor Ed Koch, for forgiveness, New York imposed the maximum penalty: Ginsberg was going to need to chop off the top 12 floors of his new residential building.

As winter melted into spring, Upper East Siders gathered outside The Parkview to watch, bit by bit, as construction crews decapitated the building. Dust filled the air. From the outside, it did not look like much — a tangle of mesh and wires

Read the full story here

The Manhattan high-rise that shrunk itself down Read More »

Not Trump, Not Disney: DiSantis’s latest headache

By Elena Shao, New York Times, April 19, 2023

Floating mats of seaweed accumulate in the central Atlantic Ocean for much of the year. But during the spring and summer, patches of it are carried by ocean currents toward the Caribbean, eastern Florida, and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast.

It’s hard to predict how much will creep onto beaches in the coming months, but the right combination of ocean currents and wind conditions could push a lot of it ashore, experts said.

Some parts of the Florida Keys have already seen unusually large amounts of seaweed for this time of year, said Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University who has studied Sargassum for most of his career.

“I was amazed at what I saw driving along the Overseas Highway,” he said, referring to the main road that runs through the Keys.

Mats of Sargassum, which is technically algae, have been observed for centuries, but researchers started noticing abnormally large accumulations in 2011. The immense blooms have continued to grow almost every year, in large part because of excessive, nutrient-rich runoff from the Congo, Amazon, and Mississippi rivers.

Alyson Crean, the public information officer for the City of Key West, Fla., said this year has been heavier than usual so far, though the seaweed hasn’t yet required raking more than once a day.

Read the full story here

Not Trump, Not Disney: DiSantis’s latest headache Read More »