EnviroPolitics Blog

Soccer sparks the frosty French

*A fan after the World Cup semifinal match between France and Morocco in Paris on Wednesday. (Thibault Camus/Associated Press)*

By Rick Noack, The Washington Post

PARIS ― Before the World Cup got underway in Qatar last month, a fourth of French soccer fans said in surveys that they would boycott the controversial tournament. There was widespread outrage over the Persian Gulf state’s treatment of LGBTQ people and migrant workers, as well as the contest’s carbon footprint.

But that was before their national team stormed into the soccer final. With France now gearing up for the Sunday match with Argentina, moral predicaments that once dominated French World Cup coverage are quickly becoming an afterthought.

World Cup Briefing: A Bug in the System

“The French probably did not believe the team would get that far,” said Laurent Grün, a soccer history researcher in eastern France who decided to not watch the tournament. Even some of his own family members who previously joined the boycott have by now given in.

French President Emmanuel Macron smiles during the World Cup in Qatar.

Among the France national team supporters watching the match will be President Emmanuel Macron, a soccer fan who had already traveled to Qatar for the Wednesday semifinal and is making a second trip to the Gulf state this weekend. “I am backing the France team and I think that the French are too,” Macron said Thursday.

The French president is one of only a few top European officials who have attended the World Cup this year. But his presence in Qatar, and his recent insistence that “sports should not be politicized,” appeared to capture the predominant sentiment among French soccer fans in these final days of the World Cup.

For those fans who were having second thoughts about their initial boycott plans, Macron’s defense of the tournament has served as a justification to give in.

Read the full story here

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New Jersey utility rate counsel suggests state slow down the pace of offshore wind development

By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight

Offshore wind farms in New Jersey should consider scaling back how much new offshore wind capacity is approved next year because economic and financial uncertainties could lead to higher prices, according to the Division of Rate Counsel.

Rate Counsel Director Brian Lipman suggested slowing down the pace of offshore wind development as higher interest rates, supply chain disruptions, and inflationary pressures are causing some developers to seek to renegotiate the contracts they have been awarded to build wind farms.

“This is of great concern,’’ Lipman told the staff of the state Board of Public Utilities Tuesday during a stakeholder meeting. The board was meeting to discuss making a third solicitation for offshore wind projects early next year. Lipman suggested that the board’s staff develop guidelines to prevent after-the-fact increases to contracts awarded to developers.

Ørsted, the developer of New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm about 15 miles off Atlantic City, has acknowledged it is not earning what it expected on its U.S. projects. If the company seeks to renegotiate its contract, it must file a petition with the BPU, Lipman said.

“Ratepayers simply cannot afford drastically higher electric bills,’’ he said. Utility customers already have been hit with steep increases this winter in their heating bills because of the rising costs of natural gas. Monthly bills increased for the state’s four gas utilities from 15% to as much as 24% this fall.

Read the full story here

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Plot disrupted to overthrow German government

From ABC News

The German police have confiscated guns, swords, and night vision equipment and made arrests after they broke up an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

From the New York Times

Far-Right Group Suspected in German Plot Gained Strength From QAnon

The Reichsbürger movement accused of plotting to overthrow Germany’s government picked up momentum from conspiracy theories that grew during the pandemic.

Police officers outside a residence they raided on Wednesday to halt what the authorities said was a plan to storm the German Capitol and execute the chancellor.Credit…Carsten Koall/Getty Images

By Katrin Bennhold and Erika Solomon, New York Times

Published Dec. 8, 2022Updated Dec. 9, 2022, 10:09 a.m. ET

BERLIN — A ragtag band that had been dismissed as wacky and harmless gadflies, the Reichsbürger, or Citizens of the Reich, has tilted at windmills on Germany’s far-right political fringe for decades.

But after the authorities accused members of plotting to overthrow the government and kill the chancellor, a sharply different view of the obscure group emerged Thursday: as a serious terrorist threat, supercharged by conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and vaccines.

Among the 25 members of the cell arrested this week were a judge, a doctor, a cook, a pilot, a classical tenor and three police officers, officials said. At least 15 had links to the military, including former or current soldiers and two reservists with access to weapons. The arrests put Germany on high alert and, after months of surveillance, set off one of the biggest anti-terrorist crackdowns in German postwar history.

Read the full story here

From NBC News

Germany arrests dozens in suspected pot

By Andy Eckardt and Patrick Smith

MAINZ, Germany — Authorities in Germany arrested 25 people Wednesday who are suspected of planning to violently overthrow the government in a far-right extremist plot.

More than 3,000 police officers, including special forces members, made 130 early morning searches across 11 of Germany’s 16 federal states in one of the biggest counterterrorism operations in the country’s history.

Suspects from the so-far-unnamed group include a nobleman with a historic royal title and various armed forces veterans. It is centered on the so-called Reichsbürger, or Reich Citizens, movement, which is motivated by conspiracy theories about the role and the legitimacy of the modern German state.

Read the full story here

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A Bitter Victory

A Bitter Victory Read More »

Environmental bills up for votes in the NJ Senate on November 21, 2022

*Senate Chamber, in session, at the New Jersey Legislative State House*

Senate: Board List For 11-21-22 (Second Revision)

S2619 – Excludes solid waste, recycling, fuel, and certain insurance costs from appropriations cap for certain local units.

S3114 – Eliminates the prohibition on paper bags, and allows packaging options, for certain grocery orders for three years; requires program for disposition of reusable bags; extends timeframe for use of certain bags by food banks and pantries.

S3249 – Amends lists of projects eligible to receive loans for environmental infrastructure projects from NJ Infrastructure Bank for FY2023.

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A1438 – Increases maximum penalty for certain violations concerning asbestos hazard abatement; allocates money from increased penalties to asbestos programs.

S2196 – Increases maximum penalty for certain violations concerning asbestos hazard abatement; allocates money from increased penalties to asbestos programs.

A3444 – Establishes Organic Farming Board in t Department of Agriculture.

S3140 – Establishes Organic Farming Board in Department of Agriculture.

For complete details, log on to www.GovNetNJ.com.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please call 1-800-GOVNET-9.

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‘The public had to know,’ says NJ veterans’ home whistleblower

By BRENDA FLANAGAN, NJ Spotlight News

“The public had to know. This had to be out in the media. And it worked,” said whistleblower Dave Ofshinsky, the former business manager at the state-run veterans home in Paramus.

Ofshinsky contacted news reporters about the chaos, lack of management, and death overwhelming the vets’ home in April 2020, when COVID-19 roared through the facility, killing up to seven residents a day. Ofshinsky said the home needs new management instead of being run by officials from the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

Some state senators apparently agree and will meet on Monday to brainstorm a solution, said Sen. Patrick Diegnan. “No doubt about it, we need to do the post-mortem, but also more importantly we’ve got to fix this thing and we’ve got to fix it ASAP,” Diegnan said.

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Soccer sparks the frosty French

New Jersey utility rate counsel suggests state slow down the pace of offshore wind development

Plot disrupted to overthrow German government

Far-Right Group Suspected in German Plot Gained Strength From QAnon

Germany arrests dozens in suspected pot

A Bitter Victory

Environmental bills up for votes in the NJ Senate on November 21, 2022

‘The public had to know,’ says NJ veterans’ home whistleblower

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