EnviroPolitics Blog

EPA spending $5.5M to clean up Bucks and Montgomery County Superfund sites

From the USEPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency broke ground today at the North Penn Area 6 Superfund site in Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where EPA is accelerating construction to clean up the site. North Penn Area 6 is one of 49 Superfund Sites nationwide to receive a total of $5.4 billion in new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding for accelerating the cleanup of legacy pollution.

The Chem Fab Superfund Site in Doylestown, Bucks County, is also among the 49 sites receiving this first wave of the Biden/Harris Administration’s BIL funding, allowing EPA to initiate work where Superfund construction projects were backlogged.

“Revitalizing communities and helping create economic vitality is a primary goal of EPA’s Superfund cleanups,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “Because of this infrastructure funding, people living and working in Lansdale and Doylestown can now look forward to these sites finally getting completely cleaned up and ultimately being transformed and reused for the benefit of those communities.”

The North Penn site received $4.9 million in BIL funding to remove and replace industrially contaminated soil. EPA plans to engage the community early and often to make sure they remain aware of planned construction activities and future work.

The Chem Fab Site received $6.3 million, $500,000 of which is from BIL, for the construction of a state-of-the-art groundwater extraction and treatment system to treat contaminated groundwater and return it to nearby Cooks Run.

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Owner of NY hauling business indicted on wire fraud charges

By Haley Rischar, Waste Today

The owner of a New York-based hauling company is facing federal indictment related to his business operations, reports the Westchester Journal News.

Robert Chomicki, 60, of Briarcliff Manor, allegedly arranged for his company—Riverside Hauling—to pay less than it was supposed to when dumping waste at a Yonkers transfer station between April 2019 and June 2020. According to court documents, he plead not guilty and was released on a $250,000 bond following his indictment on wire fraud charges.

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Riverside Hauling, which is licensed by the Westchester Solid Waste Commission, provides container rental for generators of construction and demolition debris and then hauls it to transfer stations.

Although Chomicki is facing federal charges, the Journal News reports the company has not been charged and continues to operate.

The transfer station, A1 Compaction Inc., is owned by Houston-based WM. WM, formerly Waste Management, told Waste Today in an email that it cannot provide comment on the matter as it is a pending criminal investigation.

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New Jerseyan Dr. Oz is running in Pa Senate race, but first he has to run away from Donald Trump

Dr. Mehmet Oz (right) and former hedge fund executive David McCormick . McCormick is a Pennsylvania native who would have been a shoo-in in the general election, but thanks to Donald Trump he lost to Oz, who has a palatial home in Bergen County.

By Paul Mulshine | Star-Ledger Columnist

It seems like every time I open my email I see a new pitch for money from the Republican Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate who calls himself Dr. Oz.

A recent one read,” Fellow Conservative: Dr. Oz is officially LOSING in the polls to Radical Socialist John Fetterman. And I’m frightened.”

I’m frightened, too. I’m afraid the Republican Party is missing yet another chance to take control of the Senate thanks to the stupidity and incompetence of Donald Trump.

It was The Donald who decided to tell his acolytes to vote for Oz in the Pennsylvania Republican primary – despite the fact the TV doctor is from New Jersey, Cliffside Park to be specific.

With Trump’s support, Oz won the GOP primary over David McCormick, a solid conservative who was born and grew up in the heartland of Pennsylvania. But even with Trump’s backing, Oz won by a mere 951 votes.

Fetterman, the sitting lieutenant governor who is known for his sense of humor, immediately went on the attack.

“Do want someone who’s all about North Jersey? He’s not one of us” he asks in one attack ad.

Another ad shows footage of an Oz campaign ad in which the celebrity doctor stands in front of a bookcase as he calls for the Philadelphia mayor to resign amid a crime wave there. Other footage shows the bookcase is in Oz’s Cliffside Park crib.

Read the full opinion piece here

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New Jersey’s Union Beach to start new coastal-defense project 27 years in the works

Town official says planned measures changed little despite Sandy’s devastation

*File photo: A bayfront house in Union Beach that was cut in half by Superstorm Sandy became one of the most photographed damage sites from the storm until it was torn down several weeks later.*

By JON HURDLE, NJ Spotlight

Twenty-seven years after state and federal officials started planning coastal flood defenses for Union Beach, a contract was signed this week to build a berm and other flood-control measures in the devastated Monmouth County town.

Although the project was finally funded after Superstorm Sandy famously pummeled the borough in October 2012, the measures that are due to begin this fall are little different from what was planned in 1995 when the process began, said Robert Howard, administrator for the town of some 5,600 people on the shore of Raritan Bay. He said the project was first approved in 2007 but didn’t attract federal funding until 2013 in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

Howard said it was “hypothetical” whether the town would have fared better during Sandy if the new measures had been in place then, but he hoped it would have been completed. “I believe the project would have assisted with dealing with Sandy,” he said in an interview.

The new contract, worth $50 million, was announced Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Pallone said the project will help to protect the town’s homes and businesses from the bigger and more frequent storms resulting from climate change and rising seas.

“Coastal states like New Jersey are on the frontlines of rising sea levels and stronger storms due to climate change,” Pallone said in a statement. “With this funding, the Army Corps will replenish beaches with a dune, build pedestrian crossovers and repair existing decking that will help protect residents from future storm damage and flooding events.”

Read the full story here

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The U.S. will lift tariffs on solar products imported from Canada

As part of the agreement signed on July 8, the U.S. and Canada also committed to prohibiting imports of solar products produced with forced labor.

By John Engel, Renewable Energy World

The Trump administration implemented the solar safeguard measure in 2018 to support domestic solar manufacturing. While largely aimed at China, the safeguard extended to all solar imports.

In February, a panel found that Canada’s inclusion in the solar safeguard was inconsistent with rules within the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

That same month, President Biden extended the solar safeguard measure for an additional four years, but excluded bifacial cells and doubled the import quota on solar cells to 5 GW. Biden also directed the United States trade representative to conclude agreements with Canada and Mexico on trade in solar products.

“Reaching this settlement with Canada will promote the greater deployment of solar energy in the United States using products from one of our closest allies, and foster a more resilient North American supply chain for clean energy products made without forced labor,” United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.

Read the full story here

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Fecal bacteria tests lead to swimming advisories at four Jersey Shore beaches

By Chris Sheldon | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection placed four New Jersey beaches under swimming advisories Tuesday afternoon after water samples taken at them showed high levels of fecal bacteria.

The beaches placed under swimming advisories were:

• Forget-Me-Not Road beach in Wildwood Crest (ocean)

• Miami Avenue beach in Wildwood Crest (ocean)

• Lavender Road beach in Wildwood Crest (ocean)

• Orchid Road beach in Wildwood Crest (ocean)

Read the full story here

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