PennDOT selects team to replace collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge

PennDOT selects team to replace Fern Hollow Bridge, says some demolition could start this weekend


By ED BLAZINA Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has chosen the team that will design and build the replacement for the collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge, and some demolition work could begin this weekend.

PennDOT District Executive Cheryl Moon-Sirianni said Friday that international design firm HDR will design the new bridge on Forbes Avenue above Frick Park in Point Breeze, and Swank Construction Co. of New Kensington will be the general contractor. The companies were chosen without bids under emergency declarations by the state and the city of Pittsburgh after the old bridge collapsed Jan. 28, injuring 10 people.

“We’ve worked with both of these firms before, and we thought they would work well together,” Ms. Moon-Sirianni said.

HDR, which has a Pittsburgh office, was involved in designing emergency repairs to the Liberty Bridge after it caught fire during rehabilitation in 2016. Swank was the general contractor for the innovative replacement of the Shaler Street Bridge in 2019 when crews built the new bridge in a nearby parking lot and moved it into place over Route 19/51 near the West End Bridge in Pittsburgh.

Initially, Swank crews will work with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is still investigating the scene, Ms. Moon-Sirianni said. That work could include the beginning of demolition this weekend.

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NYC mayor Eric Adams elevates environmental justice in climate approach

By Maria Rachal Waste Dive

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday a new Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice to better integrate justice work within the city’s comprehensive approach to climate. The office consolidates and unifies existing agencies focused on resilience, sustainability, environmental coordination, and environmental remediation.

Adams also announced new appointments to the climate team who he said will support the administration’s work to “offset the effects of climate change and unnecessary carbon emissions,” with plans to expand solar power installations and other citywide resilience and clean-energy infrastructure. He also pledged to complete the city’s “first comprehensive study of environmental justice.”

Environmental justice advocates welcomed the commitments. “The nature of environmental justice is about intersectionality,” said Eddie Bautista, executive director of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA). “If your government is siloed, by extension, your policies are siloed.” At the same time, Bautista said that the newfound attention and formalization of environmental justice (EJ) in city operations raises the stakes. “We intend on holding the mayor’s office accountable to that title.”

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Biden’s focus on environmental justice led to a year of progress — and burnout

The president’s top environmental justice official resigned just weeks before the White House marked the one-year anniversary of his ambitious climate agenda

By Darryl Fears Washington Post

As he prepared to embark on “the most ambitious climate and environmental justice agenda ever pursued” in Washington, President Biden tapped one of the nation’s foremost experts on the topic to lead his historic effort.

But Cecilia Martinez barely lasted a year in a role that felt like a pressure cooker.

Building a new framework across multiple federal agencies at the thinly staffed Council on Environmental Quality was exhausting, Martinez said. She resigned exactly three weeks before Thursday’s anniversary of Biden’s executive order to inject environmental justice into the DNA of federal agencies.

The Jan. 27 order seeks to undo historical wrongs that burdened underprivileged communities with disproportionately high levels of pollution.

“I got dangerously close to burnout,” Martinez said in a recent interview from her home in New Mexico. “Literally it was nonstop, seven days a week, all day long. In the midst of just some personal family issues I had, I literally had to rearrange my stepfather’s funeral around … meetings. It was just an incredible pace.”

‘This is environmental racism’

That arduous pace and near burnout show how difficult it is to bake an environmental justice framework into the federal government from scratch. Her departure has led some in her circle to wonder if the administration is truly committed to employing enough workers to tackle an overwhelming job.

Environmental justice — also known as environmental injustice and environmental racism — emerged out of protests against toxic-waste dumping, freeways, industrial plants, concrete batch facilities, incinerators, landfills, mineral mines, and other types of pollution that are disproportionately located in communities of color.

A recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency showed that particulate matter air pollution adversely affects Americans of color regardless of their state or income level.

Other studies have shown that air pollution is disproportionately caused by the nation’s White majority but its impact is felt largely by African Americans and Latinos.

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NJ Assembly enviro panel meets on Monday

The Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee will meet remotely on Monday, February 7, 2022, at 12:30 PM.

     The public may not attend the Committee meeting in person but may view and participate in the meeting via the New Jersey Legislature home page at https: / / www.njleg.state.nj.us / .

     The Committee will take oral testimony on bills, by telephone and video. If you are interested in registering your position with the Committee, please fill out the Registration Form located on the New Jersey Legislature Home Page under the applicable Committee heading.

     For those individuals who wish to testify, please check the box “Do you wish to testify?” on the Registration Form. Instructions for testifying before the Committee will be forwarded to you after you submit your Registration Form. The form must be submitted by 3:00 PM on Friday, February 4, 2022.

     The public may also submit written testimony electronically in lieu of oral testimony. Written testimony will be included in the Committee record and distributed to all the Committee members. Written testimony should be submitted to OLSAideAEN@njleg.org.

     The following bills will be considered:

A642 (Coughlin) – Concerns use of steel slag as aggregate. (pending referral)

A1438 (Kennedy / Mukherji / Stanley) – Increases maximum penalty for certain violations concerning asbestos hazard abatement; allocates money from increased penalties to asbestos programs.

A1439 (Kennedy / Stanley / Verrelli) – Requires each solid waste management district to develop a strategy in its solid waste management plan to reduce food waste.

A2065 (Coughlin) – Exempts food banks and food pantries from the law prohibiting the sale and distribution of plastic and paper carryout bags by certain businesses. (pending intro and referral)

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Energy and environment bills-Trenton Feb 10

The Senate Environment and Energy Committee will meet on Thursday, February 10, 2022 at 10:00 AM in Committee Room 6, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ.

     The committee will meet to hear testimony from invited guests on the impacts of climate change in New Jersey, and what actions the State is taking, and should take, to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

     The State House Annex has reopened to the general public. Visitors to the State House Annex are required to show ID and proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR or rapid test conducted within the previous 72 hours.

     All visitors are required to undergo a temperature screening prior to proceeding through security. Masks are mandatory at all times inside the State House Annex, including in Committee Rooms and in the hallways and other facilities.

     The following bills will be considered:

S333 (Singleton) – Prohibits persons convicted of criminal animal cruelty offenses from owning domestic companion animals and from working or volunteering at animal-related enterprises; establishes a presumption against pretrial intervention for certain persons; designated as

S336 (Singleton / Rice) – Establishes Office of Clean Energy Equity in BPU; directs the establishment of certain clean energy, energy efficiency, and energy storage programs for overburdened communities; makes a change to community solar program.

S417 (Smith / Codey) – Requires environmental sustainability plan for State House Complex.

S419 (Smith / Greenstein) – Establishes Renewable and Efficient Energy Financing Program; authorizes BPU to transfer up to $20 million annually in societal benefits charge revenues to New Jersey Infrastructure Bank for purposes of the program.

S1005 (Ruiz) – Authorizes common law public nuisance suits regarding lead paint under State law; exempts Attorney General from certain aspects of public nuisance claims when pursuing lead paint actions.

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NJ Gov. Murphy nominates Matt Platkin as attorney general, amid plaudits and (some) doubt

New AG has been warmly welcomed by the social-justice community and other reform contingents and former colleagues, but the shadow of a bungled sexual assault case lingers

By TAYLOR JUNG  NJ Spotlight

Matt Platkin

When Gov. Phil Murphy formally introduced former Chief Counsel Matt Platkin as his next pick for attorney general Thursday, he stressed twice that Platkin would be the “people’s lawyer” — not the governor’s lawyer.

Those not knowing Murphy and Platkin’s history might think this phrasing was just the governor’s way of defining the attorney general’s role for New Jerseyans. But it also could be seen as a way to put some distance between the two, given their amicable yet complicated ties.

Platkin has been working with Murphy since 2016 when he joined Murphy’s nonprofit and then his gubernatorial campaign. He would eventually become Murphy’s chief counsel in the administration, until he left his post in September 2020 to join a North Jersey law firm. He played an important role, helping craft important legal actions for Murphy, like his executive orders during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Platkin steps into his new role, questions remain over how closely he will hew to the path of his predecessor Gurbir Grewal. Grewal left behind a prolific legacy in June 2021, setting new guidelines and tracking police use of force, establishing guidance on marijuana decriminalization, and tackling gun reform.

Looming over Platkin’s nomination, however, is his involvement in a Murphy campaign scandal, when former campaign aide Katie Brennan accused colleague Al Alvarez of sexual assault in 2017. Platkin testified to lawmakers in 2019 that he thought he couldn’t report the issue to Murphy because of confidentiality guidelines. A 2019 report from the New Jersey Select Oversight Committee, a legislative panel that investigated the Murphy administration’s later hiring of Alvarez, found that the administration “seriously mishandled” Brennan’s claim, saying that Platkin also misunderstood a recommendation from the attorney general’s office to investigate.

Can Platkin move on?

Platkin has received a warm welcome from what seems to be a large swath of the New Jersey political world. But the biggest questions remain to be answered: Will Platkin make strides as an attorney general — just as he has been able to work with Murphy on key policies — and will he be able to move away from his handling of sexual assault allegations?

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