If you haven’t seen our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics, you don’t know what you’re missing. Until now.
Every business day,EnviroPoliticssubscribers receive the latestenergy, environment and political news stories and articles:
From every daily newspaper in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and other regional and national information sources.
In a headline and summary format that saves time.
Click on the headlines that interest you to open the full stories at their original sources.
PLUS– Track all energy and environment legislation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Follow bills from introduction to enactment
Check out this week’s three issues below and discover why the the most successful environmental law firms, consultants, trade associations, businesses, lawmakers and regulators in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware find it to be an indispensable daily enjoyment.
If you like our environmental, energy and political news and our weekly legislation-tracking (and we bet you will), take us up on a terrific offer–a full month’s subscription for free. That’s 30 individual issues.
No obligation. No automatic extension. No gimmicks. No kidding.
Bring a frivolous lawsuit against your farm neighbor and it could cost you
The Assembly Agriculture Committee today released legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Ron Dancer, allowing farmers to recover reasonable costs and attorney fees incurred while defending against a false complaint by neighbors.
Over the years, residential development has encroached more and more into traditionally rural areas in close proximity to farms, which has led to an increase in nuisance lawsuits over farming operations, including such conditions as noise and odors.
“The financial costs of defending against these claims can be very hard on farmers who are already facing tough times,” said Dancer (R-Ocean). “Even if the farmer ultimately wins in court, the litigation process can be very time consuming and very expensive.”
The established irrebuttable presumption is that commercial farming does not constitute a public or private nuisance under New Jersey’s Right to Farm Act, signed into law in 1983.
Dancer’s bill (A3619) would allow farmers to apply to a county or state agricultural board for their costs and attorney fees. If the board finds the complaint was made in bad faith, it would then issue an order for the plaintiff to pay them back.
Farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to survive, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The nation lost more than 100,000 farms between 2011 and 2018. More than half of all farmers have lost money every year since 2013.
The U.S. Supreme Court has officially declined to hear the last, lingering lawsuits regarding Pennsylvania’s 2020 election process.
The cases had been brought by Republican leaders in Pennsylvania’s legislature and former President Donald Trump, among others, ahead of the Nov. 3 election. They challenged a decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to allow counties to accept mail ballots postmarked by Election Day up to three days later.
The court handed down its decision not to consider the suits Monday. The justices in the majority did not release a rationale for the move, though those in the minority did file dissents✎ EditSign.
Justice Clarence Thomas argued not making a decision to clarify the law was a mistake.
“If state officials have the authority they have claimed, we need to make it clear. If not, we need to put an end to this practice now before the consequences become catastrophic,” Thomas wrote.
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from NJ, PA, NY, Delaware…and beyond. Try it free for an entire month.
A tanker sailed through Arctic sea ice in February for the first time, the latest sign of how quickly the pace of climate change is accelerating in the Earth’s northernmost regions.
The Christophe de Margerie was accompanied by the nuclear-powered 50 Let Pobedy icebreaker as it sailed back to Russia this month after carrying liquified natural gas to China through the Northern Sea Route in January. Both trips broke navigation records.
“I am confident that the Northern Sea Route is competitive, that changes in the ice situation and the improvement of marine technologies create new conditions for its development,” said Yury Trutnev, Russia’s deputy prime minister and a member of the supervisory board at Rosatom, the state-owned nuclear corporation that manages the route.
The experimental voyage happened after a year of extraordinarily warm conditions in the Arctic that have sent shockwaves across the world, from the snowstorm that blanketed Spain in January to the blast of cold air that swept through Canada in mid-February, moving deep into the South as far as Texas.
The Arctic is warming more than twice as quickly as the rest of the world and the area covered by ice there has reached historic lows multiple times over the past 12 months. Satellite images show that ice coverage is now 7% lower than the average over the past four decades.
Action was taken yesterday in the NJ Legislature on the following bills:
A1976 – Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to issue up to $20 million in bonds to finance cost-effective energy efficiency improvements in State, local, and school district buildings. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee with committee amendments, referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee
A2863 – Requires public water systems to provide notice of elevated lead levels in drinking water to customers and local officials; requires landlords to notify tenants of elevated lead levels. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly
A3352 – Requires all newly constructed warehouses to be solar-ready buildings. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee with committee substitute, 2nd reading in Assembly
A3619 – Allows commercial farmer to be awarded reasonable costs and attorney fees for defending against bad faith complaints under “Right to Farm Act”. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee, 2nd reading in Assembly
A4552 – Exempts New Jersey Infrastructure Bank projects from certain local bond requirements. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly
A4899 – Extends existing plug-in electric vehicle incentives to plug-in electric motorcycles. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly
A5053 – Amends list of environmental infrastructure projects approved for long-term funding for FY2021 to include new projects and modify estimated loan amounts for certain projects; modifies terms and conditions for certain loans utilizing federal funds. 02/22/2021 Signed by the Governor P.L.2021, c.21
A5054 – Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to expend additional sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2021; modifies terms and conditions for certain loan utilizing federal funds. 02/22/2021 Signed by the Governor P.L.2021, c.22
S767 – Eliminates five percent down payment requirement for local bond ordinances involving New Jersey Infrastructure Bank transportation projects. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee, 2nd reading in Assembly
S968 – Requires public water systems to provide notice of elevated lead levels in drinking water to customers and local officials; requires landlords to notify tenants of elevated lead levels. 02/22/2021 Reported out of committee with committee amendments, 2nd reading in Assembly
If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary and legislative updates from NJ, PA, NY, Delaware…and beyond. Try it free for an entire month.
