EnviroPolitics Blog

Radha Swaminathan Joins TRC Companies’ Board of Directors

TRC Companies (“TRC”) welcomes Radha Swaminathan to its Board of Directors. Swaminathan will assist TRC’s growth by providing invaluable guidance in areas of innovation such as digital solutions, renewables and electric operations.

“We are excited to have Radha join us, at TRC we cannot overstate how important technology is to the health of our business and the business of our clients,” said Chris Vincze, CEO of TRC. “Radha will provide vital perspective on how we can propel the business forward through innovation and digital solutions.”

Swaminathan has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer, Strategy and Technology officer for American Water, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. Before joining American Water, Swaminathan served as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at WIPRO Technologies, a global information technology, consulting and business-process services company. Swaminathan has also served as the Director, Smart Grid Technologies for Florida Power & Light and NextEra Energy, where he spearheaded the business and technology efforts for Florida’s largest investor-owned electric utility, including the development and deployment of “smart grid” technology.

“TRC has been an industry leader for decades and as we look to the future, technological innovation must be incorporated in every aspect of our business,” said Swaminathan. “I look forward to providing governance and guidance to advance the growth of TRC.”

Swaminathan earned a Master of Science and a Master of Philosophy in Mathematics from the University of Madras in India.

A pioneer in groundbreaking scientific and engineering developments since the 1960s, TRC is a leading consulting, engineering and construction management firm that provides technology-enabled solutions to the power, infrastructure, environmental and energy markets

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Pa enviros’ poll says most voters support more fracking regulation

By Ryan Deto Pittsburgh City Paper

A poll commissioned by Climate Power 2020 and the League of Conservation Voters asked Pennsylvania voters a myriad of questions concerning fracking, and responses show that significant majorities of voters support regulations on fracking, as well as support a transition away from fracking and towards renewable energy.

Currently, natural gas is the largest producer of electricity in the state, producing 7,760 megawatt hours in May, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Renewables, including hydro-electric, only produced 905 megawatt hours in May.

The poll, conducted from Aug. 13-19 among 801 registered voters in Pennsylvania, shows that 66% of voters support placing stronger regulations on oil and gas fracking, compared to 23% of voters that oppose. When just looking at the Pittsburgh market, 64% support stronger regulations and 26% oppose. The greater Pittsburgh area, which is home to thousands of fracking wells, has many politicians, both Democratic and Republican, who are allies of the fracking industry.

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Trump inflates Pennsylvania natural gas job figures by 3500 percent

From the Pennsylvania Capital-Star

On Thursday, President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Latrobe, Pa., just an hour east of Pittsburgh. There, he lobbed many insults and made many false claims, but arguably none more egregious than one about jobs in Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry.

According to WESA-FM Editor Chris Potter, Trump claimed during his speech that there are currently 940,000 natural gas jobs in Pennsylvania.

That’s a gross exaggeration. The industry is frequently referred to as the “fracking” industry, a reference to hydraulic fracturing, the process that’s used to extract natural gas from solid rock.

According to multiple analysis and data from state and federal labor departments, there are around 26,000 jobs in Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industries. Trump inflated the amount of jobs in Pennsylvania by more than 3500 percent.

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Little Delaware takes a legal swipe at Big Oil

By Rachel Frazin The Hill

Delaware on Thursday became the latest state to sue major oil and gas companies over climate change, claiming they knew about the issue for decades but participated in a “campaign of deception.”

“Fossil Fuel Defendants had actual knowledge that their products were and are causing and contributing to the injuries complained of, and acted with conscious indifference to the probable dangerous consequences of their conduct’s and products’ foreseeable impact upon the rights of others, including the State and its residents, motivated primarily by unreasonable financial gain,” the lawsuit states.

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The suit also accuses companies of continuing to mislead the public about the impact of their products on climate change through “misleading and deceptive greenwashing campaigns.

Named in the lawsuit are major companies including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Shell, as well as major lobbying group the American Petroleum Institute (API).

“Delawareans are already paying for the malfeasance of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies,” said state Attorney General Kathy Jennings (D) in a statement. “Exxon, Chevron, and other mega-corporations knew exactly what kind of sacrifices the world would make to support their profits, and they deceived the public for decades.”

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This California company wants you driving on plastic highways

Drive the plastic highway? How a California company’s innovative repaving process could lead to the ‘holy grail’ of road construction.

By Jorge L. Ortiz, USA Today

Plastic bottles by the side of a road are a common sight, an unseemly reminder of how often consumer products are discarded carelessly.

Now some of those bottles may become part of the road.

A California company has devised a process that integrates recycled plastic into road repaving, an innovation that could revolutionize the industry while yielding environmental benefits.

Sean Weaver, president of TechniSoil Industrial in the northern California city of Redding, says the polymer-infused roads churned out by the company’s pavement process are sturdier, flatter, safer and more durable than those made with regular asphalt.

More appealing to environmentalists, they incorporate 100% of the old asphalt – sparing the air from dozens of trips by trucks hauling away and bringing in building material – and provide a new market for plastic products that could otherwise wind up in a landfill.

“Everybody that’s looked at it said this will be one of the most transformative road-construction technologies ever,’’ Weaver said. “We’re recycling what’s there, and we’re delivering a road that’s better than the original, at no higher cost than it would cost you to rehab that road the traditional way.’’

TechniSoil workers get the newly repaved road ready before the steam roller flattens it.

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Latest: 500,000 people in Oregon forced to flee wildfires

By GILLIAN FLACCUS and ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press

Deadly wildfires in heavily populated northwest Oregon were growing, with hundreds of thousands of people told to flee encroaching flames while residents to the south tearfully assessed their losses.

People evacuated statewide because of fires had climbed to an estimated 500,000 — more than 10 percent of the 4.2 million people in the state, the Oregon Office of Emergency Management reported late Thursday.

One fire approached Molalla, triggering a mandatory evacuation order for the community of about 9,000 people located 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Portland. A police car rolled through the streets with a loudspeaker blaring “evacuate now.”

Inmates were being moved from a women’s prison less than a mile from Interstate 5 in Portland’s southern suburbs “out of an abundance of caution,” the Oregon Department of Corrections said.

With two large fires threatening to merge, some firefighters in Clackamas County, which includes Molalla, were told to disengage temporarily because of the danger. Officials tried to reassure residents who abandoned their homes, and law enforcement said patrols would be stepped up to prevent looting.

The local fire department said on Twitter: “To be clear, your firefighters are still working hard on the wildfires in Clackamas County. They are taking a ‘tactical pause’ to allow firefighters to reposition, get accountability & evaluate extreme fire conditions.”

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