DRBC’s climate-change advisory panel organizes; selects Howard Neukrug of Penn’s Water Center as chairman

Delaware River

Delaware River Basin Commission news release

WEST TRENTON, N.J. (August 6, 2020) — As Tropical Storm Isaias roared up through the Delaware Valley Tuesday, the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) Advisory Committee on Climate Change (ACCC) held its inaugural meeting. The ACCC was created by the DRBC in December 2019. The ACCC is comprised of 18 individuals with relevant climate expertise, representing various government, watershed, academic, business and water user perspectives.

The ACCC’s initial charge is to help inform DRBC’s future water resource planning efforts considering climate change and support development of a comprehensive study on climate impacts to the Basin’s water supply and water quality.

“Here in the Delaware River Basin we have some unique challenges. This Basin is prone to droughts and floods. Our main stem river is undammed and open to the ocean, meaning the bay and estuary are subject to sea level rise and storm surges. Bottom line – it’s complex, and we need this regional climate change expert committee’s help,” said Steve Tambini, DRBC’s Executive Director.

Among the Committee’s first orders of business was to elect a chair. Howard Neukrug, P.E., Executive Director, The Water Center at Penn, University of Pennsylvania, was unanimously chosen by the members.

“The DRBC staff has assembled a strong team of climate experts who will now work together to share their knowledge and ideas on how to minimize the future impacts of climate change on our region’s water resources,” said Neukrug.

The ACCC is one of seven DRBC advisory committees, which are important forums for information-sharing, dialogue and coordination among stakeholders and member state agencies. These committees also help inform the Commission’s policy decisions. All advisory committee and sub-committee meetings are open to the public. Information on each is available at https://www.nj.gov/drbc/about/advisory/.

The DRBC is a federal/interstate government agency created in 1961 by concurrent compact legislation, marking the first time that the federal government and a group of states joined together as equal partners in a river basin planning, development and regulatory agency. The five Commission members are the governors of the basin states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) and the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division, who represents the federal government.

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Study backs up concerns that low-density residential land use threatens Lancaster County farmland

BAY JOURNAL

Farmland Aug. 3, 2020

When the American Farmland Trust recently assessed threats to farmland in Pennsylvania, it was surprised to find that urban sprawl and anemic profit margins for milk and crops didn’t top the list.

The biggest problem? The growth of large-lot subdivisions leapfrogging urban areas and popping up in farm country.

In its nationwide study, “Farms Under Threat: The State of the States,” the trust found that Pennsylvania ranked eighth in the nation for the rate of conversion from agricultural land to low-density housing. In fact, 70% of the 347,000 acres of farmland lost in the state between 2001 and 2016 was because of such pop-up neighborhoods.

Fragmenting of the agrarian landscape and the disruption of agricultural economies often leads to a slow but inexorable domino effect. While being amid new neighborhoods may benefit some farmers in the near term with direct-market sales, it’s more likely that over time the critical mass needed for a viable farm community is lost.

Farmers have trouble moving equipment between their fields, and new residents complain about odors. Grain and equipment retailers that farmers depend on move out and land prices go up, making it harder for farmers to buy property.

Low-density residential development is 23 times more likely to make surrounding ag land urbanized than other agricultural land, according to the report, which the trust bills as “the most comprehensive assessment ever undertaken of U.S. agricultural land use.”

“While urban sprawl is still a threat to farmland, low-density residential land use is as much of a threat to farmland as urbanization,” said Jamie Mierau, American Farmland Trust’s mid-Atlantic regional director. “Unlike urban highly developed development, conversion to low-density residential is not closely tied to population growth.”

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NJ Wants $10K Daily Fine Over Gym’s ‘Brazen’ Virus Defiance


By Jeannie O’Sullivan Law 360

The state of New Jersey wants a Bellmawr gym to pay at least $10,000 for each day it remains open in “brazen” defiance of COVID-19 shutdown orders, marking the latest showdown in the biggest legal battle over the Garden State’s closure mandates.

In a letter to Superior Court Judge Robert T. Lougy, Deputy Attorney General Stephen Slocum said Monday that Atilis Gym’s two owners kicked down a barricade on the gym’s premises Saturday and let in patrons as a crowd of supporters and news reporters stood by.

The move came days after the owners were arrested and held in contempt for violating a previous order to limit operations.

The ongoing flouting of the pandemic orders puts the public’s health and safety in danger, making it clear sanctions and relief are warranted, Slocum wrote.

“Defendant Atilis Gym’s brazen conduct is abhorrent to an organized judicial system, jeopardizes the public health and the safety of New Jersians, and must not be tolerated,” the letter said.

The deputy attorney general pointed out that the $10,000 daily sanction is within the gym’s means since it has raised more than $143,000 through GoFundMe for its legal fees, and is appropriate due to the “galling nature” of the owners’ behavior.

Also, the state wants to recoup the $4,888 in legal fees it racked up lodging the contempt motion, according to the letter.

The battle began in federal court with Atilis’ May lawsuit alleging that Gov. Phil Murphy’s March shutdown of nonessential businesses runs afoul of federal civil rights laws as well as the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fifth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Owners Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti criticized the orders in interviews with local and national media outlets.

The arguments moved to state court, where Murphy and health officials already had an action pending over the gym’s refusal to close. Meanwhile, the gym began racking up summonses after repeatedly reopening even despite Murphy’s mandate and health department order specifically targeted at the gym.

The state moved for sanctions in July when the gym refused to comply with a relaxed order to limit operations to individualized, appointment-based instruction. Judge Lougy initially refused, but switched gears days later after a Camden County surveillance team and state health investigators observed continued defiance.

On July 27, Smith and Trumbetti were arrested and released with a disorderly persons summons for one count each of contempt, obstruction and violation of the New Jersey Disaster Control Act. Three days later, Smith publicly announced plans to kick down the barricade on Aug. 1.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal referred to the content of the letter.

An attorney for the gym did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

New Jersey is represented by Stephen Slocum of the attorney general’s office.

The gym is represented by Christopher Arzberger of the Russell Friedman Law Group LLP and James G. Mermigis of The Mermigis Law Group PC.

The case is Persichilli v. Atilis Gym of Bellmawr, case number MER-C-48-20, in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage Chancery.

–Editing by Abbie Sarfo.


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NYDEC Helps Improve Accessibility for Hudson River Recreation

Last week marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the first comprehensive law guaranteeing equal rights to people with disabilities. DEC is committed to improving access to lands and waters across the state and is increasing the range of accessible opportunities available for people to fish, boat, hunt, canoe, picnic, horseback ride, hike and camp.

Over the past several years, DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program has been helping communities along the tidal Hudson River improve accessibility at waterfront sites through grants for planning, equipment purchases, and physical improvements. Here are a few of these funded projects:

You can find information about DEC campgrounds, boat launches, and public areas across the state with accessible features including picnic areas, developed and primitive campsites, fishing platforms, boating boarding piers, cartop launches, wildlife viewing platforms, and beach access points on DEC’s website.

You can find information about DEC campgrounds, boat launches, and public areas across the state with accessible features including picnic areas, developed and primitive campsites, fishing platforms, boating boarding piers, cartop launches, wildlife viewing platforms, and beach access points on DEC’s website.

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Small California Town Takes on the Oil Industry

Trends in California's Oil and Gas Development - Violations ...

The mostly low-income, Latino residents of Arvin have joined with other communities to demand setbacks for wells. Their slogan: “No drilling where we are living.”

By Julia Kane Inside Climate News

In Arvin, a small, agricultural town at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, pollution is a pervasive part of life. Pesticides sprayed on industrial-scale farms, fumes drifting from the region’s ubiquitous oil and gas wells, exhaust from the trucks barrelling down Interstate 5—it all gets trapped in the valley, creating a thick haze. This year the American Lung Association ranked Bakersfield, just 15 miles northwest of Arvin, as the worst metropolitan area in the U.S. in terms of annual particle pollution.

Arvin’s residents, like people in many other parts of California, are especially concerned by the oil and gas wells sprinkled throughout their community. These wells, sometimes drilled and operated in close proximity to neighborhoods, schools, and health care centers, release a toxic mix of hydrogen sulfide, benzene, xylene, hexane and formaldehyde into the air.

Related news: The toxic legacy of old oil wells: California’s multibillion-dollar problem

Studies have linked living near oil and gas extraction to a wide range of adverse health effects, including increased risk of asthma, respiratory illnesses, preterm birth, low birthweight and cancer—serious fears for the more than two million Californians who live within a quarter-mile of operational oil and gas wells. 

Creating a setback distance between oil and gas operations and places where people live, researchers have found, reduces the risks. Yet in California, the industry operates under a patchwork of regulations, with no statewide rule on setbacks—a regulatory gap that is rare among the nation’s top oil-producing states.

KQED photo

California is a paradox; though widely regarded as one of the most environmentally-conscious states, the oil industry wields considerable power here, and has consistently attempted to thwart new regulations, including public health protections. During the current legislative session, the Western States Petroleum Association and Chevron have been the two top lobbying groups in the state, spending $9.9 billion and $7.5 billion, respectively.

But in Arvin, a small group of mostly low-income, Latino residents is going against the grain, taking on the big oil companies in a David-versus-Goliath fight to protect the environment and their health. Their struggle is unusual in Kern County, where pumpjacks sucking heavy crude from the parched floor of the San Joaquin Valley stretch for miles. Here, in one of the poorest parts of the state, oil means big money: the county extracts 70 percent of the oil and 78 percent of the gas produced in California.

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Downtown Boston’s empty, surreal summer

Congress Street in Boston’s normally bustling Financial District was nearly empty at 10 a.m. one morning last week.DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

By Tim Logan Boston Globe Staff

In normal times, South Station would be bustling at 8:15 in the morning, with wave after wave of commuters pouring from the Red Line and commuter rail. Some would hurry over Fort Point Channel to the Seaport, while thousands of others headed for the thicket of office towers downtown.

On Thursday, at about the same time, just a handful of people got off when the Red Line rumbled into the basement of South Station. Upstairs, a commuter rail train from Plymouth, built to carry hundreds of passengers, discharged about 50. Masked and heads-down, they scattered across Dewey Square, past a papered-over coffee shop and the stub of a stalled-out skyscraper that not so long ago hummed with activity.

“It’s all just so weird,” said Walter Downey, an investment advisor who has worked downtown for decades, as he walked to his office on Federal Street. “It’s like you can hear the dogs barking out there.”Get Business Headlines in your inboxThe Globe’s latest business headlines delivered every morning, Monday through Friday.Sign Up

It has been that kind of summer in the heart of Boston: quiet, a little lonely, and kind of weird. There are no throngs of tourists following the Freedom Trail or searching for Fenway Park. The weekday commuters are far fewer; landlords estimate that office towers are maybe 10 percent full. Without those workers to serve, the delis, convenience stores, and dry cleaners that form the fabric of downtown’s streets, are quiet, too. Some remain closed. And the after-work beer gardens and outdoor boot camps that have popped up in recent years didn’t happen this summer.

It’s not like there is no one around. People still trickle in and out of office buildings, though the relatively high percentage who are wearing shorts suggests a more relaxed dress code inside. Tourists still stare at their maps. Construction workers still linger on lunch break. But there is no escaping the depressing reality: The normally bustling center of a city that just months ago brimmed with life, today feels like some lesser place. A place left behind, or suspended in amber.

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