Controversy over incinerator-linked PFAS in New York draws scrutiny

The image by Яіскў Ѕнояє is licensed under CC BY 2.0

By E.A. Crunden@eacrunden Waste Dive

Ongoing controversy over toxic chemical contamination linked to an incinerator in Cohoes, New York could spur new lawmaker action. Testing done by David Bond, a Bennington College environmental studies professor, and his students found per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil and surface water near a facility run by Norlite Corp., a company that makes a ceramic aggregate material. 

Norlite’s incinerator has previously accepted PFAS-laden aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), sparking concerns that incinerators spread the chemicals, rather than breaking them down. When the findings were presented on April 27, Bond told reporters that “far from destroying AFFF, Norlite’s facility appears to be raining down a witch’s brew” of PFAS onto nearby areas. 

Dive Insight:

PFAS incineration has been a source of interest for some companies, with U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) contracts offering an access point. There are only nine facilities approved to burn AFFF: Norlite’s Cohoes facility; Clean Harbors facilities in Arkansas, Nebraska and Texas; Veolia North America facilities in Arkansas, Illinois and Texas; and Ross Environmental Services and Heritage Environmental Services facilities in Ohio.

Norlite’s parent company, Indiana-based Tradebe, contracted with DOD in November 2018 to incinerate AFFF. ​But the recent controversy has reignited conversations about PFAS and incineration, as the company faces pressure given that the incinerator is only 200 meters away from a public housing complex.

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Pennsylvania has set its benchmarks for reopening.

10 weeks after the coronavirus pandemic reached Pa., more counties come out of total lockdown, while Philly region waits and watches case counts
YONG KIM / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

by Justine McDaniel, Erin McCarthy and Ellie Silverman, Updated: May 15, 2020- 7:47 PM

Ten weeks after the first cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Pennsylvania, the western part of the state came out of full lockdown on Friday, and officials urged the southeastern region to stay the course — even amid warm weather — as signs pointed to strengthening progress.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday announced 12 more counties that can enter the state’s first or “yellow” phase of recovery on May 22, joining the 37 already there. While the southeastern region is not among those cleared, the new batch of counties, which includes York, inched closer to Philadelphia’s western suburbs.

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The counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania still have case counts above the commonwealth’s threshold of about 50 new cases per 100,000 people over 14 days, one of the benchmarks being used by state officials to determine what areas can start reopening.

However, case counts continue on a downswing in both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, officials said Friday.

Philadelphia’s decline in new cases of COVID-19 “seems to be accelerating,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said Friday, adding that he still could not predict when the city will be able to reopen.

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New York regions start reopening Friday, but Long Island stays on ‘Pause’

Long Island remains on “Pause” until it can meet the necessary criteria to begin to reopen. State beaches will be open Memorial Day weekend, but things will be different this year. Here’s the latest in our daily coronavirus wrap-up video. Credit: Newsday / staff; Howard Schnapp

This Newsday story was reported by Matthew Chayes, Candice Ferrette, Joan Gralla, David Olson, David Reich-Hale and Craig Schneider. It was written by Olson.

Five of 10 regions in New York State began reopening their economies Friday, as an initial step in emerging from the coronavirus crisis that has shut down schools and nonessential businesses, though Long Island and New York City remain under a “pause” order that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo extended until May 28.

Nonessential businesses on Long Island and the four other regions that remain fully under the order will remain closed until their regions meet benchmarks set by the state, the governor said.

Long Island improved Friday in the daily tracking of health and preparedness metrics by the state, now meeting five of seven criteria to qualify for reopening. Nassau and Suffolk as a whole had slid backward on those measures Thursday because the availability of hospital beds in case of a virus resurgence had dropped below 30%.Explore the map or search for your community. The data shows concentration of cases.

Cuomo also announced Friday that state and local beaches statewide will be able to reopen the Friday before Memorial Day, with a 50% capacity rule and other safety measures in place. Counties and municipalities can opt to keep beaches closed, the governor said.

Cuomo said the state will monitor how well the beach regulations are followed, and if a local government either refuses to enforce the mandates, or a beach gets so overwhelmed that local authorities are unable to enforce them, “We will close the beach the next day.” 

The number of New Yorkers who died Thursday of COVID-19 fell again, to 132, “down but still painful,” the governor said.

He displayed a bar chart showing the sharp rise in deaths in late March and early April, and the steady decline since. The number of deaths is now where the state was in late March, “when we really first started this miserable journey,” he said.

“New Yorkers stepped up to the plate and have done a great job” in observing social distancing, Cuomo added.

Upstate regions go first 

The five upstate regions that qualified for the first of the four phases of reopening are the Finger Lakes area, the Southern Tier, the Mohawk Valley, the North Country, and Central New York.

Cuomo said the decision on where to open first was based on the monitoring of data such as hospitalization and death rates and trends, and the availability of hospital beds to handle a potential surge in cases.

A “dashboard” website shows the progress each region has made in hitting the seven benchmarks they must achieve to begin reopening.

In addition, Friday was the first day that low-risk business and recreational activities like tennis, drive-in movie theaters and landscaping and gardening work were allowed statewide.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, speaking from Eisenhower Park with the sound of bouncing tennis balls in the background, said tennis was “coming back with some modifications,” such as limiting matches to singles games only and using every other court. Golf is also coming back, she said.

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COVID-19 deaths surpass 10,000 in NJ

Reported COVID-19 deaths in New Jersey topped 10,000 for the first time Friday, with state officials announcing another 201. Total laboratory-confirmed deaths from COVID-19 now stand at 10,138, according to state data.

By NJ Spotlight|

New Jersey officials reported an additional 1,297 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Friday, for a statewide total of 143,905. Hudson County this week has overtaken Bergen, the original hotspot in the state, with the most confirmed cases, 17,237 to 17,195. The biggest jump reported Friday was in Passaic County, with 130 new cases, for a total of 14,887.

Essex has had the most fatalities, with 1,510, following by Bergen with 1,443 and Hudson with 1,042. For a second day, fewer than 4,000 patients were being treated at New Jersey’s hospitals for confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday night, with 3,823 hospitalizations reported by all 71 medical centers in the state.1,127 were in critical or intensive care.856 required ventilators. 285 of those hospitalized yesterday were new patients, a jump of more than 100 from the day before.357 COVID-19 patients were discharged, either to their homes or other care facilities.

The daily, or spot, positivity rate of all COVID-19 tests on May 10 was 23%. Overall, the state is reporting results on nearly 463,000 tests — for the most part conducted on symptomatic people —more than 300,000 of them negative. Officials reported that the increase in the cumulative number of cases among residents of nursing homes and other long-term care centers in the state is flattening. A total of 27,374 cases have been reported at 527 facilities, an increase of roughly 200.5,269 have died, including 140 at the state’s three veterans homes.  

State and federal response

Gov. Phil Murphy said today he would sign an executive order allowing for the resumption of “elective” surgeries and other invasive procedures at the state’s hospitals and some surgery centers, starting on May 26. Patients must be tested for COVID-19 three days before the procedure takes place.

Patients will be required to undergo a three-day quarantine before and after the procedure.
Health facilities must have a plan to keep patients safe from COVID-19, and have adequate staffing and supplies of personal protective equipment to keep health-care workers safe.
Positive patients with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 should not get elective procedures.
 
Murphy is also signing an executive order making the state’s primary election, already rescheduled to July 7, to be primarily a vote-by-mail election. All registered Democrats and Republicans will automatically receive a postage-paid vote-by-mail ballot.

All unaffiliated and inactive voters will automatically receive an application to vote by mail.
At least one polling place must be open in each municipality for in-person voting; social distancing will be enforced and booths will be sanitized between each use.

Counties will also be required to establish secure drop boxes as an alternative to the mail for voters to return their completed ballots. The deadline for ballots to be received by the county boards of elections will be extended from to seven days after polls close, up from two. All ballots must be postmarked by the day of the election.
 
President Trump announced Friday an allocation of $1.4 billion to NJ Transit under the CARES Act, offering financial relief from the COVID-19 crisis.
 
The Murphy administration is committing $50 million in federal CARES Act funds for small businesses affected by COVID-19 – primarily for grants awarded through the state Economic Development Agency.
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Illinois Opens Narrow Window for Critical Solar, Nuclear Relief Bills to Pass

Two energy bills that could make or break Illinois’ nuclear and solar industries will compete with COVID-19 emergencies in a special legislative session next week.

JEFF ST. JOHN reports for gtm

Can clean energy bills find time amid coronavirus pandemic relief, budget priorities in special session?

Can clean energy bills find time amid coronavirus pandemic relief, budget priorities in special session?

Two long-delayed energy bills in Illinois that could make or break the state’s nuclear and solar industries have been left in limbo by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Now, following the Wednesday recall of lawmakers to a special session next week after a two-month absence, backers of the two bills will have a brief opportunity to see them passed. Otherwise, they’ll need to wait for another special session that may or may not come later this summer or for a two-week “veto session” in the fall. 

In any scenario, the timing will be tight.

Next week’s special legislative session will be dominated by responses to the pandemic’s economic disruptions. But Exelon’s nuclear fleet and the Illinois solar industry both see a legislative fix as critical to their futures.

The Clean Energy Jobs Act’s nuclear protections

Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear energy operator, wants any clean-energy bill to include a “fixed resource requirement,” or FRR, to allow its six Illinois nuclear plants to bid their capacity into a state-run system that prioritizes zero-carbon resources. Currently, Exelon’s nuclear plants participate in the capacity market overseen by mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM, which is dominated by natural-gas-fired generators

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Today’s coronavirus update in New Jersey

Reported by NJ Spotlight

  • New Jersey officials today reported an additional 1,216 confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, for a statewide cumulative total of 142,704.
  • Two counties had triple-digit increases, Passaic (130) and Mercer (105).
     New Jersey officials today reported an additional 1,216 confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, for a statewide cumulative total of 142,704.
  • Total deaths among New Jersey residents due to complications of COVID-19 stands at 9,946, with an additional 244 confirmed fatalities reported today.
    • Three counties have more than 1,000 residents who have died: Essex (1,496), Bergen (1,432) and Hudson (1,032).
       
  • For the first time since before the peak of activity in April, fewer than 4,000 patients were being treated at New Jersey’s hospitals for confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 as of last night, with 3,958 reported by all 71 medical centers in the state. (Above chart.)
    • 1,157 were in critical or intensive care.
    • 898 required ventilators.
    • 171 were new patients as of yesterday.
    • Among the state’s three regions, the new hospitalizations broke down with 37 in the north, 45 in the central region, and 89 in the south.
    • 366 COVID-19 patients were discharged, either to their homes or other care facilities.
       
  • The daily, or spot, positivity rate of all COVID-19 tests on May 10 was 22%.
    • Overall, the state is reporting results on more than 450,000 tests, with more than 300,000 of them having come back negative.
       
  • A total of 5,168 deaths — more than half of the total — have been residents at 525 nursing homes and other long-term care centers in the state.
    • A total of 27,153 cases have been reported at those facilities.
    • Officials today reported an additional death at the Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Camden County, one of 13 patient fatalities now reported at state-run psychiatric-care centers.

State and federal response

  • Gov. Phil Murphy today announced Executive Order 143 that opens New Jersey’s beaches and lakefronts in time for Memorial Day weekend.
    • There will be restrictions on the number of people allowed on beaches and lakefronts, to be enforced by local authorities.
    • Boardwalk restaurants and may remain open for takeout and delivery only.
    • Amusement parks, arcades, playgrounds and visitor centers will remain closed.
    • Beaches and lakefront areas can open to the public on Friday, May 22.
    • Swimming will be allowed.
       
  • Each New Jersey beach will be required to:
    • Enforce social-distancing restrictions;
    • Establish capacity limitations;
    • Prohibit contact sports and organized events;
    • Implement proper sanitation, especially at shower pavilions, changing areas and restrooms, which are allowed to be open.
       
  • Public restrooms at the state’s parks will also be reopened when officials can bring on sufficient staff to ensure that they are properly sanitized and monitored.
     
  • Murphy said state officials were reviewing protocols for swimming pools and charter-fishing operations and planned to make an announcement on guidance within a few days.

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