EPA is releasing updated data collected during the 2016 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) period. The updated 2016 CDR data now includes information that was previously classified as confidential business information (CBI), like aggregate production volumes and site-specific production volumes.An initial release of the 2016 CDR data was published in May 2017.
The Lautenberg Act amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) were signed into law during the 2016 CDR submission period and changed CDR CBI reporting requirements. As a result, EPA conducted a thorough substantiation and verification process with companies that submitted 2016 CDR data.
Background The CDR rule requires manufacturers (including importers) of certain chemical substances included on the TSCA Inventory to report current data on the manufacturing, processing, and use of the chemical substances. Under the CDR rule, EPA collects basic exposure-related information on the types, quantities, and uses of chemical substances produced domestically and imported into the United States. This information helps EPA understand exposure to these chemicals and screen and prioritize chemicals to identify and evaluate potential human health and environmental effects. This information is collected every four years. The 2016 submission period ended on October 31, 2016. The 2020 submission period starts on June 1, 2020 and ends on November 30, 2020.
The Republican-led Pennsylvania House late Thursday night voted to end Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown of businesses across the state, and the resolution will head to the Senate for consideration. The resolution would have to be signed by Wolf to take effect.(Hannah Yoon/The New York Times)
By FORD TURNERTHE MORNING CALL |MAY 29, 2020 | 7:15 AM| HARRISBURG
State House Republicans, joined by some Democrats, voted late Thursday night to end the statewide business shutdown imposed by Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf in March as coronavirus was spreading across the state.
The chamber’s approval of a resolution that would undo Wolf’s closure of non-life-sustaining businesses during the pandemic will now go to the Republican-led state Senate for consideration.
A statement issued by a spokesman for House Democrats called the move an “empty gesture” and that under the Constitution, the resolution would have to be signed by Wolf to take effect. The spokesman said that would not happen.
All Republicans and eight Democrats in the 203-member chamber voted for the resolution, but the 117 votes in favor of it fell fall short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override a Wolf veto.
A spokeswoman for Wolf did not immediately respond to an inquiry early Friday.
In a written statement, House Majority Leader Rep. Bryan Cutler said the resolution leaves in place the state’s emergency declaration and ensures nursing homes and long-term care facilities will get needed assistance.
“Schools are not teaching; jobs are not paying; and government is not working for the people. The best step for all residents of our state is to allow workers, employers and nonprofits the ability to safely resume their work,” Cutler said.
Later in the day, Wolf is expected to hold his first in-person press conference with reporters in more than two months.
More than 100,000 people have died in the U.S. from coronavirus, including more than 5,000 in Pennsylvania.
The first cases were reported in Pennsylvania on March 6. Wolf’s shutdown order to non-life-sustaining businesses with a threat of enforcement was issued March 19.
His administration has said the shutdown order and other virus-mitigation measures have saved thousands of lives. In recent weeks, as his color-coded plan lifting virus restrictions has been implemented, pushback from people and businesses still under restrictions has increased.
On Thursday, lawmakers received a letter from more than 20 officials of chambers of commerce across eastern Pennsylvania, including the Lehigh Valley, that pushed for a quicker reopening.
Philly union guy lands a 56 pounder with rod and reel, keeps it alive overnight, and returns it to the Schuylkill where it can test another angler on another day
By Jason Nark, Philadelphia Inquirer – Updated: May 28, 2020
All photos courtesy of Jonathan PIerce
As Sunday night faded into Monday, Jonathan Pierce tossed and turned at home in Roxborough, a slimy monster in his backyard keeping him awake.
Hours earlier, he had wrangled the beast out from an undisclosed location in the Schuylkill in Philadelphia. Pierce, 34, a union insulator and father of four, has hunted Pylodictis olivaris, the flathead catfish, for a decade on “the Skuke” and knew, from catching smaller flatheads, that the fish chomping down on his bait (trout head) Sunday night was simply bigger than anything he’s ever caught.
“It took off like a torpedo, running right for a rocky, snaggy section of the river,” Pierce said Wednesday morning. “It splashed its tail on the top of the water.”
Pierce’s flathead, officially weighing 56.3 pounds, will likely shatter the state record of 50.7 pounds set last spring on the Susquehanna River. It’s surely one of the biggest fish ever caught on rod and reel in Pennsylvania. Certifying a state record isn’t so simple, though. Certified scales must be used, the fishing gear documented in great detail. Sometimes, witnesses are interviewed. In some states, lie detector tests have been used, and catches have been ruled out.
“We’re pretty sure that everything appears to be good,” said Mike Parker, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
Jonathan Pierce, 34, of Roxborough, stands with his 56.3-pound flathead catfish Monday morning. The fish is likely a new state record.
Pierce, like most fisherman, honored the code and was vague about his exact fishing location, other than to say it was “within city limits.” That alone is rare, as most of the larger flathead catfish, considered an invasive species in the Susquehanna and all waters east of it, are usually caught outside the city.
Pierce’s blow-by-blow of the catch is proof enough that fishing doesn’t mean catching, that even hooking into a fish doesn’t mean you’ll land one. He was using a 10-foot pole, something you’d normally see in the surf at the Shore. Once the fish was hooked, he knew it would swim for the rocks, to try to cut the line. Each fishing rod has a “drag” system, so that the fish can pull line off the rod, with tension. If the drag is too tight, fish snap the line. Too loose and they can take all the line off. Drag tires a fish out. Usually.
“I had my drag tight, and it was still pulling line,” he said. “Torpedo.”
Pierce’s fish got stuck in the rocks for a few minutes. He was fishing from the bank and had to wait it out. Once it was freed, the fish made a few more runs. Pierce knew it had record potential when he saw it but also knew there would be no certified scale open anywhere on the holiday weekend. Not wanting to kill the fish, he used a plastic container from home, the kind for storing Christmas decorations, to transport the 50-inch fish home. It sat in his backyard overnight, with an aerator for oxygen.
“I maybe slept an hour,” he said. “I had too much adrenaline.”
The next morning, he finally found a scale at the Blue Marsh Outdoors store in Berks County. Fish and Boat officers came to take their own measurements.
“I think it’s just a matter of paperwork,” Pierce said.
Pierce believes the flathead was at least 20 years old, and can’t imagine many much bigger in the Schuylkill. He said the next record is likely swimming in the Susquehanna. He released the fish, alive, not far from Blue Marsh Outdoors, in another undisclosed location he said was part of the Schuylkill’s watershed.
Jonathan Pierce, of Roxborough, releases his record flathead catfish Monday morning after having it officially weighed in Berks County. Pierce caught the fish in Philadelphia.
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Below please find Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s COVID-19 weekly digest, which includes our analysis of the most current legal developments related to this pandemic. To receive regular updates, news and information related to COVID-19, please register here.
Pennsylvania Approves Legislation Requiring Employers to Notify Separating Employees of Unemployment Compensation Information Labor and Employment Pennsylvania legislation enacted on March 27, 2020, requires employers to provide all terminated, furloughed, or voluntarily separating employees with certain information related to unemployment compensation benefits. The new law, Act 9 of 2020, is one of the many statewide efforts to assist the thousands of Pennsylvanians losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health Care in the COVID-19 World: Antitrust & Competition Considerations Health Care To massively understate the obvious, the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the health care industry has, is and will continue to present an unprecedented test of will, skill and capacity of the industry’s infrastructure – well into the foreseeable future. Virtually everyone working within the health care arena, or otherwise intersecting with it, is owed another massively understated thank you for each of their compassion, commitment and selflessness as this crisis has unfolded and is attacked 24/7.
EnviroPolitics Blogis working to keep you informed about all aspects of the coronavirus — the status of confirmed cases, disease spread, death toll–and also how Americans are coping. Like this story, for instance. If you like what we are doing, Click to receive free EP Blog updates and please tell your friends about us.
New Jersey officials reported today an additional 1,261 confirmed cases of COVID-19, for a statewide cumulative total of 157,815. By counties, the most new positive results were reported in Essex (117), Bergen (92), Middlesex (84), Hudson (80), and Passaic (74).Total cases in the United States now stand at more than 1.7 million, four times the total number in Brazil, the nation with the next highest number, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
Total COVID-19 deaths among New Jersey residents stand at 11,401, with an additional 66 confirmed fatalities reported today.The counties with the most deaths were Essex (1,628), Bergen (1,553), Hudson (1,161), Union (1,047) and Middlesex (968). Among states, the number of fatalities in New Jersey is second, behind only New York, where nearly 30,000 have died.
According to data reported by all 71 hospitals in the state, 2,797 patients were being treated for confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 as of last night, reflecting an increase.740 of the current patients were in critical or intensive care, the first day where that number fell below 750.564, or roughly 75% of those in critical care units, required ventilators. Regionally, 1,358 patients were in hospitals in the north, 802 in central Jersey and 637 in the south.
Of those in state hospitals, 365 were new patients as of yesterday, a 50% jump over the previous day, which was itself a significant increase over the day before.185 of the new patients were in northern hospitals, 112 in central Jersey and 65 in the south.287 COVID-19 patients were discharged, either to their homes or other care facilities, another significant overnight increase.
The daily, or spot, positivity rate of COVID-19 tests on May 25 stood at 6% statewide. Results of more than 685,000 tests have now been reported to state officials, including negatives.
Persichilli reported that the numbers of children between the ages of 1 and 18 with a rare and serious pediatric inflammatory ailment often referred to as Kawasaki disease had held steady. 26 cases of have been confirmed and 18 have tested positive for COVID-19.There have been no deaths from the syndrome reported in New Jersey.
A total of 4,804 deaths among residents at 537 nursing homes and other long-term care centers in New Jersey have been laboratory confirmed as cases of COVID-19.LTCs in the state are reporting a cumulative total of 21,058 positive cases among residents, and 10,254 among staffers. They are also reporting the deaths of 104 staffers.
Due to the public health emergency, the State House Annex remains closed to visitors and the public will not be allowed to attend the meeting in person. The Committee will take oral testimony on bills, by telephone and/or video, limited to two minutes.
If you are interested in testifying orally, you should fill out the Senate Environment and Energy Committee Registration Form located above on the ‘Register to Testify’ link. The form must be submitted by 3:00 PM, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Committee contact information will be forwarded to you. The public is encouraged to submit testimony electronically in lieu of oral testimony. Written testimony will be included in the committee record and distributed to the committee members. Written testimony should be submitted to OLSAideSEN@njleg.org.
S349 – Requires developers to offer electric vehicle charging stations as option in certain new home construction.
S762 – Establishes NJ Fuel Cell Task Force to increase use of fuel cells in State.
A741 – Establishes NJ Fuel Cell Task Force to increase use of fuel cells in State.
S1258 – Prohibits persons convicted of criminal animal cruelty offenses from owning domestic companion animals and from working or volunteering at animal-related enterprises; establishes presumption against pretrial intervention for certain persons; designated as
S1951 – Concerns installation of electric vehicle charging stations in common interest communities.
S2498 – Authorizes NJ Infrastructure Bank to expend certain sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2021.
S2499 – Appropriates funds to DEP for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2021.
SCR115 – Approves FY 2021 Financial Plan of NJ Infrastructure Bank.
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