Cuomo approves phase three for 5 New York regions

Gov. Andrew Cuomo address the issue of police accountability while delivering his daily coronavirus briefing on Monday June 1, 2020, during a press conference in New York. (Office of the Governor)

By Chris Bragg Times Union – Updated: June 11, 2020 1:36 p.m.

ALBANY — Five regions in New York can begin phase three of reopening on Friday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Thursday.

The five regions are Central New York, the Finger Lakes, North Country, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley. The Capital Region is still only cleared for phase two.

Phase three will allow both outdoor and indoor dining in restaurants, as well as the reopening of personal care services including nail salons and spas.

Even in the third phase, there will still be restrictions including requirements that patrons stay six feet apart, wear masks at restaurants unless seated, and that establishments not exceed 50% capacity.

Cuomo said businesses could face penalties if they break the rules, including losing their license to operate. He argued that states that had not imposed similar restrictions are seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases, with 14 recording their highest figures to date.

“It’s not one state, it is the pattern, my friends,” Cuomo said. “We are the exception and an outrageous exception … because our reopening is different from their reopening.”

Cuomo also said that this summer, decisions on the reopenings of public pools and playgrounds would be at the discretion of local governments. Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said Wednesday his county would allow opening public pools if they go through the normal county permitting process.

Cuomo also commented again Thursday on the alleged killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, which has sparked nationwide protests, saying he is not in favor of piecemeal “one-off” bills, including a proposal by state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi to ban police from using tear gas to disburse unruly crowds.

“We have to be smarter about this and more comprehensive,” Cuomo said. “I don’t think this is about any one small reform.”

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Planning a Coronavirus reopening party?

Before you send the invites, consider what resulted from a Memorial Day party in Cape May

DAVID CRUZ, NJTV NEWS  JUNE 11, 2020

Whether Gov. Phil Murphy is responding to political pressure or, as he says, letting the data dictate dates, more of New Jersey is becoming more accessible to more of New Jersey’s people. But that new openness comes with a risk.

In almost two dozen instances across the country, states have reported an uptick in cases of COVID-19 after easing restrictions, from Florida to Washington state. Epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera of Montclair State University explains how that happens: “All you need is one person who’s sick who can now quickly spread it to create this cluster of cases,” she said.

And that’s exactly what happened in South Jersey. You may have heard about a cluster of cases — more than a dozen at this point — in Bucks County, Pennsylvania that were traced to a house party in Cape May County, about 100 miles away.

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David Damsker runs the health department in Bucks County. “We noticed pretty early. We had one particular day on Saturday where we had a lot of people from the same area of Bucks County that were all younger. And we started making some phone calls. We’re asking them and a few people mentioned being in New Jersey over Memorial Day weekend,” Damsker said.

Indoors, at a party, with food and drinks.

“So when we started making the other phone calls, we then started asking about that specifically and we started getting more people with the same exact experience, so we knew right there we had a source area for cases,” he said.

An optimist might say, “Hey, that’s some good contact tracing there,’” but someone else might say, “Hey, this is why you can’t just swing the doors open to the state.” Damsker notes that nationally, only one-third of positive cases have actually been traced.

Silvera says the governor’s message Tuesday was not “we’re out of the woods.”

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Trenton Water Works replaced more than 500 lead service lines

Trenton Water Works
The Trenton water filtration plant seen from above. Photo by Michael Walker – Trenton Water Works

By The Trentonian staff

TRENTON — Trenton Water Works announced that its Lead Service Line Replacement Program (LSLRP) has replaced more than 500 lead-service lines since the construction phase of the capital program started in February 2020.

“We have two contractors, South State and Spinello Companies Inc., using a total of five crews to do lead-service replacements in Trenton, Hamilton, Ewing and Lawrence,” said David C. Smith, Acting Director of the city’s Department of Water and Sewer, which operates Trenton Water Works, serving 63,000 customers in a five-municipality service area. “Although we’ve had to reduce our operations because of COVID-19, we have continued the removal of lead services from our water-distribution system.”

TWW’s Lead Service Line Replacement Program is designed to help homeowners replace service lines made from dangerous lead that are on their private properties for a cost of $1,000, which can be paid in installments once the water utility starts invoicing next year. TWW officials are working with state government and other government entities to make the program free and mandatory. A private property’s water-service line runs from the shutoff valve in the street, called the curb box, to the water meter in the home. It takes approximately eight hours to replace a typical lead service.

TWW is spending $24 million, sourced in part from the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank (I-Bank), an independent state financing authority, for the first phase of the LSLRP, which will remove 4,300 lead services by June 2021. TWW is working to remove all lead services from its system over the next five years through its $405 million, six-year capital plan, which also involves the construction of a decentralized water-storage system, permanently retiring the 100-million-gallon Pennington Avenue Reservoir in Trenton.-

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TWW estimates some 37,000 lead services in its inventory, although that number is likely to be adjusted downward as more data from ongoing material survey teams becomes available. There are 17,463 in Trenton, 11,618 in Hamilton Township, 5,236 in Ewing Township, and 2,383 in Lawrence Township. Hopewell Township has no lead services because its housing stock is newer than its neighbors.

Homeowners can still sign up online for TWW’s Lead Service Line Replacement Program at www.twwleadprogram.com. Questions concerning program details can be answered by calling TWW’s Lead Service Line Replacement Program hotline at (609) 989-3600.

“While our COVID-19 response temporarily suspended lead-service replacements for homeowners, our contractors will resume full operations in the next two-to-three weeks. Contractors will then contact homeowners whose replacements were delayed to reschedule for a convenient time. Please be patient as we completely reactivate our lead-service work,” said Smith.

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Gibbons attorney reviews NJ’s new limits for two potentially harmful chemicals in drinking water

Editor’s Note: Does your drinking water come from a private well? If so, did you know that New Jersey now requires you to test it for the presence of two, potentially harmful chemicals — PFOA and PFOS? We learned this–and more–when we read the informative alert below.

New Jersey Publishes Formal Stringent Drinking Water Standards for PFOA and PFOS

BY CHRISTOPHER J. CAVAIOLA, Gibbons

On June 1, 2020, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officially published health-based drinking water standards for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). These chemicals have received serious attention from the environmental community in the last several years due to increasing science that has confirmed the harmful impact of PFOA/PFOS on human health and the environment.

These new more stringent rules, published in the New Jersey Register, set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) at: 14 parts per trillion for PFOA and 13 parts per trillion for PFOS. The DEP also added PFOA and PFOS to the state’s list of hazardous substances. Site remediation activities and regulated discharges to groundwater of PFOA and PFOS will now have to comply with these new standards. These new formal standards establish a regulatory framework that will provide consistency in remediation activities statewide.

It is important to note that PFOA and PFOS are just two of potentially thousands of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (or PFAS). To date Vermont and New Hampshire are the only other two states to set MCLs for PFAS. New York is working on similar standards. New Jersey issued a standard of 13 parts per trillion for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) in 2018.

The federal government has not yet established MCLs for PFAS. While there are treatment technologies in existence that effectively remove PFAS from drinking water, there are concerns with how effective these technologies are in remediation scenarios. The rules will require that all water systems in New Jersey begin monitoring for PFOA and PFOS within the first quarter of 2021. As many as 1,000 water systems already report levels of PFOA and PFOS in the state.

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New Jersey investigating trooper shooting that killed black driver on Garden State Parkway

As nation struggles with fallout from in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, advocates say they find trooper-involved shooting on Garden State Parkway ‘troubling’

MICHAEL HILL, NJTV NEWS | JUNE 10, 2020

Social justice advocates are calling for a transparent investigation of a New Jersey state trooper shooting and killing of 28-year-old Maurice Gordon of New York two days before the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Newly-released tape shows the encounter on the southbound side of the Garden State Parkway near exit 50 in Bass River where Gordon steered his apparently disabled Honda to the left shoulder after passing a trooper at 110 miles an hour. The dash camera shows Sgt. Randall Wetzel encouraging Gordon to get in his trooper vehicle. Gordon sits in the back seat.

The tape clearly shows the sergeant calling for a tow truck. He asks Gordon where does he want the car towed and whether Gordon can pay for it. The trooper also offers Gordon a face mask. The trooper is standing behind his own car when Gordon decides he wants to get out.

The two scuffle for a minute and a half. Then the trooper shoots Gordon six times.

Gordon falls to the ground. The trooper handcuffs him.

This is what he says when backup arrives: “He was in my car. I gave him a mask. He tried getting out of my car. We got in a fight on the side of the road. He tried running into my car. I got him out, sprayed him. We got in a fight again; he ran away from me, tried to hop into my car. I grabbed my gun. We were fighting with my gun and I shot him. He’s already cuffed.”

Family hires attorney

What led to the fatal shots being fired and Gordon’s death are now being investigated. Gordon’s family has hired attorney William Wagstaff.

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President Trump’s Invocation of Emergency Authority to Streamline Environmental Review for Infrastructure Projects

U.S. Construction and Infrastructure, and Environment, Land and Natural Resources Alert

By K&L Gates attorneys : Ankur K. Tohan, Cliff L. Rothenstein, Tim L. Peckinpaugh, David L. Wochner, Molly K. Barker, Endre M. Szalay June 9, 2020

The Trump administration issued two executive orders (EO) in the past month seeking to encourage economic development through regulatory reform and relief as the United States navigates the reopening of business and activities throughout the country after the peak of COVID-19.  Both EO’s offer potential opportunities and risks to stakeholders. Our regulatory and policy team is well-positioned to help stakeholders navigate the implementation of these important EO’s.

Last week, on June 4, 2020, the President issued an EO on Accelerating the Nation’s Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Emergency by Expediting Infrastructure Investments and Other Activities (“Infrastructure EO”) directing federal agencies to waive environmental laws to speed up federal approval for new mines, highways, railways, pipelines and other projects given the current economic “emergency.” Specifically, the Infrastructure EO calls on the Departments of Transportation, Defense, Interior, and Agriculture, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to use all relevant emergency and other authorities to expedite work on, and completion of, all projects that are within their authority to perform or to advance.

Just three weeks ago, on 19 May, the President issued an Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery (Regulatory Relief EO) in the wake of the lifting of COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders across the country. As we discussed in our prior alert, the Regulatory Relief EO directs all federal agencies to identify regulations that may inhibit economic recovery and consider taking measures to temporarily or permanently rescind, modify, or waive those standards, or exempt entities or persons from them, consistent with applicable law, and consider exercising temporary enforcement discretion.

In the environmental context, both EOs offer the potential for significant gains to the regulated community if agencies shorten or simplify permitting and approval processes. While the Regulatory Relief EO focused on revising regulations that inhibit economic recovery, the Infrastructure EO issued last week directs federal agencies to use their lawful “emergency” authorities and other powers to respond to the national COVID-19 emergency and to facilitate the nation’s economic recovery. The Infrastructure EO also directs agencies to streamline environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and consultation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

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For more updates on issues in the Energy & Utilities, and Regulatory & Policy Industries, visit K&L Gates Hub.

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