EnviroPolitics Blog

Has Avalon (NJ) become too exclusive for its own residents?

*A couple leaving a party at the private club Union League Whitebrier in Avalon recently. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer*

By Amy S. Rosenberg, Philadelphia Inquirer

AVALON, N.J. — Marc Ziss is hanging on to the old Avalon. At 56, he’s still in a summer share house, a fading subculture he’s come back to every summer since the ’90s. There are not many left.

Ziss may not have moved on from the Avalon of the past — the laid-back beach town of bungalows, a party vibe buzzing from bar to bar — but the town sure has.

And that shift has never been clearer, after the Union League of Philadelphia paid $23 million to buy the sprawling, boozy Whitebrier on 21st Street and two adjacent properties, making them members-only.

Their launch on Memorial Day weekend included the cheeky “Please Shower Happy Hour.”

Marc Ziss, 56, at the bar of the Rock n’ Chair in Avalon. He says the Whitebrier’s takeover by the Union League is the latest symbol of the town’s increasing exclusivity that has left out the old-time Avalon crowd.

“It’s really kind of depressing these days,” said Ziss, who keeps tabs on what remains of Avalon’s live music scene for a Facebook page, Bands in Avalon and Beyond.

“What we knew was going on has now been engraved in stone,” he said.

He mused about Avalon’s expanding layers of exclusivity. “You ever buy tickets to an event, like a festival, and you bought the gold ticket, and you get there and it’s like, oh, the gold ticket is very much a regular ticket, and the platinum is what you really want?” Ziss said. “And then there’s a super platinum on top of that.”

Read the full story here

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After these cuts, SEPTA will go from ‘mass’ to ‘minimal’ transit

By Max Bennett, Patch Staff

PHILADELPHIA — SEPTA’s board Thursday voted on the proposed budget that features drastic cuts to services and also a fare increase.

The board voted to adopt its new budget, meaning major service reductions will go into effect Aug. 24. This also means fares will increase 21.5 percent on Sept. 1, and a total hiring freeze will go into effect that same day.

“This is a vote none of us wanted to take,” SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth Lawrence Jr. said “We have
worked hard as an Authority to prevent this day from coming because we understand the impact it will have on our customers and the communities we serve. To be clear, this does not have to happen – if state lawmakers can reach an agreement to deliver sufficient, new funding for public transit.”

Service cuts include the elimination of dozens of bus routes, significant reductions in trips on all rail services, a 9 p.m. curfew for all rail services that would begin in early 2026, and the elimination of five Regional Rail lines — Cynwyd Line, Chestnut Hill West Line, Paoli/Thorndale Line, Trenton Line, Wilmington/Newark Line.

The impact of the proposed service cuts will be felt throughout the city and region, as reliable options for everyday travel to school and work are greatly diminished.

Beyond regular riders, people traveling to games at the Sports Complex and other special events would have to navigate the 9 p.m. curfew for rail services, along with other restrictions. SEPTA said it would also be forced to cease providing additional service to special events, including plans to support the World Cup, the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations, and other 2026 events.

Read the full story here

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NY Governor directs construction of new nuclear energy plant

NY Governor directs construction of new nuclear energy plant Read More »

Inside a Last-Ditch Battle to Save (or Kill) Clean-Energy Tax Credits

Supporters of tax breaks for wind and solar are fighting to retain them in the G.O.P. tax bill. They’re facing a conservative effort to kill them entirely.

Three wind turbines stand against a gray sky above cropland. — *An initial draft of the bill would phase out tax credits for wind and solar power and electric vehicles starting next year. Credit…George Etheredge for The New York Times*

By Lisa Friedman, Maxine Joselow, and Brad Plumer, The New York Times

As Senate Republicans scramble to pass President Trump’s far-reaching domestic policy bill, climate activists and energy companies are lobbying to salvage tax credits for wind, solar, and other climate-friendly technologies.

But they are running into formidable obstacles. Conservative activists, fossil-fuel lobbyists, and Mr. Trump are demanding that lawmakers enact even deeper cuts to clean-energy subsidies, or even scrap them entirely.

At stake are hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of tax incentives put in place by the Biden administration, the vast majority of which are flowing to Republican congressional districts.

Some are aimed at encouraging Americans to buy electric vehicles or put solar panels on their roofs. Others are intended to spur manufacturing of wind turbines, solar-panel components, and other technologies that would help reduce planet-warming greenhouse gases. All the tax credits were greatly expanded as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Biden administration’s signature climate law.

“What is being proposed now will hurt businesses, and it will risk significant job loss,” said Lisa Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, a trade group. Her organization was one of several on Capitol Hill this week mounting a last-ditch effort to remind lawmakers of the jobs the law had created and what states stood to lose.

Read the full story here

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Philadelphia atttorney named to ’40 Under 40′ list

Giuliano Apadula, shareholder in global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP’s Philadelphia office, has been named to the 2025 City & State Pennsylvania “Forty Under 40” list. This annual honor recognizes the “the next generation of rising stars” under the age of 40, providing an overview of some of the rising leaders across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

“Giuliano’s recognition as one of Pennsylvania’s top young leaders is a testament to his exceptional legal excellence and commitment to client service,” said Paul R. McIntyre, managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Philadelphia office. “We are proud to see his work acknowledged by City & State Pennsylvania.”

Apadula focuses his practice on evaluating, managing, and mitigating large-scale environmental risks for the acquisition, sale, development, and financing of real estate and businesses nationwide. He employs a pragmatic approach in counseling clients on environmental issues by evaluating the business impact of each issue and crafting bespoke strategies, including contractually allocating and insuring environmental liability.

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Is June the new July? Why is it so bloody HOT?

The heat waves moving in recent days across Canada, the U.S., and northern Europe are part of a dangerous new climate pattern

By Chico Harlan and Ben Noll, Washington Post

Because of the sweltering heat, Toronto has kept outdoor swimming pools open until nearly midnight. Brits are decamping to the seaside. The French have lugged fans out of storage to deal with the steamy nights. The Netherlands went so far as to cancel several outdoor music performances and sporting events.

These are the markings of a summer at its deepest and most punishing.

But summer has just begun.

The heat waves moving in recent days across Canada, the northeastern United States, and northern Europe have one thing in common: They are occurring quite early in the season. That timing speaks to a broader trend, connected to human-caused climate change, in which summerlike weather is creeping earlier into June and lingering deeper into September — elongating the period of potentially extreme weather and amplifying heat risks.

“There is definitely an extension of the summer period into the shoulder months,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

This shift is occurring remarkably quickly.

In a typical year between 1979 and 2000, the average Northern Hemisphere temperature would break the 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit) threshold — indicative of the hottest period — starting around July 10 and continuing for about five weeks, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute.

But last year, the hottest on record, the Northern Hemisphere’s average temperature held above 21 Celsius from June 13 until Sept. 5.

This year is not quite on the same historic pace — but it is still weeks ahead of the normal summer from a few decades ago. As of last week, the latest for which data was available, the average Northern Hemisphere temperature already stood at 20.91 Celsius (69.6 Fahrenheit).

Read the full story here

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