Thomas R. Churchelow of the New Jersey Utilities Association.
The New Jersey Utilities Association, the statewide organization for investor-owned utilities, has named a new president, it announced Monday.
The association, which includes water, wastewater, electric, natural and gas and telecommunications utilities, said Thomas R. Churchelow will succeed Andrew Hendry, who served as its CEO and president for more than six years.
“We are pleased to have Tom at the helm of NJUA as the association continues its important work on behalf of New Jersey’s investor-owned utilities,” Jim Fakult, chairman of NJUA’s board of directors and president of Jersey Central Power & Light, said in a prepared statement. “Tom’s years of experience and insight into utility law and policy, understanding of NJUA member companies, and reputation amongst decision-makers in New Jersey as a known resource on utilities issues will be especially important as the industry addresses new challenges and opportunities in all sectors.”
Churchelow has been the NJUA’s director of government and public affairs since 2013, providing legal and policy analysis and developing and implementing legislative, regulatory and other strategies. He also has worked for the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services and is a member of the New Jersey state bar.
The actor’s new legal thriller is already generating Oscar buzz
Actor and producer Mark Ruffalo speaks during a press conference to discuss the ‘Fight Forever Chemicals’ campaign on Nov. 19. The campaign coincides with the release of his film “Dark Waters,” inspired by the story of Robert Bilott, a corporate defense attorney who discovers a community has been dangerously exposed for decades to deadly chemicals. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)
Clyde McGrady reports for Roll Call
Mark Ruffalo wants a revolution.
“Are we a country that is going to be responsive to people and make sure that our people remain healthy?” star of the upcoming film “Dark Waters,” asked a crowd gathered Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “Or are we going to be responsible only to the bottom line of corporations and their greed? Because right now the people are losing.”
In “Dark Waters,” which opens in theaters on Nov. 22, the Academy Award nominee plays real-life Cincinnati lawyer Robert Bilott, who sued the DuPont chemical company for polluting a West Virginia community’s water supply. In 2017 DuPont agreed to pay more than $670 million to settle 3,550 damage claims related to the exposure.
The legal thriller, being described by some as “grim” and “urgent,” is generating Oscar buzz. Some Wall Street analysts even predict the film could become a major hit, to the point that it could scuttle a potential deal as DuPont looks to sell off some of its businesses.
Ruffalo, an outspoken liberal activist, made a point to “thank these native lands for having us here,” before addressing the crowd, something he says his “native brothers and sisters” taught him.
Then, striking a decidedly populist tone, the “Avengers” actor lit into “big corporations,” and a regulatory regime he believes favors businesses over communities. Washington should place “the people and our needs and our health before the health and the economic wealth of corporations,” he said.
Ruffalo, along with Reps. Dan Kildee of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, called on the federal government to make several changes to the way it regulates PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of chemicals that are raising serious pollution and health concerns as communities around the country discover their water is contaminated with them.
The threat posed by PFAS, which are so slow to degrade they’ve been nicknamed “forever chemicals,” and safety concerns about their replacements have become a new national environmental crisis.
TurningPoint Energy and TurningPoint Energy have broken ground on the King community solar project in North Smithfield, R.I. The project, originally developed by TurningPoint Energy and now owned by Nautilus, is being constructed by DEPCOM Power as part of the State of Rhode Island’s Community Net Metering Pilot Program.
The project includes two solar arrays totaling 12.44 MW AC of community solar capacity and is expected to be operational in 2020.
The King community solar project abuts the Landfill Resource and Recovery Superfund site that is currently undergoing a long-term remedial response under the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency. TurningPoint Energy and Nautilus have coordinated closely with Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and EPA representatives to ensure that the project design has considered any potential future remediation which may be required. The project will incorporate environmental measures including a pollinator-friendly seed mix around and underneath the array.
“Projects like this, which simultaneously clean up our land and make our economy more green, are the future of our state,” says Governor Gina M. Raimondo. “I’m thrilled that once this array is complete, more than 3,000 Rhode Island households will have the option to use clean energy and save money.”
This is TurningPoint Energy’s and Nautilus Solar’s second Rhode Island community solar project to break ground as part of the Community Net Metering Solar Pilot Program, created in 2016. The Hopkins Hill community solar project broke ground earlier this year.
Nautilus is the owner of the project and responsible for managing the project, overseeing construction, and maintaining its long-term performance.
Above photo: Courtesy of Scott Lapham Photography. Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (second from right) joined State Representative Carlos Tobon, Jared Schoch (president of Turning Point Energy), Laura Stern (co-CEO of Nautilus Solar Energy), Gary Ezovski (town administrator of North Smithfield) and Carol Grant (commissioner, Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources) for a ground-breaking ceremony at the King community solar project. Facebook10TwitterPrintEmail
Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Tuesday that would more than double his offshore wind power goal for New Jersey.
The order would increase the goal to 7,500 megawatts by 2035, from 3,500 set for 2030.
Murphy made the announcement with former Vice President Al Gore, a clean energy advocate, at a news conference in Jersey City at Liberty Science Center.
“Think about it for a second — when we meet this goal, our offshore winds will generate enough electricity to power more than 3.2 million New Jersey homes,” Murphy said, to applause from environmentalists and labor groups.
“We will meet half of our electric power need,” he said. “We will generate billions of dollars in investments in our state’s future that will, in turn, generate thousands of union jobs.”
Gore praised Murphy and called projects like the offshore wind farm an “emotional reward” in the fight to stem climate change that would be a “wonderful opportunity for good jobs.”
Gore compared the fight against climate change to Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Bulge and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “We have to rise to this challenge!” Gore said, his voice almost breaking. “We have to change.”
Former Vice President Al Gore is shown in Jersey City, in front Liberty Science Center President & CEO, Paul Hoffman, Gov. Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy. Gov. Murphy signed an executive order to increase New Jersey’s offshore wind-generated electricity from 3,500 megawatts by 2030 to 7,500 megawatts by 2035. New Jersey plans to have 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% by 2050. Tuesday, November 19, 2019 (Photo: Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com)
Nearly every major environmental group praised Murphy’s order, from the Sierra Club to the League of Conservation Voters.
Previously, Murphy had set a goal of 3,500 megawatts for offshore wind generation by 2030 to power as many as 1.5 million New Jersey homes.
Toward that end, in June the state Board of Public Utilities approved a $1.6 billion wind-energy farm to be built about 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City.
The project by Ocean Wind — a joint venture between the Danish energy company Orsetd and PSEG — would be the largest of its kind in the U.S.
Offshore wind power is a cornerstone of Murphy’s goal to convert New Jersey’s electricity production to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. The renewable sources include wind, solar and nuclear power.
New Jersey has a way to go. About 95 percent of electricity generated in the Garden State still comes from natural-gas-powered plants and nuclear facilities.
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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has awarded New York City’s single-largest solar energy project – a development at John F. Kennedy International Airport – to SunPower Corp. and Goldman Sachs Renewable Power Group. Built in partnership with the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the JFK International Airport Solar Photovoltaic Project will …
By Kyle Bagenstose for the Beaver County Times Posted Nov 18, 2019 at 4:01 AM
The sunset of a tax is quickly bankrupting the state’s hazardous cleanup program, and there’s no plan in place to fix it.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last year paid half a million dollars to provide clean drinking water to dozens of Doylestown Township homeowners stricken by contamination. It spent another $300,000 cleaning up cancer-causing chemicals in Bristol Township’s Croydon neighborhood.
The same chemicals are an even costlier problem in Lancaster County, requiring $4.7 million to provide drinking water to hundreds of people there. The DEP will need millions of dollars more to clean up mysterious barrels recently discovered in a shuttered Beaver County business, where some of the drums are marked simply, “Dark Acid.”
But there’s an even bigger problem tying all of these sites together. Within a few years, the state program funding these environmental cleanups, along with scores of others littered across the commonwealth, is projected to be flat broke.
“That’s the point we’re getting to, unfortunately. One of these sites may have to literally blow up before they get real about dealing with the finances,” said David Hess, a former secretary of the DEP under Gov. Tom Ridge.
