EnviroPolitics Blog

New York gets $9M EPA air grant

A news release from the USEPA:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it has awarded the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) $9.35 million to support the state’s air pollution control and air monitoring programs.

“Since the implementation of the Clean Air Act in 1970, air quality has drastically improved and our state partners play a key role in reducing harmful air pollutants through our joint efforts,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “EPA’s funding will support New York in its efforts to meet national air quality standards and protect people’s health and the environment.”

$8,086,874 for Air Pollution Control Program Support

EPA provided NYSDEC with $8 million to assist New York in its efforts to implement air pollution control programs. These programs include:

Developing and implementing regulations for stationary sources of air pollution, such as factories, refineries, boilers, and power plants;
Updating regulations for mobile sources of air pollution, such as cars, commercial trucks, aircrafts, marine vessels, and heavy equipment;
Improving emissions data and modeling; and
Operating a monitoring network.

$1,264,205 for PM 2.5 Ambient Air Monitoring Network

This grant will help NYSDEC operate and maintain an air monitoring network very fine particulate pollution, PM 2.5, which are less than 2.5 micrometers or about 1/30th the diameter of a human hair. PM 2.5 is the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the U.S., including many national parks and wilderness areas. PM exposures can cause harmful effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems including heart attacks, strokes, asthma attacks, and bronchitis. These effects can result in emergency department visits, hospitalizations and, in some cases, premature death. Children, older adults, and those with breathing or heart problems are especially vulnerable to these effects.

EPA continues to work with states, local governments, tribes, and citizens – to further improve air quality for all Americans. EPA’s annual report titled Our Nation’s Air summarizes the nation’s air quality status and trends through 2018. The report includes interactive graphics that enable citizens, policymakers, and stakeholders to view and download detailed information by pollutant, geographic location, and year. Explore the report and download graphics and data here:

For more information about particulate pollution and PM 2.5, visit https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution.

For more information about NY State’s Air Pollution Program, visit https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/281.html

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If electric cars catch on and gas-tax revenue shrinks, how will NJ Jersey fund its transportation projects?

A commission is being proposed that would come up with a new system of taxing vehicles including, but not limited to, electric cars and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Under a bill (S-4090) up for consideration this week in the Legislature, a new seven-member commission would come up with a new system of taxing motor vehicles including, but not limited to, electric cars and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

For the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Transportation Financing Commission, there may not be much reason to hurry. By most estimates, only 25,000 electric vehicles are on the road in New Jersey today. Even clean-car advocates concede it will be tough to meet a target of upping that number to 330,000 by 2025.

But they hope to push a bill (S-2252) in the lame-duck Legislature that would provide incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles; it also would establish aggressive targets to build charging stations — a step advocates say is necessary to convince consumers to buy the electric vehicles.

The state’s draft energy master plan and New Jersey’s participation in the Transportation Climate Alliance all recommend the electrification of the transportation sector, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Most climate activists say New Jersey will never achieve its goals without significantly electrifying vehicles, not only light-duty cars, but commercial vehicles and buses, too.

But replacing the gas tax — a conventional way of financing transportation improvements — is proving to be a tough choice for states as consumers switch to vehicles no longer fueled by petroleum. Some, like Oregon, and other western states, have tried pilot programs that tax motorists on vehicles per mile traveled.

A different way to tax drivers

The bill, up before the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday, does not specify any way to raise the needed funds but gives the commission 180 days from its formation to provide recommendations to the Legislature.

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Australian bushfires reach Sydney’s outskirts but ‘catastrophic day’ is avoided

A firefighter tackles bushfire in Sydney's northern suburb of South Turramurra. Photo: 12 November 2019 — Bushfires scorched parts of South Turramurra, an affluent suburb north of Sydney

The BBC reports:

Raging bushfires have now reached the outskirts of Sydney, destroying a number of properties, officials say.

Scores of fires are still burning in New South Wales amid temperatures of 35C (95F) and winds of 80km/h (50mph).

A feared southerly wind change has now occurred but the “catastrophic” day feared has largely been avoided.

No deaths were reported on Tuesday but fire chiefs warned that conditions meant the dangers facing the state were far from over.

About six million people live in New South Wales (NSW) state.

What’s the latest on firefighting efforts?

The number of fires still afflicting NSW ranged from 100 to 300 in Australian media reports.

Crews have been battling a front spanning 1,000km (620 miles) along the north coast of NSW, with several blazes “exceeding 100,000 hectares alone”, officials have said.

Flame retardant had to be dropped on Sydney’s northern outskirts as some bushfires approached within 15km (nine miles) of the city centre.

A car sprayed with fire retardant is seen after a bushfire in the residential area of Sydney on November 12, 2019 — Image captionEarlier, residential areas of Sydney were doused in pink fire retardant

A firefighting plane dropped pink fire retardant in the area between Macquarie University and the Sydney Adventist Hospital in the South Turramurra suburb.

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EPA finalizes cleanup plan for Superfund site in South Jersey

Matteo Superfund site in West Deptford. Courier-Post photo

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a cleanup plan to address lead and other contamination on a portion of the Matteo & Sons, Inc. Superfund Site in West Deptford, New Jersey.

The portion of the Matteo site includes the Matteo facility at 1692 Crown Point Road as well as a property across the street formerly occupied by Mira Trucking. Former operations in this area of the Matteo site included crushing and recycling batteries and landfilling, which contaminated the soil, sediment, and groundwater with lead, antimony and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

“EPA’s Record of Decision calls for removing the main source of contamination within the Matteo site to address the potential exposure pathways,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “All across our region, the Superfund program is working with state and local partners to consult with communities, accelerate cleanups and make progress on potential site reuse and redevelopment.”

EPA held a public meeting in July 2019 to explain its cleanup proposal, discuss the other cleanup options that were considered, and to solicit public comments. To read the EPA’s selected cleanup plan, outlined in a Record of Decision, and to view EPA’s responses to public comments in the Responsiveness Summary, please visit: www.epa.gov/superfund/matteo-and-sons

The EPA’s Record of Decision calls for digging up and properly disposing of battery casing waste and contaminated soil within the Matteo facility and the property formerly occupied by Mira Trucking that poses a potential risk to people’s health. The final plan requires that excavated areas then be backfilled with clean fill and that contaminated soil within an approximately 10-acre active scrapyard area is covered with asphalt or similar material.

EPA will sample the soil during the cleanup to ensure that the cleanup work is effective. EPA will conduct a review of the cleanup every 5 years to ensure its effectiveness. EPA will further assess options for addressing the sediment and groundwater after the completion of the soil cleanup. The estimated cost of the cleanup is $72,245,000.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/eparegion2.

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A great wall of fire bears down on Sydney

About 100,000 homes in the Sydney area are said to be at risk

Officials have advised people to evacuate while they can saying emergency services will not be able to save everyone. Pictured: Flames encroaching a residential street in Harrington, on the Mid North Coast, on Friday

By CHARLIE MOORE and KAREN RUIZ FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Sydney residents living near bushland should be prepared to evacuate today as the city faces an ‘unprecedented level of bushfire danger’ and authorities will not be able to save everyone, officials have warned.

The city is facing ‘catastrophic’ conditions with fears 37C temperatures, 90kmh winds and low levels of humidity could produce the ‘perfect firestorm’.

About 100,000 homes in the Sydney area are said to be at risk, with 31,500 of those in the city’s North Shore.

The Army is ready to deploy helicopters to evacuate residents whose lives are endangered amid warnings of ‘the most dangerous bushfire week this nation has ever seen’.

At 9 am on Tuesday morning there were 57 fires burning across NSW with 28 uncontained and 55 in Queensland.

NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said nine in the state are at ‘watch and act status’ and that he expects some to reach emergency level today.

Winds are forecast to pick up in the Blue Mountains from around 11 am and reach up to 90kmh after 6 pm, meaning fires would spread rapidly.

Meanwhile, police have warned about criminals looting from the ruined houses of devastated bushfire victims on the mid-north coast.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said any thefts would be ‘thoroughly’ investigated, adding: ‘These communities have suffered enough without individuals stealing what items they have left.’

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The Long Battle to Stop the Kinder Morgan Pipeline

For months, locals and landowners have tried to stop the Permian Highway Pipeline, a piece of infrastructure connecting West Texas’ prolific oil fields to the state’s Gulf Coast refineries. But they’re running out of options.

Andrew Sansom with some remaining sections from a pipeline on his land that was mostly removed in 2011. *CANDICE BERND*

Candice Bernd reports for the Texas Observer

In 1975, Terese Hershey, one of the state’s most influential conservationists, purchased a 1,561-acre tract of land in Stonewall, Texas. For years, she protected the property from the encroachment of nearby development. She worked with The Hill Country Land Trust to establish a conservation easement and turned to Andrew Sansom, a former Texas Parks and Wildlife director, to manage the land with his wife, Nona.

In the past eight years, the Sansoms have cleared more than 1,020 acres of cedar and invasive grasses off the property. They’ve controlled erosion along streams and managed the land’s precious water resources. They’ve also restored the property’s historic 162-year-old stone ranch house, which was left with only its limestone walls standing after a 2003 fire. All of this effort has made the Hershey Ranch the largest piece of protected land in Gillespie County.

Now, it’s under threat.

Kinder Morgan, a multi-billion dollar energy company, intends to build a 430-mile-long, 42-inch-wide pipeline—also called the Permian Highway Pipeline Project—to connect the world’s most productive oil field in West Texas’ Permian Basin to refineries near the Gulf Coast. The pipeline’s proposed path would cut through a 14-acre section of the Hershey Ranch and create a 50-foot permanent easement across about eight-and-a-half acres.

It could also impact the area’s water resources. The ranch sits atop karst, a kind of topography characterized by underground cavities, fractures, and drainage systems. This particular karstic area feeds into the Hill Country’s springs, which in turn, discharge into creeks, which then flow into the Trinity and Edwards aquifers, which supply drinking water to more than 2 million people throughout Central Texas.

The couple first found out that the pipeline would cut through the Hershey Ranch when Kinder Morgan, which is building the pipeline in partnership with EagleClaw Midstream Ventures, sent them a letter about it in October 2018. They immediately approached a lawyer.

Andrew Sansom and his wife, Nona, at Kinder Morgan's proposed pipeline easement on September 13, 2019. The easement is along an old pipeline route that was mostly removed in 2011. — Andrew Sansom and his wife, Nona, at Kinder Morgan’s proposed pipeline easement on September 13, 2019. The easement is along an old pipeline route that was mostly removed in 2011.
*CANDICE BERND photo*

They learned the company’s power of eminent domain supersedes the work the Hershey family did to retire the land from development. The law allows Kinder Morgan to condemn land it needs by checking a box claiming “common carrier” status on a form. By self-designating its pipeline as a common carrier—meaning the company will carry other companies’ products at set rates—Kinder Morgan gains the power to seize private land through eminent domain as a “public utility.” The Texas Supreme Court found in the 2011 case Texas Rice Land Partners v. Denbury Green Pipeline that the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator, doesn’t even have to verify whether a company’s common carrier claim is true.

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