Pruitt wanted a debate on climate science. Kelly said no.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly,  Getty photo

Lisa Friedman and Julie Hirschfeld Davis report in the NY Times:

John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has killed an effort by the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to stage public debates challenging climate change science, according to three people familiar with the deliberations, thwarting a plan that had intrigued President Trump even as it set off alarm bells among his top advisers.

The idea of publicly critiquing climate change on the national stage has been a notable theme for Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the E.P.A. For nearly a year he has championed the notion of holding military-style exercises known as red team, blue team debates, possibly to be broadcast live, to question the validity of climate change.

Mr. Pruitt has spoken personally with Mr. Trump about the idea, and the president expressed enthusiasm for it, according to people familiar with the conversations.

But the plan encountered widespread resistance within the administration from Mr. Kelly and other top officials, who regarded it as ill-conceived and politically risky, and when Mr. Pruitt sought to announce it last fall, they weighed in to stop him. At a mid-December meeting set up by Mr. Kelly’s deputy, Rick Dearborn, to discuss the plan, Mr. Dearborn made it clear that his boss considered the idea “dead,” and not to be discussed further, according to people familiar with the meeting. All spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to describe internal White House deliberations and meetings.


During that meeting, according to two attendees and a third person briefed on the discussion, administration officials and White House aides were in agreement that Mr. Pruitt’s idea was unwise. Their main concern was that a public debate on science — particularly on an issue as politically charged as the warming of the planet — could become a damaging spectacle, creating an unnecessary distraction from the steps the administration has taken to slash environmental regulations enacted by former President Barack Obama.


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That sinking feeling in the San Francisco Bay area

Subsidence combined with sea level rise around
San Francisco Bay doubles flood-risk area

The San Francisco Bay shoreline, where yellow indicates areas where a projected rise in sea level (SLR) will result in flooding by 2100. Red shows where local land subsidence (LLS) will combine with SLR to increase the flood-prone areas.  Credit: ASU/Manoochehr Shirzaei

Science Daily reports:

Hazard maps use estimated sea level rise due to climate change to determine flooding risk for today’s shoreline, but don’t take into account that some land is sinking. A precise study of subsidence around San Francisco Bay shows that for conservative estimates of sea level rise, twice the area is in danger of flooding by 2100 than previously thought. Some landfill is sinking 10 mm per year, threatening the airport and parts of Silicon Valley.


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Slow crawl of Bucks, Montgomery tainted-water lawsuits

Dismissals, appeals and plenty of dense procedure define first 18 months of lawsuits filed over widespread drinking water contamination along the counties’ border.



Kyle Bagenstose reports for the Bucks County Courier Post:

Eighteen months after a slew of lawsuits were filed over drinking water contamination in Bucks and Montgomery counties, the cases still are in limbo in county and federal courts.


The suits represent more than a thousand area residents who were presumably exposed to unregulated perfluorinated chemicals in their drinking water, which are believed to have originated from firefighting foam used at military bases near the counties’ shared border. The suits seek myriad remedies, including blood testing, health screenings, and monetary damages related to health conditions, property values and other related costs.


“We’re still in the infancy,” said Donald Soutar, an associate attorney of New York City law firm Weitz & Luxenberg and lead counsel of the largest area lawsuit. “It’s fair to say (it’ll be) a matter of years.”


In total, eight significant lawsuits have been filed on behalf of residents affected by the contamination since 2016, although several have since been consolidated. Soutar, whose firm is associated with consumer advocate Erin Brockovich, is lead counsel on a consolidated class-action lawsuit, joined by attorneys from Creedon & Feliciani of Norristown, as well as attorneys from three Philadelphia-based firms: Anapol Weiss, Levin Sedran & Berman and Napoli Shkolnik.


More than a thousand residents have signed on to the suit, filed in September 2016, Soutar said. However, if successful, its class-action status means that any of the tens of thousands of residents meeting certain criteria for their exposure to the chemicals would be eligible for awards, including a medical monitoring program to screen for potential illnesses, a blood testing program and certain monetary damages.


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Dozens of shareholder climate resolutions target oil, gas

                                                                 Photo credit: David McNew/Getty Image

Concerned investors want details on climate risk planning, methane and lobbying, but some executives see Trump’s embrace of fossil fuels as reason to say no.


David Hasemyer writes for Inside Climate News:


When a group of investors asked Noble Energy, Inc., to report on the risks climate change poses to its business, the company’s response put on display how the Trump administration’s pro-fossil-fuel stance is swaying the perennial debate.


Similar resolutions brought by concerned shareholders have won increasing investor support since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and grudging acceptance by some in the industry.


Not Noble. The Houston-based oil and gas company urged its shareholders to vote down the resolution, and then it described its vision of an unfettered regulatory future under the Trump administration.


“The current administration and the Republican Congress have adopted policies aimed at increasing the production of domestic oil and natural gas resources and repealed or amended certain executive orders and regulatory policies that have restricted or adversely impacted development,” the company wrote. “In sum, the proposal calls for a report that would be principally based on speculative assumptions about a legislative and regulatory environment that is inherently unpredictable.”

Nearly three dozen shareholder resolutions related to climate change risk have been filed this year with publicly traded oil and gas companies and electric utilities, to be voted on by their shareholders at annual meetings spread throughout the spring. Executives often urge shareholders to vote down such resolutions, and there are concerns this year that the administration’s positions could lead to even more complacency, by both companies and their investors.


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New Jersey Future forum addresses redevelopment

How to keep the best and brightest young people from fleeing New Jersey was just one of the topics at the New Jersey Future Forum. Panelists also addressed making redevelopment more attractive to town officials, how to offsset NIMBY opposition, the implications of climate change for coastal communities and the importance of infrastructure.


Leah Mishkin has the story for NJTV News.

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Richard Mroz leaving NJBPU, returning to private sector

Richard Mroz, former president of the NJBPU

Tom Johnson reports
for NJ Spotlight:


Richard Mroz, a commissioner and former president of the state Board of Public Utilities, is leaving the agency that oversees energy, water, telecommunications, and other regulated utilities next month.


His departure opens up a spot in the agency, which could be facing a significant shift in policies, especially governing the future of the state’s energy policies and a pronounced focus on clean-energy choices like solar and wind power, the latter mostly ignored in the Christie administration.


In a letter to the governor, Mroz said he would resign effective April 14. His letter said he would return to the private sector, but remain in the energy, utility, and infrastructure industries. In a phone interview, he declined to elaborate. Without Mroz, the agency’s board is split between two Republicans and two Democrats.


As president, Mroz was a strong advocate for the Christie administration’s policies, including unyielding support for expansion of natural gas pipelines in the state, as well as backing investments by gas and electric utilities to make their power grids more resilient to extreme storms, such as Hurricane Sandy.


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