When EPA re-writes the rules, scientists are not required

Steven Mufson, Chris Mooney report for the Washington Post:
When former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt launched an effort to limit what kinds of scientific studies could be used to protect public health, he left out some key experts: the Environmental Protection Agency’s own Office of the Science Advisor, according to an email exchange obtained by The Washington Post.
Tom Sinks, director of the office, said in an April 24 email that “Even though OSA and I have not participated in the development of this document and I just this moment obtained it (have yet to read it), I am listed as the point of contact.”
Sinks added, accurately, that “the proposal likely touches upon three aspects of OSA work — public access to EPA funded research, human subjects research protection, and scientific integrity” — all of which fall in his area of responsibility.
The email was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The proposed rule, dubbed “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science,” has ranked as one of the conservatives’ top priorities for years. It would allow the EPA to consider only studies for which the underlying data is publicly available and can be reproduced by other researchers. Such restrictions could alter how the agency protects Americans from toxic chemicals, air pollution, radiation, and other health risks, adding to the agency’s broader deregulatory agenda.
“It’s astounding that the EPA science adviser’s office was left completely out of the loop during the development of a major science policy proposal,” said Michael Halpern, deputy director of the center for science and democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Crafting any significant proposal behind closed doors without even bothering to notify career scientific staff suggests that it’s much more about politics than it is about science.”
In a statement, the agency countered that “EPA received input from a number of stakeholders and utilized the intra and interagency process to ensure a robust proposal was put forward.”

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University bringing campus to NJ’s Fort Monmouth

Fort MonmouthDan Radel reports for the Asbury Park Press:

OCEANPORT – New Jersey City University is making plans to open a campus at Fort Monmouth.

NJCU is one of Brookdale Community College’s university partners and it appears as if the partnership will continue even as NJCU opens its own location.

An agreement was reached Sept. 25 between the state agency redeveloping the Fort Monmouth property and developer KKF University Enterprises for a “state-of-the-art, satellite campus in the heart of Fort Monmouth’s main post” for NJCU.

NJCU President Sue Henderson spoke at a June meeting of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders and indicated the Fort Monmouth campus would be for juniors and seniors who completed two years at Brookdale.

The fort campus would have 15 classrooms including nursing labs, which according to Henderson could increase the enrollment of Brookdale’s nursing program.

According to the purchase and sale agreement, KKF will buy historic Squier Hall for $2.5 million and invest a minimum of $10 million to renovate the 1935-era administrative building.



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How’s NJ Gov. Murphy doing after 9 months in office?

Brent Johnson reports for NJ.com:


A pair of new polls paints slightly different pictures of Gov. Phil Murphy‘s approval rating among New Jersey voters after nine months in office.

A Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday found the rookie Democratic governor continues to be popular, with 54 percent of the Garden State’s likely voters approving of his performance, compared to 34 percent disapproving.

That appears to be the highest approval rating that any recent New Jersey governor has received in a Quinnipiac poll at this point in their first term.

The group’s archives show Murphy’s predecessor, Chris Christie, at 51 percent in November 2010; Jon Corzine at 45 percent in September 2006; and Jim McGreevey at 44 percent in October 2002.

Richard Codey, the then-state Senate president who took over as governor when McGreevey resigned in 2004, had a 76 percent approval rating about four months into his tenure in a Rutgers-Eagleton poll.

Murphy’s support is heavily split along party lines. Fellow Democrats approve of him, 89 percent to 5 percent. Among Republicans, it’s 13 percent to 73 percent. And among independents, its 47 percent to 40 percent.

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That’s not a shock. New Jersey is a blue state, with registered Democratic voters outnumbering registered Republicans nearly 2-to-1.

Wednesday’s numbers are similar to a Quinnipiac poll from August, which found Murphy’s approval rating among registered Garden State voters was 54 percent, while 34 percent disapproved.

But Wednesday’s poll is not technically comparable because it includes a narrower focus. It was conducted Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 with 1,058 New Jersey voters who are not just registered but likely to vote.

The survey has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.1 percentage points.


Meanwhile, Murphy’s marks were lower in a Stockton University poll released Monday.

That survey showed 41 percent of New Jersey’s likely voters say Murphy is doing an excellent or good job, while 27 percent rate him as fair and 25 percent as poor.

The Stockton poll has faced criticism, though, over its methodology.

The survey was conducted via phone with 531 adult likely voters in the state. Its margin of error is plus-or-minus 4.25 percentage points.

Murphy, a multimillionaire former Goldman Sachs banking executive and ex-U.S. ambassador to Germany, succeeded Christie, a Republican, in January.

His good grades from voters come despite the friction he’s experienced with fellow Democrats who control the state Legislature. Murphy and top lawmakers avoided what would have been the second state government shutdown in two years by reaching an 11th-hour deal on the governor’s first state budget.

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Court rules Navy can be sued for PFAS claims



After two years of court losses, a federal appeals court ruling poked holes in a federal immunity defense as local residents seek to sue over local water contamination.
Kyle Bagenstose reports for the Bucks County Courier Times
A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Tuesday that Bucks and Montgomery County residents can proceed with claims over water contamination near area military bases, reversing two years’ worth of legal setbacks and what had looked like a watertight immunity defense for the U.S. Navy.
“I think it’s a very important principle for holding the government accountable for its pollution,” said Mark Cuker, an attorney with the Cuker Law Firm and counsel for the Giovanni family of Warrington.
A trio of justices on the court of appeals for the Third Circuit were tasked with deciding the fate of two similar cases, each of which requested the Navy provide for medical monitoring for the plaintiffs, who allegedly had been exposed to toxic perfluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, in their drinking water. The chemicals are ingredients of firefighting foams that were used for decades at a trio of current and former military bases in the area, and eventually contaminated the water of approximately 70,000 residents in Warminster, Warrington and Horsham. The towns have since worked to purify their water of the chemicals.
The cases, one filed in the summer of 2016 and the second a year later, also sought a large-scale health study that would assess whether the chemicals caused unusual amounts of illness in the affected communities.
The Navy’s attorneys had early success arguing against the suits, first pulling them from county courts into U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. They then successfully argued that the country’s Superfund law shields them from having to take any such action until a site is cleaned up, leading to a dismissal last December.
“The (district) judge said that under the Superfund law, you can’t sue for blood testing or a health study until clean-up is complete,” Steven Angstreich, a partner at Philadelphia’s Weir & Partners and counsel for Ivyland’s Palmer family, said following the dismissal.
Cuker and Angstreich appealed and in April argued their case before the appellate judges. On Tuesday, the court ruled and reversed the district court’s dismissal, but only in part: The claim for medical monitoring could proceed, but the claim for the health study could not.
The justices determined that while the Superfund law says the military has full control over the cleanup process and cannot be sued to change course, residents can pursue funding for a private medical monitoring program. But because the federal government has formal mechanisms by which it can conduct a health study if it decides to, residents cannot sue to force the government to take that action.
The court further ruled against the Navy’s claims that it has “sovereign” immunity against being sued unless it consents to be sued. The justices cited a section of a federal environmental law they say waives such immunity and requires each federal agency “Be subject to, and comply with, all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements.”

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NJ utilities lining up for nuclear subsidies

While some residential customers may end up paying $30 more annually, large energy users may see their bills rise by $1 million a year

salem nuclear power plant



Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

It will be months before the state decides whether customers need to subsidize nuclear power, but New Jersey’s four electric utilities are already proposing how they will recover those costs.

In filings with the Board of Public Utilities, each of the utilities submitted tariffs disclosing how they will recoup the cost of buying Zero Emission Certificates (ZECs), the potential $300 million annual subsidy aimed at propping up the state’s supply of nuclear power.
The proposals are the latest in a series of filings that could boost bills to customers by billions of dollars if approved by the regulatory agency, most stemming from two bills signed into law this spring that will transform energy policy in New Jersey.


PSEG threatened to shut down units in South Jersey


The most contentious bill involved proposed subsidies to avert the closing of the three remaining nuclear power plants in New Jersey. Without financial incentives, Public Service Enterprise Group threatened to shut down the units it operates in South Jersey.
The company and advocates of the subsidies argued they are justified to preserve fuel diversity among power generators, as well as for their benefits in improving air quality and combating climate change.
In public hearings to begin tomorrow in Hackensack, the BPU will begin a two-step process of determining what nuclear plants, if any, will be awarded the subsidies. The initial proceeding is to establish the ZEC program to apply for subsidies; the second, to decide whether any plants deserve the incentives. A final decision is expected next April.
Meanwhile, each of the four utilities will hold public hearings beginning on October 17 on the proposed tariffs they have submitted. Under an order issued by the board, the utilities were required to submit the proposed tariffs by September 20.

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NJDEP’s Mans says states must take lead on climate

IMG_0574

Katie Tam reports for the Daily Princetonian:
Debbie Mans, Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, called for state governments to take more initiative with environmental challenges.
In a public lecture, Mans spoke about climate and energy challenges in New Jersey. Recent federal government pullbacks from key environmental initiatives have made efforts at the state level more important than ever.
“We can all do our part,” said Mans. “Now, states need to take the lead.”
She highlighted several actions that New Jersey governor Phil Murphy has taken to combat climate change.
For instance, Murphy issued Executive Order No. 7, directing New Jersey to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — a market-based method for lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, New Jersey joined the U.S. Climate Initiative, a coalition of states pledging to follow principles similar to those in the Paris Climate Agreement.
Mans celebrated the outcomes of the New Jersey Global Warming Response Act. According to Mans, New Jersey achieved its 2018 target goal of reducing emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020.
Mans then spoke about continued efforts to expand clean energy in solar, wind, and electrical power. New Jersey recently had the largest solicitation of offshore wind development, enough to power 1.5 million homes. Community solar energy programs also allow neighborhoods to draw energy from a single shared source.
Mans emphasized that New Jersey’s Greenhouse Gas Emission profile shows that transportation accounts for 42 percent of the greenhouse contribution in New Jersey, compared to transportation only contributing 32 percent contribution for the rest of the U.S. To reduce transportation emissions, New Jersey has focused on expanding its public charging network. The “It Pay$ to Plug In” program provides grants to install charging stations.
“It’s really important now more than ever for key players in local and state governments and private businesses to get together and talk about what we’re doing to address climate change,” Mans said.
The lecture was held on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 4:30 p.m. in Maeder Hall Auditorium at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. It was the first event of the two-day conference “Accelerating Climate Action in the United States: What Are We Doing and What More Can Be Done?”, which will focus on evaluating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from the power and transportation sectors. It will include input from researchers, policymakers, business and nonprofit leaders, and more. Events continue into Friday, Sept. 21, with a keynote address given by Tammy Snyder Murphy, the First Lady of the State of New Jersey.

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