NJ Gov. Murphy to RGGI: Hey, guys, we’re back

Gov. Phil Murphy has notified governors of states that belong to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative of his administration’s commitment to rejoining the regional climate-change compact.
“As a founding member of RGGI, New Jersey is eager to rejoin your state as a partner in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving the health of residents, and growing the economy in our region,” Murphy wrote in a letter sent last week to the governors of nine RGGI states in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.
The 2005 memorandum of understanding that established RGGI requires member states to agree to the admission of another state as a member. Murphy has instructed the Department of Environmental Protection and Board of Public Utilities to open discussions with the member states as soon as practical.
The moves come roughly a month after Murphy signed an executive order directing the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to implement the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act fully and begin the process of moving the state toward a goal of 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy generation by the year 2030.

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Enviro and energy bills up for votes Monday in NJ Senate

By Frank Brill
EnviroPolitics Editor
The following energy and environment bills are scheduled for votes in the New Jersey Senate on Monday, Feb. 26, 2018:

S877 (Sweeney / Smith / Van Drew) – Establishes Nuclear Diversity Certificate program. This is the controversial bill that would provide a ratepayer-funded bailout to PSEG Nuclear’s three electricity generating facilities in South Jersey whose profits are endangered by cheaper natural gas prices. It also contains provisions affecting solar energy. More at NJ Spotlight 

S879 (Sweeney) – Amends definition of “existing major hazardous waste facility” in “Major Hazardous Waste Facilities Siting Act.” Supported by South Jersey business and economic-development interests, the bill would allow the Chemours (former DuPont) hazardous waste treatment plant in Carneys Point, to resume accepting waste from non-Chemours operations. The plant has been treating waste for decades but stopped accepting material from non-DuPont businesses in 2011. Now it wants to reverse that decision without being required to apply for permits from the NJDEP as a new facility. Carneys Point stands to realize hundreds of thousands of dollar in gross receipts taxes if the legislation is enacted.


S1057 (Van Drew / Gopal) – Requires EDA, in consultation with Department of Agriculture, to establish loan program for certain vineyard and winery capital expenses.

S1083 (Cruz-Perez / Gopal) – Establishes loan program and provides corporation business tax and gross income tax credits for establishment of new vineyards and wineries.

S1208 (Beach / Oroho) – Prohibits investment of pension and annuity funds by the state in entities that avoid Superfund obligations to New Jersey. NJ Spotlight‘s John Reitmeyer reported that the measure “is advancing in direct response to recent efforts by a state-owned Argentinian company and its subsidiaries that seem to be directed at keeping the company from having to pay more than $1 billion to clean up the former Diamond Alkali Superfund site in Newark and related pollution along an eight mile stretch of the Passaic River. “ 
SR29 (Sarlo / Bateman / Van Drew) – Opposes expansion of oil and natural gas drilling on Outer Continental Shelf. The bill is one of many introduced in the legislature after President Trump opened up the entire Atlantic coast (except Florida–the home of Mar a Lago) to gas and oil drilling.
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Energy storage enters the PSEG nuclear bailout mix

Controversial nuclear subsidy bill also calls for 600 megawatts of energy storage by 2021, 2,000 megawatts by 2030

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
energy storage

If New Jersey is going to achieve the Murphy administration’s ambitious clean-energy goals, storing the energy created by renewable power sources such as solar and wind will be crucial.
To that end, a controversial nuclear subsidy bill up for consideration today in committees and posted for a vote on Monday in the state Senate also sets goals of 600 megawatts of energy storage by 2021, and 2,000 megawatts by 2030.
Few are asking whether the energy-storage targets are achievable, even though the industry is just starting to deploy the technology, or what the costs could be, which are almost certain to be partly borne by utility customers.
But there is widespread consensus that energy storage not only makes intermittent sources of power like solar and wind more reliable — the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow — but also offers other benefits to ratepayers in the long run.

Meeting peak demand

With extensive commercial energy storage available, the power grid will no longer need large reserve margins of power ready to provide when electric needs peak, nor will there be as much need for expensive “peaker” plants, according to Paul Patterson, an energy analyst with Glenrock Associates.
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PennEast fights back against landowners blocking pipeline


From Michael Sol Warren’s report for NJ.com:
“It’s very simple: If you oppose a project like this, one way to stop it is to deny survey access,” said Mike Spille, a West Amwell resident whose property abuts the proposed pipeline route. Spille is the founder of West Amwell Citizens Against The Pipeline.
Enter eminent domain.
PennEast is filing eminent domain lawsuits against the unwilling owners, claiming that receiving federal approval gives them the right to access and survey the land. PennEast sent final offers to landowners on Jan. 20, just a day after getting federal approval, and set a Feb. 5 deadline.
“Unfortunately, organized and unaccountable opposition groups have their own political agenda and use landowners’ withholding survey access to advance that agenda — to the detriment of the landowners,” said Patricia Kornick, a spokeswoman for PennEast, in a statement. “While PennEast views legal proceedings as emotional, burdensome and costly for all involved, it exercised that last-resort option Feb. 6.”
Resistance in the Garden State
According to PennEast, 75 percent of landowners along the proposed route have agreed to provide access for survey crews. But that number incluces New Jersey with Pennsylvania, and the difference in attitude toward the pipeline is staggeringly different in the two states.
According a list compiled by Spille, 50 eminent domain cases have been filed by PennEast in Pennsylvania, which has two-thirds of the proposed route. In New Jersey, which has the final third of the pipeline route, PennEast has filed 147 cases. Those New Jersey claims are spread across six municipalities: Alexandria Township, Delaware Township, Holland Township, Kingwood Township, West Amwell and Hopewell Township.
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NJ joins 16 other states in following Paris Agreement

                                                   New York Times graphic


By Frank Brill
EnviroPolitics Editor


President Trump may have yanked the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement but a bipartisan group of governors–now including New Jersey–has pledged to continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the international agreement.


Today, New Jersey joined the United States Climate Alliance with Gov. Phil Murphy’s signature of S598 / A1929. The bills were sponsored by Senators Smith, Greenstein and Diegnan, and Assemblypersons Mukherj, Zwicker, Vainieri Huttle, Eustace, Downey, Kennedy, McKeon and Pinkin.


New Jersey becomes the 17th state to participate in the Alliance and its three core principles.

“At a time when we are seeing the dangerous effects and irreversible events related to climate change, leaving the Paris Accord is harmful and irresponsible,” said Senator Bob Smith (D-Middlesex / Somerset). “President Trump’s failure to act responsibly in the effort to protect our environment will only bring serious and irreparable consequences for the environment, the health of our residents and our state’s economy. Joining this coalition is right for our children and our communities.”

The bill was first introduced last session, and given final approval by the Assembly on January 8. It was among many bills subjected to a pocket veto by former Gov. Chris Christie.

“Science is a thing, and global warming is real,” said Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson). “Abandoning the Paris Climate Accord was a mistake that will be paid for by generation after generation if we do not take action, assuming the world doesn’t end under the Trump administration. Aligning ourselves with the U.S. Climate Alliance is the first step.”


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Philly stuck between polluting refinery and jobs it creates

Philadelphia Energy Solutions is the largest refiner on the East Coast, taking Bakken Shale oil from North Dakota and turning it into gasoline. The company is the largest stationary emitter of particulate matter in the city.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions is the largest refiner on the East Coast, taking Bakken Shale oil from
North Dakota and turning it into gasoline. The company is the largest stationary emitter of particulate
matter in the city. (Peter DeCarlo photo)

Catalina Jaramillo reports for StateImpact:

Zalaka Thompson lives less than a mile from the largest oil refinery on the East Coast, which turns crude oil from the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota into gasoline. The Schuylkill Expressway, a major interstate highway, separates her home from Philadelphia Energy Solutions, and she says the facility impacts her family daily.

Her 14-year old son has asthma and carries an inhaler with him at all times. Some mornings, she can’t keep her windows open for long without smelling something akin to sulfur or gas.
“I like to open my windows for fresh air, but sometimes I have to close them,” she says.
The refinery is Philadelphia’s single largest stationary source of particulate pollution, according to city data. Particulate matter includes a mix of tiny particles that can damage lungs and cause respiratory diseases. In the 19145 zip code, which Thompson and her son call home, asthma is common among children, and the rates of hospitalization for the ailment are among the highest in the city.
Earlier this month, after years of financial strain caused by a drop in global oil prices, PES filed for bankruptcy. It blames its most recent financial problems on federal biofuel requirements, which mandate ethanol comprise a percentage of refined gasoline. PES CEO Greg Gatta describes the bankruptcy filing as a restructuring of debt that “positions PES well for the future with a sustainable capital structure and additional liquidity.”
But even as PES moves toward financial sustainability, neighbors like Thompson say the refinery isn’t doing enough to reduce its environmental impact locally. She hopes the bankruptcy will inspire the company to rethink how it does business across the board.
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