Rhode Island sues oil companies over climate change

Miranda Green and Timothy Cama report for The Hill:

THE OCEAN STATE VS. OIL: Rhode Island’s attorney general sued a dozen oil and natural gas companies and their affiliates Monday in state court, accusing them of causing climate change and not sufficiently mitigating its effects.
Attorney General Peter Kilmartin (D) said Rhode Island is uniquely harmed by global warming, with its more than 400 miles of shoreline, fishing industry, marine economy and other factors.
“Rhode Island is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate changes that is now on our doorstep with sea level rise and an increase in severe weather patterns, as seen by the extensive damage caused by storms in the past several years, including Super Storm Sandy and the floods of 2010,” Kilmartin said in a statement.
“The defendants’ actions for the past several decades are already having and will continue to have a significant and detrimental impact on our infrastructure, economy, public health, and our eco-systems, and will force the state to divert already-limited resources to mitigate the effects of climate change, thereby diminishing resources for other vital programs and services.”
Who the suit targets: The defendants in the lawsuit include big companies across the petroleum supply chain, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Marathon Oil Corp. and Hess Corp.
Industry responds: The National Association of Manufacturers said such a lawsuit isn’t productive.
“It’s time for politicians and trial lawyers to put an end to this frivolous litigation,” said Lindsey de la Torre, executive director of the group’s Manufacturers’ Accountability Project.
“Taxpayer resources should not be used for baseless lawsuits that are designed to enrich trial lawyers and grab headlines for politicians. This abuse of our legal system does nothing to advance meaningful solutions, which manufacturers are focused on every day.”
What happens now: It’s anybody’s guess how the lawsuit will play out, but the recent record of climate lawsuits by governments against fossil fuel companies is not good.
Just last month, a federal judge dismissed similar claims by San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., against major oil companies. Judge William Alsup said the science of climate change and its link to fossil fuels is solid, but it’s not a place for the courts to get involved.

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NJ lawmakers hold final, pre-summer session tomorrow

State House Complex - Trenton

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor 

In addition to the hotly-contested (as always) state budget bill (S2823/A4303) that the governor and legislature now finally agree upon, both houses will consider several environmental bills tomorrow, Monday, July 2, 2018, at what could be their last voting session prior to the Fall.

In the Senate, they are:

S542 (Oroho / Singleton) – Designates High Point State Park as High Point Veterans’ State Park.
Electric mountain bicycleS731 (Greenstein / Turner) – Permits operation of low-speed electric bicycles. Is this an environmental bill? We’re not sure but decided to list it as such. You know, fresh air, etc.



In the Assembly, they are:

A1237 (McKeon / Vainieri Huttle / Tucker) – Requires State parks, forests, and other natural and historic areas to remain open to public for seven days if emergency is declared due to failure to enact general appropriation law as prescribed by NJ Constitution.
hempA1330 (Gusciora / Pinkin / Reynolds-Jackson) – Directs Dept. of Agriculture to create pilot program to research cultivation of industrial hemp. No, hemp and pot are not the same. Hemp is for rope. Its botanical cousin is for brownies and chillin.  


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Class warfare at heart of drama over NJ tax increases


Charles Stile reports for NorthJersey.com:

The state just narrowly avoided a government shutdown, as New Jersey’s top two Democrats played out a tax fight cloaked in class warfare.

Gov. Phil Murphy, who spent most of his career mingling among, and making money with, Wall Street titans, took a soak-the-rich approach to fellow millionaires. It’s time for them to pony up and pay “their fair share,” Murphy argued.

“New Jersey’s millionaires are making out just fine,” Murphy said Friday after all-day talks with the legislative leadership collapsed. “They were protected by Governor Christie and they are receiving a significant tax break from President Trump. This is crunch time.”

On the other side stood Senate President Stephen Sweeney, the burly ironworker and union official. Sweeney emerged as the millionaires’ chief protector, even though Sweeney voted five times to boost the millionaires tax during the tenure of his “frenemy,” Republican Gov. Chris Christie.


Sweeney argued that President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul changed the landscape. Corporations saw a steep tax cut under Trump and now should pick up the slack. Murphy, Sweeney said, is shielding corporations over people.

“He (Murphy) is more concerned about protecting corporations that had billion-dollar windfalls from Donald Trump,” Sweeney bristled on Friday. “That’s what he wants to do. But he would rather raise taxes on the people of the state of New Jersey. Enough.”

The budget fight was really a parochial, New Jersey power struggle between Sweeney, a statehouse veteran and conservative Democrat, and Murphy, a self-styled progressive who is holding his first elected office. The budget squabble was Murphy’s baptism by fire.

But the tax fight also took place during a tumultuous time in the Democratic Party, when the Trump presidency has roiled the liberal, grassroots base with anger and activism. It is an anger that propelled a 28-year-old activist to topple one of the most powerful House Democrats in last week’s New York congressional primary.



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Down to the wire, a New Jersey budget deal is reached

 




Lawmakers and Gov. Phil Murphy have struck a deal on a fiscal 2019 budget, just hours before a much-feared government shutdown would have gone into effect.
“This is a win for the middle class and working families,” Murphy said.
The governor was flanked at a 7:30 p.m. Saturday press conference by Legislative leaders including Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-19th District; Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District; Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-37th District; Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver; and Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio.
As part of the agreement, Murphy agreed to a millionaires’ tax with a threshold at $5 million, a concession that had been sought by Sweeney.
The Senate President also got the corporate business tax he was looking for, which would see an increase by 2.5 percent for two years and 1.5 percent for the two years after that.

“The corporations that Donald [Trump] gave billions of dollars to are finally going to give their fair share,” Sweeney said.

But the tax rate multimillionaires will pay will grow to the 10.75 percent rate Murphy sought, rather than the 9.95 percent rate backed by the Legislature.
There will be no sales tax increase, despite Murphy’s attempts to boost it from the current 6.625 percent to 7 percent.
Saturday evening’s announcement comes as a relief for those fearing the second state shutdown in a row. The state’s parks and beaches were on the verge of a shutdown just prior to the July 4 holiday, and racetracks and casinos were told they would have to cease operations as well.
A vote on the new budget is scheduled for Sunday.

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NJ joins suit to prevent EPA flip-flop on refrigerant


Federal agency loosens its own limits on hydrofluorocarbons, compounds used in refrigeration, air conditioning, insulation, aerosols, and other processes

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:


New Jersey is joining other states in trying to block the Environmental Protection Agency from easing rules that limited the use of a potent industrial chemical contributing to climate change.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of actions filed by the state against the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken environmental regulations aiming to address climate change.
Filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the petition seeks to invalidate a recently issued guidance document that effectively suspends the agency’s own three-year-old ban on use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in manufacturing.
“As we saw during superstorm Sandy, the symptoms of climate change — like extreme weather, rising seas, and coastal erosion — can put our state at grave risk,’’ said New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.
Climate change is the greatest environmental threat to the state and the planet, Grewal said. “Washington should be placing stricter rules on greenhouse gases, not weakening them,’’ he said.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe noted the state has been aggressive in trying to reduce greenhouse emissions from power plants, industrial facilities, and vehicles.
“This backdoor attempt to change the rules will undermine our efforts and place at risk those actions that are necessary in other states to address global warming and sea-level rise,’’ McCabe said.
HFCs are compounds used in refrigeration, air conditioning, insulation, aerosols, and other processes. The agency moved to limit their use a few years ago when new alternatives were developed with far less climate impact than HFCs.

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New Jersey Recycling Pioneer, Jean Clark, dies at 95

NJ recycling pioneer Jean Clark
The New Jersey
recycling community mourns the death, on June 24, of Jean Clark, 95, widely regarded as the state’s ‘Mother of Recycling.

Clark, in
the 1970s, developed one of the first community recycling centers in her hometown of Montclair. It soon became a
model for municipal and county recycling programs that followed statewide–and
nationwide.
 
“Jean was a true recycling pioneer,” said Guy Watson president of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR) and former recycling chief at the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection (NJDEP). “Her efforts
were crucial to the development and passage of legislation that made our
state the first in the nation to require the curbside separation and recycling
of household paper, glass and metal.” 

ANJR Executive Director Marie Kruzan said: “I was fortunate to know and learn from Jean for over 30
years.  As a newbie in recycling, Jean guided me, in her quiet way, sharing her knowledge
and understanding. Jean may have been quiet, but she held strong views
and was not shy about sharing her opinion and experience. We all are
better for knowing and working with Jean.”

Clark received many awards: “Recycler of the Year” from the National Recycling Congress (1980), “Recycler of the Decade” (1980) from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New Jersey Pride Award in the field of Environment (1986), and the Wells College Alumnae Association Award, (2000). Groups she was part of were often more effective than flashy, such as the Essex County Solid Waste Advisory Council.

Clark graduated from Wells College in Aurora, New York in 1945, and took a M.A. in Philosophy from Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She championed women’s colleges, but made an adjustment to her worldview when men were admitted at Wells College a few years ago.

Clark’s single-minded devotion sometimes made her an inadvertent pioneer. In 1970, the New Jersey Audubon Society felt there should be at least one woman on the Board, so they made her the Secretary. “Someone to take the notes,” she recalled. Being the only woman in a room full of men did not faze her, and she was soon joined on the board by other women. She served the organization for more than 30 years

Former NJDEP Chief of Staff
Gary Sondermeyer said:
“Jean was the true “Founder” of the
recycling movement in New Jersey and a total inspiration – her legacy most
certainly lives on with a reputation beyond reproach.”

“I feel blessed to have been inspired by Jean’s
determination, motivated by her actions and encouraged to make a
difference based on her efforts.” said Sussex County Recycling Coordinator Renee Casapulla.” Jean’s wit and
contagious laughter will always warm my heart.”

Read the full obituary here

Related videos:

Jean Clark Recycling Pioneer (August) 2010 New Jersey Recycling Pioneers Jean Clark and Mary Sheil



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