Your views sought on revised Delaware Estuary plan

Kate Layron writes for Partnership for the Delaware Estuary:
Things change after 20 years. Scientific research provides us with new knowledge about the Delaware Estuary. Storms and hurricanes like Sandy in 2012 have heightened our understanding and awareness of the potential impacts of climate change. The organizations and people working together to protect and enhance the Delaware Estuary have evolved too. Their goals and vision for working together remain strong, but new goals and strategies have developed. A newly revised comprehensive plan reflects both the PDE’s and the environment’s ebbs and flows.
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary invites comments on the revised draft Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the Delaware Estuary (CCMP). This comment period runs from May 21 to July 20. PDE additionally will hold a webinar atnoon on Monday, June 11 to provide information on the CCMP revision process and how to comment.
The CCMP is the blueprint that will guide the work that PDE and its partners will undertake over the next 10 years or more as well as guide how funds from the National Estuary Program are used.  By revising this plan, the PDE and its partners are complying with federal regulations and lending a fresh perspective to its goals.
This the first revision to the CCMP, which originally was published in 1996. The original plan outlined 77 different actions on land and water, involving people and organizations in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was a successful guide for more than 20 years, and the Delaware Estuary is showing clear signs of improvement as a result. As recently reported in PDE’s Technical report for the Delaware Estuary and Basin, (TREB), contaminants like PCBs are in decline, fish like striped bass are thriving, and there are new opportunities for people to enjoy waterfront areas.
But the TREB also shows that new strategies are needed. For example, it shows there are continued losses of wetlands and shellfish, with accelerated losses since 1996 in some cases. In response, PDE and others have developed new programs and activities like PDE’s freshwater mussel recovery initiative.
PDE held multiple phases of public outreach to engage scientists and other experts and stakeholders during the revision process, which started in 2016. This input was used to create the draft revised CCMP which includes 39 strategies for clean water, strong communities and healthy habitats. Clean water strategies focus on reducing pollution and ensuring plentiful water for the future. Strategies for strong communities focus on improving community access and resilience, and engaging people as environmental stewards. Those for healthy habitats focus on sustaining wetlands, forests and shellfish, particularly for their water filtering benefits. Education and involvement are weaved throughout the CCMP.
The Estuary spans from Trenton, New Jersey and Philadelphia to Lewes, Delaware. It relies on clean water from streams throughout the Delaware River Watershed, including those in the Delaware, Schuylkill, and Brandywine river valleys, and along the bay shores of Delaware and New Jersey.  The plan aims to make watershed improvements to benefit millions of people who live, work, and play in the tristate Delaware Valley. The Delaware Estuary is one of 28 estuaries of national importance in the United States identified by Congress and included in the National Estuary Program.
After public comments are received and any changes are made, the CCMP must go to PDE’s steering committee and the EPA for final approval and adoption. Along with a copy of the draft revised CCMP, a copy of the 1996 plan is available to view on the PDE website. To sign up for the webinar (or view it afterward), review the draft revised CCMP, or submit comments, visitwww.DelawareEstuary.org/our-plan.
 If you are unable to send your feedback through the online form or email, please mail your written comments to: Emily Baumbach, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Inc. 110 South Poplar St., Suite 202, Wilmington, DE 19801
**Tune in for our webinar on June 11** 
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NJ Senate enviro committee to vote Monday on 6 of 8 bills


The NJ Senate Environment and Solid Waste committee will meet at 10 a.m.,  Monday, May 21, in the State House Annex’s Committee Room 10 (third floor) to consider: 

S-601 – Requires end-of-life recycling of solar and photovoltaic energy generation facilities and structures.

S-835 – 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.
S-1486 – Prohibits sale of expanded polystyrene food containers by public schools and public institutions of higher education.
S-1611 – Authorizes municipalities to establish program for public or private financing of certain energy, water, and storm resiliency projects under PACE program through use of voluntary special assessments for certain property owners.
S-2167 – Dedicates $500,000 annually in revenues from vessel registration and renewal fees to NJ Greenwood Lake Fund.

S-2476 – Amends law to limit DEP’s direct oversight of remediation of portion of contaminated site under certain circumstances.

Two bills, that are posted for discussion only are:

S-2252 – Establishes Statewide public plug-in electric vehicle charging system.
S-2382 – Establishes electric vehicle rebate program.

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Fracking industry rattled by major Pa. Superior Court ruling

Fracking Industry
warns of ‘devastating effects’ 

Matthew G. Lawson

Jenner and Block attorney Matthew G. Lawson reports in Lexology: 



On April 2, 2018, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued a potentially groundbreaking decision by holding that trespass and conversion claims arising from hydraulic fracturing are not precluded by the rule of capture. In reaching this conclusion, the court found that the Southwestern Energy Production Company (“Southwestern”) may have committed trespass when it extracted natural gas located under neighboring properties by draining the gas through fissures created from hydrofracturing fluid. 
Such a holding was almost universally thought to be precluded by the rule of capture. The rule of capture, which can be traced back to 18th century fox hunting, has historically been applied to find that oil and gas companies cannot be held liable for “capturing” oil and gas that drain naturally from neighboring land as a result of legal extraction activities. In differentiating hydraulic fracking from traditional oil and gas extraction, the court focused on the fact that hydraulic fracking actually pumps fluid across property lines to open up non-natural fissures that allow the natural gas to seep back across the property to be extracted.
The potential impact of the Pennsylvania court’s decision has spurred high levels of concern from the greater fracking industry. On the same day that Southwestern filed an appeal requesting an en banc rehearing of the decision, seven separate industry trade groups filed leave with the court seeking permission to file amicus briefs urging the court to grant Southwestern the rehearing. One of these groups, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (“MSC”), is a collection of approximately 200 producers, midstream, and local supply-chain companies that produce more than 95% of the natural gas in Pennsylvania. 
The group has asserted that the April 2nd ruling interrupts well-established law and creates an “unprecedented form of tort liability” that threatens the entire industry. In a similar filing, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry stressed that the decisions could have devastating effects on the industry and the economy of Pennsylvania. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the hydraulic fracking industry currently provides an estimated 322,600 jobs to Pennsylvania and contributes nearly $44.5 million in revenue to the state’s economy.
In Southwestern’s own appeal, the company echoed many of the concerns proclaimed by the industry. The company stressed that the decision would “unleash a torrent of speculative lawsuits” that could threaten the economic livelihood of the industry throughout the state. The company also characterized the April 2nd ruling as an impractical precedent for future decisions. Southwestern noted that the opinion would require courts and juries to speculate whether hydrofracturing fluid located miles below the surface ever moved onto neighboring property, which is a task the company portrayed as “a fool’s errand.”
The ultimate resolution of the matter has potentially far-reaching impacts on the U.S. energy markets. Behind Texas, Pennsylvania is the United States’ second largest producer of natural gas. The state generated 19 percent of the United States’ total output in 2017 and has seen steady gains in production output since 2010. Further, the decision raises questions about whether other state courts may adopt the logic of the Pennsylvania Superior Court and similarly hold that trespass and conversion claims against hydraulic fracking are not precluded by the historic rule of capture.

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U.S. recycling programs in turmoil after Chinese ban

recycling sorting belt in chinese factory WSJ photo
Chinese workers removing trash from recyclables. Wall Street Journal photo
Bob Tita reports for The Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. recycling industry is breaking down
Prices for scrap paper and plastic have collapsed, leading local officials across the country to charge residents more to collect recyclables and send some to landfills.
Used newspapers, cardboard boxes and plastic bottles are piling up at plants that can’t make a profit processing them for export or domestic markets.
“Recycling as we know it isn’t working,” said James Warner, chief executive of the Solid Waste Management Authority in Lancaster County, Pa. “There’s always been ups and downs in the market, but this is the biggest disruption that I can recall.”truck dumping recycling materials
Trash thrown into recycling containers has resulted in a Chinese import ban 
U.S. recycling programs took off in the 1990s as calls to bury less trash in landfills coincided with China’s demand for materials such as corrugated cardboard to feed its economic boom. Shipping lines eagerly filled containers that had brought manufactured goods to the U.S. with paper, scrap metal and plastic bottles for the return trip to China.
recycled paper bbundles
Wall Street Journal photo
As cities aggressively expanded recycling programs to keep more discarded household items out of landfills, the purity of U.S. scrap deteriorated as more trash infiltrated the recyclables. Discarded food, liquid-soaked paper and other contaminants recently accounted for as much as 20% of the material shipped to China, according to Waste Management Inc.’s estimates, double from five years ago.
The tedious and sometimes dangerous work of separating out that detritus at processing plants in China prompted officials there to slash the contaminants limit this year to 0.5%.
China early this month suspended all imports of U.S. recycled materials until June 4, regardless of the quality. The recycling industry interpreted the move as part of the growing rift between the U.S. and China over trade policies and tariffs.

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Pittsburgh utility offering $3,000 rebate on Nissan e-car

Daniel Moore reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Duquesne Light Co. announced on Monday that its customers are eligible for a $3,000 rebate until June 30 on the purchase of a 2018 Nissan Leaf, following a partnership struck with the automaker. 
The rebate is the latest — and largest — effort by Duquesne Light to get more electric vehicles on the road in the Pittsburgh region. The Downtown-based electric utility, which has 500,000 customers in Allegheny and Beaver counties, is in the second year of a campaign to promote EVs as a smart investment.
More EV sales are also good business for the utility, as they mean more electricity sales at charging stations.
“Electric vehicle popularity has grown exponentially over the years and we’re starting to see it gain momentum in our area,” said Joe DeMatteo, the utility’s director of business development, in a press release. “This partnership is another example of DLC helping to raise awareness of EVs and promote the benefits of choosing an environmentally friendly mode of transportation.”
Earlier this year, Duquesne Light announced it is working with ride-hailing service Uber to advance EVs, though details of the partnership remain unclear. Utility and Uber officials in February floated the idea of eventually giving Uber drivers some incentives to buy electric vehicles and give more rides in them.
The rebate is the first time the utility has negotiated such an incentive for customers.
The $3,000 covers about 8 to 10 percent of the Nissan Leaf, which is listed between $30,000 and $36,000, depending on the model. Customers should show their Duquesne Light utility bill at a Nissan dealership to qualify for the rebate, the company said.
In addition to the manufacturer incentives, customers can qualify for federal tax credits of up to $7,500, as well as a $1,750 rebate through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Alternative Fuel Vehicle Rebate Program.
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2743 and Twitter @PGdanielmoore

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Is Trump’s cut to Sandy aid latest attack on New Jersey?


Herb Jackson reports for The Bergen Record:


Funding for Amtrak’s Gateway project, which includes a new tunnel under the Hudson River, was not touched in the $15 billion package of budget “rescission” requests that President Trump’s administration sent to Congress on Tuesday.


But Trump did propose rescinding $107 million in Superstorm Sandy aid, and the cut has added fuel to a fire burning in the New Jersey delegation that sees the state as under attack from Washington.


“Coming on the heels of a tax scam they bragged was designed to hurt the Northeast, Republicans now want to take away $107 million to help my state continue its recovery from Hurricane Sandy,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson.


“They want to kick New Jerseyans while we’re down all over again. It’s insult to second injury and chutzpah doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Pascrell said.


Rep. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, also reached for some Yiddish.


“You’d have to be an anti-Jersey schmuck to support this,” Norcross said. “The ‘moocher state’ Republicans that voted against Sandy aid in the first place are now trying to use every trick in the book to suck New Jersey dry.”


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