Opinion: Bill Bradley, it’s time to call your bookie


Andrew Peter Napolitano, a native of Newark, NJ, is a syndicated columnist whose work appears in numerous publications, such as Fox News, The Washington Times, and Reason. He is a senior judicial analyst for Fox News, commenting on legal news and trials.


In 1992, Congress passed a statute authored by then-Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, who was a former Princeton University and New York Knicks basketball superstar, prohibiting the states from authorizing sports betting. At that time, gambling in Atlantic City was flourishing, and notwithstanding one of its own senators’ efforts to keep gambling away from competitive sports, the state of New Jersey wanted to duplicate Las Vegas’ success with sports betting.

When Bradley’s legislation grandfathered the state of Nevada, legislators in New Jersey came up with an idea to get around the federal legislation that would permit Atlantic City casinos to compete with those in Las Vegas by repealing all laws about sports betting, thereby escaping the federal prohibition on “authorizing” sports betting. It would be up to the casinos to set up their own betting parlors for college and professional sports, and in so doing, they could increase their own bottom lines and thus the state’s tax revenues.
When major professional sports leagues and the NCAA challenged this, a federal district court in Newark read the “thou shalt not authorize” language to mean “thou shalt not permit under any circumstances.” That ruling was upheld by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, and New Jersey appealed its case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in its favor earlier this week.
Get ready to call your bookie.
The Supreme Court decision reinforces the anti-commandeering jurisprudence of the 10th Amendment, which was dormant from the New Deal era to the mid-1990s. Recall that the states formed the federal government, not the other way around. When they did so, they delegated certain areas of governmental authority to the feds, and as new states were added to the Union, they did the same.
The 10th Amendment is the constitutional recognition of the truism that the legislative powers that the states did not delegate to Congress they retained for themselves.
The anti-commandeering jurisprudence prohibits Congress from telling the states how to govern or legislate or spend their tax dollars in any governmental areas not delegated to the Congress. This congressional practice was condemned in a case called Printz v. United States, in which Congress had ordered state law enforcement officials to establish certain gun registration protocols consistent with congressional standards and made state legislatures pay for the enforcement of the protocols.
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The tax break package the Kushners want from Jersey City

Terrence T. McDonald reports for the Jersey Journal
The development firm run by Jared Kushner’s family sought a 30-year tax break from Jersey City and about $9 million in city-issued bonds for its troubled One Journal Square project, a newly released document shows.

Kushner Companies and partner KABR Group, which want to build twin 56-story towers on a long-vacant lot near the Journal Square PATH station, asked the city for the long-term tax break package in an April application obtained by The Jersey Journal after a public-records request.
The document was submitted two weeks before the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency told the developers, in a letter obtained by Hudson County View, that they were in default of their 2015 redeveloper agreement with the agency, in part because construction on the $897 million project did not start by Jan. 1, 2017.
Mayor Steve Fulop said on Twitter last month that the subsidy request illustrated the developers’ “sense of entitlement.” A request for comment from a Kushner Companies spokeswoman was not returned.

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Pallone wants White House to release PFCs report


New Jersey has some of strictest standards in country for regulating the contaminants, but environmentalist says DEP’s regulation process has slowed

water quality test
Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight

Lawmakers and environmentalists are urging the federal government to release a report recommending tight new limits on a class of chemicals that New Jersey is playing a leading role in regulating.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry indicated it is preparing to release a study saying that the PFC family of chemicals (perfluorochemicals), also known as PFAS, should be subject to much tighter restrictions than those advocated — but not required — by the Environmental Protection Agency.
That prompted officials at the EPA and the White House to warn of a public relations “nightmare” as they anticipated a clash between federal agencies over a matter of public health, according to emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists and recently published by some media outlets and advocacy groups.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), on Wednesday accused the White House of blocking the ATSDR study, and called for its release.
“Families throughout our country have a right to know about dangerous contaminants in their drinking water,” Pallone said in a statement. “The White House has once again shown that it cares more about public relations than public health by burying an HHS study that shows a class of toxic chemicals endanger human health at far lower levels than EPA previously considered safe.”


Pallone will ‘do everything’ to get report released

“While I am pleased that New Jersey already has standards close to the ATSDR recommendation, I will work with my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee and throughout Congress to do everything within our power to ensure that the report is released,” Pallone said.
According to the internal EPA emails, White House officials expressed concern in January that tough new limits on PFCs were due to be proposed by the ATSDR, a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services. Since ATSDR’s limits for two of the chemicals would be as much as 10 times lower than the advisory issued by EPA, that would be tough to explain to the public, according to one of the emails from an unnamed official at the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.


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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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