Andrea Sears reports for Public News Service:


HARRISBURG, Pa. – The period for submitting written comments on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s draft natural-gas drilling regulations ends Friday. 

Environmental groups are enthusiastically supporting the commission’s proposal to ban all high-volume hydraulic fracturing in shale within the boundaries of the Delaware River watershed. But according to Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, they are adamantly opposed to draft regulations that would let gas and oil companies withdraw millions of gallons of Delaware watershed water for fracking in other locations, and allow the treatment, storage and disposal of fracking wastewater within the watershed.

“Fracking wastewater is so toxic that even the industry barely knows what to do with it. For the most part, they either re-frack or they send it off to places where they try to inject it into the ground to try to hide it away,” she says.

The Commission says the new rule actually would tighten restrictions on bringing fracking waste into the watershed. Help in filing written comments is available through the Delaware Riverkeeper website.


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Michelle Brunette reports for the Atlantic City Press:


A bill to restart the Fishermen’s Energy wind farm project for the ocean off Atlantic City passed an Assembly committee Thursday and now moves to the full Assembly.


It would require the state Board of Public Utilities to open a 90-day period for the submission of an amended application for a wind energy project in state waters offshore of Atlantic City.


While Fisherman’s Energy is not mentioned by name, it is the only such wind project that meets the criteria of the bill, A-2485, sponsored by Vince Mazzeo and John Armato, D-Atlantic; and Wayne DeAngelo, D-Mercer, Middlesex.


Paul Gallagher, an attorney and Fishermen’s Energy’s chief operating officer, said the company is ready.


“We have been quiet, but maintained our permits and our relationships,” Gallagher said. “This project is fully permitted and ready to build.”


If all moves quickly at the BPU, he said the project could begin in the fall.


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The following six energy and environment bills are among a list of 52 pieces of legislation scheduled for votes by the New Jersey State Senate on Monday, Marcy 26, 2018:

S534 (Oroho / Sarlo) – Excludes corrugated containers sold by the manufacturer from definition of “litter-generating product”; exempts such sales from user fee imposed under “Clean Communities Program Act.”


S1082 (Cruz-Perez / Singleton) – Provides tax credits to vineyards and wineries for qualified capital expenses.


S1242 (Turner / Greenstein) – Requires boil water notices to be provided to municipal officials within one hour.


S1496 (Smith / Greenstein) – Prohibits sale and distribution of mercury relays and switches under certain circumstances.


S1793 (Smith / Greenstein) – Concerns low emission and zero emission vehicles; establishes Clean Vehicle Task Force.


A839 / S258 (Land / Andrzejczak / Mazzeo / Van Drew / Singleton) – Prohibits offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production in State waters, and issuance of DEP permits and approvals for activities associated with offshore oil and gas activities.

Philadelphia Water Department utility representative Michael Cossie dye-tests storm water and sanitary sewer connections to investigate crossover issues, in which household sewage flows into the storm water system and vice versa (Tim Tai photo)

Frank Kummer report for Philly.com:

Last week, Joe Ferretti, a Philadelphia Water Department supervisor, pried open a manhole next to a scenic Schuylkill River bank, flicked on a flashlight and peered down.

Ferretti saw evidence sewage was flowing freely into the river at a stone outfall known as S050204.

In some Philadelphia homes, human waste, shower water, dirty dish grease and other stuff that belongs in the sanitary sewer system is going down the wrong pipe, sending it to waterways that feed the Delaware River — the city’s primary source of drinking water.

For years, water department workers like Ferretti have been on a painstaking hunt for “cross connections,” a mild-sounding name that means mixed-up pipes that threaten public health. Between showers, toilet flushes, and sink use, a typical Philadelphia resident uses up to 85 gallons of water a day. That equates to about 272 gallons a day for a typical Philadelphia home – and if there’s a cross connection, that could mean 100,000 gallons going into the river each year.

The stone outfall Ferretti examined — outfall S05204 — is at Kelly Drive in the city’s East Falls section. Water department crews had methodically worked their way up to a block on Ainslie Street, about half a mile from the river, looking for the home, or homes, that were producing the sewage. On a bitterly cold day last week, the crew spent hours outside on their detective work, literally following their noses.