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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Is pro-Trump MacArthur vulnerable in mid-term election?

House Democrats like former National Security Adviser Andy Kim’s chance of upsetting pro-Trump NJ Congressman Tom MacArthur, but two Washington-based publications that track congressional races say MacArthur is a safe bet for re-election. 

Andy Kim h&s
Democrat challenger Andy Kim

Tom MacArthur h&S


Republican Congressman Tom MacArthur

Jonathan D. Salant reports for NJ.com
WASHINGTON — House Democrats now say former National Security Adviser Andy Kim, who is challenging a pro-Trump Jersey congressman, offers one of their best chances to win a Republican-held congressional seat this fall
Kim, is wants to grab the House seat from Rep. Tom MacArthur, on Wednesday became the second New Jersey Democrat added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “red to blue” program.
“This national recognition highlights our race as one of the keys to taking back the House,” Kim said.
He joins Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor running for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist.; and state Sen. Jeff Van Drew of Cape May, who is trying to succeed retiring Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., on the list.
“National security expert Andy Kim has spent his life serving our country and will fight for hardworking families in New Jersey’s Third District,” said Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., the DCCC chairman.
Kim and Van Drew were among the latest additions to the program, bringing the number of candidates to 24, the exact number of Republican-held seats the Democrats need to win to claim a majority.
Those on the list can expect fundraising help and other assistance from the DCCC. There of them are from New Jersey, more than any other state. 
“Under Andy Kim’s watch, the United States failed to grasp the threat ISIS presented to the world and failed to formulate a strategy to stop them,” said Chris Martin, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “He’s just the latest flawed candidate being propped up by national Democrats.”
MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., raised $1.5 million and reported cash on hand of $932,632, both more than double his fundraising figures at the same point two years ago. President Donald Trump held a fundraiser at his Bedminster golf for him.
Inside Elections, one of the two Washington-based publications that tracks congressional races, continued to consider MacArthur a safe bet for re-election even as it moved three other New Jersey races towards the Democrats. The second publication, the Cook Political Report, said MacArthur was a strong favorite for a third term.
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Vote in NJ this week on revised PSEG nuclear bailout

Intended to prop up PSEG nuclear plants, measure has gone through drastic revisions without gaining traction with legislators

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

The Legislature will try to advance a controversial nuclear subsidy bill again this week — at least the fourth version of the measure drafted this year.


Designed primarily to prop up nuclear power plants operated by Public Service Enterprise Group, the legislation has gone through drastic revisions in a bid to win enough backing among lawmakers to win legislative passage. So far, it has not worked.


Many of the changes are aimed at addressing concerns raised by Gov. Phil Murphy, who wants the measure to focus more heavily on promoting his clean-energy agenda. In doing so, however, it bolstered critics’ fears that costs to utility customers — who will subsidize those efforts and pay to keep the nuclear units open — will soar.


The nuclear subsidies alone could cost $300 million annually, excluding what ratepayers may have to ante up to pay for solar and energy-efficiency projects, other goals espoused in the bill.


Ramping up rates
“What we end up with may be a $5 billion or $8 billion bill,” said Stefanie Brand, director of the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, Friday morning at a conference on nuclear energy before the latest version became public. “This is going to substantially increase rates.”


The legislation ramps up the state’s reliance on renewable energy. It will require 35 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources, such as solar and offshore wind, by 2025 and 50 percent renewables by 2030.


The new legislation, made public late Friday afternoon, will be discussed at a joint meeting of the Senate Budget and Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee on Thursday. There also is a similar, but not identical, version in the Assembly on the agenda.


The new bill appears to leave much of the nuclear provisions untouched. It establishes a zero-emission credit for eligible nuclear units and retains a $0.004 per kilowatt hour charge for the credits. The credits would, for the first time, value the environmental benefits of the carbon-free electricity produced by nuclear power, which supplies more than 40 percent of the state’s electricity.


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NJ bill would let your solar panels earn their keep

Strong move to encourage greater use of ‘net metering’ as advocates push for state to overhaul energy policies and critics worry about cost to ratepayers

Tom Johnson reports
for NJ Spotlight:
solar installer
New Jersey is giving solar energy a boost by expanding a policy that encourages homeowners and businesses to install panels.
With wide backing, the Senate Environment and Energy Committee voted to broaden the use of net metering, a system that allows owners of solar arrays to get paid for the electricity their panels produce when it is fed back into the power grid.
The move comes at a time when most clean energy advocates are strongly pushing the state to overhaul its policies to encourage the use of solar energy, while others criticize its cost to ratepayers, who paid approximately $500 million last year to subsidize its growth.
In Trenton yesterday, however, there was widespread support for net metering, an important component of the rapid expansion of solar energy in New Jersey.


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