New Director for DRBC’s Science and Water Quality


Namsoo S. Suk, Ph.D.

West Trenton, N.J. –  Namsoo S. Suk, Ph.D. has been named as the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Director of Science and Water Quality Management.  In his new position, Suk’s responsibilities include leading DRBC science and technical teams to: develop and apply hydrodynamic and water-quality models; conduct and coordinate monitoring and assessment activities; develop and update the Commission’s water-quality standards; and collaborate with the regulatory, stakeholder, and other scientific communities to meet the Commission’s clean and sustainable water goals.  


“Dr. Suk brings to his new position a wealth of extensive experience that will support the Commission’s water resource management and science programs,” said DRBC Executive Director Steve Tambini.  


Suk joined the DRBC in 1998 as a water resource engineer/modeler and has held various positions of increasing responsibility with the Commission.  He earned his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., where he completed his dissertation on “Suspended Solids Flux Between Salt Marsh and Adjacent Bay: A Methodology for Long-Term Continuous Measurements.”  


Additionally, he earned his M.S. in Civil Engineering from Rutgers and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.  Since he has been with the DRBC, Suk has worked with Commission staff and external experts on: numerous water resource models; pollution waste load allocations; implementation of DRBC’s Water Quality and Special Protection Waters regulations; and collaborative implementation of the basin states’ and federal water quality regulations.  With more than a dozen publications to his credit, Suk regularly delivers technical presentations to academic and professional organizations in the region. 


Suk is replacing Thomas J. Fikslin, Ph.D., who has worked with DRBC since 1989, initially on assignment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as a member of the Commission’s staff since April 1993.  Fikslin is retiring at the end of the month after 43 years of environmental contributions to the country and region through his work at the Commission and the U.S. EPA.

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The DRBC is a federal/interstate government agency responsible for managing the water resources of the Delaware River Basin without regard to political boundaries.  The five commission members are the governors of the basin states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) and the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division, who represents the federal government

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NRA lobbyist shot down Scrub Jay’s bid to be Florida Bird


By Frank Brill
EnviroPolitics Editor


We all know how powerful the National Rifle Association is in killing off any restrictions on gun sales. But shooting down the hopes of thousands of school kids to name a state bird? A bird so gentle that it eats from your hand? 


S.V. Date tells the story in HuffPost of how a bill to designate the native Scrub Jay as the state bird was stopped cold in the Florida Legislature in 1999 when the NRA’s state lobbyist declared that the Scrub Jay ate the eggs of other birds. “That’s robbery and murder,” she declared.


As for all that hand-feeding? ‘“Begging for food isn’t sweet, she added.”It’s lazy and it’s a welfare mentality.”


Good thing the bird is native to the state or ICE might be rounding them up today for deportation.

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New managing partner for Fox Rothschild in Princeton

Gerard_Norton
Fox Rothschild attorney Gerard Norton

The Fox Rothschild law firm has appointed Gerard Norton as office managing partner for their Princeton location, effective April 1.


Norton succeeds Douglas Zeltt, who served a five-year term.


“Our office managing partners work tirelessly to ensure clients are getting the best service we can provide, while helping to draw in top legal talent across the county,” said Mark Morris, Fox’s firm-wide managing partner, in a statement. “Our outgoing leaders have done an exceptional job during their tenure in this role, and we are confident this new group of leaders will build upon that framework.”


Norton chairs Fox’s intellectual property litigation practice and previously chaired the intellectual property practice. He litigates matters involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and breaches of contract, as well as handling intellectual property portfolio protection and enforcement.

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Live in South Jersey? Unsure about buying an electric vehicle? Atlantic City Electric wants to reduce your anxiety


Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Atlantic City Electric is the first utility in the state to file a petition to broaden the scope of public and private plug-in vehicle-charging stations in its territory, a crucial first step that advocates consider key to achieving a cleaner transportation sector.


The utility, in a filing Friday with the state Board of Public Utilities, is seeking to spend $14.9 million to focus on barriers deterring customers from buying electric vehicles, most prominently range anxiety or the worry that their cars will run out of power without finding a place to recharge.


The petition, involving a suite of programs to incent customers to switch to plug-in cars, includes an innovative proposal to establish lower household-electricity rates for those who charge vehicles and defer other energy use to off-peak hours when costs are lower.


The transportation sector accounts for about 46 percent of the energy-related greenhouse-gas emissions in New Jersey. Without steep reductions in emissions from cars, the state will never achieve ambitious goals to reduce the carbon pollution that contributes to climate change, according to state officials.


Lack of public charging stations
The state’s four electric utilities have been encouraged by the BPU to come up with programs that help build out the infrastructure for electric vehicles. Clean-energy advocates say the lack of public charging stations hinders widespread adoption of electric vehicles.


“These programs both incentivize customers to pursue an EV (electric vehicle) option as their next vehicle purchase and provide them with the peace of mind that new charging options will be available to meet their fueling needs across South Jersey,” said Vincent Maione, Atlantic City Electric region president.


Read the full story

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Keystone Landfill hit with class-action suit over odors

Jeff Horvath reports for the
Times-Tribune:


Noxious odors and air contaminants released by Keystone Sanitary Landfill in
Dunmore, Pa., diminish surrounding property values and prevent homeowners from
enjoying their properties, according to a new class-action lawsuit.

The suit, filed recently in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, names
Keystone Sanitary Landfill Inc. as the defendant. The suit alleges Keystone
failed to properly control odorous emissions emanating from the landfill in
Dunmore and Throop, causing nearby residents to remain indoors, forgo use of
their yards and keep doors and windows closed regardless of the weather.


The odors also
diminished property values and embarrassed homeowners, making them reluctant to
invite guests to their homes, the suit says.

Keystone Sanitary Landfill consultant Al
Magnotta, who had not seen a copy of the lawsuit when reached last week, called
many of the claims subjective and equated the suit to “extortion.”
Keystone uses a
“significant odor-control program” at the landfill and commissioned an
independent study that found the landfill does not negatively affect
surrounding property values, he said.

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NJ Gov. Murphy to RGGI: Hey, guys, we’re back

Gov. Phil Murphy has notified governors of states that belong to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative of his administration’s commitment to rejoining the regional climate-change compact.
“As a founding member of RGGI, New Jersey is eager to rejoin your state as a partner in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving the health of residents, and growing the economy in our region,” Murphy wrote in a letter sent last week to the governors of nine RGGI states in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.
The 2005 memorandum of understanding that established RGGI requires member states to agree to the admission of another state as a member. Murphy has instructed the Department of Environmental Protection and Board of Public Utilities to open discussions with the member states as soon as practical.
The moves come roughly a month after Murphy signed an executive order directing the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to implement the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act fully and begin the process of moving the state toward a goal of 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy generation by the year 2030.

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