Mnuchin gets aromatic gift from a snickering public


The Associated Press reports:

Authorities say a gift-wrapped box of horse manure addressed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (mih-NOO’-shin) was found near his home in Los Angeles.

The package was found Saturday night in the tony Bel Air neighborhood after it was dropped off at a neighbor’s house.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad was called to the home and officers opened the box, finding a pile of horse manure inside. Police said the package had been gift-wrapped and was marked as being from “the American people.”


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Sarah Ann Dowling, 80, fervent Democratic campaigner, communicator and spokeswoman for NJ Gov. Jim Florio

Jan Hefler reports for Philly.com:

Sarah Ann Dowling of Moorestown, communications director for former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio and an active Democratic political campaigner, died Wednesday, Dec. 20, at Jefferson University Hospital in Washington Township of a massive stroke. She was 80.

“She was very diligent, and responsible for a lot of what I was able to get done,” said Florio, a lawyer who served as the state’s 49th governor from 1990 through 1994.


Sarah Ann Dowling

“She did more than a press secretary; she was my communications person starting in 1974, when I first went to Congress,” he said. “She also had a good sense of humor and kept everyone laughing.”

Ms. Dowling helped elect Democratic freeholders, members of Congress, state legislators, governors, and presidents, said her daughter, Mary Dowling, who lives in Moorestown. “Around our house, Election Day was like Christmas. Mom just loved politics and elections.”

Born in Elizabeth, N.J., Ms. Dowling graduated from Battin High School in that city and later moved to California, where she worked on the 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy. After starting a family in Los Angeles, Ms. Dowling returned to New Jersey, where she was active in numerous campaigns after working as a journalist for various print, radio, and television outlets, her daughter said.

As a single mother who raised four children, Ms. Dowling also advocated for women assuming leadership roles in politics. She was elected to the Democratic National Committee and served 16 years, and was president of the New Jersey Federation of Democratic Women.

She also was a communications specialist for the New Jersey State Senate and worked for various state party organizations and state agencies.

Ms. Dowling was always willing to help, and was very witty, said her daughter. “Anyone who needed help, she would always give it,” said Mary Dowling, adding that her mother would pitch in to clean the sidewalk of snow, drive her granddaughter to ballet classes, and do whatever else she could.

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NJ Gov-Elect Murphy introduces his DEP Commissioner

Incoming New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, at a news conference today, introduced his pick to become the state’s next commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, Catherine McCabe.



An attorney, McCabe has served in numerous executive environmental positions, including:

  • Assistant New York State Attorney General
  • Deputy chief of the environmental enforcement section of the federal Department of Justice
  • Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance at EPA
  • One of three judges on the EPA’s Court of Appeals
  • Deputy and Acting Administrator of EPA’s Region 2
  • Acting Administrator of the federal EPA


Murphy said that the state had lost ground in environmental protection during Gov. Chris Christie’s eight-year term, specifically noting Christie’s failure to capitalize on the opportunity presented by offshore wind development, his withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and his settlement of pollution claims with ExxonMobil that Murphy said amounted to ‘pennies on the dollar.’


Click on the arrow in the photo above to watch the entire news conference broadcast online by NJTV News 

What changes do you expect to see at the NJDEP under Murphy and McCabe? Use the comment box below or provide your opinion on our Facebook page.


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NJ Assemblyman sues to stop proposed state buildings

There’s a lawsuit to block a new government office building that’s about to go up in Trenton. Opponents don’t like the design or location. But what they really don’t like is the financing: $215 million in new debt from a bond issue pushed through without voter approval. One of the plaintiffs, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, joins NJTV News Senior Correspondent David Cruz.

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Lancaster, Pa. agrees to curb sewage discharges to river



News release from the Environmental Protection Agency:

PHILADELPHIA (December 20, 2017) The city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania has agreed to comprehensive measures to end discharges of untreated sewage and other pollutants to local waterways from the City’s combined storm and sewage system, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) announced today. 

The settlement, which was filed in federal district court in Philadelphia resolves a simultaneously filed complaint brought by the Department of Justice on behalf of the EPA and PADEP, alleging the discharge of untreated sewage into the Conestoga River in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Under the settlement, the City of Lancaster has agreed to implement measures to significantly reduce combined sewer overflows, or CSOs.  These include improving pump stations and reduction of flow through a comprehensive long-term plan to improve the ability of the entire system to handle flow.

“We are proud of the close collaboration between EPA and PADEP over the course of these investigations and negotiations,” said EPA Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio.  “This settlement, which will improve local water quality and protect human health, was achieved in large part because of the strong cooperation between our two agencies.”

“This outcome is good for the people of Lancaster and everyone that uses the Conestoga River,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “Reducing sewer overflows makes our streams and rivers cleaner and better places for fish, wildlife, and people.”

The Clean Water Act complaint, filed with the proposed consent decree, alleged unlawful pollution discharges caused by numerous overflows of untreated wastewater from Lancaster’s combined sewer system.  This system carries rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same sewer pipes to a wastewater treatment plant, where it is treated before discharge to a water body. 

During periods of heavy rainfall or snowmelt, the water volume exceeds the system’s capacity – causing combined sewer overflows.  The City has five CSO outfalls, which overflowed at least 392 times in the past five years, discharging nearly 3.8 billion gallons of untreated, polluted water into the Conestoga River, a tributary of the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay. These CSOs contain not only stormwater but also untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials, and debris. 

The settlement between the Department of Justice and the city of Lancaster resulted from several years of investigation of alleged violations by EPA and PADEP, followed by extensive federal-state negotiations with city officials.

The city of Lancaster will pay a $135,000 civil penalty, split equally between the U.S. and Pennsylvania, and implement a $1.8 million supplemental environmental project.  This project involves the restoration of a 1,350-foot segment of a local waterway called Groff’s Run that will reconnect wetlands to the Conestoga River, protecting water quality and reducing localized flooding. 

For more information on CSOs, visit http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=5.
          
The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.  The consent decree is available for review at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.

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