Judge tosses NY Delaware River Basin fracking suit

** Updated at 7 p.m. to add related stories and reaction from enviro groups** A federal judge has rejected New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit seeking to force a full environmental review before the Delaware River Basin Commission allows natural gas drilling in a watershed that provides drinking water for millions of New Yorkers (and millions more in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware). The Associated Press reported this afternoon that:. "U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn ruled Monday in favor of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies. He said the lawsuit filed last year by Schneiderman was speculative, because the commission hasn’t adopted final regulations yet. Garaufis noted that there will be plenty of time to file lawsuits after the regulations are adopted. See the full AP story here. Environmental organizations react to the ruling “The judge’s decision recognized and validated the tremendous concerns over threatened gas drilling for the Delaware River, our organizations and communities — that he found he could not render a final judicial opinion at this time does not diminish his acknowledgement that gas drilling is a major threat to this region, and that the actions of the agencies involved should be the subject of judicial review,” said Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper. ”Of great importance, the judge did not side with agency efforts to simply and cavalierly set aside the role of the courts or the public in reviewing what the agencies are up to on this precedent setting matter.

“Riverkeeper is disappointed that the court concluded it was premature to decide whether DRBC and the Army Corps are required to conduct an environmental review of its proposed gas drilling regulations before finalizing them,” said Kate Hudson, Hudson Riverkeeper Watershed Program Director. “However, we are pleased that the court’s decision allows Riverkeeper to challenge these regulations if and when DRBC ends the moratorium and votes to put the regulations in place. The court emphasized that it is available and more than capable of stopping well development before any fracking wastewater is created if DRBC proceeds in a manner contrary to the law. Riverkeeper fully intends to sue again and ask the court to take such action if DRBC puts at risk the drinking water for millions of New Yorkers by opening the Delaware River Basin to drilling without completing a full environmental review.” Related news stories:
Fracking Lawsuit In New York Dismissed By US Judge
Federal judge throws out NY AG’s lawsuit against DRBC

Our most recent posts:

Decision signals death of ‘public nuisance’ climate cases
NJ Gov. Christie delivers one-two punch to enviro bills
NJ lawmakers take alternative-fuel vehicles for a test run
RGGI sees fewer bidders but still raising tens of millions
Gov. Cuomo: No pressure to speed NY fracking decision

Judge tosses NY Delaware River Basin fracking suit Read More »

Decision signals death of ‘public nuisance’ climate cases

Intensified storm and sea-surge damage is steadily eroding the Alaskan fishing village
of Kivalina, threatening its very existence. The villagers blame climate change and sued ExxonMobil and more than 20 other oil companies and utilities whose production of greenhouse gases, they contend, is responsible.

But it’s not only Mother Nature that’s giving the villagers a pounding.

Their lawsuit, based on the common law theory of nuisance, was dismissed by a federal district court in 2009 on the grounds that regulating greenhouse emissions was a political rather than a legal issue and one that needed to be resolved by Congress and the Administration rather than by courts.

On Friday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the earlier ruling.

Foley Hoag attorney attorney Seth Jaffe writes today in Law & The Environment that the decision “may have sounded the death knell for public nuisance litigation concerning the impacts of climate change.”

Read Mr. Jaffe’s piece here and the full decision: Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil

Recent posts:
NJ Gov. Christie delivers one-two punch to enviro bills
NJ lawmakers take alternative-fuel vehicles for a test run
RGGI sees fewer bidders but still raising tens of millions
Gov. Cuomo: No pressure to speed NY fracking decision
Some big corporations cut emissions as Congress fiddles

Decision signals death of ‘public nuisance’ climate cases Read More »

NJ Gov. Christie delivers one-two punch to enviro bills

New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie yesterday jabbed environmental groups by signing a permit-extension bill they opposed and then landed a haymaker with his veto of a bill banning wastewater and other fracking byproducts from being imported into New Jersey for treatment or disposal.

Environmental groups had lobbied vigorously for the governor to support their anti-fracking bill, A575, that had passed the Assembly (56-19-4) and then cruised through the Senate (30-5).

In his veto message, Christie said that the legislation raised constitutional issues.

"The lack of frackable shale formations in New Jersey is directly relevant to Assembly Bill No. 575 and is why, based on advice from the Office of the Attorney General, I must return this bill without my signature due to its unconstitutional nature. Because the nation is one common market in which state lines cannot be barriers to commerce, the Dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution limits a state’s ability to regulate interstate commerce. Accordingly, the Dormant Commerce Clause precludes states from enacting parochial, isolationist, and discriminatory laws, such as Assembly Bill No. 575.

"Assembly Bill No. 575 seeks to prohibit wastewater, wastewater solids, sludge, drill cuttings, or other byproducts (collectively “Waste”) generated from Fracking “in any State” from being treated, discharged, disposed of, or stored in New Jersey. Although the bill is, on its face, neutral in that it seemingly applies to Waste from “any State,” the undisputed fact, agreed to by the Legislature, that Fracking “is not occurring and is unlikely to occur in New Jersey,” demonstrates beyond a doubt that this ostensible evenhandedness is superficial. Because no Fracking Waste is being produced in New Jersey, nor is it likely to be produced in New Jersey in the foreseeable future, any Waste subject to this bill must be generated out-of-state."

The NJ Sierra Club, a frequent critic of the governor, charged in a news release following the veto that Christie had "taken the side of the fossil fuel industry and polluters over New Jersey’s drinking water."

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Governor Christie signs permit-extension bill

The permit extension bill, A1338, which green groups opposed, will extend to the close of 2014 numerous local permits presently set to expire at the end of 2012. The development community argued that that change was necessary because the ongoing recession had prevented many projects from getting off the ground. Without the extension, they said, developers would be forced to start from scratch in seeking permits when the economy recovers, adding time and cost to projects that could benefit both the state and local economies.

The bill received impressive backing in both houses: Assembly (66-7-6); Senate (35-1)

Our most recent posts:
NJ lawmakers take alternative-fuel vehicles for a test spin
RGGI sees fewer bidders but is still raising
Gov. Cuomo: No pressure to speed NY fracking decision
Some big corporations cut emissions as Congress fiddles
DEP chief answers critics of NJ’s Barnegat Bay strategy

NJ Gov. Christie delivers one-two punch to enviro bills Read More »

NJ lawmakers take alternative-fuel vehicles for a test run

If you’re a green-minded businessperson thinking about leasing or purchasing alternative-fuel cars or trucks for your salespeople, technicians or other employees, where will you make that investment?

In all-electric vehicles?
In vehicles running on compressed natural gas from the Marcellus Shale play?
Or (if you’re really cutting edge) in vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells?

The easy choice would be none of the above. If you go with a hybrid that runs on standard gasoline as well as electricity a big part of your re-fueling problems are solved.

But if you’re a bit more adventurous and want to make a clean break from conventional fossil fuels then you face a number of big questions about where you will be able to refuel your vehicles in New Jersey and whether the state is likely to offer tax credits or other inducements that favor one technology over another.

The fact is that New Jersey, generally a front-runner in environmental change, is lagging when when it comes to developing policy that encourages government or public use of alternative fuel vehicles.

But change is inevitable and the issue will get the attention of lawmakers and the media tomorrow when the state Senate’s Environment and Energy Committee meets to consider more than a dozen bills addressing alternative-fuel vehicles.

You can listen to the discussion, starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow here.

Here’s the legislative lineup:

A-3028 Greenwald, L.D. (D-6); Benson, D.R. (D-14); Spencer, L.G. (D-29)
Establishes Zero Emission Vehicle Commission and abolishes Low Emission Vehicle Review Commission; transfers certain responsibilities to Zero Emission Vehicle Commission.
Jun 25, 2012 – Passed by the Assembly (57-21)
Jun 28, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted: Senate Environment and Energy

A-566 Wagner, C. (D-38); Coughlin, C.J. (D-19); Fuentes, A. (D-5)
Provides corporation business tax credit and gross income tax credits for purchase and installation of certain electric vehicle charging stations.
Mar 15, 2012 – Passed by the Assembly (54-20)
May 3, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

A-1151 Lampitt, P.R. (D-6); Vainieri Huttle, V. (D-37); Chivukula, U.J. (D-17)
Authorizes State and local governments to enter into group purchasing agreement for advanced technology vehicles and alternative fueled vehicles. Related Bill: S-371
Mar 15, 2012 – Passed by the Assembly (78-0)
May 3, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-340 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14); Beach, J. (D-6)
Provides corporation business tax credit and allows gross income tax deduction for purchase of electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Related Bill: A-1583
Jan 10, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 10, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-345 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14)
Provides corporation business tax credits and gross income tax credits for purchase of compressed natural gas vehicles. Related Bill: A-1997
Jan 10, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 10, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-346 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14)
Provides corporation business tax credits and gross income tax credits for purchase of fuel cell vehicles. Related Bill: A-1995
Jan 10, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 10, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-371 Beach, J. (D-6)
Authorizes State and local governments to enter into group purchasing agreement for alternative fueled vehicles. Related Bill: A-1151
Jan 10, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 10, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-400 Allen, D.B. (R-7)
Requires BPU to conduct pilot program to allow free parking for alternative fuel vehicles and alternative technology vehicles.
Jan 10, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 10, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-595 Beck, J. (R-11); Gordon, R.M. (D-38)
Exempts from sales tax for two years certain highly fuel efficient vehicles and energy efficient appliances.
Jan 10, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 10, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Mar 21, 2012 – Posted: Sales and Use Tax Review Commission
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

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S-980 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14)
Encourages development of electric vehicle charging stations in transportation projects.
Jan 17, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 17, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-983 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14)
Establishes public-private pilot program for level 3 electric vehicle charging stations.
Related Bill: A-1996
Jan 17, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 17, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-984 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14)
Establishes public-private alternative fueling station pilot program and requires DOT to conduct study. Related Bill: A-1994
Jan 17, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 17, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-1004 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14)
Directs installation of electric vehicle charging stations at service areas on State’s toll roads.
Related Bill: A-822
Jan 17, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 17, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

S-1186 Allen, D.B. (R-7)
Exempts certain materials and labor used to convert traditional motor vehicles into plug-in hybrid electric motor vehicles from sales and use tax. Related Bill: A-2721
Jan 23, 2012 – Introduced in Senate
Jan 23, 2012 – Referred: Senate Environment and Energy
Apr 25, 2012 – Reviewed by the Sales and Use Tax Commission: Recommend to not enact
Sep 20, 2012 – Posted for discussion only: Senate Environment and Energy

Have a position on which alternative-fuel horse the state should be backing, and how? Tell us about it in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

Related:
Senate Committee takes up more than a dozen bills for alternative-fuel vehicles

Our most recent posts:
RGGI sees fewer bidders but still raising tens of millions
Gov. Cuomo: No pressure to speed NY fracking decision
Some big corporations cut emissions as Congress fiddles
DEP chief answers critics of NJ’s Barnegat Bay strategy
Saving NJ baby turtles from an unpleasant awakening

NJ lawmakers take alternative-fuel vehicles for a test run Read More »

NJDEP’s waiver rule takes effect; Armageddon at hand?

The day that New Jersey green activists warned about has arrived. Prepare for some sky falling. Or not?

August 1 has come and passed and (at least so far) not a single politically connected law firm has petitioned the Department of Environmental Protection to waive its established environmental safeguards and grant permits to projects that will despoil the environment.

That’s what some green groups promised would happen if the Legislature failed to block the DEP from implementing its so-called ‘waiver rule.’ The Assembly passed a resolution to do just that. The Senate declined and the rule went into effect on Wednesday.

What does the dreaded waiver rule do?
It allows DEP to waive its regulations when:

applicants demonstrate that applicable regulations pose an undue burden
those regulations are in conflict with rules of other agencies, or
when there is a public emergency, or
when the permit would result in a net environmental benefit.

The basic idea is to give the department the flexibility to use common sense in situations where cracking through regulatory logjams would result in a beneficial outcome.

DEP Commissioner Bob Martin promises that the waiver process will be transparent, with all applications and actions posted prominently on the DEP’s web site. The rule will be judiciously applied, he says, and he personally will review each case.

[Use this link to keep track of any waiver petitions]

Baloney, (or some more forceful term) says Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel, who calls it the rule “one of the worst ever adopted in New Jersey and the broadest attack on environmental protections in 40 years.”

The Sierrans and 26 other groups have gone to court to block it via Ed Lloyd and the Columbia Environmental Law Clinic.

For thorough coverage of environmental news, issues, legislation and regulation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, try a FREE subscription to EnviroPolitics, our daily newsletter that also tracks environment/energy bills–from introduction to enactment.

DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese says the waiver rule would have been handy back in January 2011 when successive storms left some northern New Jersey streets buried under up to 60 inches of snow. The towns wanted DEP to suspend its rules and allow them to dump the snow in rivers, but it took a frustratingly long time to get the Department’s multiple divisions to approve the request.

Ragonese said the waiver rule would have allowed the department to recognize a public emergency and sanction the river dumping without delay. He said the rule is one of the ways his agency and the Christie administration are reaching out to “the average guy in New Jersey, the people who talk about government not working, or see government as too big, bureaucratic, and unfeeling.”

Does that mean no one will seek a waiver to gain an unjustifiable advantage? Like some “connected” law firm? Or a consultant who goes to all the right fundraisers?

Hey, this is New Jersey. If that isn’t attempted, we’d almost be disappointed. But that’s why each request will be on the public record and Bob Martin himself will serve as judge.

Will the enviros give Martin and his agency the chance to prove that their intentions are honorable?

Don’t count on it. Tittel pledges to oppose every single waiver request.

Hey, this is New Jersey. Don’t expect the green guys to be open minded about anything the Christie administration does. It isn’t just the environment. It’s politics, too.

Related:
Op-Ed: What the Waiver Rule Does — and Doesn’t — Do
Editorial: N.J. DEP ‘waiver rule’ is a dangerous gamble on our environment
Waive Goodbye to Environmental Regulation: DEP Implements Waiver Rule

See our latest posts:
Is NJ’s Christie breaking with GOP’s anti-solar ranks?
Another PSEG solar farm breaks ground; more coming
Court tells PADEP to provide drilling info to newspaper
New findings as Indian Point permit hearings resume
RGGI Redux: Christie’s latest smack-down; Enviros livid

NJDEP’s waiver rule takes effect; Armageddon at hand? Read More »

Is NJ’s Christie breaking with GOP’s anti-solar ranks?

The Sierra Club charged today that the fossil fuel
industry “is not only waging an attack on renewable energy in the political
sphere through immense financial contributions to elected officials, but they
are also funding a concerted, covert misinformation campaign.”

Through faux
“think tanks,” phony intellectuals, and astroturf groups masquerading as
“concerned citizens,” the industry is seeking to shift public opinion and
discredit renewable energy,” the organization said in a new report, Clean Energy Under Siege.

If that’s true, then what message was being sent by New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie, an active campaigner for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, when he signed legislation boosting the state’s solar industry?

Was Christie breaking ranks with those bent on sustaining Big Oil/Coal’s reign?

Likely not, according to those quoted today in an interesting story in Inside Climate News.

“He [understands] the practical benefits of having good policies in the
state,” said Carrie Hitt, vice president for state affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association. “But he’s not going to campaign to promote renewables across the country.”

Andrew Krulewitz, a solar analyst at GTM Research,
said it would have reflected poorly on Christie to “let the bottom fall
out” of the solar market. “He didn’t want to see all these new jobs
leave the state.”

Following the bill signing, Christie said that building the solar
economy is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. “It’s an issue
that the people of our state demand we work on together,” he said.

“I think it’s important for conservatives to hear the message from a
credible source like Gov. Christie that solar energy is not liberal—in
fact, it’s not conservative either. It just makes sense from an economic
development standpoint,” said Jim DiPeso, policy director for ConservAmerica, a conservative policy group. Last year, approximately 100,300 Americans worked in the U.S. solar industry, says The Solar Foundation, a nonprofit group.

What do YOU think? Is the Republican Party hopelessly committed to a fossil fuel future? Has industry purchased that allegiance through campaign contributions, as the Sierra Club contends? Does Christie see a more nuanced position as beneficial to his national political plans? Should he? Share your thoughts in the opinion box below. If one is not visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny ‘comments’ link.

See our latest posts:
Another PSEG solar farm breaks ground; more coming
Court tells PADEP to provide drilling info to newspaper
New findings as Indian Point permit hearings resume
RGGI Redux: Christie’s latest smack-down; Enviros livid
Pennsylvania not following Jersey’s lead on solar rescue

Is NJ’s Christie breaking with GOP’s anti-solar ranks? Read More »

Court tells PADEP to provide drilling info to newspaper

An appeals court in Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that the Department of Environmental Protection must release documents to The (Scranton) Times-Tribune in response to an open records request regardless of whether it is hard for the agency to find the records in its files.

A reporter for the newspaper in September had sought access to any letters sent to public and private water supply owners on whether nearby natural gas drilling operations had polluted or diminished the flow of water to their wells, as well as any enforcement orders stemming from such a determination.

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The department had challenged, among other things, whether the request was sufficiently specific, whether the office should have considered the burden on the department of locating and producing the records, and whether it had already made a good-faith search for them.

The Times-Tribune reported today:

“The three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court agreed with an earlier decision by the state’s Office of Open Records and found that the DEP cannot deny a sufficiently specific request under the state’s Right to Know Law because the documents would be “burdensome” for the agency to find. It also noted that the DEP never physically searched its files to find the documents.

“There is simply nothing in the RTKL that authorizes an agency to refuse to search for and produce documents based on the contention it would be too burdensome to do so,” Judge Anne E. Covey wrote in the opinion, adding that the burden on DEP comes not from the records request, “but from DEP’s method of tracking its records.”

[See the full ruling here]

Newspaper attorney J. Timothy Hinton Jr. called the ruling “a good decision for public access.” A PADEP spokesman said Tuesday that officials had just received and were reviewing the opinion.

See our most recent posts:
New findings as Indian Point permit hearings resume
RGGI Redux: Christie’s latest smackdown; Enviros livid
Pennsylvania not following Jersey’s lead on solar rescue
Will iPhone vs Android determine Obama vs Romney?
Construction begins on Pennsylvania’s largest solar farm
NJ Sierra Club thanks (gasp) Christie for solar signing

Court tells PADEP to provide drilling info to newspaper Read More »

New findings as Indian Point permit hearings resume

Two new findings will be in play tomorrow, as the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) resumes hearings at 9 a.m. in Albany on Entergy‘s contested water-discharge permit for the twin-unit Indian Point nuclear power plant. The facility is on the Hudson River, 38 miles north of New York City.

Environmental writer Roger Witherspoon reports that federal regulators have downgraded,
by a factor of 1,000, the 31-year old data assessing the fish killed annually by facility. In addition, the regulators assert the plants’ thermal plume causes minimal damage to the Hudson River environment and may fit state requirements for a hot water discharge permit.

The direct impact of the change by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy Nuclear, owners of the plants, over the continuing use of Hudson River water to cool its massive equipment. The state has been insisting that Indian Point construct a closed cycle cooling system–sort of an industrial radiator recycling water–rather than suck in enormous amounts of river water, pass it through a heat exchanger, and dump the heated water back into the river.

A closed system would use 95 percent to 9 percent less water than the current once-through system, and would end the dumping of hot water into the river. Entergy is the largest water use of 40 power plants around the state which the DEC is targeting for cooling system changes in an effort to bring them into compliance with the Clean Water Act and end the annual destruction of billions of river fish. If the twin nuclear plants do not obtain a discharge from DEC, it will not be able to operate even if the NRC grants its request to extend its 40-year operating license another 20 years.

The DEC hearings on Indian Point’s water discharge permit have been ongoing. The last was held in January, 2012.

A similar controversy over a state-mandated installation of a water-cooling system at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey was settled a year ago when state environmental officials reached a deal with Exelon Corp. to shut down the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant 10 years earlier than expected. In return, the plant was allowed to continue operating without building costly cooling towers.

Here’s Roger’s piece: Dropping by the Millions: NRC Downgrades Indian Point Fish Kills

Related stories:

Cuomo Wants Indian Point Power Plant Closed After Earthquake Report
Relicensing hearings on Indian Point request set

See our most recent posts:
RGGI Redux: Christie’s latest smackdown; Enviros livid

Pennsylvania not following Jersey’s lead on solar rescue

Will iPhone vs Android determine Obama vs Romney?
Construction begins on Pennsylvania’s largest solar farm
NJ Sierra Club thanks (gasp) Christie for solar signing

New findings as Indian Point permit hearings resume Read More »

An investigation with election & enviro (maybe) impact

A news story with major implications in this presidential election year–and possible environmental implications, too–is on the launch pad with its engines just starting to rumble.

New York State’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reportedly is examining state and national tax-exempt organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, following claims of fraudulent transfers of money used for lobbying and political campaigns.

The Times Union reports today that:

“New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued subpoenas to unidentified organizations including executives at a foundation affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce. Schneiderman seeks emails, bank records and other data, according to the people familiar with the inquiry who spoke on condition of anonymity because the attorney general hasn’t publicly announced the inquiry.

“Schneiderman is investigating claims that tax-exempt organizations are influencing elections, while not being required to disclose donors. Both Democrats and Republicans are concerned about powerful groups with large amounts of money from anonymous donors influencing the presidential race.”

News of the investigation first appeared on June 26 in the New York Times which reported:

“The investigation is also looking at connections between the chamber’s foundation, the National Chamber Foundation, and another philanthropy, the Starr Foundation, which made large grants to the chamber foundation in 2003 and 2004. During the same period, the National Chamber Foundation lent the chamber $18 million, most of it for what was described as a capital campaign.

“In a complaint filed last year with the attorney general, watchdog groups asserted that the loan had been used to finance lobbying for “tort reform” legislation in Congress and to run issue advertising in the 2004 presidential and Congressional campaigns, most of it against Democrats.”

The Times story noted that:

“Mr. Schneiderman’s investigation is the first significant one in years into the rapidly growing use of tax-exempt groups to move money into politics. The biggest such groups, including Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, which was founded by Karl Rove and other Republican strategists, are expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars this year on issue advertisements against candidates to sway the outcome of the presidential and Congressional elections. “

Americans for Prosperity has been active in numerous environmental issues at both the national and state level.

In New Jersey, the organization has campaigned against the state’s participation in the regional greenhouse compact, RGGI. It also opposes state funding for offshore wind energy development. Governor Chris Christie has severed the state’s ties with RGGI but supports offshore wind farms.

In Pennsylvania, it has supported the coal industry by fighting tighter federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for new power plants.

In New York, AFP is pushing for the state to drop its participation in RGGI.

What’s your reaction to the news of the investigation? Use the comment box below. If one isn’t visible, click on the tiny ‘comments’ line.

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Our most recent posts:
Fate of NJ solar industry rescue bill now up to Governor
Enviro-engineering firm, HRP Associates, expands to Pa.
NJ lawmakers send fracking water ban to Gov. Christie
Fracking making news again today in NJ, NY and PA
Energy, environment bills on Harrisburg voting list today
Shale gas supporter wants to punish Philly transit agency

An investigation with election & enviro (maybe) impact Read More »

NJ Assembly voting on ‘waiver’ bill and a gas from past

NJ Assembly Chamber – Tony Kurdzuk (Star Ledger)

New Jersey environmental groups are pushing hard for passage today of two bills in the state Assembly. The first would force the NJDEP to rewrite or withdraw its controversial ‘waiver’ rule. The second would invalidate Governor Chris Christie’s removal of the state from RGGI, a regional greenhouse gas compact.

Waiver rule: A common sense tool or environmental protection threat?

Commissioner Bob Martin describes the Department of Environmental Protection’s new
waiver rule, effective
Aug. 1, as a common sense move, providing the agency with flexibility
to
modify compliance with development rules in circumstances that do not compromise environmental protections.

Martin argues that the waiver process will be transparent, with all applications and actions posted prominently on the DEP’s web site.

To be approved, a developer would have to demonstrate at least one of four criteria:

Public Emergency — There is a public emergency that has been formally declared.
Conflicting Rules — Conflicting rules (between federal and state
agencies, or between state agencies) are adversely impacting a project
or activity from proceeding.
Net Environmental Benefit — A net environmental benefit would be achieved.
Undue Hardship — Undue hardship is being imposed by the rule requirements.

“A lack of flexibility can sometimes produce unreasonable, unfair or
unintended results that actually undermine the goal the rule or
requirement was intended to attain,” Martin said.

Are both sides talking about the same rule?

In dramatic contrast, environmental groups see the rule as “one of the biggest threats to the environment in the history of the
Department of Environmental Protection,” according to Sierra Club President Jeff
Tittel whose organization has joined with others in a law suit to block it.

“The waiver rule is an egregious affront to the laws that protect New Jersey’s environment and our health,” echoed the Raritan Headwaters Association.

“Under the guise of improving the environment, DEP’s waiver rule actually reduces the environmental protection that each and every New Jersey citizen is entitled to, and in adopting a blanket waiver rule DEP has unconstitutionally exceeded the authority granted to it by the legislature,” stated Michael Pisauro of the New Jersey Environmental Lobby.

Resolution would amend or kill DEP’s waiver rule

Set for a vote today in the Assembly is ACR 37 (Barnes). It declares the waiver rule to be inconsistent with legislative intent and orders it to be rewritten or withdrawn within 30 days.

Business groups like the NJ Chamber of Commerce, NJ Business and Industry Association and the NJ Builders Association oppose the resolution.

Look for a party line vote, with Republicans siding with the Christie Administration.

RGGI Redux

Two bills also scheduled for Assembly votes today (A-1998/McKeon and S-1322/Sweeney) intend to put New Jersey back into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (pronounced “Reggie”) which Republican Governor Chris Christie declared to be environmentally ineffective and too costly to business when he ended the state’s participation in 2011.

If the legislation looks familiar, it’s because the Legislature passed a similar measure at the end of in the previous session. Governor Christie, as he had promised, vetoed it.

There’s no reason to suspect that the outcome will be any different this time around.
(See: Enviros pushing lawmakers to get NJ back into RGGI)

Other energy and environmental bills up for Assembly votes today

A-1459 Gusciora, R. (D-15); McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Barnes III, P.J. (D-18)
Revises “Electronic Waste Management Act.” Related Bill: S-822

A-1527 Burzichelli, J.J. (D-3); Quijano, A. (D-20)
Concerns Watershed Property Review Board in DEP. Related Bill: S-525

A-1534 Burzichelli, J.J. (D-3); Quijano, A. (D-20)
Requires DEP to conduct analysis of “Pollution Prevention Act.”

A-2316 Chivukula, U.J. (D-17); McKeon, J.F. (D-27)
Authorizes certain municipalities and rural electric cooperatives to establish a municipal shared services energy authority. Related Bill: S-1389

A-2504 Prieto, V. (D-32); Vainieri Huttle, V. (D-37)
Provides for voluntary contributions by taxpayers on gross income tax returns for the Meadowlands Conservation Trust.

A-2584 Ramos Jr., R.J. (D-33); Caputo, R.R. (D-28); Amodeo, J.F. (R-2); Burzichelli, J.J. (D-3)
Requires DEP to allow for correction of technical and administrative permit application violations; and subjects adoption of DEP technical manuals to Administrative Procedure Act.”

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