PADEP’s quarry reclamation requirements upheld


Thomas Friestad reports for the Bucks Courier-Times:
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was “reasonable” in the reclamation requirements it set for New Hope Crushed Stone and Lime’s quarry in Solebury, the five-person Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board ruled Thursday.
The board had originally deemed the quarry off Phillips Mill Road a “public nuisance” in July 2014 for “the unabated, unpredictable and dangerous formation” of at least 29 collapsed sinkholes on Solebury School’s campus and other surrounding properties between 1989 and 2013, caused by mining operations, wrote board Judge Bernard Labuskes Jr. in the court’s decision.
New Hope Crushed Stone had to fill in its mining pit with backfill to eliminate the nuisance, the DEP determined, but the quarry protested requirements the department gave it in a January 2016 plan.
The requirements, including assigning four laborers to work 40 hours each week and placing  a minimum of 200 cubic yards of fill in the pit per hour, were “arbitrary and capricious,” New Hope Crushed Stone wrote in an appeal to the Environmental Hearing Board the next month. 
Quarry executives also argued that the DEP’s requirements ignored “significant safety concerns” — winter precipitation could cause soil near the pit to slip and send laborers over the edge, said Lou Vittorio, the quarry’s longtime consulting hydrogeologist. Christina Cursley, the quarry’s chief financial officer, also echoed comments she sent the DEP in a June letter, saying the quarry had difficulty hiring and retaining employees, and therefore had to juggle training unskilled laborers while making progress on filling the pit.
But the DEP presented significant evidence that other quarries had safely performed reclamation during winter months, Labuskes wrote. And staffing difficulties or not, he wrote, the quarry’s ability to comply with the DEP’s requirements is “irrelevant” in determining whether those requirements are objectively reasonable. The Environmental Hearing Board ultimately dismissed the quarry’s appeal.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column —
>>

PADEP’s quarry reclamation requirements upheld Read More »

Eli Lilly to close NJ office, eliminate 3,500 jobs worldwide

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly will close its New York-New Jersey headquarters in Bridgewater, as well as eliminate roughly 3,500 jobs around the world — about 8 percent of its total workforce — as part of an effort to streamline its operations.


The company said in a press release that the majority of the 3,500 employees will have the option of choosing its Voluntary Early Retirement Program, and that the move is expected to produce $500 million in savings annually starting next year.
“We have an abundance of opportunities — eight medicines launched in the past four years and the potential for two more by the end of next year,” David Ricks, Lilly’s CEO, said in a press release. “To fully realize these opportunities and invest in the next generation of new medicines, we are taking action to streamline our organization and reduce our fixed costs around the world.
“The actions we are announcing today will result in a leaner, more nimble global organization and will accelerate progress towards our long-term goals of growing revenue, expanding operating margins and sustaining the flow of life-changing medicines from our pipeline.”
The Bridgewater office, which was located in the Grande Commons off of Route 22, had about 200 employees and was used mainly for research and development. Some of those employees will be relocated to the company’s New York City office and Branchburg location, which is staying open, or will be offered early retirement benefits if eligible, a company spokeswoman said.
The office is being closed as a way to “streamline the global pharmaceutical research and development activities,” the press release said. “The commitment and perseverance of our people, who never give up on our mission of tackling hard-to-treat diseases, make up our legacy of more than 140 years. We will implement changes with fairness and the utmost respect for our Lilly colleagues, while we remain a vibrant, thriving competitor.”
The Indianapolis-based company expects to incur charges of approximately $1.2 billion in pre-tax ($0.80 per share after-tax), which includes the estimated participation of the U.S. voluntary early retirement program, global severance and facility closures. These charges will be reflected as asset impairment, restructuring and other special charges in the third and fourth quarters of 2017, the press release said.


Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>


Eli Lilly to close NJ office, eliminate 3,500 jobs worldwide Read More »

PSE&G gets green light for energy-saving programs


State’s largest utility looks to help hospitals, multifamily units, and government buildings cut power and gas bills, while offering new options to residential accounts

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

energy efficiency

The state is allowing Public Service Electric & Gas to once again offer energy-saving programs to help hospitals, multifamily units, and government buildings cut their electric and gas bills.
With the approval of the Board of Public Utilities last week, the state’s largest utility will extend three popular energy efficiency programs while offering residential customers a couple of new options to help reduce bills and better manage energy use.
The existing programs are targeted to underserved markets where sizable energy savings could be reaped, but have not occurred because the recipients lack the capital to invest in ways to cut energy use.
“Energy efficiency remains a huge missed opportunity for too many of our customers,’’ said Courtney McCormick, vice president of renewables and energy solutions at PSE&G.
For the first time, the utility won approval to offer residential customers a $150 discount on smart thermostats under the $85.1 million program approved by the BPU. PSE&G will invest $6.5 million to offer 35,000 customers the chance to purchase the thermostats at a discount, according to McCormick.
The utility also is investing $2.5 million in a new residential home-energy reporting program, which will identify a variety of energy consumption data to help customers reduce bills.

Read more here


Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

PSE&G gets green light for energy-saving programs Read More »

Warehouse tax abatement considered for ex-U.S. Pipe site

Former U.S. Pipe site in Burlington, NJ could become a mammoth warehouse 

David Levinsky reports for the Burlington County Times:
BURLINGTON CITY (NJ) — The city government is planning to vote later this month on a proposed multimillion-dollar tax abatement deal with a Middlesex County developer interested in building a mammoth 1-million-square-foot warehouse at the former U.S. Pipe and Foundry property.
The proposed agreement with Matrix Reality Inc. spares the company from having to pay property taxes based on the assessed value of the property for 20 years, but it would require Matrix to pay service fees, also called payments in lieu of taxes or PILOT, to the city to help cover local services such as police and fire protection and trash collection at the redeveloped site.
Numerous other redevelopment projects, including several in Burlington County, have entered into similar agreements.
“Just about every warehouse in New Jersey has a PILOT,” Mayor Barry Conaway said Thursday, adding that he was convinced the agreement was the right thing to do so the property could be redeveloped.
None of the PILOT revenues are required to go to the school district, but Conaway said he hoped the City Council would agree to share some of the PILOT revenue with the district.
The council introduced an ordinance to enter into the agreement Tuesday. A public hearing and adoption vote are tentatively scheduled for Sept. 19.
The warehouse project is expected to generate about 600 year-round jobs and 300 or more seasonal positions at the former foundry site off Pearl and Jones streets.
The property is in need of some environmental remediation and has been dormant for most of the last two decades. City officials said the tax abatement was needed to assist Matrix in redeveloping the site, which spans into Burlington Township.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Warehouse tax abatement considered for ex-U.S. Pipe site Read More »

Critics slam plan to protect NJ Transit trains during floods

NJ Transit voted today to spend $185 million on property in Middlesex County where it can safely store its trains during major storms.

During Hurricane Sandy, 300 train cars were ruined by flooding at the agency’s Middlesex Maintenance Complex, also in Middlesex County.  


However, critics contend that the flood-protection site itself lies in a flood plain and that the millions to be spent on it would be better put to constructing a new tunnel to Manhattan.


Brenda Flanagan has the story for NJTV News. 


Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates

See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Critics slam plan to protect NJ Transit trains during floods Read More »

Residents face off with Sunoco along pipeline right of way

Fencing  separates Mariner East 2 pipeline route and private residences in Delaware County. Jon Hurdle photo




Jon Hurdle reports for StateImpact:

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in Delaware County, three residents of Thornbury Township stepped over a spray-painted line marking the edge of a right-of-way where a contractor for Sunoco Pipeline was preparing land for construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline.

The response from one of about eight hard-hatted workers was immediate: he got on his phone and called the police, claiming that the residents were trespassing.
Within a few minutes, two state troopers showed up and began to question the contractors and the residents, some of whom are members of the Andover Homeowners Association, which represents a development of 38 substantial suburban houses a few yards from the pipeline route, and owns the land on which the pipeline will be built.
For the second consecutive day, the residents told the police that they have a right to walk on the land, as instructed by their attorney, because it is owned by their association, and because they are not interfering with the contractors’ work.
“I’m allowed to walk on this property as long as I don’t impede their progress,” said Jennifer Berlinger, in an exchange with State Trooper Carlton Wright. “As much as I would like to chain myself to that 200-year-old tree so that they don’t cut it down because I love it, I’m not doing that.”
Berlinger, owner of a 1798 farmhouse on whose land the development was built, said she was there to record the damage done to the property by the pipeline preparations.
“I’m allowed to do that,” said Berlinger, whose back porch is about 50 feet from the right of way. “I don’t know where they get the idea that we can’t walk on our own property.”
The confrontation between some private landowners and pipeline representatives, fueled by lawyers, police and local officials, can be seen at other places along the 350-mile pipeline route from southwest Pennsylvania to the Sunoco terminal at Marcus Hook. Opponents such as the Andover residents continue to fight the company’s use of eminent domain even though construction has been underway since February, and continue to claim that their safety will be threatened by a pipeline carrying highly volatile liquids a few yards from their homes.
Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
See popular posts from the last 30 days in right column — >>

Residents face off with Sunoco along pipeline right of way Read More »