Wolf signs longwall mining bill, angering environmentalists

A group of coal miners listen to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt during his visit to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2017.

AP PHOTO/GENE J. PUSKAR
A group of coal miners listen to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt during his visit to Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company’s Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2017. Gov. Wolf refused to veto a bill that would make it easier for Consol to develop a coal mine beneath a Greene County state park. Supporters say it will create jobs.
Jon Hurdle reports for StateImpact:

Gov. Tom Wolf declined on Friday to veto a bill that makes it easier to develop a long-wall coal mine beneath a state park in Greene County, allowing it to become law despite pressure from environmentalists who say it will damage streams.
Senate Bill 624 allows the Department of Environmental Protection to issue permits for the expansion of the Consol Energy mine at Ryerson State Park on the assumption that the mining would not cause permanent damage to waterways that flow above the coal face.
The bill’s sponsors, led by Republican Senator Joe Scarnati, argue that the law will facilitate mine development and create jobs while requiring the operator, or other mine owners, to restore any stream to its original condition after it is blocked or diverted during the mine work.
Wolf said in a statement that the new law would not weaken environmental protections.
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Body of missing NJ hiker found in NH’s White Mountains

Gregory Auriemma, an environmentalist from Ocean County, NJ was missing for weeks in the White Mountains .
         



























Frank Kummer reports for The Philadelphia Inquirer:

New Hampshire authorities said Friday that they were working to retrieve the body of Gregory Auriemma, chair of the Ocean County chapter of the Sierra Club, from a rugged, remote area of the White Mountains.


A friend of Auriemma’s disclosed that the avid hiker, 63, had been dealing with a cancer diagnosis, and set out on a trip in June into the wilderness to celebrate after getting some good news about his illness.


Auriemma’s body was found Thursday in woods off a trail in the White Mountains, according to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. But it took authorities more than a week to find him.


Read the full story here


Related news story
NJ Sierra Club statement


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In South Philly, a battle over parking in Broad St.’s median

median parking on Broad St in Philly
Jake Blumgart reports for PlanPhilly:
In South Philadelphia, the median of the Broad Street thoroughfare is usually full of parked cars. It’s a long-standing tradition in these densely packed rowhouse neighborhoods, one that provokes astonishment and bemusement in visitors.
But critics of the practice say it is dangerous. Crashes occur when pedestrians dart out from the column of parked vehicles or when a car attempts to jet into traffic from a direction other drivers aren’t expecting.
For the past year, a campaign lead by the urbanist PAC 5th Square sought to pressure the city into removing the vehicles, which technically are illegally parked. Neither the police nor the PPA punish those who flout the law, though, except during special events like the Democratic National Convention.
Now 5th Square is suing the Philadelphia Police Department and the PPA to compel them to enforce the law.
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Ridgewood loses over water rates charged to neighbors

The following was reported today by NorthJersey.com:


A judge has found in favor of three municipalities that
sued the village of Ridgewood over ordinances that increased water rates 31 percent over the years 2010-2012.


Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia on Thursday determined that Ridgewood had enacted rate increases for Ridgewood Water customers that were “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” and must recalculate rates and pay refunds to customers.


The plaintiffs, Glen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff, are all served by Ridgewood Water, a utility owned and operated by the village of Ridgewood. The municipalities claimed in their lawsuit that Ridgewood had overcharged customers millions of dollars by enacting the rate hikes to offset village operating expenses. 


For example, the plaintiffs said, the costs of Ridgewood police and fire salaries, legal expenses, and health insurance costs for non-utility workers were all shifted to customers of the the water utility. The goal, they said, was augmenting the village budget and easing the burden on Ridgewood taxpayers at the expense of water customers.


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Federal flood insurance program learns lessons from Sandy

Current NFIP is underwater with debt, overhaul would address that problem, be more responsive to homeowners, and cap the cost of annual increases

black mold flood

Credit: Faith Liguori


























John Reitmeyer reports for NJ Spotlight:
With a hard deadline for reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program now a little more than two months away, federal lawmakers from New Jersey are backing a bipartisan proposal that would both renew the program and overhaul it in a way that incorporates lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy.
The flood-insurance program, or NFIP, underwrites policies for thousands of New Jersey homeowners who live in coastal zones or other flood-prone areas, but it was roundly criticized by New Jersey storm victims in the wake of Sandy, for what they said were questionable denials of claims and delayed payments.
The program is also deep in debt, partly because of the flood of claims filed in the wake of Sandy, making it a major fiscal headache for Congress.

Affordable and responsive


A reauthorization bill that seeks to make the NFIP both more affordable and more responsive to homeowners was formally introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this week by U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-9th) and Frank Pallone (D-6th). Their legislation mirrors a bipartisan bill in the Senate that was unveiled last month by U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and John Kennedy (R-LA). Time is also of the essence for the reauthorization effort since the NFIP is facing a September 30, 2017 expiration date.
The changes proposed in the six-year reauthorization bill include capping annual premium increases to homeowners; freezing interest payments that the program owes the federal government for funds that have been borrowed to pay out claims; and limiting profits that private-sector insurance companies can make while underwriting program policies.
The proposed reauthorization also seeks to give the flood-insurance program a more preventive approach by offering incentives like low-interest loans for homeowner flood-mitigation projects. It would also encourage the use of more modern flood-mapping technologies.



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Sean Spicer resigns as White House press secretary

Anthony Scaramucci (left) is in. Sean Spicer is out. 



Abby Phillip, Ashley Parker and Damian Paletta report
for The Washington Post

White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned Friday, following the appointment of wealthy financier Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director, according to a White House official.
Spicer’s abrupt and angry departure — which caught even senior West Wing staffers by surprise — reflects the latest upheaval in a White House that has been consumed by chaos and staff infighting since almost the day President Trump took office.
 Scaramucci has previously had a tense and fraught relationship with both Spicer and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who both vehemently objected to Trump’s decision to install Scaramucci in the top communications job. Scaramucci has coined a particularly crude nickname for Priebus, and Priebus previously blocked the financier from several other top White House roles. 
Scaramucci had been in talks with the president and senior staff all week. But the shake-up comes amid intensifying tumult at the White House as Trump moves to respond to the widening special counsel probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with the Russian government and searches for ways to revive the administration’s stalled legislative agenda.
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