What happens if NJ Transit stops paying Amtrak?

Larry Higgs reports for NJ.com:

NJ Transit pays Amtrak $93 million a year so that more than 400 of its trains can use the Northeast Corridor, but Gov. Chris Christie wants to stop making the lease payment until he gets answers to maintenance questions after an April 3 derailment in Penn Station.
Christie wants NJ Transit inspectors to look at the tracks with federal and Amtrak officials and to have a voice in any procedural changes. That’s after Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman said the derailment was caused by a bad wooden tie that officials knew needed replacement, but didn’t consider an immediate problem.
Both sides are still talking. But, if the governor decides to stop writing the checks, can Amtrak cut-off NJ Transit? Here are five things to know.
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Electric-grid planners: Can there be too much natural gas?



Andrew Maykuth reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Natural gas is fast becoming the dominant source of the region’s electricity, but a parade of energy experts Wednesday cast doubt on whether it was smart to rely too much on a single fuel source.

“Do we have too much gas generation?” asked Andy Ott, president and chief executive of PJM Interconnection Inc., the Audubon, Pa., company that manages the power grid in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

At a symposium PJM organized Wednesday, experts asked whether policymakers need to put the brakes on a massive shift underway to switch the nation’s power-generation resources away from coal and nuclear power plants to new supplies generated by natural gas, wind, and solar.

According to a study PJM released March 30, new domestic supplies of natural gas that have emerged in the last decade could reliably provide up to 86 percent of the region’s power needs, if sufficient infrastructure were put in place.


But Wednesday’s Grid 20/20 symposium at the Marriott Airport Hotel explored the follow-on question of whether reliance on a single fuel source might make the electrical system less resilient, and more vulnerable to attack.

Read the full story

 
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Money (advertisers’) talks, O’Reilly walks

Bill O’Reilly

In the end, it was the financial hit that Fox News was not willing to take that did in their #1 TV personality.


But “Billy,” close friend to fellow sexual harassers Roger Ailes and Donald Trump, has negotiated one last opportunity to lie to his poor, hoodwinked viewers.


New York’s  broke the story today 


More on O’Reilly’s firing from The Washington Post


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More news stories on YPF Superfund payment avoidance


Yesterday, we brought you NJTV News‘ coverage of the legislative hearing that explored alleged attempts by YPF, Argentina’s state-owned oil company, to avoid its share of payments for the $1.4 billion Superfund cleanup of the Passaic River. [NJ chemical lobby calls Argentina cleanup dodge ‘fraud’].


Additional stories today worth your attention are:
 

Did Argentinian Firm Bankrupt Subsidiary?  (NJ Spotlight)

N.J. Lawmakers Seek Probe of YPF for Passaic River Cleanup (Wall Street Journal)


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Yo, can I get my unfinished hoagie recycled in this town?


Frank Kummer writes for Philly.com

The NFL draft could draw up to 200,000 fans to Philadelphia this month for a three-day football gorge fest along the Ben Franklin Parkway.

And, because this is Philadelphia, they’ll want sandwiches and snacks. And, because it’s football, they’ll want beer.

That means thousands of pounds of food, thousands of gallons of drink — along with containers and cups to wrap and carry it all in— all sold by vendors lining the Parkway. About 168,000 fans were registered to attend as of March 31.

So where will all the waste go? And will the unsold food just get tossed?

The NFL says the Philly event will feature an ambitious amount of recycling, not only of trash but also of unused food and materials.




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Look who’s supporting Paris climate pact — Exxon and coal!

Bloomberg reports:
As President Donald Trump contemplates whether to make good on his campaign promise to yank the United States out of the Paris climate accord, an unlikely lobbying force is hoping to talk him out of it: oil and coal producers. 
A pro-Paris bloc within the administration has recruited energy companies to lend their support to the global pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to two people familiar with the effort who asked not to be identified.
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