EnviroPolitics Blog

Fishermen sue to block U.S. offshore wind farm auction

The Associated Press reports:

Commercial fishing companies, trade groups and seaport communities in four states have asked a court to stop the federal government from auctioning off the rights to develop a huge offshore windfarm in the Atlantic Ocean between New York and New Jersey.

The petition, filed Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the plan to build as many as 194 turbines in a 127-square-mile section would hurt fishermen who now cruise the area looking for scallops and squid and others who harvest fish species including summer flounder, mackerel, black sea bass and monkfish.

The groups want to delay the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s plans to conduct a Dec. 15 lease sale. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the motion ahead of its filing.

“BOEM must carry out the proper analysis prior to officially leasing out areas to companies for construction, due to the importance of this fishery area,” said James Gutowski, president of the Fisheries Survival Fund, which is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.

A BOEM spokeswoman declined to comment.

Others seeking a delay include groups representing scallop and squid fishermen, the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The U.S. still has no offshore wind projects online, though BOEM has awarded 11 commercial offshore wind leases for sites in the Atlantic. Political opposition has delayed some major projects.

The country’s first offshore wind farm, a project off Rhode Island with just a few turbines, is expected to debut this month.

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NY psych professor going to jail for NJ bear-hunt protests

Repeat charges against bear-hunt protester Bill Crain bring jail time

Katie Moen reports for the New Jersey Herald:

Prominent animal rights activist Bill Crain, who faced civil disobedience charges related to protests against the state bear hunt, was sentenced Thursday to 10 days in the county jail.

Crain, who lives with his wife on a 40-acre farm and sanctuary in Poughquag, N.Y., has a long history of protest-related arrests. Since 2005, he has been convicted seven times for acts of civil disobedience.

In 2015, Crain, 73, a professor of psychology at City College of New York, was fined $1,500 after pleading guilty to using a state wildlife management area contrary to posted regulation. At the time, Municipal Court Judge William Devine dismissed two other charges that had been filed against Crain (obstructing the administration of law and recklessly creating a hazardous or physically dangerous condition), but warned him that another conviction could mean jail time.

Thursday night, that prediction came true. Crain again entered a guilty plea to the charge of using a state wildlife management area contrary to posted regulation. Though Crain has always been able to avoid incarceration in the past, Devine imposed a 10-day jail sentence this time around. The other two charges, the same as in previous years, were dropped.

About 20 supporters were present in in the courtroom, including one woman who sat with a stuffed bear on her lap.

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Pa. court allows refiling of flood-deaths suit vs. engineers

Scene of deadly flooding on Aug. 19, 2011, where four people were killed Rebecca Drake/Post-Gazette

Paula Reed Ward reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled today that the families of four people killed in Washington Boulevard flooding in 2011 can refile their complaint against the Moon engineering firm that contracted with the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority as their consulting engineer and construction manager.

The families of Kimberly Griffith, 46, her daughters, Brenna, 12, and Mikaela, 8, all of Plum, and Mary Saflin, 72, of Oakmont, who were all killed on Aug. 19, 2011, filed a lawsuit in 2013, alleging that there had been the potential for serious flooding on the low-lying section of Washington Boulevard in Highland Park and none of the agencies responsible for the roadway did anything to prevent motorists from becoming trapped there.

The families settled the lawsuits with PWSA, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in 2015. Because the defendants were government entities, the damages were limited under the Pennsylvania Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act.

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The claims against Chester Engineers Inc, though, were dismissed by Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr., who found that the plaintiffs’ attorneys failed to plead causation and failed to allege sufficient facts to establish that Chester had a “duty” to provide information to the governmental agencies about the maintenance of the water and sewer systems.

In its opinion issued on Friday, the state Superior Court disagreed with Judge Wettick regarding causation and further said that the families of the victims should have been given the opportunity to amend their claims against Chester to address his concern over the company’s duty.

Attorneys for the victims’ families said they will refile an amended complaint.

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UPDATED Enviro and Ag committees,Trenton – Dec 12

ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT AND SOLID WASTE

12/12/16 1:00 PM

Committee Room 9, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-261 McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Spencer, L.G. (D-29)

Prohibits installation and sale of wheel weights containing lead or mercury; prohibits sale of new motor vehicles equipped with wheel weights containing lead or mercury.

A-1373 Spencer, L.G. (D-29); Eustace, T. (D-38); Quijano, A. (D-20); Wimberly, B.E. (D-35)

Requires paint producers to implement or participate in paint stewardship program.

Related Bill: S-986



A-4152 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Mazzeo, V. (D-2); Land, R.B. (D-1); Burzichelli, J.J. (D-3)

Limits application of DEP shellfish habitat rules for certain dredging activities.

Related Bill: S-2369

___________________________

ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

12/12/16 2:00 PM

Committee Room 15, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-123 Space, P. (R-24); Phoebus, G. (R-24)

Provides that farm, farmstand, or other agricultural operation selling firewood obtained from property other than seller’s shall not be considered a lumber yard.



A-696 DiMaio, J. (R-23)

Permits sale of raw milk under certain conditions and establishes raw milk permit program.



A-772 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Diegnan, P.J. (D-18); Land, R.B. (D-1); Benson, D.R. (D-14); Holley, J.C. (D-20)

Establishes process for recovering cost of caring for animals involved in animal cruelty violations.

Related Bill: S-1168



A-1974 Prieto, V. (D-32); Benson, D.R. (D-14); DiMaio, J. (R-23)

Permits sale of home-baked goods under certain circumstances.

SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS

12/15/16 11:00 AM

Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-1649 Schaer, G.S. (D-36); Spencer, L.G. (D-29); Pintor Marin, E. (D-29)

Requires local governments and authorities to obtain financing cost estimate from NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust for certain projects.

Related Bill: S-853



S-853 Stack, B.P. (D-33)

Requires local governments and authorities to obtain financing cost estimate from NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust for certain projects.

Related Bill: A-1649

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ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS

12/15/16 1:00 PM

Aide: (609) 847-3835

Committee Room 11, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-963 Wolfe, D.W. (R-10); McGuckin, G.P. (R-10)

Requires DOT, NJTA, and SJTA to use only native vegetation for landscaping, land management, reforestation, or habitat restoration.  Related Bill: S-227



A-2463 Eustace, T. (D-38); Vainieri Huttle, V. (D-37); Caride, M. (D-36)

Requires owner or operator of certain trains to have discharge response, cleanup, and contingency plans to transport certain hazardous materials by rail; requires NJ DOT to request bridge inspection reports from US DOT. Related Bill: S-806



A-3539 Muoio, E.M. (D-15); Spencer, L.G. (D-29); Chiaravalloti, N. (D-31)

Requires public and nonpublic schools to test for and remediate lead in drinking water, and disclose test results.  Related Bill: S-2082



S-227 Holzapfel, J.W. (R-10); Allen, D.B. (R-7)

Requires DOT, NJTA, and SJTA to use only native vegetation for landscaping, land management, reforestation, or habitat restoration. Related Bill: A-963



S-806 Weinberg, L. (D-37); Gordon, R.M. (D-38)

Requires owner or operator of certain trains to have discharge response, cleanup, and contingency plans to transport certain hazardous materials by rail; requires NJ DOT to request bridge inspection reports from US DOT. Related Bill: A-2463



S-2731 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14); Bateman, C. (R-16)

Authorizes New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust to expend additional sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure projects for FY2017.   Related Bill: A-4326



S-2732 Codey, R.J. (D-27); Gill, N.H. (D-34)

Amends list of environmental infrastructure projects approved for long-term funding for FY 2017 to include new projects and revise allowable loan amounts.  Related Bill: A-4327

_

ASSEMBLY REGULATORY OVERSIGHT

12/15/16 2:00 PM

Committee Room 14, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

The committee will receive testimony from invited speakers on the State’s paid family temporary disability leave benefits program.

For consideration:

ACR-192 McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Spencer, L.G. (D-29); Muoio, E.M. (D-15)

Determines that DEP’s proposal to amend septic system density standards in Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act Rules is inconsistent with legislative intent.

_____________________________

Pennsylvania General Assembly

The House will reconvene on

Tue. Jan 3, 2017 at 12:00 PM

House Calendar

The Senate will reconvene on

Tue. Jan 3, 2017 at 12:00 PM

Senate Calendar

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**UPDATED** Enviro and Ag committees,Trenton – Dec 12 Read More »

If clean energy is left to the states, will NJ lead or lag?

Donald Trump has named Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA

President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to be nation’s next EPA administrator is a dark day for clean energy and the environment.

Pruitt is a climate denier and a leader in a multi-state legal action to overturn President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

His selection, however, should be no surprise. Trump clearly promised throughout his campaign to dismantle the EPA, to weaken regulations, to favor the coal and oil industries, and to pull the country out of the Paris Climate Accord.

Some thought it was all just campaign rhetoric. The fact that Mr. Pruitt has been given the job of setting and enforcing the nation’s environmental agenda should end all hopeful thinking. It is more than sobering. It’s disturbing.

R. William Potter

Princeton energy and environment attorney R. William Potter says it now will be up to so-inclined states to continue to implement clean-energy policies and fight the alarming prospects of climate change.

A recent vote at the state’s Board of Public Utilities makes Potter question whether New Jersey is up to the challenge.

He writes in NJ Spotlight:

On November 30, the Board of Public Utilities voted by the narrowest of margins (3-2) to approve the stripped-down plan by Public Service Electric & Gas, one of the “greenest” of electric utilities in the nation, to expend $80 million to develop a mere 33 megawatts of solar electric facilities on former garbage dumps and brownfields.

As the plan was originally filed, PSE&G called for spending $276 million to build 100 megawatts of brownfields electric capacity, essentially solar farms covering abandoned industrial sites and closed landfills.

But heated opposition led by a coalition of industrial energy users helped to reduce the PSE&G plan by nearly two-thirds, as set forth in a lengthy stipulation approved by the BPU.

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Opponents of the PSE&G initiative asserted that the cost to ratepayers of the so-called solar subsidy was becoming excessive, even though financing the program comes to a nearly invisible 4 cents a year before maxing out at 24 cents annually.

That’s right: Two cents per month for the average residential user to keep the state moving on track to advance solar projects and jobs, and to put formerly polluting landfills and industrial sites to “socially beneficial use,” as BPU President Richard Mroz wisely pointed out.

This wringing of hands over feared impacts of the PSE&G program included opposition to the utility’s plan to “rate base” its cost. This would allow PSE&G to profit from the undertaking with costs embedded in consumer rates, which is how almost all of the region’s large power plants were financed and built.

Those objecting to the plan included two BPU commissioners who argued that PSE&G should have used an unregulated affiliate competing in the solar marketplace, not the regulated utility, even though recent legislation expressly authorizes the rate-base approach to spur utilities to invest more of their “patient capital” in renewable energy projects.

Those objections, however sincere, miss the point:

President-elect Trump campaigned on a promise to unshackle the coal and oil industry and to reject the Paris Climate Accord signed by some 200 nations. His appointment of Pruitt to head if not to dismantle the EPA dashes whatever hope was briefly raised by Trump’s 90-minute meeting with Al Gore.

The states must step into the leadership vacuum in battling global warming, perhaps our last hope for achieving meaningful limits on greenhouse gases despite Trump’s retrograde policies and regulatory appointments.

So instead of pushing against PSE&G’s latest solar initiative, BPU regulators and consumer protectors alike should call for still more solar development by whatever legitimate means, until literally every available rooftop and brownfield is covered in solar panels and offshore wind turbines to distract and delight vacationers at the Jersey Shore.

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Or submit an opposing essay to editor@enviropolitics.com

If clean energy is left to the states, will NJ lead or lag? Read More »

UPDATED Enviro and Ag committees,Trenton – Dec 12

ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT AND SOLID WASTE

12/12/16 1:00 PM

Committee Room 9, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-261 McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Spencer, L.G. (D-29)

Prohibits installation and sale of wheel weights
containing lead or mercury; prohibits sale of new motor vehicles equipped with
wheel weights containing lead or mercury.

A-1373 Spencer, L.G. (D-29); Eustace, T. (D-38);
Quijano, A. (D-20); Wimberly, B.E. (D-35)

Requires paint producers to implement or participate in
paint stewardship program.

Related Bill: S-986

A-4152 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Mazzeo, V. (D-2);
Land, R.B. (D-1); Burzichelli, J.J. (D-3)

Limits application of DEP shellfish habitat rules for
certain dredging activities.

Related Bill: S-2369

_________________________________________________________

ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

12/12/16 2:00 PM

Committee Room 15, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-123 Space, P. (R-24); Phoebus, G. (R-24)

Provides that farm, farmstand, or other agricultural
operation selling firewood obtained from property other than seller’s shall not
be considered a lumber yard.

A-696 DiMaio, J. (R-23)

Permits sale of raw milk under certain conditions and
establishes raw milk permit program.

A-772 Andrzejczak, B. (D-1); Diegnan, P.J. (D-18);
Land, R.B. (D-1); Benson, D.R. (D-14); Holley, J.C. (D-20)

Establishes process for recovering cost of caring for
animals involved in animal cruelty violations.

Related Bill: S-1168

A-1974 Prieto, V. (D-32); Benson, D.R. (D-14);
DiMaio, J. (R-23)

Permits sale of home-baked goods under certain
circumstances.

__________________________________________________________

SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS

12/15/16 11:00 AM

Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-1649 Schaer, G.S. (D-36); Spencer, L.G. (D-29);
Pintor Marin, E. (D-29)

Requires local governments and authorities to obtain
financing cost estimate from NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust for certain
projects.

Related Bill: S-853

S-853 Stack, B.P. (D-33)

Requires local governments and authorities to obtain
financing cost estimate from NJ
Environmental Infrastructure Trust for certain projects.

Related Bill: A-1649

________________________________________________________

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

ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS

12/15/16 1:00 PM

Aide: (609) 847-3835

Committee Room 11, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

For consideration:

A-963 Wolfe, D.W. (R-10); McGuckin, G.P. (R-10)

Requires DOT, NJTA, and SJTA to use only native
vegetation for landscaping, land management, reforestation, or habitat
restoration. Related Bill: S-227

A-2463 Eustace, T. (D-38); Vainieri Huttle, V.
(D-37); Caride, M. (D-36)

Requires owner or operator of certain trains to have
discharge response, cleanup, and contingency plans to transport certain
hazardous materials by rail; requires NJ DOT to request bridge inspection
reports from US DOT. Related Bill: S-806

A-3539 Muoio, E.M. (D-15); Spencer, L.G. (D-29);
Chiaravalloti, N. (D-31)

Requires public and nonpublic schools to test for and
remediate lead in drinking water, and disclose test results. Related
Bill: S-2082

S-227 Holzapfel, J.W. (R-10); Allen, D.B. (R-7)

Requires DOT, NJTA, and SJTA to use only native
vegetation for landscaping, land management, reforestation, or habitat
restoration. Related Bill: A-963

S-806 Weinberg, L. (D-37); Gordon, R.M. (D-38)

S-2731 Greenstein, L.R. (D-14); Bateman, C. (R-16)

Authorizes New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure
Trust to expend additional sums to make loans for environmental infrastructure
projects for FY2017. Related Bill: A-4326

S-2732 Codey, R.J. (D-27); Gill, N.H. (D-34)

Amends list of environmental infrastructure projects
approved for long-term funding for FY 2017 to include new projects and revise
allowable loan amounts. Related Bill: A-4327

___________________________________________________________

ASSEMBLY REGULATORY OVERSIGHT

12/15/16 2:00 PM

Committee Room 14, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

The committee will receive testimony from invited speakers on the
State’s paid family temporary disability leave benefits program.

For consideration:

ACR-192 McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Spencer, L.G. (D-29);
Muoio, E.M. (D-15)

Determines that DEP’s proposal to amend septic system
density standards in Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act Rules is
inconsistent with legislative intent.

___________________________________________________________

Pennsylvania General Assembly

The House will reconvene on

Tue. Jan
3, 2017 at 12:00 PM

House Calendar

The Senate will reconvene on

Tue. Jan 3, 2017 at
12:00 PM
Senate Calendar

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

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

Legislative monitoring provided by BillTrak

**UPDATED** Enviro and Ag committees,Trenton – Dec 12 Read More »