Guess who’s stealing Kim Guadagno’s AC spotlight today?

NJ Gov. Chris Christie, left, and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno
Today was
supposed to be a big day for New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.
Now it won’t
be.
Matt Friedman reports for Politico:
Guadagno was scheduled to deliver the
keynote speech at the New Jersey State League of Municipalities Conference
luncheon, as she has done most years during Gov. Chris Christie’s
administration. But this year was more highly anticipated, since Guadagno could
take over as governor should Christie leave for a job in or around the incoming
Donald Trump administration.
Now Christie, who hasn’t attended the
conference since 2011 and was not scheduled to attend this year, is making a
surprise visit to Atlantic City to deliver a speech.
“Gov. Christie’s schedule has changed,
so he will be delivering the Municipalities speech. The lieutenant governor
will still be attending,” said Guadagno spokeswoman Suzanne Schwab.
 “She still will be going. And she intends to
deliver her speech at another time and another place. She had one prepared, and
that’s it … She’s more than happy to hand the podium over.”
Asked if the Christie administration
had a problem with the speech Guadagno planned to deliver, Christie spokesman
Brian Murray said the governor “was able to travel back to New Jersey
earlier than expected” from a Republican Governors Association meeting in
Florida, and that he is “happy that this change will now allow him to
speak at the League of Municipalities tomorrow.”
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Encouraging news for PennEast Pipeline opponents

In a rebuke to a proposed natural-gas pipeline, the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel argued that the applicant has failed to demonstrate the PennEast project is needed and fails to justify the profits that would be earned from it.
Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
The 118-mile project through parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey is under review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but has come under tough scrutiny from a number of state and federal agencies in comments submitted on a draft environmental impact statement.
The Division of Rate Counsel’s latest submittal repeats and refutes assertions made by a consultant for PennEast Pipeline Company LLC in a project that has become mired in delays, the latest caused by dozens of modifications in the proposed route of the project.
NJ Rate Counsel Stefanie Brand
The opposition from Stefanie Brand, the director of the rate counsel office, is significant in that it marks a departure from the Christie administration’s past support of expansion of the state’s natural-gas infrastructure.
But in the office’s latest submittal, it argued that PennEast continues to fail to demonstrate an actual need for the project, estimated to cost in excess of $1 billion.
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Companies to Trump: Don’t Abandon Global Climate Deal

Hundreds of American companies, including Mars, Nike, Levi Strauss and Starbucks, have urged President-elect Donald J. Trump not to abandon the Paris climate deal, saying a failure by the United States to build a clean economy endangers American prosperity.
Hiroko Tabuchi reports in The New York Times:
In a plea addressed to Mr. Trump — as well as President Obama and members of Congress — 365 companies and major investors emphasized their “deep commitment to addressing climate change,” and demanded that he leave in place low-emissions policies in the United States.
“Failure to build a low-carbon economy puts American prosperity at risk,” the companies said in a joint letter announced on Wednesday in Marrakesh, Morocco, where global leaders are determining the next steps for the Paris deal. “But the right action now will create jobs and boost U.S. competitiveness.”
The companies also said that they would push ahead with their own targets to reduce their carbon footprints regardless of steps taken by Mr. Trump once he is in office. During his campaign, Mr. Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, pledged to leave the Paris accord, dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency and undo Mr. Obama’s climate change policies.
“This doesn’t change our commitments,” said Kevin Rabinovitch, global sustainability director at Mars, which has pledged to eliminate 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions from its factories and offices by 2040. “We’re doing this because we see a real business risk. We see a real business problem.”
Businesses large and small have scrambled in the days since Mr. Trump’s victory to chart their next moves in an uncertain regulatory situation. Mr. Trump’s campaign pledges and musings have been driven by the belief that the economy will grow faster if businesses are freed from cumbersome federal regulations, especially those that limit carbon emissions.
The president-elect has heightened environmentalists’ fears that his administration will take on an anti-climate, anti-environment bent by appointing the climate contrarian Myron Ebell to lead the E.P.A. transition. Climate change activists have denounced Mr. Ebell, whose Competitive Enterprise Institute has received funding from oil and gas interest groups.
Some corporations, like the country’s largest automakers, have already seized on a potential upside to the president-elect’s leanings, urging a rethinking of stringent federal auto emissions standards. An easing of federal standards for passenger cars, which together with the rest of the transportation sector emit more carbon dioxide than any other part of the American economy, could have immense implications for overall emissions.
Others, like solar and wind power companies, have raced to find common ground with Mr. Trump, pressing for reassurances that his administration will not slash investment in renewable energy or alter federal tax credits on renewable energy projects.
Read the full story here
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Bernie’s guy says he’s running for governor in New Jersey

New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski announced yesterday that he will seek the Democratic party nomination for governor in 2017.


Wisniewski announced his candidacy yesterday in a YouTube video 

The veteran legislator from Middlesex County is chairman
of the Assembly Transportation Committee. He used that position to lead a legislative inquiry into the Bridgegate affair along with Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg.

The joint committee suspended its work after U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman asked them to stand down as he was preparing to present the government’s case against Bridgegate defendants Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly. Both defendants, close aides to Gov. Chris Christie, subsequently were convicted on all charges.

Prior to the trial, Wisniewski gained public attention with appearances on national news shows and in many print stories covering the political scandal.

He also was the only state legislator to endorse former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and he led Senator Sanders’ New Jersey campaign.  

Following are two newspaper stories on Assemblyman Wisniewski’s gubernatorial announcement and a video interview that we did with him during the Democratic National Presidential Convention last July in Philadelphia.

Wisniewski announces he will run for governor 
Five things to know about John Wisniewski



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Trump’s government may not like Obama’s new gas rule

A gas flare is seen at a natural gas processing facility near Williston, N.D. in 2015. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

The Washington Post’s Chris
Rooney reports:
The Interior Department on Tuesday finalized a much anticipated new regulation aimed at the oil and gas industry, one that seeks to
capture flared natural gas and corral “fugitive” emissions of methane that
are escaping drilling operations on public and Native American lands.
The agency argues that large volumes of
gas are being lost through practices such as venting and flaring — burning off
some of the gas as it arises from a well — as well as inadvertent leaks. And
given that these fossil fuel resources are being gathered from public lands,
the department says it’s incumbent on companies to take precautions not to lose
them — especially since methane released into the atmosphere also worsens
climate change. (Natural gas is mostly methane.)

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The Interior Department and its Bureau of Land Management, which will implement
the rule, argues such “waste” actually deprives taxpayers of royalty
revenue gathered from oil and gas operations. The agency says the policy, which
requires cutbacks in gas flaring, more inspections for leaks, and in some cases
the installation of new equipment, will reduce methane
emissions by 175,000 to 180,000 tons annually.
“We are proving that we
can cut harmful methane emissions that contribute to climate change, while
putting in place standards that make good economic sense for the nation,” said
Interior department secretary Sally Jewell in a statement. “Not only will we
save more natural gas to power our nation, but we will modernize decades-old
standards to keep pace with industry and to ensure a fair return to the
American taxpayers for use of a valuable resource that belongs to all of us.”
[Trump could
roll back Obama rules on methane, a potent greenhouse gas]
The new rule lands just
weeks before a Trump administration takes over with plans to
deregulate much of the energy industry.
“We will lift the
restrictions on American energy, and allow this wealth to pour into our
communities,” pledges the Trump transition website. “It’s all upside: more
jobs, more revenues, more wealth, higher wages, and lower energy prices.”
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Charging station bills would keep e-cars moving across NJ



EnviroPolitics Editor Frank Brill interviews New Jersey Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Mercer) whose bill, A-404, was released from committee yesterday in the Assembly.

The legislation would encourage the development of electric-vehicle charging stations on the NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway.


A similar bill, A-2398, sponsored by committee vice-chair John McKeon, also was released.


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