Cappelli selected as ‘Awesome Attorney’ by magazine

Louis Cappelli, Jr., Esq.
Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader, LLC holds legitimate bragging rights today, as Louis Cappelli, Jr., Managing Partner of the Firm’s Cherry Hill office, has been named–for the second consecutive year–as an “Awesome Attorney” by readers of South Jersey Magazine.

The law firm announced today that Cappelli had been recognized again for his expertise in Land Use Law.

“A 25-year veteran in the practice of Real Estate and Land Use Law, he has represented multiple planning and zoning boards and has appeared on behalf of applicants in front of dozens of land use boards. His clients have developed everything from solar projects to retail centers. He also has extensive experience in Construction, Public Contracting, & Redevelopment Law. 


“In addition to his legal expertise, Lou also serves as Camden County Freeholder Director and has been responsible for numerous improvement projects throughout the County, spearheading the creation of the first-of-its-kind regional Camden County Police force.

“Click here to view  South Jersey Magazine’s “Awesome Attorney” feature.”

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Coal baron Don Blankenship convicted on one misdemeanor count for mine safety breaches

Former Massey Eenergy CEO Don Blankenship - AP Photo
Ex- Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was convicted today on one misdemeanor
count for conspiracy  to violate coal mine safety rules – AP photo

For the first time in living memory, the top officer of a major coal company has been convicted for crimes arising from worker deaths in the notoriously dangerous mining industry, Politico reports.

A federal jury in West Virginia today found coal baron Don Blankenship guilty of flouting mine safety laws arising from a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 workers.

The verdict remains a significant victory for federal prosecutors, who apparently persuaded the jury that Blankenship possessed prior knowledge of unsafe conditions at the Upper Big Branch mine and that he willfully broke mine safety laws.

An investigation by the Mine Safety and Health Administration blamed the fatal disaster in part on “unlawful policies and practices … including the intimidation of miners” who were discouraged from reporting safety violations.

Blankenship, who was chairman and CEO of Massey Energy at the time of the accident, was found guilty of conspiracy to violate mine safety regulations, a misdemeanor carrying a maximum of one year imprisonment. But a jury cleared him of two other counts arising from alleged securities law violations tied to his company’s statements on mine safety.

Read the full story here 

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Dead trees on the block? Maybe not blight or bug but gas

Dead tree in New York City 

Street trees are vulnerable to lots of things. Pests, disease, or lack of water can kill them.

Susan Phillips reports for StateImpact that the city of Philadelphia has an estimated 130,000 street trees and plants between 1000 and 3000 new trees each year–each one costing between four to six-hundred dollars.

So it would make good economic (as well as environmental) sense to find the culprit before a tree succumbs.

Susan took a walk with a guy from Boston named Bob Ackley who knows about another cause of tree deaths that you might not suspect–underground gas pipe leaks.

The outcome of that stroll is the interesting audio story below.
 

If you’re the type who prefers to read all about it, you’ll find it here.

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Environment and energy bills in NJ Assembly Thursday


The following energy and environment bills are scheduled for floor votes in the New Jersey Assembly on Thursday, December 3:

A-965  Singleton, T. (D-7); Sumter, S.E. (D-35);
Simon, D.M. (R-16); Lagana, J.A. (D-38); Schaer, G.S. (D-36); Watson Coleman,
B. (D-15); Garcia, C.G. (D-33)
Requires Commissioner of Labor and Workforce
Development to review construction work on public utilities. Related Bill: S-1945
    
A-1726  Eustace, T. (D-38); Lagana, J.A. (D-38);
Mosquera, G.M. (D-4); Vainieri Huttle, V. (D-37); Wimberly, B.E. (D-35);
Gordon, R.M. (D-38)
Amends “Flood Hazard Area Control Act” to
require DEP to take certain actions concerning delineations of flood hazard
areas and floodplains.
Related Bill: S-308
     
A-3125  Caride, M. (D-36); Eustace, T. (D-38); Kean,
S.T. (R-30); Dancer, R.S. (R-12)
Prohibits knowingly selling or planting certain
invasive plant species.
Related Bill: S-2694
    
A-3507  Eustace, T. (D-38); Webber, J. (R-26); Munoz,
N.F. (R-21); Schepisi, H. (R-39); Rumana, S.T. (R-40); Gordon, R.M. (D-38);
Sarlo, P.A. (D-36)
Amends law concerning county and municipal stream
cleaning activities.
Related Bill: S-2677
     
A-3849  DeAngelo, W.P. (D-14); Eustace, T. (D-38);
Mazzeo, V. (D-2); Pintor Marin, E. (D-29); Benson, D.R. (D-14); Turner, S.K.
(D-15); Singer, R.W. (R-30)
Requires BPU to provide links to pricing information to
customers from electric and gas public utilities, and third-party electric
power and gas suppliers.
Related Bill: S-2466
     
ACR-189  McKeon, J.F. (D-27); Lagana, J.A. (D-38);
Gusciora, R. (D-15); Pinkin, N.J.
(D-18)
Determines that proposed DEP rules and regulations
repealing rules and regulations concerning State participation in greenhouse
gas cap and trade programs are inconsistent with legislative intent.
Related Bill: SCR-125
      
AR-220  Rumpf, B.E. (R-9); Gove, D.C. (R-9)
Opposes seismic blasting in Atlantic Ocean near
Barnegat Bay.
Related Bill: SR-72
      

SCR-125  Sweeney, S.M. (D-3); Smith, B. (D-17)
Determines that proposed DEP rules and regulations
repealing rules and regulations concerning State participation in greenhouse
gas cap and trade programs are inconsistent with legislative intent.
Related Bill: ACR-189


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Final hearing Monday on contentious NJDEP water rules

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s  rules on
where sewers can be extended will change under a proposal by Gov. Chris
Christie’s administration, but environmentalists claim that will result in
sprawl, overdevelopment and flooding.
Bob Jordan reports for the Asbury Park
Press that:

Areas newly approved for sewer service
typically become targets for business and housing development. The Christie
administration wants to repeal and rewrite the Water Quality Management
Planning rules, with an eye on nudging the state out of its economic slump.

The final of three public hearings will be
hosted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in Trenton
Monday at 10 a.m.

DEP officials say the goal is to eliminate “red tape’’ and spur “appropriate
economic growth,’’ while maintaining high standards of environmental
protection.

The Sierra Club’s Jeff Tittel on Friday said
the change if allowed to go forward “threatens our most important forested and
environmentally sensitive lands, especially in the Highlands and Pinelands.’’

“This rule is not only a rollback of
environmental protections and not based on science, but a complete giveaway to
land speculators and developers,’’ Tittel said.

Read the full story here 
NJDEP news release on proposed rule change
Copy of NJDEP rule proposal

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Reed Smith attorney to run for Attorney General in Pa.

AG candidate David Fawcett.

Reed Smith attorney David Fawcett, a former GOP Allegheny County Councilman whose legal crusade against an Appalachian coal baron resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court opinion and a John Grisham novel, confirms will run for state attorney general next year as a Democrat next year.


“The office of Attorney General is, unfortunately, dysfunctional,” Mr. Fawcett declared, referring to incumbent Kathleen Kane who is under indictment in an eastern Pennsylvania court and has had her law license temporarily revoked. “I’m running to provide the kind of leadership needed to reinvigorate the office and return integrity to it.”


Fawcett joined Reed Smith in December 2010 as a partner in its Eastern Commercial Litigation Group. He had previously been a shareholder in Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.


Chris Potter writes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: 

Mr. Fawcett is best known for representing Hugh Caperton, a West Virginia coal-mine owner who sued one of the industry’s titans: former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.

Mr. Caperton alleged that Mr. Blankenship drove his firm into bankruptcy through unscrupulous business dealings, and in 2002, Mr. Fawcett and another attorney won him a $50 million jury verdict. West Virginia’s Supreme Court reversed the ruling, but the 3-2 majority included a justice who won election with $3 million of help from Mr. Blankenship. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled the justice should have recused himself because, given Mr. Blankenship’s support, the “probability of actual bias rises to an unconstitutional level.”

“I knew it was going to be the fight of my life,” Mr. Fawcett said of the case,which inspired John Grisham’s 2008 novel “The Appeal.” The Caperton saga, he said, “implicates the entire justice system.”

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