Scrap tires rearing their worn-out treds in New Jersey

Audit of DEP program uncovers almost a dozen new dumps,
as well as compliance issues with known scrap-tire piles

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

The state needs to step up monitoring and detection of illegal scrap-tire piles after an audit found about a dozen have popped up around New Jersey, despite a 12-year-old law designed to manage the problem.
An audit of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s tire-recycling program found that most of the major scrap-tire piles failed to comply with regulations and still need to be cleaned up. Further, 11 new tire dumps were identified.
Scrap-tire piles pose well-recognized public health and environmental threats, ranging from being a significant fire hazard not easily extinguished when ignited to contaminating groundwater supplies. They also provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes, a source of the West Nile virus.

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In 2004, a law was signed to improve management of scrap tires by imposing a $1.50 per-tire tax on new ones. At least $2.3 million from the money raised from the surcharge went to cleaning up the state’s tire piles, which at the time were estimated to contain more than 3 million tires.
The DEP received the allocation in fiscal year 2005, but it no longer receives those funds after budgets and appropriations were modified. Over the next 10 years, annual revenue from the tire fee generated an average of $9.2 million, the majority of which was appropriated to the state Department of Transportation for snow removal, according to the audit.
Following the audit, the DEP’s enforcement officials visited 26 of the known major scrap-tire pile sites that were previously identified, and in most cases cleaned up, the state auditor said in his four-page report. Eighteen of the 26 sites were found to be out of compliance with state regulations and require additional cleanup, the audit said.
In addition, 11 new sites were identified. All told, the 29 sites found to be out of compliance with state regulations were estimated to contain approximately 350,000 to 565,000 scrap tires. One of the sites was a recycling center approved to accept up to 5,000 tires.
The audit said the state found about 40,000 tires in a large pile and not stored in designated trailers as required. 

Other unauthorized tire piles turned up at another 13 junkyards, according to satellite map software, the audit said. Department investigators estimate up to 156,000 tires had accumulated on those sites. 

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NJ Senate Environment Committee meeting tomorrow

The New Jersey Legislature returns from its summer break tomorrow (September 8) and the Environment and Energy Committee is wasting no time in digging into legislation and issues.


The committee will meet at 10 a.m. in Room 10 of the State House Annex (third floor) in Trenton. 

Representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection and the
public have been invited to discuss the status of Senate Bill No. 981
(Smith/Bateman/Greenstein), which revises the “Electronic Waste Management
Act.”

However, our sources tell us that the DEP has declined the invitation, stating that it is still in the process of discussing possible amendments with electronics manufacturers and the state’s recycling community.    
Other bills for consideration:

S-1969  Turner, S.K. (D-15)
Requires NJ Clean Energy Program’s Residential New
Construction incentives be made available Statewide.
Related Bill: A-223
      
S-2062  Bateman, C. (R-16)
Appropriates up to $20 million from societal benefits
charge to DEP for remediation of lead contamination in drinking water in public
buildings.
      
S-2078  Bateman, C. (R-16); Smith, B. (D-17)
Requires training for pesticide applicators and
operators concerning pollinating bees.
Related Bill: A-3400  
S-2468  Lesniak, R.J. (D-20)
Directs DEP to adopt standards for certain drinking
water contaminants as recommended by Drink Water Quality Institute.
   

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Maryland could leave RGGI over tighter carbon reductions

Fenitt Nirappil reports for The Washington Post:

Maryland officials are resisting a push to deepen carbon-emission cuts as part of a regional agreement to reduce power-plant pollution.
The nine East Coast states that make up the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative are negotiating new terms for the pact, set to expire in 2020. Massachusetts has joined environmental advocates pushing for a cap on carbon emissions from power plants that would fall 5 percent a year for the next decade, or twice the current rate.
Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles said the proposal could result in higher power bills for Marylanders and harm the state’s economy. If adopted, he said, Maryland would consider pulling out of the regional pact for the first time since it formed in 2008.

“I’m sure every single state could agree if the caps are too stringent for that particular state . . . then those states would be very vocal in saying, ‘We can’t accept that,’ ” Grumbles said.
Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles, second from the right. (Katherine Frey)
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative creates a local cap-and-trade system that limits how much plants can pollute, and holds auctions where energy producers bid against each other for rights to emit carbon. Proceeds from the auctions fund clean-energy initiatives aimed at combating climate change.
In addition to Maryland and Massachusetts, the pact includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. New Jersey pulled out of the pact in 2011.
The Boston Globe was the first to report that Maryland was reconsidering its role in the regional pact. Grumbles says leaving is a last resort, and called the greenhouse-gas reduction program a success that should be expanded with additional states.
Unlike other states in the agreement, Maryland is on the same power grid as coal-heavy states that never signed on to the initiative, including West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. That means energy companies in Maryland are competing against producers in nearby states who aren’t abiding by the same restrictions on emissions and use cheaper, non-renewable energy sources.
Complicating matters further is the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which would require each state to draw plans to shift away from fossil-fuel powered plants. The plan would reduce the pressure of intra-state competition, but it’s on hold pending a U.S. Supreme Court challenge and could be changed under the next president.
[Supreme Court freezes Obama plan to limit emissions]
“While we are pushing for environmental leadership in the state . . . we want to reduce the risk of having other neighboring states being able to provide dirtier and cheaper energy to the citizens of Maryland,” said Grumbles, a member of Gov. Larry Hogan’s cabinet.
Officials in the administration of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) have indicated that they don’t want to derail the pact by going too far with emission cuts.
“We’re definitely not strong-arming anyone to do anything,” Energy Secretary Matthew Beaton told the Massachusetts State House News Service last week.
A spokesman for Beaton said the state is committed to reducing carbon emissions and power bills, but wouldn’t say if it would continue pushing for steeper cuts to carbon emissions.
But in Maryland, local environmental advocates are continuing to make that case. Scores of activists urged lower emissions at a meeting last week seeking feedback on the greenhouse-gas initiative at the Department of Environment offices in Baltimore.
“With the support of neighboring states, we hope Maryland steps up to the plate to help the region meet the goals it needs to create good-paying, clean-energy jobs and curb climate disruption,” said Johana Vicente, an organizer for the Maryland League of Conservation Voters.
Democratic lawmakers have also expressed support for 5 percent annual cuts in allowable emissions.
“We have to be sensible about [reductions] and we have to phase it over a period of time in order to be affordable, but it’s always preferable to be ambitious,” said Del. Kumar Barve (D-Montgomery), who chairs the House of Delegates committee that oversees environmental issues.
Carbon emissions from states in the pact have fallen dramatically, from 122 million tons in 2009 to 83 million tons in 2015.
[Cap-and-trade is alive and well in the Northeast]
The reduction is 16 percent greater than in states that haven’t joined the initiative, according to an analysis by the Acadia Center, which advocates for clean energy. The analysis also says electricity prices have decreased 3.4 percent on average for participating states, while rising elsewhere.
Industry observers say lower demand for energy during the economic downturn and the rise of natural gas, which results in lower carbon emissions than coal, also drove the decrease.
Read the full story here


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Wolf still hasn’t named a permanent chief for the PADEP

Acting DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell  says he wants the job

Marie Cusick reports for StateImpact:

More than three months have passed since the controversial resignation of Pennsylvania’s environmental secretary, John Quigley, and Governor Tom Wolf is still looking for a permanent replacement.
The law requires the governor to nominate someone to fill the vacancy within 90 days. In order to comply, the administration submitted a placeholder name, Thomas Yablonski Jr., to the state Senate last week. Yablonski is a staffer in the governor’s office, and his name was used for 24 different appointments. Although placeholder names are submitted sometimes, it’s unclear why there is a delay in this case.

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Quigley left his job at the helm of the state Department of Environmental Protection in May, following controversy over a profanity-tinged email he sent to environmental groups.

“We need a strong leader at DEP,” says Matthew Stepp, policy director for the environmental advocacy organization, PennFuture. “Quigley was a strong leader and was in the process of setting the agency on a strong path. They need someone to continue that work.”
In recent years there has been a lot of turnover in DEP leadership. Acting Secretary Patrick McDonnell is the fifth person to hold the position since 2013. McDonnell has worked at department for over a decade and has said publicly he wants the top job. He’s viewed as someone with a strong policy background who won’t stir up as much political controversy as past secretaries.
“The process to select a new secretary is ongoing,” says Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan. “No one has been interviewed at this point. The governor is still conducting a comprehensive search to fill the role.”

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Spraying for Zika mosquitos destroying bee colonies?


Alan Yuhas reports for The Guardian:

Huddled around their hives, beekeepers around the south-eastern US fear a new threat to their livelihood: a fine mist beaded with neurotoxin, sprayed from the sky by officials at war with mosquitos that carry the Zika virus.

Earlier this week, South Carolina beekeepers found millions of dead honey bees carpeting their apiaries, killed by an insecticide. Videoposted by a beekeeper to Facebook showed thousands of dead insects heaped around hives, while a few survivors struggled to move the bodies of fellow bees.
“This is what’s left of Flowertown Bees,” a despondent keeper says in the video. Company co-owner Juanita Stanley told the Associated Press her farm looked “like it’s been nuked” and estimated 2.5 million bees were killed.
In another Facebook post, South Carolina hobbyist Andrew Macke wrote that he had lost “thousands upon thousands of bees” and that the spraying had devastated his business. “Have we lost our mind,” he wrote, “spraying poison from the sky?”
Around the US, bees and other pollinators contribute an estimated $29bn to farm income. Clemson University’s department of pesticide regulation is investigating the incident.
The program head, Dr Mike Weyman, said that though South Carolina has strict rules about protecting pollinators, county officials were using the neurotoxin, Naled, under a clause exempting them in a “clear and public health crisis”.
More than three dozen people have tested positive for Zika in South Carolina, Weyman said, and officials have made it a priority to prevent local transmissions through the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
“We don’t want one of those mosquitos having a blood meal on an individual we’ve already determined was positive,” Weyman said. “We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that [Zika] is up and running in Florida. If it gets in the mosquito population … you’re playing catch-up.”
South Carolina’s protocol for Zika infections is to alert local officials of a carrier’s residence, which they “consider a ground zero”, Weyman said. Local authorities then target the local mosquitos in a 200-yard radius, in this case with spray.
Flowertown Bees was listed on local records but not in the state’s voluntary registry of pollinators, according to Weyman. “We know where the big ones are,” he said, “but as you can see this was a fairly large operation and almost right smack dab in the spray path.”
Despite the investigation into what went wrong, the killing has beekeepers worried about what might happen next.
“Everyone that I’ve spoken to has major concerns about the effect” of insecticides, said Jennifer Holmes, vice-president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association and the co-owner of a company with about 300 colonies north of West Palm Beach.
Comparing bees to cows or other pillars of agriculture, she said: “If there was a regulation that allowed some spraying that would kill half of your livestock overnight, how would recover your livelihood?”
Holmes has spent the last week working with beekeepers and state and county officials. The keepers, she said, fear “not just the immediate die-offs, but possible genetic die-offs or sterility” for bees that survive the first sprays.
“We understand the serious threat of possible disease,” she said, “but we also have to maintain our agricultural livelihood.”
A Louisiana beekeeper, who requested anonymity because of work with county officials, added another set of concerns: careless mixture and application of chemicals, mismanagement and long-term imbalance in the ecosystem.
“In order to ‘fix’ the problem,” the keeper said, “it will all have to begin with re-establishing healthy soil that will nourish a healthy plant population that will nourish healthy populations, whether it be the honeybee or a deer.
“Chemical application of any sort creates an imbalance from the ground up, even if a simple mosquito is the target.”
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On the Road With EnviroPolitics – Day 4

 


EnviroPolitics Editor Frank Brill continues his ‘summer is ending’ road trip along
the Hudson River.

On Day 4, Frank visits Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and Eleanor Roosevelt’s nearby Stone Cottage.

Previously: 
On the Road With EnviroPolitics – Day 3
On the Road With EnviroPolitics – Day 2 
On the Road With EnviroPolitics – Day 1  

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