Democrats celebrating big election wins in NJ and Pa


Democrats solidified their control of the New Jersey Assembly
yesterday, gaining three (and maybe four) seats in the
lower house. It will be
the party’s biggest majority since 1979.
Brent
Johnson reports for nj.com that:
Democrats picked up one seat in south Jersey’s
1st District and, in the biggest upset of the night, picked off two Republican
incumbents in the Shore’s 11th District.  It will be the
party’s biggest
majority since 1979.
Democrats
also control the state Senate, the upper house of the Legislature — which was
not on the ballot Tuesday — in a state where registered Democratic voters
outnumber Republicans 1.7 million to 1 million. 

In Pennsylvania, Chris Palmer reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer that Democrats won all three open
seats on the state’s Supreme Court, a “stunning result in a
historic race that could dramatically reshape the powerful but scandal-plagued
institution for years to come.” 
In Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, who once referred to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as “fat-assed” Dallas Cowboy loving “creep,” was elected as mayor.The two could cross paths if both attend Sunday’s Eagles/Cowboys game in Dallas. 


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More election coverage:

Recent blog posts: 
Star-Ledger says Christie’s rolling back clean water rules
1,400 intervenors want to join PennEast Pipeline process
Pa Supreme Court to hear more arguments on Act 13
Life goes from bad to worse for Pa’s Attorney General
Miles of New Jersey highways, few electric cars on them 

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Star-Ledger says Christie’s rolling back clean water rules


From a November 1, 2015 editorial in Sunday’s Star-Ledger:
The Christie administration has fired off yet another round in its attack on clean water, but this time, the Democratic-controlled Legislature is firing back – along with environmentalists who rallied on the State House steps last week.

The core issue is that Christie is threatening our streams and rivers with two new sets of proposed rules, which would allow development closer to the water’s edge and encourage new sewer lines into sensitive areas.

The state Senate knocked back his first attempt to weaken the protection of our rivers and streams, by passing a resolution that would block the proposal to allow development closer to the water. It still needs to get through the Assembly to overturn his changes.

But in the meantime, the administration is pushing forward with its second set of rule changes, which would allow sewers and septic tanks to be placed closer together and extended even into the protected Highlands area — which supplies drinking water to more than half the state.

Defenders of the Highlands say the worst is likely still to come. A third set of rule changes that haven’t been formally proposed yet would quadruple the amount of development allowed in its core forested areas.

EP Editor’s Note: The governor’s Republican allies and many in the state’s business community see the proposed DEP rule changes not as an attack on the environment but a re-balancing of overly restrictive rules enacted under previous administrations that hurt the state’s economy. If you have an opinion on this that you’d like to share, click the ‘comment’ link below or consider submitting a guest column for our consideration.

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1,400 intervenors want to join PennEast Pipeline process

By Thursday evening’s deadline, more than 1,400 individuals, governmental bodies and other entities filed as intervenors to PennEast Pipeline’s proposed 114-mile natural gas pipeline.
Christina Tatu writes in The Morning Call:
The status is important for those who oppose the project because it makes them a party to the proceedings and allows them to appeal any decisions made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the independent agency responsible for approving natural gas pipelines.
Among the intervenors are 22 of the 29 municipalities along the pipeline route, which extends from Wilkes-Barre to Mercer County, N.J., cutting through Northampton County along the way.
The majority of intervening municipalities oppose the project, though not all of them have taken a stance.
In their interventions, the Northampton municipalities, except for Williams, called the project a threat to the Lehigh Valley’s environmental resources.

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Pa Supreme Court to hear more arguments on Act 13

Natural gas drilling workers at site in Bradford County, Pa.- AP Photo
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments related to its December, 2013 decision regarding the state’s comprehensive update to its oil and gas law, known as Act 13.

Susan Phillips writes in StateImpact:

In an order published this week, the court determined that it would take up several unresolved issues, but it would not revisit its interpretation of article 1, section 27 of the state constitution, also known as the Environmental Rights Amendment.

In the 2013 landmark decision, a plurality of justices ruled that it would be unconstitutional for the state to preempt local zoning decisions, as outlined in the new oil and gas law approved by the legislature and signed by then Governor Tom Corbett back in February, 2012.
Three justices, including Chief Justice Ron Castille, struck down the provision based on what was at the time, the state’s little known Environmental Rights Amendment, which guarantees ”clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. ”
The decision was both surprising and controversial, celebrated by environmentalists, and derided by industry attorneys.
Environmentalists and municipalities had also challenged other aspects of Act 13, including what became known as the “doctor gag rule,” eminent domain for gas storage facilities, and the exclusion from notification of hazardous spills for owners and residents relying on private water sources.
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Life goes from bad to worse for Pa’s Attorney General

Pennsylvania’s embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane
For the first time since Kathleen Kane’s legal troubles began in May 2014, top lawyers in the attorney general’s office appear to be in open revolt against their embattled boss, further exposing internal turmoil in Pennsylvania’s top law enforcement agency.
The Morning Call‘s Steve Esack reports:

On Friday, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, a Democrat like Kane, said a high-ranking staffer in Kane’s office recently sought his help in ousting her.

The staffer, Morganelli said, asked him to use a rare court procedure only a county district attorney or the attorney general can employ to remove an unfit public official from office. Morganelli said he would not tap the legal remedy  quo warranto even though he referred to Kane’s office as “a mess.”
“I found it alarming that high-ranking OAG people thought things were so bad that they openly were looking to have a coup regarding their boss,” he said in a statement. “Public confidence in the OAG as well as in our judges and courts is being eroded. I never imagined it could get so bad.”
It’s so bad that even the agency’s top lawyers don’t think Kane can do the job anymore, after the Supreme Court suspended her law license Oct. 22 over perjury charges against her.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday that the lawyers told Kane in a letter dated Oct. 21 they disagreed with her assertion she can remain in charge because 98 percent of her duties are managerial and ministerial. State law says the attorney general must be a licensed lawyer.
READ: Deputys attorney general say emails sent to Attorney General's Office not public

READ: Deputys attorney general say emails sent to Attorney General’s Office not public
The letter was signed by Kane’s first deputy, Bruce Beemer, and executive deputies James A. Donahue III, head of the public protection unit; Robert A. Mulle, chief of the civil division; and Lawrence Cherba, director of the criminal division.
In a third punch Friday, Kane’s spokesman Chuck Ardo released an internal office memo written by the four. Their memo says Kane was wrong to claim that anyone who sends an email to the agency has no right to privacy. The memo came after Kane defended her decision to release the private emails of a judge with whom she has feuded.
“Any email sent to an email account in the Office of Attorney General, whether from a private or public email account, is not considered a private communication once it is captured by an OAG server,” Kane said in a statement Thursday.
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Miles of New Jersey highways, few electric cars on them

Nearly 2,500 electric cars are registered in New Jersey — far fewer than the number on the road in some neighboring states, where more aggressive incentives are in place to encourage their purchase.
Tom Johnson reports today in NJ Spotlight:
But even those states with double the number of electric vehicles on the road — like Massachusetts and Maryland — need to significantly ramp up efforts to promote greater acceptance of the cars, according to a new report.
Those efforts include incentive programs for auto dealerships and consumers, public policies leading to widespread availability of consumer-friendly charging stations, and leading by example by using such vehicles in municipal and statewide fleets.
Clean energy advocates tout electric vehicles as an important tool in reducing harmful air pollution and curbing greenhouse-gas emissions. About 31,000 electric cars are on the road in 11 Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states as of this past August.
But that number pales in comparison with the goal set by six of those states who hope to see 1.7 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025 under a regional program they have established to jointly promote and collaborate on policies to encourage their use. The Christie administration opted not to participate in the multi-state program in 2013.
Nationwide, about 1 percent of vehicles sold are electric cars.
The report, “Charging Up,’’ notes some auto dealers, state government agencies, and electric utilities are taking steps to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles, but more can be done.
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