EnviroPolitics Blog

Nippon Steel exec confident in $14.9B takeover of U.S. Steel

By EVAN ROBINSON-JOHNSON, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Despite the uncertainty swirling around a once-in-a-generation steel acquisition that has Japanese investors and the American politico on the edge of their seats, Takahiro Mori remains “excited about the future.”

“I don’t care about the noises or criticism, because I’m very confident that our deal is the best,” he said Wednesday during a lengthy sit-down interview with the Post-Gazette.

Mr. Mori is the Nippon Steel executive charged with landing the $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel, first announced in December, which has attracted sharp rebuke from all levels of government, and continued barbs from a union unswayed by the Japanese steelmaker’s overtures.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Mr. Mori addressed the political challenges to sealing the deal and shed new light on the negotiations so far. He also divulged details on talks with the Japanese government and discussed how relocating Nippon Steel North America’s headquarters from Houston to Pittsburgh will benefit the state economy.

The move isn’t just symbolic, Mr. Mori said.

“We have eight companies in the United States, and [Nippon Steel North America] is a holding company. That means all the federal taxes are currently going to Texas, but now are coming here.”

Mr. Mori said he personally offered that incentive to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

“‘Can you commit it,’ he asked me, and I answered, ‘Yes, I’m the man that determines such kinds of things,’ ” Mr. Mori said. “He appreciated that.”

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Biden releasing 1M barrels of NJ gas to lower summer pump prices

By Nicole Rosenthal, Patch Staff, May 22, 2024

NEW JERSEY — The Biden administration plans to sell one million barrels of gasoline from two reserves — including one in New Jersey — in order to lower gas prices for American motorists ahead of the summer, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

New Jersey’s own Port Reading reserve will be supplying 900,000 barrels of fuel, with Maine’s South Portland reserve providing the additional 98,824 barrels. The gasoline sale is intended to create a bidding process that ensures fuel will be sold at competitive prices at local retailers ahead of the July 4 weekend.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is laser focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement. “By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tri-state and northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most.”

Bids for the sale are due by 11 a.m. Central Time on May 28. All revenues from the sale will be deposited to the U.S. Treasury. The fuel transferred or delivered on or before June 30, ensuring U.S. drivers have access to competitive prices at the pump.

Click to read the full story

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Big Pharma reps get close look at horseshoe crabs spawning in NJ

Conservationists urge companies to drop testing method that uses crab blood

By Jon Hurdle, Contributing Writer, NJ Spotlight News

Officials from five major pharmaceutical companies met at a Delaware Bayshore house to hear how they can help save the horseshoe crab and to watch the annual spectacle of spawning horseshoe crabs and migrating shorebirds along a remote part of the New Jersey coastline.

The gathering on Tuesday, at Reeds Beach, Cape May County, was the first time that pharmaceutical industry officials trekked to the rural bayshore to discuss the arguments for dropping a testing method that uses the blood of horseshoe crabs, and to walk the beaches where the crabs spawn and thousands of birds feast on their eggs for a couple of weeks each spring.

Advocates for the protection of both horseshoe crabs and red knots hope that the combination of chemistry and conservation will persuade the officials to recommend the companies switch from the crab-based LAL reagent most use now to a synthetic substance called rFC when testing for endotoxins in medical products.

An industry-wide switch away from the crab-based reagent would end a significant source of demand for horseshoe crabs. That would give the ancient creatures a better chance of fully recovering from a drastic over-harvest in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when they were taken from bay beaches in huge numbers by the commercial fishing industry, which uses them for bait. The over-harvesting caused the population of red knot, a federally threatened shorebird that depends on the crab eggs, to crash, raising fears the bird would go extinct unless its favorite food source.

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Carl Golden, spokesman for two governors, dies at 86

By David Wildstein, May 21 2024 11:12 am

Carl Golden, who served as press secretary to two Republican governors and a chief justice, died on Monday. He was 86.

Golden began as a reporter for the Easton Express-Times and then joined the Assembly Republican staff around the time professional staffs were just beginning in Trenton. He was there when Tom Kean served as Majority Leader, Speaker, and Minority Leader of the New Jersey State Assembly. He was there when Kean cut a deal with four Democrats to become Speaker after the GOP lost control of the lower house in 1971.

In 1981, Golden served as press secretary to Senate Minority Leader Barry Parker’s campaign for the Republican nomination for governor. He was later hired by the winner of the GOP primary, Kean, as his spokesman in the general election against Democrat Jim Florio.

After the election, Kean named Golden as his press secretary.

After leaving Kean’s office, he became spokesman for Chief Justice Robert Wilentz and the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Golden returned to the executive branch in 1994 as press secretary to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

Carl Golden, spokesman for two governors, dies at 86 Read More »

$3M in brownfields grants heading to four NJ communities

Abandoned property/brownfield site with For Sale sign and barbed wire.

PHOTO: MRDOOMITS/DEPOSIT PHOTOS

By Matthew Fazelpoor, NJ Business

Four New Jersey communities will receive $3 million through a recent round of federal grant funding. The awards come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup (MAC) Grant Programs and Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grant Programs.

The brownfields initiatives work to transform once-polluted, vacant and abandoned properties into community assets. Additionally, they aim to create good-paying jobs and spur economic revitalization in these overburdened communities.

The four New Jersey brownfields grants went to:

Camden Lutheran Housing Inc., Camden – $1 million

To clean up the former West Jersey Paper Manufacturing site that housed West Jersey Paper Manufacturing Co. (1850-1967) and Latex Fiber Industries Inc. (1967-1974). The vacant site is contaminated with heavy metals, arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and PCBs.

Camden Redevelopment Agency, Camden – $500,000

To perform environmental site assessment efforts on the Federal Street Industrial and Commercial Corridor in the East Camden neighborhood.

Monmouth Conservation Foundation, Red Bank – $500,000

To perform environmental site assessments targeting a 210-acre portion of the west side of Red Bank.

Woodbine – $1 million

To support a range of activities including cleanup of the Old School site, the Hat Company site, a former landfill, and the Woodbine Municipal Airport

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A New Jersey rarity: Rural residents stop a big warehouse plan

*White Township, Warren County, New Jersey*

By Fred Snowflack in City Confidential | May 16, 2024

WHITE TWP. – Residents don’t normally stop large developments in New Jersey.

But there are always exceptions, and we just saw that in a very, very big way in this rural Warren County community near the Delaware River.

It was back in 2019 when Jaindl Farms and Land Development proposed building about 2.8 million square feet of warehouse space on almost 600 acres.

The uproar was palpable.

Decked out in orange shirts, residents came by the hundreds to monthly planning board meetings to voice opposition.

Warehouses mean tractor trailers – lots of them – on small, country roads 24 hours a day. They also mean more pollution, more people and just about more of everything.

One may have been tempted to say – a bit dismissively – “that’s just the way it is.”

OK, but we are talking about a different part of New Jersey. There aren’t all that many genuine rural places in North Jersey and this is one of them.

The roads are narrow, there are many farms and the night sky uninhibited by all that much artificial light is stimulating to observe.

Travelers may know the area because of Hot Dog Johnny’s, an iconic hot dog stand on Route 46.

Click to read the full story

A New Jersey rarity: Rural residents stop a big warehouse plan Read More »

Nippon Steel exec confident in $14.9B takeover of U.S. Steel

Biden releasing 1M barrels of NJ gas to lower summer pump prices

Big Pharma reps get close look at horseshoe crabs spawning in NJ

Conservationists urge companies to drop testing method that uses crab blood

Carl Golden, spokesman for two governors, dies at 86

$3M in brownfields grants heading to four NJ communities

PHOTO: MRDOOMITS/DEPOSIT PHOTOS

Camden Lutheran Housing Inc., Camden – $1 million

To clean up the former West Jersey Paper Manufacturing site that housed West Jersey Paper Manufacturing Co. (1850-1967) and Latex Fiber Industries Inc. (1967-1974). The vacant site is contaminated with heavy metals, arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and PCBs.

Camden Redevelopment Agency, Camden – $500,000

To perform environmental site assessment efforts on the Federal Street Industrial and Commercial Corridor in the East Camden neighborhood.

Monmouth Conservation Foundation, Red Bank – $500,000

To perform environmental site assessments targeting a 210-acre portion of the west side of Red Bank.

Woodbine – $1 million

To support a range of activities including cleanup of the Old School site, the Hat Company site, a former landfill, and the Woodbine Municipal Airport

A New Jersey rarity: Rural residents stop a big warehouse plan

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