New Jersey Highlands Counsel Andrew Davis resigns

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The top lawyer for the New Jersey Highlands Council has resigned after two years on the job, Rob Jennings reports in the New Jersey Herald.
"Andrew R. Davis’ exit as chief counsel was announced by Margaret Nordstrom, the council’s executive director, at the last meeting.
"Davis’ hiring in March 2013, in an 8-5 vote, drew criticism from some environmentalists. Davis, two years earlier, authored a New Jersey Law Journal article stating that the Highlands Water and Protection Act was unconstitutional and should be repealed.
"The council implements the 2004 law placing additional limits on development in ecologically sensitive parts of seven counties, including Sussex.
"Nordstrom did not disclose his reason for resigning. Contact information for Davis, an attorney for three decades, was not immediately available.
"Sussex County Freeholder Richard Vohden, one of the county’ two members on the 14-member council, said he was told that Davis had accepted an unspecified private sector job.
“It was a surprise. I hope we get somebody to replace him who is as good and equally balanced as he was,” Vohden said on Tuesday.
"In the interim, Deputy State Attorney General Matthew Kelly will be offering legal guidance to the council, paid on an hourly basis.
"Davis was being paid $107,500 annually as chief counsel."
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NY Gov., Legislature reach agreement on Brownfields


Environmental attorney David J. Freeman of the Gibbons law firm is advising clients that:

"Governor Andrew Cuomo and leaders of the New York
State Senate and Assembly "have reached an agreement with respect to extension and reform of the State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP), a significant development in view
of impending expiration of tax credit eligibility on December 31, 2015."
Freeman provides a 12- point summary of the agreement in the firm’s Development/Redevelopment blog.
The first three summary points are:
  • All sites currently in the Program, and those which are admitted prior to December 31, 2022,
    will be eligible for tax credits if they obtain their Certificates of Completion (COCs) by March
    31, 2026.
  • Sites admitted on or after the later of (a) July 1, 2015 or (b) the date on which the Department
    of Environmental Conservation (DEC) proposes regulations defining “underutilized” (below)
    will be subject to newly-enacted limits on tangible property (development) credits.
  • Sites admitted prior to June 23, 2008 will be “grandfathered” into the existing tax credit scheme
    for development credits if they obtain their COCs by December 31, 2017. Sites admitted from
    June 23, 2008 until the later of (a) or (b) above will be grandfathered if they obtain their COCs
    by December 31, 2019. If they fail to meet those deadlines, they can still obtain tax credits
    under the Program, but only under the more stringent guidelines applicable to newly-admitted
    sites.

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New system displays high methane levels in PA stream

Small stream where methane was discovered. Photo: Paul Grieve, Penn State

A new stream-based monitoring system recently discovered high levels of methane in a Pennsylvania stream near the site of a reported Marcellus shale gas well leak, according to researchers at Penn State and the U.S. Geological Survey. The system could be a valuable screening tool to assess the environmental impact of extracting natural gas using fracking

Matthew Carroll reports in Penn State News:

"Multiple samples from the stream, Sugar Run in Lycoming County, showed a groundwater inflow of thermogenic methane, consistent with what would be found in shale gas, the researchers report in a recent issue of Environmental Science and Technology. Victor Heilweil, research hydrologist, Utah Water Science Center, USGS, was lead author on the paper.

“I found it startling that our USGS and Penn State team of four people did a reconnaissance of 15 streams and discovered one instance of natural gas degassing into a stream that may very well be explained by a nearby leaking shale gas well,” said Susan Brantley, distinguished professor of geosciences and director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State.

"After testing Sugar Run and finding high methane levels, researchers learned that several nearby domestic water supplies were reportedly contaminated by a Marcellus gas well that had a defective casing or cement, according to the researchers.

"Additional analyses of the degassing methane revealed characteristics also observed at the leaking gas well, but scientists were not able to prove the methane in Sugar Run is caused by the leak because they do not have baseline samples of the stream.

“Still, the researchers pointed to the findings to show stream monitoring is an effective, efficient method for monitoring shale-gas impacts."



 

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Enviros doubt objectivity of PennEast Pipeline study firm


A group of environmentalists say the
engineering firm preparing the environmental impact study for the proposed
PennEast pipeline has a conflict of interests because the firm also does work
for the natural gas industry.

Elizabeth Skrapits reports in Citizens Voice (Lebanon County, Pa):

“Pasadena, California-based Tetra Tech,
which has branches all over the world — including an office in the Twin Stacks
Center in Dallas — is performing the study required by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission on how the PennEast natural gas pipeline could affect the
environment.


“The Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association, New Jersey Chapter of the
Sierra Club and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation wrote to U.S. Inspector
General Gregory H. Friedman on March 24, asking him to investigate how Tetra
Tech was selected to be consultant for the $1 billion project when the firm has
financial and organizational conflicts.

“PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC, a joint venture among UGI Energy Services, AGL
Resources, New Jersey Resources, Public Service Enterprise Group and South
Jersey Industries, is looking to build the pipeline, which will run from Dallas
Township to Mercer County, New Jersey and supply gas from Marcellus Shale wells
to utilities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“The environmental groups contend that in the approximately 108-mile pipeline
route, there are 39 parks, 88 waterways, 44 wetlands, and 33 farms and other
open space areas.

“We believe that this pipeline violates the Clean Water Act and cannot meet the
criteria for 404 permits because the amount of high quality streams, wetlands,
and rivers it is crossing through,” the environmental organizations’ press
release states.”



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Why have so many seals turned up on Jersey beaches?


There have been numerous reports in the past two weeks of seals lying on beaches along the Jersey Shore–even one as far north as Hoboken.

Are they stranded? Victims of the latest marine illness? No, actually they’re in good shape.

So why the unusual behavior?

Lauren Wanko of NJTV News provides the answers in the video above with
Bob Schoelkopf of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, NJ

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Cozen O’Connor talking merger; two out at Duane Morris

Jeff Blumenthal of Philadelphia Business Journal reports:

“Cozen O’Connor is in merger talks with Chicago-based Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson, Crain’s Chicago Business reported.
“Meckler Bulger is a commercial litigation firm with more than 70 lawyers and additional offices in San Francisco and Phoenix, the latter where 575-lawyer Cozen does not have a location. The firm was founded in 1994 by a small group of lawyers from large firms. Its website describes it as one of the 35 largest law firms in Illinois and lists litigation practice areas such as white-collar criminal defense, insurance, labor and employment, commercial litigation and legal fee disputes.
Michael Heller

“Cozen O’Connor President and CEO Michael Heller declined comment when reached Sunday. Meckler Bulger would be a major addition in a key legal market for Cozen, which firm opened a Chicago office in 2000. The site now has 15 lawyers largely focused on domestic and international insurance and reinsurance practices such as product liability and tort defense, first and third-party coverage and subrogation and recovery. So Meckler Bulger would bring a more diverse commercial litigation practice.”
Blumenthal also reports today on two resignations at Duane Morris:
The head of the corporate department at Philadelphia-based Duane Morris has resigned from the firm along with another partner just weeks after they were named in a malpractice lawsuit from a high heel shoe insert inventor.
The Baltimore Business Journal first reported Friday that Baltimore-based George Nemphos Jay Cohen resigned from the high-profile international law firm effective Thursday. Nemphos had been managing partner of Duane Morris’ Baltimore office and chair of the entire firm’s global corporate practice group — its second-largest practice group. Cohen was a partner based in Baltimore.
George Nemphos

and

The two attorneys helped launch Duane Morris’ Baltimore office at the end of 2006, leaving DLA Piper along with two others. Nemphos became chair of the firm’s corporate practice in 2010.
When reached by the Philadelphia Business Journal on Friday, Duane Morris spokesman Joshua Peck would only say Nemphos and Cohen were no longer with the firm and that Chicago-based Brian P. Kerwin was the new head of its corporate practice and Robert Hopkins would become the new managing partner of its Baltimore office.

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