Consultant:Pipeline promises rewards for Pa. economy

Looking south to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, a location poised for growth

Consultants often deliver reports that lean toward what their client wants to hear. But even after factoring for possible puffery, Sunoco Logistics Inc. had to be thrilled with these findings.
Kathleen Carey reports in the  Delaware County Daily Times:
"A consultant hired by Sunoco Logistics Inc. to evaluate the economic impact business related to the extraction of gas from the Marcellus Shale says the company’s investment could result in a $4.2 billion infusion into Pennsylvania’s economy.
"It also would create 300 to 400 permanent jobs across the state and support more than 30,000 jobs during construction of the terminal facility in Marcus Hook and the Mariner East pipeline.
"Sunoco Logistics hired Philadelphia-based Econsult Solutions Inc. to study the fiscal impact of the Mariner East projects, which are part of the company’s plans to invest about $3 billion to move natural gas liquids from western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Ohio to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex."
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New Jersey Senate taking up five energy bills today

NJ Senate Chamber and gallery
Members of the New Jersey Senate will consider five energy-related
bills today in committees and in floor votes.

Here’s the lineup:

ASSEMBLY TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND UTILITIES
10:00 AM
Committee Room 9, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
 
A-3358  Singleton, T. (D-7); Chivukula, U.J. (D-17); DeAngelo, W.P. (D-14)
Establishes Class I renewable energy certificate multiplier program for certain energy production facilities fueled by methane.
Related Bill: S-2076
      
A-3455  Chivukula, U.J. (D-17); Mukherji, R. (D-33); Pinkin, N.J. (D-18);
Amends definition of "Class II renewable energy."
Related Bill: S-2282  
_______________________________________________________________________


ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS

2:00 PM
Committee Room 11, 4th Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ
 
A-943  Singleton, T. (D-7); Conaway, H. (D-7); Moriarty, P.D. (D-4); Green, J. (D-22); Lampitt, P.R. (D-6); Mazzeo, V. (D-2)
Permits small businesses to qualify for loans from NJEDA for costs of energy audit and making energy efficiency or conservation improvements.     
_________________________________________________________________________
 
SENATE VOTING SESSION
2:00 PM
Senate Chamber
S-2711  Smith, B. (D-17); Whelan, J. (D-2)
Requires BPU to approve qualified wind energy project and exempts project from cost-benefit analysis.  Related Bill: A-4128
    
SR-112  Smith, B. (D-17); Sweeney, S.M. (D-3)
Urges BPU to expeditiously adopt regulations needed to facilitate construction of offshore wind energy projects and to establish energy efficiency portfolio standards.
Related Bill: AR-209

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Feds pull funding plug on carbon sequestration project

Artist rendering of the proposed FutureGen clean coal project near Meredosia, Ill.
Several coal companies working with the government on the long-planned $1.65 billion FutureGen clean-coal project said Tuesday they have no choice but to shut it down after the Department of Energy suspended the majority of its funding, the Associated Press reports.
"The department confirmed that it will not provide the $1 billion in stimulus funding it had committed to the project, which aimed to refit a coal-fired power plant near Meredosia in western Illinois and store carbon dioxide from the coal underground.
"The FutureGen Alliance, the companies working on the project in western Illinois, said they were disappointed by the news but had no way to make up the money.
"The federal funding was the key component," FutureGen Alliance spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said, adding that the Department of Energy told the alliance that the project couldn’t realistically use the federal stimulus funds by the September deadline to do so.
Energy Department spokesman Bill Gibbons would say only that the agency suspended funding "in order to best protect taxpayer interests." He added that the project had provided useful research on carbon sequestration.
As recently as last September, the project reached what the FutureGen Alliance called a major milestone when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued permits for FutureGen to start storing carbon underground.
According to the Department of Energy, it has spent $116.5 million on the power plant and $86 million on the underground storage site.
Read the full story here
New Jersey flirted with a carbon sequestration project in the city of Linden in 2009.

The $5 billion PurGen proposal called for construction of a 500 megawatt, coal-fueled power plant incorporating a 100-mile, underground pipeline to push the plant’s CO2 emissions underground to a point 70 miles off the coast and about 2,200 yards beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
That proposal was scuttled by the Gov. Chris Christie’s DEP in 2011.
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Big federal settlement to benefit 2 NJ Superfund sites

Money from a historic settlement reached with Anadarko and Kerr-McGee has now been disbursed for cleanups across the country, including $438 million that will go toward paying for past and future cleanup work at two New Jersey Superfund sites, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today in a news release.

The settlement funds will be used at the Welsbach Superfund site in Camden and Gloucester City and reimburse the federal government for substantial cleanup costs at the Federal Creosote Superfund site in Manville.

The EPA said that the entire settlement provides of $5.15 billion to resolve claims that the Anadarko, Kerr-McGee and co-plaintiff Anadarko Litigation Trust fraudulently moved assets to evade liability for contamination at Superfund sites around the country. Of this total, approximately $4.4 billion will be used toward cleaning up contaminated sites. This is the largest sum ever awarded in this type of a bankruptcy-related environmental settlement with the federal government.

“This legal achievement in bankruptcy court is good for New Jersey and reminds others not to shirk their responsibility for environmental cleanups,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck said. “The $438 million portion of this settlement for two contaminated sites in New Jersey will allow EPA to continue its work to protect public health and the environment.”

According to the EPA: 

Federal Creosote site in 2002



"Since its founding in 1929, Kerr-McGee operated various businesses around the country, including wood-treating, uranium mining and processing, thorium processing, and ammonium perchlorate manufacturing. By the early 2000s, Kerr-McGee had discontinued most of these historic business operations yet remained responsible for massive legacy environmental and tort liabilities related to those businesses. At that time, Kerr-McGee operated two core businesses: oil and gas exploration and production; and chemical production.

"Beginning in 2001, Kerr-McGee, having concluded that its enormous legacy liabilities were a drag on its oil and gas business, embarked on a plan to separate its valuable oil and gas assets from these legacy liabilities. In particular, between 2002 and 2005, Kerr-McGee transferred these oil and gas assets to a “new” Kerr-McGee (one of the defendants), and then spun off the small, cyclical chemical business with 85-odd years of legacy liabilities, which was re-named Tronox, in 2006. A few months later, Anadarko acquired Kerr-McGee (and the oil and gas business) for $18 billion. Meanwhile, as a result of the transactions, Tronox was rendered insolvent and unable to pay for its legacy liabilities, and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

"The Welsbach Company and the General Gas Mantle Company used radioactive material thorium from the late 1890s to 1941 to make the gas lamps manufactured at the facilities glow brighter. It is believed that thorium-contaminated waste from the manufacturing process was used as fill in surrounding areas. As a result, the soil and buildings on the Welsbach and General Gas Mantle properties, as well as surrounding properties, were contaminated.

"Approximately $222 million will be paid to EPA for cleanup of thorium contamination at the Welsbach Superfund site in Gloucester City, New Jersey.  Among ongoing efforts related to the site, EPA has removed more than 200,000 cubic yards of radiologically contaminated soil and building materials from more than 140 properties in the Gloucester City and Camden areas and has investigated more than 900 properties.

"During the 1960’s, homes and a commercial mall were built on top of contaminated land on the Federal Creosote site, which had been used for more than 30 years to treat railroad ties with toxic levels of the chemical creosote.  Approximately $216 million will be paid to the federal Superfund in repayment of costs previously incurred by EPA cleaning up the Federal Creosote Superfund site in Manville, New Jersey.  Among other efforts at the site, EPA removed more than 450,000 tons of contaminated soil and cleaned up nearly 100 residential and commercial properties in Manville before completing work in 2008.

"On April 3, 2014, the United States Department of Justice announced this settlement for public comment and judicial approval. After considering comments from the public, the United States sought approval of the settlement, and on November 10, 2014, the court for the Southern District of New York approved the agreement. The deadline for any appeals from the district court’s decision passed on January 20, 2015, without any appeals having been taken and the money has now begun to be dispersed."

More information can be obtained at the following web sites:
Case Summary: Settlement Agreement in Anadarko Fraud Case
Welsbach Superfund Site in Gloucester, New Jersey 
Federal Creosote Superfund Site in Manville, New Jersey


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NJ Resources subsidiary completes 2 solar projects

NJRCEV Solar Installation in Howell, NJ
NJR Clean Energy Ventures’ new solar installation in Howell, NJ 

NJR Clean Energy Ventures (NJRCEV), the unregulated distributed power subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, has announced the completion of a 9.9 megawatt (MW) grid-connected solar installation in Howell, NJ and a 6.1 MW system in North Hanover, NJ.

With the addition of these projects, NJRCEV’s commercial solar portfolio now totals 19 installations with a capacity of 72 MW of clean energy in New Jersey, the company said in a news release.

“As electric generation in the U.S. continues to shift and evolve, clean energy, like solar, is an increasingly important part of the mix,” said Laurence M. Downes, Chairman and CEO of New Jersey Resources. “With solar projects, such as our grid-connected systems in Howell and North Hanover, we are bringing clean energy generation – and the benefits it provides – closer to home. That’s good for New Jersey and our energy future.”
The Howell solar farm is a ground-mount, grid-connected system, and represents an investment of $25.8 million. The clean energy produced at the site is enough to power 1,040 homes annually and reflects an estimated carbon reduction of 9,500 tons, or the equivalent of removing 1,825 cars from New Jersey’s roadways.

The North Hanover solar installation, a ground-mount, grid-connected system, represents an investment of $15.8 million. The clean energy produced is enough to power over 650 homes annually, with an estimated carbon reduction of 6,000 tons, or the equivalent of removing 1,140 cars from New Jersey’s roads.

NJRCEV owns, operates and maintains each system, as well as any tax credits and Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) produced. SRECs are the credits generated by solar systems that can be sold to meet utility providers’ renewable energy requirements.

NJRCEV invests in, owns and operates renewable energy projects that generate clean power and provide low-carbon energy solutions. In total, the company maintains a portfolio of residential and commercial solar and onshore wind projects, totaling over 100 MW of installed capacity.

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Martens outlines five budget priorities for NYDEC

NYDEC chief Joseph Martens testifies at Jan 28 budget hearing .
Priorities announced by NY Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens, at a Jan. 28 legislative hearing on the upcoming budget year, are:
1. Increasing resiliency regarding extreme weather events
2. Improving access to DEC managed lands
3. Preventing the introduction of invasive species
4. Promoting economic development by remediating brownfields
5. Streamlining and prioritizing DEC’s permitting and approval processes.

The Legislative Gazette‘s Danyal Mohammadzadeh reports:

"DEC’s budget for the coming year recommends state operations appropriations of $469.9 million and a capital budget totaling $566.9 million," Martens said. "This includes $40 million in New York Works to continue the critical capital programs. The budget proposes increasing DEC’s budgeted fill level to 2,946. This fiscal year, DEC also plans to hold a training academy to maintain the ranks of our public protection program."

Through the governor’s New York Works program, the department invested $180 million in environmental capital projects such as restoring aging dams and flood control structures, rehabilitating fish hatcheries, plugging abandoned oil and gas wells, completing municipal brown field projects, funding water quality improvement program projects and implementing an eBusiness plan, according to Martens.

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