WolfeNotes.com

Summer Joint Environment Committee Meeting Will Not Focus on Christie Environmental Record

Coastal Commission Bill Ignored As Well

No Chance to Contrast Senator Buono’s Strong Record with Christie Rollbacks

For the last few years, at the end of August, the Senate and Assembly Environment Committees have held a special joint hearing at the shore.

The focus of those hearings has been shore issues – the last focused on Barnegat Bay – see:

• Barnegat Bay Suffering “Insidious Ecological Decline”
• Latest research shows Barnegat Bay could be declared legally ‘impaired’ 
• Reach Out and Touch Someone 
• Joint Legislative Environmental Committees To Hold Annual Shore Hearing on Monday

The agenda and testimony for the hearings has been general in nature and not designed as Legislative oversight hearings on the Administration’s performance.

But at last year’s hearing, Rutgers scientist Mike Kennish presented the science on the declining health of Barnegat Bay and blasted  Gov. Christie’s so called “10 Point Management Plan”, saying it “was  “clearly not working” and that DEP must “seriously ramp things up”.

For that testimony, Dr. Kennish was attacked severely by DEP political hacks in management positions, who launched unprecedented criticism of his science, attacked his personal credibility, and threatened to cut DEP funds to Rutgers’ research.

The DEP managers who conducted this assault paid no price for their attacks. Those ignorant incompetent cowards still hide behind their desks.

Well, it looks like last year’s controversy has cowed legislators, because, based on the agenda for this year’s hearing on August 15 in Atlantic City, they seem to have backed off. Here’s the agenda:

The committees will meet to hear testimony on the progress of Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

That agenda sounds like more “rebuild madness” to me.

Did the joint Environment Committees ever do anything with their March 4, 2013 Sandy hearing? Why do we need another?

Did the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee ever do anything with the Sandy oversight hearings they conducted? Why do we need another hearing – and on Gov. Christie favorable turf?

For this year’s hearing agenda, in a Gubernatorial election year – with a strongly pro-envrionment candidate in Senator Buono and with both Committees controlled by Democrats – an obvious topic would be legislative oversight of the Governor’s environmental record.

The Legislature has conducted virtually no legislative oversight for 4 years, as the Christie administration has conducted an unprecedented assault on NJ’s environmental laws, regulations, policies, budgets, plans, and institutions.

The record is unequivocal and damning – from climate change to open space (details beyond the focus of this post).

So, why would legislative Democrats not use their oversight powers to hold the Governor accountable?

Given this Governor’s record, their failure to do that – especially in an election year – can only mean that Democrats do not oppose the Governor’s rollbacks, or that they lack the spine to take the Governor on.

Another obvious agenda item for this year’s hearing would be Assemblyman Barnes’ bill to create a Coastal Commission. Barnes is a member of the Assembly Environment Committee.

Even former Republican Governor Tom Kean supports a Coastal Commission and very recently has criticized Gov. Christie for opposing the bill (watch Kean in this home run Star Ledger video).

After Sandy devastation, are Democrats more pro-development on the coast that former Republican Governor Kean? Are you kidding me?

Why would the Environment  Committees not want to use the summer shore hearings as a platform to discuss that Coastal Commission bill, sponsored by one of their own?

Failure to do so is an insult to Assemblyman Barnes, and another sad indication that Democrats support the Governor and are in the tank with the builders’ lobby.

With evidence of climate change mounting, and the Governor in denial and dismantling NJ’s climate programs and diverting almost $1 billion in clean energy money, another obvious topic would be to focus on climate change, implementation of the Global Warming Response Act, adaptation planning, and Governor Christie’s reckless rollbacks and failures.

Why would the environment Committees – controlled by Democrats – not want to conduct oversight of all that?

In the wake of the Open Space funding debacle and the Governor’s intervention to kill the sales tax Resolution – during which the Gov. called Senate Environment Committee Chairman Bob Smith “a joke” – why would legislative democrcts not want to focus on that?

And finally, after 4 years of no action, no talk and actual hostility by the Gov. to urban and environmental justice issues, why would the Chairwoman of the Assembly Environment Committee – a black woman from Newark – not insist that urban and environmental justice issues be the focus?

When Democrats repeatedly make these kind of fundamental strategic mistakes – political malpractice – and blow opportunities like this, it is no accident.

It can only mean that they support, don’t oppose, or simply are afraid of Governor Christie.

That is not leadership – it’s an abdication of their Legislative responsibility to oversee and check the Executive, and a political disgrace.

(Full disclosure: I have spoken with both Chairs and urged that they conduct oversight per the above issue set).

Don’t expect anything to change – this is all “pretend” – the “old normal”.

According to Georgetown University Climate Center, NJ is the only northeastern state without a climate change adaptation plan – a serious deficiency noted in a recent federal Report.  ~~~ Wolfenotes – 1/24/13

“The order amounts to a total abdication of DEP’s responsibility to supervise responsible planning and environmentally sound permitting of critical public infrastructure,’’ said Bill Wolfe, director of the New Jersey chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a public watchdog group. ~~~ NJ Spotlight 11/7/12

Tom Johnson at NJ Spotlight reports today on Gov. Christie signing important legislation:

CHRISTIE SIGNS BILL PROVIDING FUNDS TO REPAIR, HARDEN NJ WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

With some of the state’s largest drinking water and wastewater treatment plants heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy, Gov. Chris Christie yesterday signed a bill aimed at financing repairs at the facilities.

The legislation (S-2815) establishes a three-year program that could allocate up to $5 billion, not only to repair the plants, but also to harden them against future extreme weather, a probability that has elicited broad bipartisan agreement of what is the “new normal.’’

The Gov. and the Legislature are pretending to address NJ’s massive infrastructure vulnerability problems that will only worsen as climate change accelerates.

The problem begins and progress is being blocked at the top – because Gov. Christie continues to deny that climate change is an urgent issue that must be incorporated into all policies NOW – instead, the Gov. says that climate change is an “esoteric issue” he has no time to consider.

The Gov.’s views are why, first of all, NJ does not have a Climate Change Adaptation plan, the only state in the Northeast not to have one.

As a result, State officials are flying blind – no assessment of the problem, no idea of the feasible options or the cost of solutions, no policy in plan and no plan on how to implement the policy.

The Gov. is blocking development of any regional planning – even for the highly vulnerably NJ coast, where he is opposing a Coastal Commission.

The bill the Gov. signed is business as usual – made far worse by DEP Commissioner Bob Martin’s Order which deregulated repair and re-installation of infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Sandy.

Jeff Tittel got it exactly right when he said:

“Even though we have just been devastated by Hurricane Sandy and are trying to rebuild, this legislation does not even mention climate change adaptation or preparing for sea-level rise or storm surges. We are concerned that this money is just going out to sea in the next storm,’’ said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, a frequent critic of the Christie administration.

But there are additional major gaps, loopholes, and flaws in existing regulatory programs and lax or non-existent DEP oversight that also must be addressed.

As I’ve written, current DEP NJPDES regulations make emergency planning voluntary and do not require implementation. That regulatory loophole must be closed.

Similarly, the DEP water supply regulations put DEP in charge of emergency planning for water supply infrastructure. DEP has done NOTHING to fulfill this responsibility.

(other than to outsource the program and shift a State responsibility to local governments)

Which takes me to the final point about accountability.

For years, DEP ignored Reports and warnings about infrastructure vulnerability (including DEP’s own Pilot Program and professional staff recommendations).

For years, DEP failed to enforce or strengthen rules.

For years, DEP failed to approach the Legislature or to initiate a public planning process to address these huge challenges.

All that is really bad and directly led to the lack of preparation by water and sewer utilities which caused far more damage than necessary (e.g. no backup power, insufficient/no fuel, no vulnerability reduced, etc).

This DEP lax oversight and negligence and incompetence were as bad or worse than NJ Transit’s mistakes in storing rolling stock in flood hazard zone that caused over $100 million in damage.

All this is really bad –

But then consider that tropical storm Irene illustrated huge vulnerabilities, e.g. it led to pipeline break that knocked out Monmouth’s water supply for an extended period.

Irene should have been a huge wakeup call. But it was ignored, making Sandy damage FAR WORSE than it had to be.

Bottom line: DEP has dodged all accountability for this and the “solution” just passed by the Legislature did not address or fix any of these problems.

Don’t expect anything to change – this is all “pretend” – the “old normal”.

Christie Silence in Wake of Paulsboro Toxic Train Disaster Contrasts With Obama’s Executive Order in Response to Texas Fertilizer Explosion

NJ Has Severe Risks Due to Dense Populations Nearby Chemical & Rail

Paulsboro NJ train derailment - the iconic photo of an industrial "sacrifice zone"

Earlier this week, I contrasted NJ Gov. Christie’s response to the Paulsboror Toxic train derailment with Louisiana Gov. Jindal’s (see this).

But the better contrast is not with Jindal, it’s with President Obama.

Christie’s silence, neglect, failure to act – and the gross mismanagement by his DEP, including false statements that downplayed public health risks – is no accident.

It is a matter of policy, and direct result of the Governor’s “regulatory relief” policy under Executive Order #2.

That Order calls for “immediate regulatory relief”, which includes rolling back NJ’s strict state standards to their federal minimum counterparts. Across the board, DEP is on a short leash and any new DEP regulations are strictly verboten – just not to be even discussed.

(curious, the NJ press corps has reported the Christie slogan “red tape” HUNDREDS of times, but never – not once – used the actual Christie EO term to describe the policy, which is “regulatory relief”.  Just another example of media bias and parroting of slogans).

The powerful chemical industry exercises an effective veto over the Christie Administration – and the NJ Legislature too.

So no wonder Christie was AWOL and DEP was downplaying risks and doing nothing to even suggest the need for new regulations.

But the NJ situation under Gov. Christie is very different than President Obama, who took action in the wake of the deadly April explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant.

Per AP report:

The massive explosion at the plant in the community of West, Texas, killed 15 people, leveled hundreds of structures and damaged three of the town’s four schools. It also prompted new scrutiny of regulations at chemical plants and the risks posed by deadly chemicals to people living in surrounding areas.

In contrast to Gov. Christie, who has done nothing in response to the Paulsboro tragedy, on August 1, President Obama issued and executive Order to improve the regulation of and reduce risk from chemicals.

(for Beltway Inside EPA coverage of the Order, see : Obama Order May Boost Bid For Stricter EPA Fertilizer, Plant Safety Rules

(for the expected Republican attack on regulation and the chemical industry’s attempt to avoid EPA regulation in favor of laxer oversight under Homeland Security, see this story).

Here is the Obama Order:

Executive Order — Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security

Section 6 of that Order is key – it provides:

c) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Administrator of EPA and the Secretary of Labor shall review the chemical hazards covered by the Risk Management Program (RMP) and the Process Safety Management Standard (PSM) and determine if the RMP or PSM can and should be expanded to address additional regulated substances and types of hazards. In addition, the EPA and the Department of Labor shall develop a plan, including a timeline and resource requirements, to expand, implement, and enforce the RMP and PSM in a manner that addresses the additional regulated substances and types of hazards.

While it is targeted at risks from ammonium nitrate fertilizers in response to the Texas explosion, it could have a dramatic impact in NJ.

Let me suggest a few reasons why the Order has been ignored this far in NJ, and how it could have an impact:

1. The Order calls for improved coordination among federal, state, and local regulators on chemical safety and emergency response  –

that is clearly in response not only to Texas, but the Paulsboro train derailment.

2. The Order calls for EPA to consider an expansion in types of risks regulated.

This too is clearly in response to paulsboro, where huge gaps in regulation were found in transportation, railroad, and local emergency plants and industry risk management plans.

EPA may consider risks from rail transportation and storage, HUGE issues here in NJ.

3. The Order calls for consideration of whether additional chemicals should be regulated.

NJ is a major chemical producing state – NJ has unique risks due to dense populations living very close chemicals plants ands railroads – the “kill zone”.

4. The Order includes identification of needed  legislative initiatives.

5. The Order creates a process to consider additional requirements – best practices could include “inherently safer technologies” and “toxics use reduction”

Sec. 7. Identification of Best Practices. The Working Group shall convene stakeholders, including chemical producers, chemical storage companies, agricultural supply companies, State and local regulators, chemical critical infrastructure owners and operators, first responders, labor organizations representing affected workers, environmental and community groups, and consensus standards organizations, in order to identify and share successes to date and best practices to reduce safety risks and security risks in the production and storage of potentially harmful chemicals, including through the use of safer alternatives, adoption of best practices, and potential public-private partnerships.

Now the question becomes, will this Order even get media and environmental group attention in NJ?

A similarly important Obama Executive Order on Sandy got zero converge and no engagement by NJ “environmentalists” see:

• Obama Executive Order on Sandy Provides Sharp Contrast With NJ Gov. Christie’s Response

How can this be happening again?

photo shot from "shelter in place" zone - 12/4/12

“Forest Stewardship” bill on Gov. Desk Getting National Attention

Heartland Institute Notes Democratic Sponsors & Environmental Support

*** These are not the forest stewards who will be implementing the logging bill (Source: Dodge Foundation website). Note: Dodge fails to identify these folks or explain what they are doing in a caption. I find that very disrespectful and - given the context - implied support of the stewardship bill. I've asked them to clarify.*** see update below

[Update below]

As I recently wrote, Senator Lesniak (D-Union) made a dominant political dynamic very clear in his Op-Ed criticism of Gov. Christie’s veto of a bill opposed by the Iowa based National Pork Council:

The governor won’t admit it, but his political ambitions appear to be dictating his decision. He must have Iowa on his mind. It is the first state to conduct a Republican primary for president, it is one of the largest pork producers in the country and it is home to the National Pork Council. It appears that he sold his soul to Iowa and sold out to his ambitions for higher office beyond New Jersey.

Well, NJ Legislative Democrats and certain “conservation” groups have managed to give Gov. Christie another national right wing platform issue on his way to 2016.

The latest is passage of a “forest stewardship” bill, now on the Gov.’s desk.

The Heartland Institute has latched on to the “forest stewardship” logging bill, making that issue another opportunity for Christie to appeal to the republican base.

[We previously reported links to the ALEC model forestry bill, so now another right wing group jumps in. Who’s next, Steve Lonegan?]

Heartland is a Koch brothers funded, right wing, “wise use”,  climate denial corporate front group. They have flagged that issue for a national audience (see:

• New Jersey Legislature Approves Logging in Forest Stewardship Bill

We’ve been disgusted by how Gov. Christie has used a series of environmental rollbacks as fodder to bolster his right wing and corporate bona fides – all with little pushback from NJ Democrats or “conservation” groups.

The Gov. has positioned himself on the far political right on a host of red meat issues, using the message, slogans, and policy agenda of the right, including:

• subtle climate change denial (an “esoteric issue” according to the Gov.);
• unilaterally removing NJ from RGGI (a move designed to appease a campaign by the Koch Brothers funded Americans For Prosperity);
• “Rebuild Now!” response to Sandy, a firm rejection of climate risks;
• “Job killing red tape” and “regulatory relief” slogans to mask attacks on government and protective regulations

Some NJ media and political pundits finally have begun to realize that Gov. Christie is engaging in this right wing agenda to promote his national political ambitions – by doing so along a host of policy issues, from guns, to gays, women’s healthcare, and medical marijuana.

Here’s a good example of that recognition that the Gov.’s political ambitions and right wing ideology trump the best interests of NJ:  Gov. Christie’s towering hypocrisy on climate

Well, the Gov.’s climate denying friends over at the right wing Heartland Institute have weighed in on the latest national platform issue for Gov. Christie.

And the Democrats provided that opportunity – with environmental groups support, things that Heartland emphasized:

The language of the bill allows targeted logging as a forest stewardship strategy, and the bill’s Democratic sponsors made it clear they consider targeted logging a necessary component of wise stewardship for many state-owned forest lands.

Fine-Tuned for Environmental Support
McKeon made several changes to the bill’s initial language, responding to concerns voiced by various environmental activist groups. Most importantly for environmental activists, McKeon added the language ensuring forest stewardship plans comply with Forest Stewardship Council standards.

So there you have it – Dems and “conservation” groups on the same page with right wing climate denying corporate front groups like Heartland.

Heckofajob!

[Update: Clarification from Dodge – my apologies for over-looking the info – I typically look under the photo for the caption:

in the righthand column at the bottom, it states that the photo is the Student Conservation Association.

The photos on these pages are representative of the categories and organizations we fund. They are not intended as a political or advocacy statement.

The actual text reads:

Photo: Student Conservation Assocations’ (sic) Allaire State Park crew after blazing, marking and installing signage for 105,600 feet of trail. Photo courtesy Student Conservation Assocation (sic)

Another Toxic Train Derailment Highlights Need for Stricter Regulation

Louisiana Gov. Involved, Immediate Evacuations, Public Given Accurate Scientific Warnings – But Not One Word From Gov. Christie

Lessons Learned From NJ’s Failures in Paulsboro Last Year

[Updates below]

Yesterday, there was another toxic train derailment involving vinyl chloride, this time in Louisiana – see:

• Derailed train in Louisiana carrying highly toxic substances, Jindal says
• Train derailment leads to haz-mat situation, evacuations

The accident highlights unacceptable risks and the need for stricter rail and chemical safety laws and regulations, particularly for a densely populated state like NJ, with hundreds of thousands of people at risk as a result of living nearby chemical plants and rail lines.

But a really interesting set of conclusions arise from the contrast between how Louisiana and NJ officials responded to the derailment.

You don’t have to even read those articles to note glaring contrasts with last fall’s Paulsboro NJ train derailment – just read the headlines.

Note that even the headline blares that vinyl chloride is some very dangerous stuff.

But in NJ, emergency reponders and the public were LIED to about the risks of the chemical vinyl chloride, leading to multiple lawsuits by well over 100 residents and emergency responders.

But that’s not all the headline tells us.

Note that the State government is involved and that the State spokesperson is the Governor.

Governor Jindal not only is involved and on top of the situation and the science, but he even visited the site.

We have not heard one single word from Gov. Christie about the trauma suffered by the people of Paulsboro, the safety of the emergency responders, the dangers of train derailments, and the risks of toxic chemicals.

Not one word (for early community reaction to that, see  New Jersey Governor Christie continues to ignore Paulsboro residents).

(nothing from Gov. Christie, even as the Pausboro train bridge collapse became a national poster child for crumbling infrastructure)

But there are even more significant contrasts.

In Louisiana, the vinyl chloride had not even leaked, yet there was an evacuation in a 1 mile radius.

In contrast, after a catastrophic release of vinyl chloride, the people of Paulsboro were told to “shelter in place”, with only a small initial evacuation zone which expanded as emergency responders got pressure from critics.

The Paulsboro derailment was the subject of a recent series of investigatory hearings by the National Transportation Safety Board – I plan to write about that soon.

But one things seems clear: Louisiana has avoided and/or learned from the major mistakes made by NJ in Paulsboro.

Another sad fact is even clearer:

NJ – once a national leader in chemical risk management and emergency response –  is lagging behind and less aggressive than Louisiana.

This is another legacy of Governor Christie’s “regulatory relief” policy under Executive Order #2.

[Update #1: I tried to find data on the Town (or Parish) and people where the derailment occurred.

My hypothesis was they they were poor, black, and minority – these populations suffer disproportionate burdens of environmental and health risks and undesirable land uses, like railroad lines and chemical plants –  textbook environmental injustice.

Looks like I was right: Wiki

The racial makeup of the parish was 56.51% White, 42.13% Black or African American,  0.14% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.01%Pacific Islander, 0.31% from other races, and 0.70% from two or more races. 0.91% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 16.7% reported speaking French or Cajun French at home.^[8]

The median income for a household in the parish was $22,855, and the median income for a family was $28,908. Males had a median income of $29,458 versus $18,473 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $12,042. About 24.70% of families and 29.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.70% of those under age 18 and 27.50% of those age 65 or over.

But the fellow conservative Republican Gov. is far more open and responsive in Louisiana than NJ – shame on Christie.

[Update #2:  More contrast – keep in mind that NJ experienced at actual catastrophic release of vinyl chloride. That has not happened in the Louisiana derailment, but the Gov. there is taking precautions and has a evacuation in place.

Jindal declares state of emergency due to train derailment, hazardous leaks