WolfeNotes.com

Promised turbine manufacturing jobs blowin’ in the wind

“Bipartisan” NJ Democrats got played by Gov. Christie on wind

Lessons for negotiations with Trump?

At a time when the Trump administration is under harsh criticism for relationships with Russia and is advocating an “America First” economic policy that seeks to erect barriers to imports as a means to expand US manufacturing jobs – including reviving US coal and steel manufacturing – NJ Democrats are celebrating importation of Russian steel.

Repeat: NJ Democrats are celebrating importation of Russian steel. Given the current context, that’s incredible on “optics” and poor policy as well. (the Port currently employs only “40 to 50 people”).

Maybe that kind of thinking helps explain why NJ manufacturing jobs are in free fall? And why trade unions are being manipulated and lied to by those same South Jersey Democrats who promise jobs as cover for ramming pipelines down our throats? (see:

• Pipe Dreams – The False Promise of Local Pipeline Jobs

But am I the only one to note the irony and hypocrisy in all the hoopla surrounding the hyped Paulsboro Port story? (which just so happens to ignore the Russia controversy, US jobs and the Port’s wind history):

• First import of Russian steel arrives at new Paulsboro port

On Wednesday, Doric Warrior made its final leg of a long journey to Paulsboro from Russia. The ship, 230 meters long, carried the first shipment of steel to the Paulsboro Marine Terminal. Crews worked tirelessly to unload some of the steel before Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assemblyman John Burzichelli, the men who envisioned and backed the port since day one, would welcome guests to mark the occasion. …

“This port is generational,” said Sweeney. “This port will sustain families for years to come.”

Burzichelli noted that the 700 workers employed to prepare the grounds, construct the port and unload the steel racked up roughly $25 million in payroll.

But aside from the huge contradiction between Trump and NJ Dems, does anyone recall the promise of wind jobs for that port?

South Jersey Biz (February 2012)

The port will be designed to handle various cargos. For example, wind turbines—a proposed tenant—could arrive at the port for assembly and ship back out fully constructed.

In 2010, Gov. Chris Christie went to the site of the port to sign the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act, a bill that provides market-based credits for offshore wind production. The bill—which was co-sponsored by Burzichelli—helped create an offshore renewable energy certificate (OREC) program that requires a certain percentage of electricity sold in the state to be wind energy manufactured offshore. The legislation also made it clear that Paulsboro would be the preferred hub for turbine assembly.

“Offshore wind would obviously be a great fit for Paulsboro,” Castignola says. “That would be a true perfect fit and almost fill up all of [the port], and put to bed in terms of space what we’ll be able to do there. It would be a great opportunity if that occurred.”

NJ Biz: (April 2013)

“The New Jersey Energy Link will help move New Jersey on a path towards greater grid reliability and lower power costs,” said Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli. “This feasibility study shows what the South Jersey Port Corporation has been working so hard on for years, to make the Paulsboro Marine Terminal a driving force for creating jobs and becoming a manufacturing hub for the offshore wind industry for the state.”

Or of the political commitments by Senator Sweeney and Assemblyman Burzichelli:(3rd Legislative District website)

• Senator Sweeney and Assemblyman Burzichelli worked in 2010 to pass the “Offshore Wind Economic Development Act,” which established an offshore wind renewable energy certificate program, and authorized the Economic Development Agency (EDA) to provide tax credits for qualified wind energy facilities in wind energy zones. This legislation is critical to the Port of Paulsboro project, and will be instrumental in bringing jobs into New Jersey.

The Democrats blamed Gov. Christie for the failure to realize wind, see:

• DEMOCRATS BLAME CHRISTIE’S NATIONAL AMBITIONS FOR STANDSTILL IN OFFSHORE WIND

“I honestly believe that it’s being held up by national politics,” said Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), standing outside the fence of the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, a site offshore wind proponents hope will become a hub for green manufacturing jobs associated with the sector.

Of course, Gov. Christie is to blame – but I also blame  Sweeney and the “bipartisan Democrats” for being totally naive – or complicit – in negotiating with the Gov. and for failure to pay attention to the details of the wind legislation they signed off on.

The off shore wind gambit was obviously a Christie cynical bait and switch – just like the false promises he made to the NJ Environmental Federation to secure their 2009 endorsement.

From day one, providing the Christie BPU with virtually standardless unfettered discretion to determine “net economic benefits” (the cost test) and veto wind was so obviously fatally flawed.

Which takes us to the current situation national Democrats face in negotiating an infrastructure program with the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress.

Will national democrats get suckered like their NJ counter-parts?

Immediately after the election, we predicted they would:

The first issue to cement this coalition and illustrate this strategy is likely to be infrastructure, where timid corporate Democrats will be promised union infrastructure jobs in exchange for huge corporate tax cuts.

Of course, the Trump infrastructure deal will include privatization (“public-private partnerships”) and unrelated items like deregulation, attacks on unions, Wall Street financing giveaways, and environmental rollbacks too. (Obama already set the stage for all that with his Executive Orders to “streamline” NEPA and environmental reviews of infrastructure projects. Congressional Democrats – including corporate Wall Street Dems like Cory Booker – have already introduced “public private partnership” infrastructure bills, just like NJ State Democrats supported Gov. Christie’s privatization of water infrastructure and anti-democratic elimination of prior local voter approval requirements).

But Trump has been severely weakened since then by a series of scandals.

Still, we are not optimistic.

Some Democrats are desperate for restoring relationships with the traditional labor base – those “forgotten working class” voters – and will fall for any line of bullshit that promises “jobs”.

Some Dems are Trump collaborators (e.g. those facing 2018 elections that voted for his Cabinet nominees), some share Trump’s policy views on corporate subsidies, privatization, Wall Street finance, and/or “public – private partnerships”, and some are just plain cowards.

Time will tell.

But there are remarkable parallels between Trump and Christie – the environmental policy and politics are virtually an echo – and it would be reckless and stupid for the national Democrats not to learn from that experience.

Senator Sweeney (L), Wolfe (R) – Earth Day 2005 – revised!

The beginning and rapid expansion of a truly awful partnership

Today, the Christie DEP attacked science based “catch limits” required to sustain a critical summer flounder NJ fishery:

(17/P12) TRENTON – The Christie Administration has formally requested the new U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, to put a hold on severe restrictions on recreational summer flounder fishing adopted recently by a regional fisheries commission, a move that would effectively cripple the state’s fishing industry and have far-reaching impacts on the shore tourism economy, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced today. (read full press release)

That move is the fourth “partnership” initiative with the Trump administration that would undermine science and harm New Jersey’s environment and natural resources – the others are

• The Trump USGS rejected a federal Data Quality Act complaint regarding the Christie DEP’s proposed rollback of core Highlands clean water protections (see this for details);

• The Trump National Park Service reversed course and withdrew its prior opposition to a Christie backed Pinelands pipeline; (see this for details)

• The Trump USGS and DEP “partnered” on a misleading water quality report that cherry picked data and exaggerated alleged improvements in water quality. The Report and press releases were coordinated and issued the day before the Trump Administration killed the Obama EPA’s “Waters of the US” regulation under the Clean Water Act – a “very unique” situation, according to a USGS dogwhistle:

“The U.S. Geological Survey and the DEP have a longstanding and productive partnership, one that is very unique,” said Bob Hirsch, a USGS scientist who co-authored the report. (DEP press release)

The NJ legislature needs to step up oversight and push back against these joint Trump – Christie attacks, before they get even worse.

Note to professionals at EPA and NJ DEP – if you see something, leak something!

Sessions Perjury The Last Straw

The latest scandal in the Trump Cabinet – disclosures that show that Attorney General Sessions lied during his sworn testimony during Senate confirmation hearings by denying communications with Russia during the campaign in response to a point blank question by Senator Franken – have spurred the Dog Democracy into full blown why we fight revolutionary rebellion mode!

We’re demanding a special Prosecutor to investigate and dispatch both Sessions and Trump.

[Update: read NY Times Op-Ed: “Jeff Sessions Needs To Go”]

And it’s only a matter of time before all the dirt comes out on EPA Administrator Pruitt and Secretary of State Tillerson

End Note: I suspect some Trump supporting vandals smashed an old fashioned globe I had on the front porch sometime last night – remember them? I used to have it lit up until the lightbulb died and there are no replacements! I got the globe in flood debris in Stockton, NJ following Hurricane Irene in August 2011 

Hurricane Irene 8/11

Shadow of Trump Cast On NJ Pinelands

NPS fold may have national significance

We know how Trump feels about pipelines and promoting fossil fuels.

The public should now whether this insane Trump policy extends to the National Parks.

[Updates below]

Was it a career bureaucrat’s fear of Trump?

Or was it Trump policy?

What explains the fact that the National Park Service (NPS) representative on the Pinelands Commission abstained from voting last Friday on the controversial South Jersey Gas Co. pipeline?

What explains the fact that NPS abandoned its prior official position of opposition to the same pipeline?

Some may recall that the NPS representative to the Commission voted NO in a January 2014 7-7 tie vote. That vote represented a NPS policy decision.

Therefore, the current representative’s abstention of Friday represents an abandonment of the prior NPS policy.

The NPS representative to the Commission who voted NO in January 2014, retired in December, just prior to the Friday vote.

According to current NPS representative Frank Hays’ (see his bio) remarks during the vote on Friday – after asking Executive Director Wittenberg a good question – he claimed he abstained because he lacked sufficient information and time on the Commission to make an informed vote.

That claim does not pass the straight face test. Here’s why.

First of all, a foundational slogan of US government is that we are a nation of laws not men. The rule of law is fundamental to governing.

Agency decisions are made in accordance with law and science. Representatives of agencies are supposed to act in accordance with and represent agency policy, not their own individual preference.

Accordingly, NPS policy is not made by individual preferences. Retirement of an individual NPS representative should not change NPS policy.

Second, NPS policy on the  SJG Pinelands pipeline was established back in January 2014. That policy must have had a technical rationale that the NPS representative to the Commission cleared with NPS upper management and that rationale was incorporated in NPS administrative files.

Given the controversy and high profile of this pipeline, Mr. Hays, the current NPS representative, had to be aware of the prior 2014 decision and the NPS rationale for that decision.

Third, Mr. Hays had to know that President Trump has repeatedly personally supported pipelines. As I wrote:

In Trump’s first weeks in office – just like his advisor Gov. Christie – Trump issued sweeping Executive Orders to rollback environmental regulatory protections. He directed the US Army Corps of Engineers to reverse the Obama Dakota Access pipeline environmental review process and ordered the State Department to reconsider the Keystone XL pipeline. Trump has pledged to abandon the Paris Climate Accords and withdraw EPA’s Clean Power Plan. He nominated Scott Pruitt, who has sued EPA 14 times and advocated for the oil and gas industry, to head EPA. The head of Trump’s EPA Transition Team threatened to abolish EPA.

So, the only question in my mind is whether Mr. Hays abstained because he feared for his personal career or whether the Trump NPS leadership directed his vote.

I suspect it is a little of both –

But it could be only the former and that Mr. Hays is a careerist bureaucratic survivor.

Almost all career bureaucrats that survive and manage to be promoted to middle management positions, put their personal career above principle. They know which way the political winds are blowing, what upper level managers want, and when to duck.

But if the abstention reflects a formal change in NPS policy under the Trump administration, then that is very bad and will set precedent for the upcoming vote on the NJ Natural Gas pipeline – as well as have national significance. 

Perhaps environmental groups could file a FOIA for NPS documents or an intrepid media could make inquiries to the NPS press office to clarify the rationale for Mr. Hays abstention and whether it reflects agency policy.

We know how Trump feels about pipelines and promoting fossil fuels.

The public should now whether this insane Trump policy extends to the National Parks.

[End Note: Yes, I understand that the Pinelands National Reserve is a unique management model and very different from a National Park in terms of NPS’ role and that NPS tends to defer to State and regional management. I also understand that the Jan. 2014 vote on the SJG MOA was a different vote than Friday’s vote on the revised SJG application.

Regardless, these realities are not the driving forces behind Friday’s NPS fold. –end endnote]

[Update #2 – 3/20/17 – We just learned that Frank Hays, NPS representative to the Pinelands Commission, died on March 3 (obit). Frank was just 58 and had fine career with the NPS. We mourn his death, offer our condolences to his family, loved ones, and friends, express our deep respect of his career in service to our National Parks. ~~~ end update]

Update #1: They say never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to. Just a quick Google – and now we know! IF Trump wants to drill, pipelines are chump change – but Mr. Hays, Pinelands Commission member from the NPS Northeast Offices, should have said this publicly as the basis for his vote:

• Trump taps well of protest with calls for more drilling in national parks ~~~ end update]

Former Chairman, Commissioner Lohbauer provides brilliant statement in opposition

Commission Votes For Fossil On A Record-breaking 76 degree February Day

Signal of climate chaos

NJ Natural Gas Pipeline Next In Line for the Christie – Wittenberg Rubber Stamp

[Update below]

There was a huge turnout today of strong and loud opponents for the Pinelands Commission’s final meeting on the proposed South Jersey Gas Co. pipeline.

The line outside formed early – hours before the 9:30 am start – and the 1,600 seat ballroom was 3/4 full – over 95% opposed (the union guys stayed home – they knew the deal was in).

I was one of the over 100 people turned away and/or forced to stand for hours in the cold rain in the previous fiasco at Browns Mills, so I made sure I arrived early (it was still dark when I got there and I was the first on line and to sign up to speak – absolutely to no avail!).

Commissioner Barr, a political hack with no Pinelands experience who was installed as a puppet by strong armed tactics by Gov. Christie and Senate President Sweeney, had the balls to announced in the press that he would vote to approve, 3 days BEFORE the hearing.

So much for deliberation with his fellow Commissioners and public input prior to making a decision! Note that his support has nothing to do with his legal obligation under the CMP and that his claims about property taxes are factually false. You really can’t make this stuff up:

He [Barr] warned of a “cascading effect” caused by the plant’s possible shutdown, including higher local property taxes, the loss of jobs and Upper Township residents leaving the area.

“They will move because their property taxes will go through the roof,” he said.

Keeping the plant open would create more jobs for the region, Barr said. The facility currently does not run every day of the year, but its conversion to natural gas would allow it to operate constantly, requiring more workers to keep it humming, he stressed.

It was tragically fitting that the temperatures outside were soaring to a record-breaking 76 degree February day, as the Commission blindly and corruptly voted to approve a massive $500 million regional pipeline and gas power plant infrastructure project, fueled by Marcellus shale fracked gas.

I am providing this quote, because it was included in the initial AP national wire story, but was mysteriously deleted from every single one but this one: (Down the Memory Hole! I am the Invisible Man!)

“What you just did was despicable,” environmentalist Bill Wolfe told the commission. “I’m gonna use George Bush and say people who voted for this pipeline are evildoers.” – see NBC TV/AP story: Hotly Contested Pinelands Pipeline Project Passes Despite Noisy Protest

[Note: Fox News and NJTV included my Bush “evil-doer” quote – but without my preface that I typically avoided both Manichaean and religious terms. The national AP story replace my “evil-doer” quote with this, from a holy man – the point more powerfully and credibly made!:

As a priest, I will pray for you when you stand before the throne of God and you are asked to give an accounting of your stewardship of this special ecological area,” said Rev. David Stump, a Catholic priest from Jersey City. “May God have mercy on your souls.” ~~~ end note]

The turnout was fantastic, but, while there was a time for the Woody Guthrie singing, the tactics failed to reflect the actual procedural actions by the Commissioners.

The protesters failed to understand the process, at times drowning out the superb opposition statement by Commissioner Lohbauer, and yet at other times failing to  understand the implications of the defeat of Lohbauer’s motion to table and get more aggressive and try to shut the meeting down and prevent the vote of approval.

Once the Lohbauer motion to table was defeated, it was abundantly obvious that the deal was done and the final vote was a mere formality, yet the crowd plowed on in a singsong denial, oblivious. (in a subtle and slimy legal move, the Deputy Attorney General interjected to advise Lohbauer that his motion could not include tabling the prior Resolution to approve and referral to the Office of Administrative Law for an adjudicatory hearing. Lohbauer then amended his motion to delete the OAL hearing. This is complex, but legally relevant, because several Commissioners noted factual conflicts in the record and flaws in ED Wittenberg’s recommendation to approve.)

At one point, as I was attempting to educate the crowd as to what was going on, I was accosted by a young man I can only describe as a Food and Water Watch cult member.

He was ignorant of what was going on in the meeting and he mistakenly thought I was an agent provocateur. I had to ask the State Police to make him get out of my space, before I had to defend my space physically.

One interesting and disturbing note: the new National Park System representative on the Commission asked some relevant questions – including about this untold Pinelands history – but he abstained in the vote. His predecessor voted NO in 2014. But the NPS representative now serves in the Trump administration and the President is personally championing pipelines (KXL and DAPL).

There are solid grounds for litigation and Commissioner Lohbauer’s statement greatly supported that litigation.

There is also the direct action option.

The meeting received extensive media coverage, which I thought this line from the Press of Atlantic City story was the most revealing:

None of the commissioners who voted for the pipeline spoke about why they were voting the way they were, although Galletta said he had enough information to vote today, after years of hearing from all sides.

In that same article, deplorably corrupt Senator Van Drew talks some smack:

So I’ll just leave it at that for now, with some pics –

And bring on the Mom’s Brigade! Senator Van Drew is terribly afraid!:

[Update: Asbury Park Press editorial: “Pinelands Pipeline: “See You In Court” absolutely kills it:

Fittingly, given the sham of the process, Friday’s vote preceded rather than followed the public comment period. Hundreds of people, the majority of whom adamantly opposed the project, came to the meeting knowing full well that the fix was in. Many stayed for at least two hours after the vote, when they were finally given the opportunity to take their turn at the microphone. Most expressed their disgust with the commissioners who sold them out.

that’s me standing in rear, white shirt. Source: Press of Atlantic City