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Forecast U.S. coal generation will rise to 289 billion kWh this summer, representing an increase in generation share from 22% last summer to 26% this summer.  ~~~ Source: US Energy Information Administration

This post is for all those who believe that Joe Biden is victoriously winning the so called “war on coal” declared by President “All of the Above – record fossil production” – Obama, who bragged (before a photo-op stack of pipe):

Under my administration, America is producing more oil than at any time in the last eight years. We’ve opened up new areas for exploration. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating rigs to a record high. We’ve added enough new oil and gas pipeline to circle the Earth and then some,” Obama said (source)

You may have come to that conclusion about Biden by all the favorable press and environmental group cheerleading for the Biden Executive Order “Pause” on fossil extraction on federal land.

However, as we wrote, the Associated Press exposed that lie, read the AP story:

• US drilling approvals increase despite Biden climate pledge

Similarly, the press recently touted the Biden EPA’s decision to reverse the Trump EPA rollback of coal power water pollution requirements. Trump rolled back the Obama administration’s EPA regulations, see the Washington Post’s story:

• Biden administration to curb toxic wastewater from coal plants with new rule

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it will set stricter requirements for how coal-fired power plants dispose of wastewater full of arsenic, lead and mercury — a major source of toxic water pollution in rivers, lakes and streams near electric generators across the country, from Wyoming to Pennsylvania.

In a new rulemaking process that kicked off Monday, President Biden’s team is aiming to undo one of the Trump administration’s major regulatory rollbacks. Last year, the Trump EPA weakened rules forcing many coal plants to treat wastewater with modern filtration methods and other technology before it reached waterways that provide drinking water for thousands of Americans.

But, just like the initial reporting on the Biden “pause”, the media got spun and got the story exactly backward again. Biden EPA is NOT setting stricter standards and they are NOT undoing Trump EPA’s rollback.

Even the WaPo was forced to report that:

Yet the decision upset some environmental advocates who say the Biden team is not working fast enough. The EPA will not try to revert immediately to the stricter standards set under President Barack Obama in 2015, allowing the weaker Trump-era rule to remain in effect.

That means many coal plants will be allowed to send polluted wastewater into rivers and streams for several more years while the agency writes the new regulations. The EPA expects to propose new requirements on power plants’ wastewater by next fall, with a finalized rule expected by the end of Biden’s term at the latest.

“Several more years“?

It will take a lot longer than “the end of Biden’s term” for EPA to propose, adopt, and incorporate the new stricter requirements in water pollution control permits for individual facilities. After at least a 4 year rulemaking process, assuming the EPA rules survive virtually certain legal challenge, the EPA has to incorporate these new requirements in individual coal power plant permits. EPA can do this either via unilaterally “calling up” and modifying individual permits or by incorporating the new requirements in individual permits as they expire and are renewed. This all will take well over a decade, and it is likely that the coal plants will shut down due to economic conditions long before any new EPA water pollution control requirements are imposed.

“Stricter requirements”? Nope.

It didn’t have to be this way. The Biden EPA had better regulatory options.

Instead the Biden EPA could have:

1) deployed EPA’s power under the Clean Water Act to impose “water quality based effluent limits” that are far stricter than the Obama EPA’s “technology based effluent” requirements. Most receiving waters are “impaired” for toxic chemicals found in coal power plant discharges (e.g. mercury). Dischargers to “impaired waters” must comply with WQBELs. Green groups should sue EPA now. or

2) sought a judicial order/compliance schedule or entered into a settlement agreement with environmental groups to mandate an accelerated “emergency rule”  timetable to restore the Obama EPA requirements while the Biden EPA developed stricter regulatory standards.

Instead of these better alternatives  the Biden EPA adopted the Trump EPA standards and did not seek judicial enforcement or a compliance schedule.

By doing so, EPA injected at least a decade of delay in actually implementing stricter clean water standards on the coal power industry and undermined the strength and enforceability of those standards.

This gives the coal industry a huge break and the “regulatory certainty” they seek.

Not only that, but the Biden EPA not only will continue but actually praised the Trump EPA “rollback” regulations as “near term progress”!:

“Really, our rationale around that is that otherwise these coal power plants would be operating under very outdated 1982 regulations,” said Fox, the EPA water chief. “So essentially what we’re doing today through this action is we’re locking in near-term progress.”

Reminder: what EPA actually “locked in” was the Trump EPA rollback, certainly not “near term progress”

The EPA will not try to revert immediately to the stricter standards set under President Barack Obama in 2015, allowing the weaker Trump-era rule to remain in effect.

So, this amounts to another Biden concession to Big Coal.

And I don’t think the timing of this EPA announcement is an accident.

The EPA announcement comes at a time when Sen. Joe Manchin (who Chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with jurisdiction over climate, energy and infrastructure legislation) is demanding concessions for coal in the Biden infrastructure and climate legislative initiatives.

The Biden White House depends on Manchin’s vote in a 50-50 Senate and there is no way that they would be stupid enough to allow EPA to stick a finger in his eye at a critical point in these sensitive negations.

So, what really happened was that the Biden White House likely directed EPA to issue this formal Federal Register public notice now to lock in and provide concrete assurances to Manchin that EPA would not ratchet down on Big Coal.

Today, EPA signed a Federal Register Notice to announce its intent to initiate this rulemaking process. Because this rulemaking could result in more stringent ELGs that are the subject of petitioners’ claims in litigation pending in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Department of Justice—in coordination with EPA—is filing a request to the Court to hold the litigation in abeyance. The agency intends to issue a proposed rule for public comment in the fall of 2022.

Recall that EPA review and likely reversal of the Trump EPA coal rollback was directed in Biden’s Executive Orders, so everyone paying attention knew this huge decision was coming. EPA just provided a concrete assurance to Manchin and his coal buddies.

So, after the collapse of the Biden “pause” and the Biden Supreme Court brief in support of the gas and pipeline industry,  now followed by the EPA dirty water coal concession, no wonder that the US Energy Information Administration is projecting coal share of electric power to increase this summer (see above chart – or is it a histogram?).

BTW, back in March, we predicted and wrote about the Supreme Court brief debacle shortly after the brief was filed, see:

• Biden PennEast Pipeline Betrayal Tests NJ Gov. Murphy’s Climate Commitments

Watch what Biden does, not what he says. Climate betrayals have consequences.

“I’m not banning fracking” ~~~ Joe Biden

Farm Certified In Need Of Redevelopment

Huge 588,000 sq. ft. Warehouse Proposed For Site

DEP About To Rubber Stamp Water Quality Plan Amendment

Jones Farm, on Rt. 130, Mansfield NJ

This is a very quick followup to my post the other day about warehouse developments pending DEP approvals.

It involves just one of the 6 pending warehouse developments I noted, a proposed new 588,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Mansfield, NJ. The warehouse is proposed on land called the Jones Farm.

The Jones Farm is located on Rt. 130, a busy highway corridor in south central NJ with nearby access to I-95 and I-295, rail, and Ports (Port Newark is just north and Philadelphia just south).

It is virtually surrounded by development and obviously must be considered valuable prime commercial or residential real estate.

It could also be considered: an important part of the block of nearby preserved farmland in Burlington County; important to the integrity of nearby wetlands and water quality of streams, ponds and Delaware River; space for wildlife habitat; a sink for carbon sequestration (instead of a major new source); or as a buffer to noise, light, air pollution, development and the huge traffic volumes already present on Rt. 130.

Mansfield Township NJ land use officials certified the Jones Farm in the above aerial photo as in need of redevelopment. You can read  the complete certification here.

Take a look at the photo and consider if you think this farm meets this statutory criteria for land in need of redevelopment for that certification:

unimproved vacant land by reason of its location, remoteness, lack of means of access to development, topography, or nature of the soil, is not likely to be developed through the instrumentality of private capital.

The farm is obviously not remote.

It has excellent access to nearby development, a well developed transportation network, and access to electric, internet, public sewer and water infrastructure.

It is the target of private capital investment in a multimillion dollar 588,000 square foot warehouse development.

How could Mansfield officials make that false certification and get away with it? Who are they accountable to?

DEP has already public noticed the facts, raised no objections, and said that they are OK with all this and issued a proposed approval:

It’s bad enough that the Township did that. But Burlington County and DEP reviewed it and signed off on it.

Corruption, in plain sight.

No press reporting. No opposition by environmental groups. Little if any public awareness.

Bill Ignores Regional Planning and DEP Regulatory Programs To Reduce Pollution

Perfect Example Of Corrupt Green Mafia Practices

Primary Beneficiary Is Private Consulting Firm That Works With Green Mafia 

On the last day of the legislative session before the summer break, the legislature quietly unanimously approved a one time $10 million supplemental appropriation to DEP (S3618) to address NJ’s persistent and proliferating episodes of “harmful algae blooms” and declining water quality. For context, see:

• Murphy DEP Failing To Respond To Toxic Algae Crisis

The bill is now on Gov. Murphy’s desk.

The bill provides a one time $10 million appropriation to DEP for: (OLS bill statement)

Political Stunt Is Too Little And Far Too Late

A coalition of climate activists submitted a petition for rulemaking to the Murphy DEP yesterday. The petition seeks to accelerate greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and block DEP approvals of new or expanded fossil infrastructure.

You can read the petition here. I want to limit my focus today on the political dimensions of this petition.

The petition is endorsed by 58 groups. Surprisingly included was Environment NJ, a group that has served as Gov. Murphy’s primary climate cheerleader. So, I was surprised that they got in Gov. Murphy’s face for a change. But, as we’ll see below, that move may end up being just the opposite of a political challenge to the Gov. and instead be the first step in an all too typical cynical Kabuki.

Notably missing in action is the Foundation, DEP, and corporate funded conservation community, including NJ Audubon Society, NJ Conservation Foundation, NJ League Of Conservation Voters, NJ Highlands Coalition, Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Rethink Energy NJ (the PennEast pipeline opposition group formed by NJCF), American Littoral Society, The StonyBrook Watershed Institute (and all the watershed groups), NY/NJ Baykeeper, Sustainable NJ, NJ Future, and the various other Mike Catania & Chris Daggett, Duke, Dodge, and Wm. Penn Foundation created astro-turf operations. Incredibly, this MIA faction also includes the environmental justice alliance.

Think about that they next time you see those groups quoted in the news about the urgency of climate threats, or appeals to FERC or DEP to deny approvals for pipelines  – or the need for more money to fund “resilience”, “smart growth” “sustainability” or “climate adaptation” or “environmental justice”.

For over a decade, I’ve been urging the environmental community to file regulatory petitions to DEP. For example, here’s one I filed back in 2007 and repeatedly circulated as a model.

The climate coalition’s petition was announced in Trenton and comes in the 4th year of the Murphy administration (and in the dead of summer, with the legislature in recess, and media and people focused on other important things).

During these 4 years, environmentalists have praised Gov. Murphy as a climate leader, and the press has portrayed Gov. Murphy as climate leader and champion of green energy. As a result, Gov. Murphy has a very strong – but false and undeserved – climate reputation.

This environmental group praise and favorable press occurred despite the facts that: 1) he has done absolutely nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 2) his DEP has issued permits for massive new fossil infrastructure projects and logging NJ forests, 3) his BPU Energy Master Plan is woefully inadequate and promotes continued expansion and reliance on fossil fuels, 4) he signed legislation authorizing a multi-billion nuclear bailout, 5) he has made off-shore wind a Wall Street finance and corporate bonanza, 6) he installed a former corporate lawyer, including for a massive new LNG export plant, as DEP Commissioner (amazingly, Mr. LaTourette was installed at DEP just 2 weeks after he successfully lobbied and rammed through DEP final permits for the LNG plant below the public’s radar), and 7) he almost killed the solar industry by signing into law a “cost cap” (while leaving in place a “net metering” solar cap that undermines small scale solar), which he was forced to repeal by subsequent legislation, an embarrassing U-Turn that also promotes massive corporate scale solar on farms, while undermining distributed small scale and rooftop solar. (Since Murphy is a former Wall Street Goldman Sachs man, he knows that investors and corporations require regulatory stability and certainty, so his bungling of solar finance and regulation could not be an accident).

This coalition petition also comes 18 months after DEP began “Stakeholder meetings” to discuss development of a package of regulations DEP calls PACT, for “Protecting Against Climate Threats“.

About 2 years ago, shortly after DEP announced the PACT regulatory initiative, I again strongly urged climate activists to move aggressively in order to get out front of and set expectations for the DEP PACT regulations. I then wrote:

the Murphy DEP should be barraged with petitions for rulemaking from the NJ environmental community on numerous issues, especially to get out in front of and frame the upcoming climate regulations DEP has named “PACT”.

I specifically warned activists not to wait and get diverted by the DEP’s “Stakeholder” process. I wrote:

A rule petition is a far more effective way to influence DEP than to sit around the table and get played in the DEP’s informal “Stakeholder processes”. That’s just where DEP wants you to be – safely in the room, instead of forcing their hand legally and out in the streets targeting DEP regulations for public protest demands.

I’ve been urging NJ environmental leaders to file these petitions for years, so now I’ll rehash that as a template for citizens.

Well, just as I warned, instead of mounting a public campaign and filing a regulatory petition before the DEP began developing the PACT rules, they engaged that DEP Stakeholder process and not only wasted 2 years and allowed the false perception of Gov. Murphy’s climate record to solidify, but allowed DEP to develop totally inadequate climate regulations.

So, the petition is a classic example of too little too late.

And it will be perceived as exactly the non-serious political stunt that it is, as even Jeff Tittel (retired) of Sierra Club made clear: (NJ Spotlight)

If the department rejects the petition, there is not much recourse for the coalition. “It sets down a marker for the election,’’ said Jeff Tittel, the former director of the Sierra Club, referring to the November gubernatorial election.

Did you get that? Tittel just admitted that the whole thing is essentially a political stunt. This crap is what destroys the credibility of climate activists (and I wonder how much they paid the lawyer who drafted or at least formatted the petition).

If all they wanted was a political “marker for the election”, the petition should have been deployed 4 years ago as a condition of endorsement of Gov. Murphy during the 2017 gubernatorial election.

By waiting this long – at a time when DEP’s long delayed PACT and EJ rules will be delayed until after the upcoming election – they give Murphy a total pass.

Worse, they have provided a cynical opportunity for the Gov. to make some lame public response, announcing his support of the accelerated emission reduction aspirational goals in the petition (while remaining silent on DEP permits for all the pending new fossil infrastructure projects).

Then the coalition groups can declare victory and endorse Murphy for Governor again. They then use this “victory” for fundraising with Foundations and their members.

Meanwhile, nothing real gets done, DEP PACT rules are a joke, new fossil infrastructure is permitted by DEP, greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, and climate catastrophe is accelerated.

This is a repeat of exactly how we got the toothless Global Warming Response Act.

Mark my words – expect the following events between now and October:

1). Gov. Murphy publicly announces support of the accelerated GHG emission reduction goals in petition. This could include another symbolic gesture in the form of a toothless and aspirational executive order. Of course, this generates huge applause from the green groups and tons of good press.

2) DEP issues a decision at the end of September that quietly supports the petition in principle, but technically does not grant the petition for rulemaking. DEP makes no specific commitments for regulatory changes. This formal regulatory determination (denial) on the petition gets no media coverage and the green groups ignore it. Or if it is covered, it gets spun a a “victory” in light of the Gov.’s announcement of support.

3) Green groups declare a major victory and endorse Murphy for Gov. at a Trenton press conference with the Gov.

In November, the Gov is re-elected and recognized as a national climate leader.

In January, DEP issue proposed Climate PACT rule that do not come close to mandating the emissions reductions or permit changes recommended by the petition.

Of course, the green groups and media ignore or misrepresent this reality.

I’ve seen this before. It’s the same Kabuki that gave us the toothless Global Warming Response Act.

(in a subsequent post, I will highlight some technical and policy flaws with the petition).

[Update: 7/27/21 – Breaking news! (snark).

I now have evidence that NJ climate activists are actually doing something! Yea!

After their Trenton Zoom call with reporters last week (which I mistakenly assumed was an actual State House event), I just learned that Dave Pringle put out an “action alert” yesterday (7/26/21). Cart before horse, and too little too late, again. If I were an activist, I wouldn’t want to learn about this after the fact via reading NJ Spotlight or this blog. At least Pringle correctly targets the Gov., but the only “activism” I can see is a request to sign a petition in support of their petition. I see no campaign, no resources, and no real organizing or field mobilization of activists. Here’s Dave!

From: David Pringle < dpringle1988@gmail.com>

Per our call just now, here’s the info./action alert re: the 7 group Empower NJ Steering Committee with support from 58 additional groups filing a legal petition last week under the NJ Administrative Procedures Act w/ NJDEP calling for rulemaking to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030:

     * a couple clips (NJ Spotlight / 101.5), 

     * the press release, 

     * the legal petition, and 

     *  the alert / sign on petition as a first step or one off in helping

Coal Plant Shutdowns Bailed Out As “Stranded Assets”

Instead of Complete Shutdown, Huge Coal Capacity Projected To Remain On Line

“PJM will have more coal capacity than any other RTO starting in 2023”

If retired early, such a [coal] plant may be subject to cost recovery risks because investment decisions were made based on the plant’s remaining full lifetime. Across the country, unrecovered coal investments amount to over $100 billion. (Source: The Brattle Group, link to Report below)

The nuclear industry has successfully secured billions of dollars in subsidies designed to keep uncompetitive, dangerous, dinosaur, high cost nuclear plants operating. In NJ alone, legislators and State regulators have provided almost a billion dollars, in just 3 years, and with no end for these $300 million/year subsidies in sight. (The Murphy BPU Energy Master Plan assumes these plants will operate until 2050!)

Hardly mentioned in the nuclear bailout debate is that, in NJ, those same nuke plants were bailed out as “stranded investments” in the 1999 Whitman administration law that deregulated energy production: (see  N.J. Utility Shows How to Offset Deregulation Costs

PSE&G, New Jersey’s largest utility was left with more than $3 billion of such stranded assets last year as a result of deregulation, says Busch.

The “lion’s share” of this total consists of the company’s Salem, Hope Creek, Peach Bottom and Limerick nuclear power plants.

Of this, Busch tells CFO.com, state regulators allowed for the recovery of $2.9 billion, $400 million through rate increases and the rest from the utility being able to write off the remaining life of the facilities.

Well, now – making exactly the same bailout arguments – there is another “stranded investment” bailout happening below the radar.

This time, it’s approximately $100 billion nationally for the coal power industry.

Here are the arguments now being made to State regulatory Commissions to support a bailout: