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DEP issued permits for NJ Natural Gas the same day Pinelands Commission OK’d SJG

Accelerating climate catastrophe ignored – again

We got a heads up on this last week from Agnes Marsala, head of People Over Pipelines, so we were not surprised by Dave Levinsky’s Burlington County Times report today:

New Jersey Natural Gas’ proposed gas pipeline through northern Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties has cleared another regulatory hurdle. … The permits were awarded Feb. 24…

The permits were received the same day the [Pinelands] commission approved construction of another pipeline through part of the Pinelands in Cape May County. That decision was blasted by environmental groups, who fear it might set a precedent for approving other pipelines like New Jersey Natural Gas’ Southern Reliability Link. …

“(Gov. Chris) Christie’s one-two attack on the environment delivered Friday, Feb. 24th, marks a desperate, end-game attempt to ram as much unnecessary, permanent fossil fuel infrastructure as possible through the Garden State before his term expires,” said Agnes Marsala, president of the group.

We told you that would happen:

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

The record setting Christie DEP press office – who has issued more press releases by far than any other – didn’t issue a press release. Not even a Friday afternoon dump.

Not only did DEP try to keep this quiet and under the radar, instead, when they knew the press was working on a pipeline story, they cynically put out a self serving diversionary smokescreen to create the appearance of protecting the Pinelands (see this). (this is a longstanding and shameless abuse, especially for climate related issues).

Like the South Jersey Gas pipeline, this NJNG pipeline also has a particularly corrupt regulatory history at BPU (see this and this), the Pinelands Commission, and the DEP. Lets look at DEP.

The Christie DEP not only bent the rules to approve this pipeline, remarkably, they actually changed the rules to make it easier for pipelines!

The DEP rolled back protections under the Flood Hazard Act (stream encroachment permits) to issue and essentially deregulate and privatize stream encroachment permits under what is called a “Permit by Rule” (see this for details:

• Christie DEP Set To Issue Controversial Compressor Station and Pinelands Pipeline Permits
• Christie DEP Finds That Pipelines Crossing Streams Have “No Impact” On Them

Keep in mind that the rollback of those stream encroachment rules weakened other critical protections for streams (see: The Case for a Legislative Veto) that apply statewide (and not only to pipelines).

The rollbacks made it cheaper for energy corporations to comply with rules, increased allowable disturbance and destruction of environmentally sensitive lands, reduced or eliminated mitigation requirements, made it easier for DEP to approve pipelines, and much harder for the public to challenge them.

Environmental groups mounted a strong opposition to the DEP rollbacks and Legislators promised to veto them. But that veto was abandoned.

So, folks need to criticize not only the Christie DEP, but Democratic legislators who failed to honor their pledge to veto those rules (see:

• Senator Sweeney Sells Out NJ’s “Exceptional Value” Streams and Rivers – Cuts Deal With Christie DEP To Avoid Veto

The regulatory game is rigged and the corruption is bi-partisan.

Hopefully, the courts will uphold the lawsuits that are certain to be filed by environmental groups.

As citizens, our only recourse at this point is protest, direct action, and civil disobedience.

Invisibles

As the world burns, progressives appear worn down in Waretown, NJ

Out in the cold – herded like sheep – NO SIGNS ALLOWED! (3/6/17, Watertown NJ Town Hall)

After scorching public criticism for failing to hold a face to face Town Hall meeting and accusing his constituents of being paid protesters seeking to “hijack” the process, Congressman MacArthur (R – NJ 3rd) was forced to concede. But note how the Congressman announced his Town Hall last night in Waretown:

Please note that no bags or signs will be permitted into the building and seating will be provided on a first come, first serve basis. Due to safety requirements, law enforcement officers will be in attendance and all personal items are subject to search. It should also be noted that your RSVP does not guarantee you entrance to the building.

Could that “no signs” be why the protesters were invisible? (if they were even there).

The “Indivisibles” were invisible.

But, since MacArthur is emphasizing chaos, disruption, hijackings, personal searches, and a police presence, are you scared yet?

Well if you’re not, consider how the Congressman’s partners – the NJ Second Amendment Society, who held their own meeting prior to the MacArthur Town Hall, so they got there early to get an unfair and over-representative share of the limited seating, which was allocated “on a first come, first serve (sic) basis” – organized for the meeting:

Congressman Tom MacArthur, the first and only NJ Congressman to support the National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (HR38) so far, will be holding a town hall event on Monday, March 6th 2017 in Waretown NJ and we need as many NJ2AS members and supporters there as possible. Especially if you’re in the 3rd Congressional District. He supported us when no one else would. Now it’s our turn to support him. As you may have seen on the news, town halls across the country have been raucous events full of bussed in members of the opposition sent there to harass their Congressman. We’re not going to let them outnumber us though. NJ2AS leadership will be there and we’re asking that hundreds of our supporters arrive to the townhall to be there inside and outside the event to let Tom AND the media know, that we support him and thank him for the actions he’s taken as member of the House of Representatives.

Now you should be terrified.

A national gun nut group has captured your Blue State Congressman and as a result we may soon have virtually unregulated concealed weapons in NJ (is stand your ground next?).

The White House has been captured by white supremacist, nationalists (Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Jeff Sessions), Wall Street billionaires, former lying Exxon CEO (Tillerson), climate deniers, EPA dismantlers (Pruitt), and religious fundamentalists (DeVos) hell bent on privatizing and destroying public schools and using taxpayer money to promote a religious Agenda and “restore” a white “Christian America“.

And we now know that President Trump gets his alternative facts for his Tweets – e.g. the “last night in Sweden” and “Obama tapped Trump Tower phones” tweets – from right wing “alt-news” sites (NY Times):

The White House has not officially said what led Mr. Trump to make the claims. But administration officials have acknowledged that they were primarily prompted by unverified claims by Breitbart News and conservative talk radio hosts that secret warrants were issued.

Does Congressman MacArthur’s get his “alt-facts” from the Second Amendment Society?  That “bussed members” sent to harass their Congressman” sounds an awful lot like MacArthur’s original “hijack” claim:

Rep. Tom MacArthur says his town hall schedule is on hold because he doesn’t “want to be baited into having an event that some outside group can just make a spectacle out of.’’ …

MacArthur alleged that colleagues had their events disrupted as “hundreds of people have been bused in and have been organized and in some cases have even been paid to disrupt and to steal your voice.‘

“I think you have to realize what’s going on all over the country. Public town hall events are being hijacked by groups that are outside of the district that (the) member represents. You’ve seen them on TV.’’ he said.

Despite the fact that MacArthur’s claims were proven false, he still would not let go completely of that lie last night, when he said:

“I know there are not paid protestors here,” MacArthur said. “That doesn’t mean there are not paid organizers out there.” His statement was met with some groans from the crowd

 I was out there, as in outside in the cold. And not paid. I saw no organizers – period – paid or unpaid. I saw no protesters either.

Denouncing virtually everything I saw, here is my frustrated -and unattributed – “voice” (unattributed despite the fact that an * [Correction – it was an AP reporter. Apologies to APP] Asbury Park Press reporter approached me, knew my name (“you’re the former DEP official, right?“), and spoke with me):

Some of the people who stood by the front door for more than an hour in the cold eventually were let in. Before they were let in, at least one shouting match outside between a Trump supporter and a critic of the president could be heard from inside the fire hall.

The country is in crisis, as President Trump and the Republicans seek to dismantle virtually every progressive public policy victory over the last 100 years – even reversing Enlightenment reason and the Open Society – reforms in labor, environment, women, science, civil rights, gay rights, diversity, tolerance, immigration, the New Deal social safety net and “administrative state” etcetera – and the progressive community WAS INVISIBLE! (not “Indivisible”, invisible.)

They didn’t even show up! No protest signs (there were maybe 5 or 6), no protests, no buses, no singing, no marches, no disruptions – NOTHING.

And that is fucking pathetic.

(I know the Democrats – who talk a big “50 state strategy” but can’t seem to manage to organize opposition to a vulnerable freshman Republican Congressman in a predominant Blue State – avoid gun control debates like the plague, so I guess the Second Amendment folks scared them away.

But what about the rest of the “progressive coalition”?

I guess all those Foundation funded corporate environmental groups that flood my email inbox every day are just too busy to protest and lobby at a Town hall meeting – they’re just too busy promoting email, partnerships, sustainability, and golf outings, and pub crawls, and flower plantings, and safe Saturday afternoon permitted Washington DC marches.)

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