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Joe’s Not Playing Hardball With The Green New Deal

Talk stupidly and carry a limp stick

Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun of your hand?
Hey Joe, I said, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand? ~~~ Hey Joe, Hendrix

I just learned that yesterday, Joe Manchin used his chairmanship of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee to hold a hearing on “rising energy prices” (thanks Schumer, for installing Manchin as the Chair of that vitally important Committee!)

Manchin explicitly supported more coal, carbon capture, and natural gas exports, while providing a platform for oil industry interests and Republicans to savage the Biden climate, energy, and “Build Back Better” agenda, based on a manufactured rising energy price crisis.

The Washington Post did not report that extraordinary – and perhaps unprecedented – sabotage by Manchin.

Instead, the WaPo reports that the Biden White House is going on offense on rising energy prices:

• White House takes aim at oil industry as gas prices create economic and politics rifts

Meanwhile, the WaPo reported that Biden went to Detroit today to talk about EV manufacturing and jobs. The people’s air and water are poisoned; schools, parks, libraries, and housing suck; the place heats up like a hellscape during summer heat waves and old people drop like flies; and militarized cops kill them with impunity – but Joe knows that all good democrats want to either work in car factories or drive Tesla’s (and all those shade trees, parks, and libraries are for the suburban folks, amirite?)

“Bipartisan Joe” kicked off his infrastructure victory campaign by barnstorming New Hampshire (“Live Free Or Die!”) and talking about such burning local issues as replacing public transit vehicles that had served their useful life and reducing the time for bridge repair by 1 year! Really! I heard Joe actually mouth these hard hitting talking points on NPR! (snark).

If Biden were really going on offense – since Manchin is sandbagging not only his “Build Back Better” initiative but his Presidency – Biden would have gone to West Virginia and talked about a “just transition” and guaranteed every single coal miner and gas industry worker a better job with 100%+ pay and benefits and job security – for life.

He would have done a series of events in poor West Virginia mining towns with local officials and mine union workers.

He would have said he’s ready to allocate billions of federal dollars to local renewable energy projects (wind, solar); energy efficiency projects to lower people’s residential energy bills (home insulation, heat pumps, solar panels, new refrigerator, AC, etc); health benefits to mining caused diseases; new schools, parks, and community healthcare centers; new drinking water treatment facilities; community colleges; affordable housing; and creation of thousands of union jobs (starting at $25/hour) in planting millions of trees and environmental restoration of the mountaintop mining removal and devastation of 100 years of coal and gas industry exploitation.

He would have then said Manchin was blocking all that.

Manchin would fold, believe me.

That’s what a competent White House would do. But Biden is a fraud. He’s not even trying.

Bobby Kennedy showed the way when he went to Appalachia to talk about poverty in 1968.

LBJ knew how to deal with small obstructionist punks like Manchin and Sinema.

But Sleepy Joe somehow missed all that history, while he spent his political life shilling for the banks and credit card companies out of Delaware.

Just 3 weeks after private corporate legal work on DEP permits for a controversial massive LNG Export project, lawyer Shawn LaTourette was appointed DEP Chief Counsel

Just weeks later, DEP issued the exact permits LaTourette sought

And then folks wonder why DEP has done nothing on climate regulations

CORRECTION: I wrote below that DEP Commissioner LaTourette was installed at DEP just “in 3 weeks (at most)” after his corporate lawyer employment. That is misleading – it was not 3 WEEKS – it was JUST 3 DAYS (see ethics financial disclosure filing):

(The letter above was written by lawyer Shawn LaTourette)

In what could be perhaps the most egregious abuse of revolving door corruption ever in the State of New Jersey – and that’s no small achievement in what is surely one of the most corrupt States in the Country! – current Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette went from chief attorney for a massive LNG export facility seeking DEP permits to the DEP’s Chief Legal Counsel in 3 weeks (at most).

On August 24, 2018, LaTourette was serving as Director of the Environmental Law Department at Gibbons, a private corporate law firm.

In that capacity, and on that day, he wrote to notify local governments that his client – Delaware River Partners, LLC, developer of a massive controversial proposed LNG export plant on the Delaware River in Gibbstown NJ –  was seeking “minor modifications” of DEP permits he previously successfully obtained from DEP.

That same day, he was copied on permit application documents submitted to DEP by the technical consultants for the LNG project.

On September 14, 2018, – just 3 weeks (at most) after he was working on those DEP LNG permits – LaTourette’s former law firm Gibbons issued a statement that bragged about LaTourette’s DEP appointment:

Shawn M. LaTourette, a Director in the Gibbons P.C. Environmental Department, has been appointed Chief Counsel to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).

Mr. LaTourette, who has handled a wide range of environmental permitting, counseling, and litigation matters for Gibbons clients since 2015, will now be advising the NJDEP on various legal and policy matters while overseeing NJDEP’s offices of litigation, natural resource damages, special projects, dispute resolution, and economic analysis.

Obviously, LaTourette’s appointment as DEP’s “Chief Counsel” and his critical portfolio of DEP work provided the kind of professional and personal relationships, access, and influence on DEP that a corporate law firm is able to market and leverage significant value from. (That’s why they issued a public statement, which basically says: “Hey, we got our boy on the inside”).

Similarly, LaTourette’s corporate advocacy work was obviously considered a desirable qualification by the Murphy administration (or whomever was responsible for installing LaTourette in DEP). After all, Gov. Murphy is a former Goldman Sachs man and prominent Wall Street player. He knows good corporate talent when he sees it.

Shortly after LaTourette joined DEP, on November 29, 2018, DEP issued the specific permit modifications that LaTourette was just seeking.

Prior to that November 2018 DEP minor modification approval, LaTourette was able to secure critical DEP land use permits and water quality approvals in his work at Gibbons on behalf of his LNG export project client, Delaware River Partners, LLC.

Those DEP permits include freshwater wetlands, flood hazard, stormwater management and coastal/waterfront development permits and DEP water quality certification. All issued below the public radar for a massive LNG export plant in the most densely populated state in the country on a major river – with 3,000+ DEP staffers supposedly looking and loaded for bear with what are alleged to be the strongest environmental regulations in the country (and in almost record time, too!). LaTourette cut right through that notorious DEP “red tape” like a hot knife through butter – he sure demonstrated some pretty crafty legal permit work, eh?

Subsequently, 8 months later, while LaTourette was DEP Chief Counsel (he was recused) in May of 2019, DEP approved a coastal/waterfront development permit, which is currently being challenged legally in Superior Court, Appellate Division, by Delaware Riverkeeper.

I previously wrote about this. But at the time, I wasn’t focused so narrowly on the timing issues of the LNG permits, but more broadly on LaTourette’s long list of prior corporate polluter and developer clients and his foot dragging recusal letters and DEP ethics review process.

Of course NJ Spotlight spun out a puff piece that made LaTourette appear to be an ethical and proactive professional. But at least they credited their source (a tacit admission that they do no real investigative or critical work) – but of course Spotlight refused to provide a link to that source (i.e. Wolfenotes): (they refused to provide a link – which they’ve previously done – for the same reason that they blocked my reader comments on their articles: critics need not apply!)

LaTourette’s memo lists the matters before the DEP that he worked on while he was an environmental attorney with a Newark law firm immediately before joining DEP in September 2018. Those matters include the Repauno Port and Rail Terminal, a project on which he represented Delaware River Partners on “all remediation and permitting concerns” before the DEP, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and two federal agencies, according to the document, which was obtained via an Open Records Act request filed by Bill Wolfe, a former DEP employee.

It is remarkable that LaTourette faces no public criticism or scrutiny on these issues.

But, hey, Jake, it’s Chinatown!

NJ Spotlight Maintains News Blackout Of Fossil Moratorium, With A Little Help From Murphy’s Friends

[See End Note for clarification]

Repeating a disturbing pattern, Governor Murphy’s “green” cheerleaders and the stenographers in NJ media – especially NJ Spotlight, purportedly the leading NJ media outlet for energy and environmental policy coverage out of Trenton  –  have once again helped Gov. Murphy avoid accountability on his actual climate record and maintained the news blackout on the critically important issue of the need for a moratorium on expansion of fossil infrastructure.

The cheerleaders and stenographers did exactly the same thing just 2 years ago in 2019.

This time around, here’s the concerted diversion sequence – watch how quickly and strategically the news managing cheerleaders and stenographers sprang into action:

• On November 5,  Senate Environment Committee announced they would hear the fossil moratorium on 11/15
• On November 10, cheerleader Ed Potosnak praised Gov. Murphy at the Gov.’s gaslighting press conference
• On November 10, climate activist held a march in Newark to demand no more fossil – and it got no media coverage
• On November 11, stenographer Tom Johnson at NJ Spotlight wrote exactly the headline the Gov. wanted from his LBJ reprise press conference
• On November 12, NJ Spotlight published a diversionary Op-Ed by cheerleader Tom Gilbert
• On November 15, the Senate Environment Committee approved the moratorium Resolution
• On November 15, cheerleader Ed Potosnak issued a diversionary press release
• On November 16, NJ Spotlight publishes a diversionary story about infrastructure

The result is that on November 16, there remained a virtual news blackout of the moratorium issue and Senate action – just what the Gov. wanted (other than my note).

Media silence and stenography are just what DEP Commissioner LaTourette wanted. He wants no focus on his multiple failures – or the gross conflicts that his prior revolving door work as a corporate lawyer for fossil LNG export Fortress Energy.

And just what the NJ corporate polluters at NJ BIA and the Chamber of Commerce wanted: no focus or discussion of the need for binding DEP regulations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

And I didn’t even mention the absurd Assembly bill – heard on the same day and at the same time the Senate Environment Committee was hearing the moratorium Resolution – that would purportedly “codify” the goals of the Murphy Energy Master Plan. The bill codifies Gov. Murphy’s priorities, but completely ignores the primary and overriding goal of the EMP, which is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions!

See how that all works?

If anyone thinks that this flurry of diversionary press conferences, press releases, Op-Eds, and news coverage are purely a coincidence, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Florida for sale.

The pattern of abuse is so blatant that it is incredible that it is not exposed and publicly denounced for the gross manipulation it is.

The most recent example is yesterday’s approval by the Senate Environment Committee of a non-binding Resolution that would urge Gov. Murphy to impose a moratorium on new fossil projects. The Resolution was sponsored by retiring Senate Majority Leader Weinberg, and could be viewed as a legacy accomplishment.

Despite the Senate Committee’s approval – and a newsworthy announcement by Committee Chairman Smith that he would seek a voter referendum to amend the NJ Constitution to impose a moratorium – there was literally a news blackout.

How could that happen? Let me briefly explain.

If we are going to slow down or minimize catastrophic and runaway climate chaos, the first step is to stop expanding the extraction of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas and building new fossil infrastructure like pipelines, compressor stations, LNG export facilities, and power plants.

Scientists have been warning about this looming catastrophe for well over a decade. Climate activists call this a “keep it in the ground” strategy.

At the national level, climate activists made some progress on these issues when President Biden issued an Executive Order that announced a “pause” on new oil and gas leases on federal lands (Executive Order (see Sect. 208) .

But Biden rapidly folded in the face of Big Oil and Republican resistance and instead of codifying the EO’s “pause” into a more permanent moratorium, according to the Associated Press, oil and gas permits are being issued by the Biden administration at a record pace.

Prior to the Biden short lived “pause”, here in NJ, in 2019, climate activists formed a coalition of over 100 groups, called “Empower NJ”, to pressure Gov. Murphy to impose a moratorium on several pending fossil infrastructure projects.

In July, frustrated by the lack of success of their political campaign and continued inaction by the Murphy DEP, the Empower NJ Coalition filed what is called a formal “petition for rulemaking” to DEP to demand regulatory action by DEP, including a moratorium on fossil.

In October the Murphy DEP declined to act on the rulemaking petition.

Instead – just like Biden’s capitulation to Big Oil and Gas’ political power – DEP Commissioner LaTourette appeared before NJ corporate hacks at a climate denial conference to tout continued reliance on fossil fuels an effectively mock climate activists.

Remarkably, while the moratorium issue and the petition for rulemaking got virtually no press coverage, NJ Spotlight did report DEP Commissioner LaTourette’s support for fossil – at an NJ BIA conference stacked with climate deniers – and misleading statements about the effects of a moratorium.

So, there’s the real issues and the real context.

So, we’ll close by repeating the question we began with: Why the continuing news blackout on the fossil moratorium issue?

[End Note: I’m getting blasted by a knowledgeable reader for being soft on the environmentalists:

I think you gave the enviros (CWA , Sierra ENJ) a free pass – they did not  even try  to make climate moratorium and env major campaign  issues – they all endorsed like sheep.

The reader is correct. I agree that they failed miserably to make their own moratorium campaign and DEP petition for rulemaking endorsement requirements and political issues.

I think that’s due to a combination of incompetence, cowardice and corruption.

Chairman Smith Abdicates Legislative Responsibility

Chairman Says He Will Put The Moratorium Issue To The Voters Next Year

Climate and Environmental Activists Put In a Lame Effort

Kabuki – Showy posturing performed as an act of theater. Typically used by pundits to describe an empty political performance which serves to satisfy or distract an audience.

Senator Bob Smith, Chairman Sen. Env. Cmte.

Well, at least this time around, today the Senate Environment Committee actually heard and released the Senate non-binding Resolution urging Gov. Murphy to impose a moratorium on new fossil projects.

Last time around, back in 2019, they ran away from it, see:

• Who Killed The Senate Resolution Urging Gov. Murphy To Impose a Moratorium On Fossil Infrastructure? – Resolution posted on Environment Committee Agenda and Withdrawn 24 Hours Later

But, that’s about all the good news I can report.

Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless
Babe, can you hear me now?
The chains are locked and tied across the door
Baby, sing with me somehow. ~~~ Helpless, Neil Young

Here’s the highlights (lowlights?) of today’s hearing:

1.  No political support or viability.

The sponsor, Senator Majority Leader Weinberg, who is retiring, did not appear to present or support her Resolution. Senate Environmental Committee Chairman Smith offered no explanation or defense of the Resolution, nor did any member of the Committee. Senator Greenstein “abstained”.

Smith went out of his way to emphasize that the Resolution had no legal effect. Instead, Smith said he would push – next year, it’s always next year – for his Senate Concurrent Resolution 18 to  “Amend the Constitution to prohibit construction of new fossil fuel power plants.”

Sound good, right? WRONG!

Smith introduced that Resolution back in September of 2019 and never followed through on it. My sense is that he offered that up as an alternative to and to derail the broader fossil moratorium Resolution and to avoid any discussion of the issue of the need for DEP regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Smith’s Concurrent Resolution grandfathers existing fossil power plants in perpetuity. It applies only to new fossil plants and would exempt pipelines, compressor stations, export facilities, and all other major fossil greenhouse gas emissions sources.

Worse, punting a critical legislative issue to the voters is an abdication of legislative responsibility and it provides cover for the Governor to delay and avoid taking Executive action on the moratorium. Smith surely knows that economically powerful interests would surely spend millions of dollars to defeat such a voter referendum and it would go down to defeat. Another “fake solution” by Smith.

This is Kabuki at its worst.

2. The environmental and climate activist communities were not well represented.

First of all, many groups were simply AWOL (including those who were in Trenton and testifying to an Assembly Committee on trivial bullshit). Those groups include Rethink Energy NJ (NJ Conservation Foundation), all the conservation and watershed groups (NJ LCV, NJ Audubon, Pinelands Preservation Alliance, The Highlands Coalition, Watershed, etc), all the “sustainability” and planning groups (Sustainable NJ, NJ Future), all the coastal groups (COA, ALS, Surfrider), many of the climate activist groups, ANJEC, and all the grassroots anti-pipeline, environmental and social justice groups.

Those groups are too busy cheerleading Gov. Murphy’s symbolic gestures and taking corporate oriented Foundation money to expend any political capital actually putting pressure on the Gov. to do something real on climate that would impose real costs on powerful corporations.

That’s why Ray Cantor of NJ BIA was there to oppose the Resolution and the concept of a moratorium on behalf of NJ’s corporate community. Cantor even offered up a defense of and had strong praise for fossil fuels! He sounded exactly like the API and oil industry’s recent testimony to Congress on their corporate climate disinformation campaign.

The main supporters were Food and Water Watch, Sierra Club, Environment NJ and NJ Industrial Union Council. (Oh and how could I forget Clean Water Action, the group that just appeared to cheerlead at Gov. Murphy’s press conference that sabotaged the moratorium?)

The supporters were not critical of the non-binding nature of the Resolution and need for real legislation with teeth.

They were not critical of Gov. Murphy’s (Gaslighting) Executive Order.

The were not critical of DEP’s multiple failures, including DEP’s failure to act on their petition for rulemaking.

And they said nothing about the toothless NJ Global Warming Response Act and New York State’s climate law (which has teeth) and the need for DEP regulation (which their own petition and the Senate resolution call for).

They said nothing about the fact that NJ DEP regulations do not regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

They said nothing about pending and long delayed DEP climate PACT and environmental justice regulations.

This is remarkable cowardice and/or incompetence by climate activists.

[Update: I failed to mention one positive, when Matt Smith of F&WW criticized DEP Commissioner LaTourette’s misleading public statements about the moratorium.]

3. No Street Heat

I am not certain of this because I was not there and could only listen to the testimony online, but I don’t think the climate activists and environmental groups – who claim hundreds of thousands of members – mounted any kind of rally or public demonstration in support of the moratorium.

This is a stunning failure, given the platform that the Resolution offered them and the timing, in terms of the failure of COP26 and the pending collapse of the Biden “Build Back Better” climate program.

4. The Murphy DEP didn’t even show up

The Murphy Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection was nowhere to be found. I’ll say no more, other than to condemn him for a total lack of leadership and abject cowardice.

This no show from a man who repeatedly accuses the people of NJ as not understanding the climate emergency and gaslights them on environmental justice.

That’s just how a former fossil industry lawyer rolls.

5. Lame Duck Is Not The Time To Ram Through Major Policy Like a Fossil Moratorium

Finally, no one mentioned that a lame duck session is not the forum to ram through serious major public policy. Such an anti-democratic move only undermines public confidence and support.

The fact that the Democrats in Trenton are doing this in lame duck – and the non-binding nature of the Resolution – sends a message that they are not serious and politically committed to the issue and willing to publicly fight for real climate action.

When will the members and funders of NJ climate and environmental groups demand more?

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