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Sierra Club Takes Credit For Killing Pipeline

NY Gov. Cuomo Killed The Pipeline 4 Years Ago By Enforcing NY Climate Law

Sierra Club Obscures Toothless NJ Climate Law & DEP Lax Regulation

Sierra Club Misleading Implies That The FERC Process Killed Pipeline

A friend just forwarded a press release issued yesterday by the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club.

The release took credit for killing the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline under Raritan Bay, see:

• NESE Mess is Finally Cleaned Up- Williams Transco Project is Dead 

Williams Transco decided not to renew their FERC extension for their Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, which expired on Friday, May 3, 2024. The New Jersey Chapter, including the Raritan Valley Group and Central Jersey Group, has been fighting this fossil fuel project for the past eight years. The New Jersey Chapter celebrated this incredible victory with environmental organizations in Keyport, NJ.

There are at least 4 major errors in this press release.

Let’s drill down on a few.

I’ve written numerous times about pipeline regulation. I wrote specifically about the NESE pipeline, see:

• Murphy DEP “Denial” Of Raritan Bay Pipeline Permits Exposes Huge Gaps In DEP Regulations On Climate And Water Quality Impacts

In all those efforts, I’ve tried to make 2 fundamental points in order to correctly focus the efforts of pipeline activists and media reporters:

1) the NJ DEP has strong statutory and regulatory authority under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act to deny the “water quality certificates” (WQC) to kill proposed pipelines, but the DEP refused and failed to enforce this authority.

To illustrate this failure, I have cited NY State DEC’s denial of WQC’s to kill permits.

The Williams NESE proposed pipeline was killed by NY DEC on May 5, 2020 by denying the WQC. You can read the NY DEC’s regulatory basis here.

The NY DEC’s decision provides a model for enforceable State climate laws and State environmental regulatory leadership.

It also exposes major flaws in NJ’s toothless, unenforceable, and aspirational Global Warming Response Act and the total failure of leadership by the Murphy DEP.

2) The NJ Global Warming Response Act is toothless and does not provide authority to NJ DEP to deny permits based on the aspirational greenhouse gas emission reduction goals of the Act, see:

• Senate Environment Committee Chairman Smith Introduces Legislation To Put Regulatory Teeth In The Global Warming Response Act

In contrast, the New York State Climate law does provide authority to NY DEC to deny permits for proposed projects that would violate greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, see:

• What A Difference A State (Law) Makes

In fact, the NY DEC relied on this NY climate law to deny the NESE permits back on May 15, 2020.

You can read the media coverage here: (Politico):

• Cuomo administration cites new climate law in denying controversial New York, New Jersey pipeline

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration denied a permit for a pipeline to supply natural gas to Long Island and New York City in a landmark decision citing the state’s sweeping climate law.

You can read the NY DEC regulatory basis here (scroll to page 14 to get to the climate analysis).

So, assuming the goals are to kill pipelines and enforce climate goals:

•  Why would the NJ Sierra Club not tell the truth about what really killed the project?
• Why would they let NJ DEP off the hook for failure to enforce Section 401 of the Clean Water Act?
• Why would they ignore and thereby allow loopholes to persist if NJ’s toothless Global Warming Response Act?

This is way beyond a simple oversight or even gross incompetence.

It amounts to intentionally providing cover for the Murphy DEP and Senator Smith’s failure to put teeth in the NJ Global Warming Response Act.

3) The Sierra press release states that: “Williams Transco decided not to renew their FERC extension for their Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, which expired on Friday, May 3, 2024.

This falsely implies that Williams made the decision, when it was Governor Cuomo’s NY DEC that made the decision by killing the project back in May 2020.

Why would an environmental group give a fossil energy company credit for a decision that really was the result of a government environmental permit denial?

It also falsely implies that the FERC review process is what killed the NESE pipeline (instead of NY DEP WQC and climate regulatory review).

This an egregiously misleading claim, because it not only diverts focus from the real regulatory sources of the kill, but the FERC rubber stamps virtually every pipeline project and the FERC standards are lax and the FERC review process is a waste of time and resources.

4) Sierra Club activists served as cheerleaders to Gov. Murphy and his DEP and the NJ Global Warming Response Act.

• “Green” Sycophants Provide False Praise To NJ Gov. Murphy For Killing Raritan Pipeline

The NJ DEP had nothing to do with killing this pipeline. Just the opposite: they failed to enforce Section 401 of the CWA while NY DEC did to deny the WQC and kill the project.

The NJ GWRA is toothless, but the NY climate law provides regulatory teeth that NY DEC used to kill the NESE pipeline.

Accordingly, Sierra Club activists were misguided and misfocused and were totally ineffective and had zero impact.

It is grossly unethical to take credit for the work of others.

Worse, they now continue those misguided efforts and intentionally mislead and lie to the public.

Shame on them.

Murphy DEP Now Developing A Similarly Flawed Carbon Credit Scheme

According to a UN Report (which I can’t seem to find on line, but heard reported on BBC this morning), the UN’s carbon trading scheme failed to protect forests or reduce poverty: (credible source here):

Market-based approaches to forest conservation like carbon offsets and deforestation-free certification schemes have largely failed to protect trees or alleviate poverty, according to a major scientific review published on Monday.

The global study—the most comprehensive of its kind to date—found that trade and finance-driven initiatives had made “limited” progress halting deforestation and in some cases worsened economic inequality.

Drawn from years of academic and field work, the report compiled by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), a group of 15,000 scientists in 120 countries, will be presented at a high-level UN forum starting Monday

As a heads up, my NJ readers should know that last year, during Senator Smith’s Forestry Task Force deliberations, the Murphy DEP stated that they were developing a forest carbon credit scheme to manage NJ’s forests.

This type of market based program would likely be funded by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which provides 10% of DEP’s share of RGGI allowance sale revenue to carbon storage and sequestration.

A politically powerful and well connected to DEP NJ based billionaire, Peter Kellogg already has enrolled his Hudson Farm lands in a private carbon credit – trading program.

Kellogg provided over $300,000 to fund NJ Audubon’s “forest stewardship” logging project at Sparta Mountain – a joint project with DEP.

Kellogg also paid for $5,000 per week DEP managers junkets.

Kellogg is a former Wall Streeter like our NJ Governor Phil Murphy, so his money, his land, and his connections have had undue influence on DEP’s flawed forestry policy.

Given the DEP statement about developing a carbon credit program, Kellogg’s support for such a program, and the availability of significant RGGI funding, it is very possible if not likely that Senator Smith will amend his current proposed forestry legislation to authorize the Murphy DEP’s carbon credit schemes.

DEP could also attempt to adopt such a carbon credit program via regulations or informal guidance in the absence of authorizing legislation. DEP currently implements a “14 step process” to manage NJ’s forests on public lands in the absence of authorizing legislation and regulation, so anything is possible from the arrogant pro-logging bureaucrats at DEP.

I urge readers to contact Smith and DEP Commissioner LaTourette to tell them to avoid going down this failed market based path and instead pursue real planning and regulatory measure to preserve all of what’s left of NJ’s forests, on public and private land.

The UN is holding an annual conference on forests, starting today. You can watch live starting at 10 am, see:

• UN Forum on Forests – 19th session (6 to 10 May 2024)

Sunrise In The Catskills – Thomas Cole (1826)

Blue Ridge, Virginia – Bill Wolfe (2017)

Snake River, Idaho – Bill Wolfe (2022)

The Green Party Stifles Dissent and Criticism, Just Like Democrats Do

I registered for a Zoom webinar with Jill Stein and Prof. Jeff Sachs tonight.

After 25 minutes of a wonderful adult discussion, I posted a comment on the chat to praise that conversation and say that this is what democracy looks like.

I then submitted another positive chat comment to say “Imagine Jill as President with Sachs as Secretary of State”.

After Sachs signed off, the next conversation was with Stein’s campaign manager.

He launched into a technical ballot access and fundraising campaign monologue.

He then asked for donations of $3,300 (my monthly income).

In response, I submitted a comment to question that strategy and suggest that they ask for $10 donations and focus on Biden’s crackdown on campus protests.

Keep in mind that this was a private internal Green party event.

Within 10 seconds, I was removed. Terminated.

And I am registered as a Green and contributed money.

Fuck these people.

Which Side Are You On?

Yesterday, we returned to the University of Pennsylvania’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” protest against the Israeli genocide in Gaza to check out what’s happening, given the violent national police crackdowns on encampments across the country, some supported by attacks by brownshirt Zionist mobs.

That crackdown is very, very similar to the national crackdown on Occupy Wall Street encampments directed and coordinated by the Obama administration. This time, Biden is directing those attacks and has spoken out to criticize the encampments.

[Update: Just reading Jeff St. Clair at Counterpunch:

+ Here’s the political background to the police raids against antiwar students on campuses across the country this week, violent crackdowns that have Joe Biden’s fingerprints all over them: On Tuesday, Biden demonized the protesters as hate groups. On the same day 22 Democratic House members called for the students at Columbia to be cleared from the campus, this was followed by Chuck Schumer speaking on the floor of the Senate denouncing the occupation of Hind Hall as an act of terrorism. Then the NYPD did its vicious nightwork at Columbia and CCNY. On Wednesday morning, the Biden White House compared these brave students–from Columbia to UCLA, Indiana to Texas–to the white power tiki torch thugs at Charlottesville. On Thursday, Biden gave a speech that would have condemned the tactics of the Civil Rights Movement, women’s movement, Native American Rights movement, anti-Vietnam War movement, Stonewall, anti-apartheid movement, BLM and the labor movement he claims to venerate (not to mention the Boston Tea Party) as outside the American tradition of free speech. Biden is the author of the most repressive crime laws in the history of a nation whose statutes are full of repressive crime laws. He hasn’t changed. In fact, he’s gotten worse as his brain demyelinates and his grip on power becomes more and more tenuous. ~~~ end update]

Thankfully, the chants and drumming drown out the police helicopter circling overhead.

But on the ground, although the police presence had grown considerably – we counted 14 police vans on the adjacent streets, saw many more uniformed police officers manning newly installed barricades, and several plainclothes cops standing in the crowd – there was no tension or threat of police violence.

The day before, we were appalled by a video of a real “outside agitator” spraying unknown chemicals on the encampment grounds, tents and banners. The man was arrested. I was told by a student that the chemical was identified as a diluted sulphur solution (intended to make the place smell bad) and that he was fined just $60 dollars with no criminal charges pressed (haven’t confirmed that).

The good news is that the encampment has about doubled in size. There were about a hundred people chanting to constant drumming and at least 100 more circled around the core group in support. There were more banners, more tents, a library, food table, and a medical clinic:

On the negative side, in addition to the much larger police presence, the University had taken down the banners on the statue of Ben Franklin and erected barriers around it:

Here’s how Ben looked last week:

On the national scene, there are troubling signs coming from some University encampments, which just so happened (causally) in the immediate wake of the police crackdown (think of the effects on the anti-war movement of Kent State and Jackson State murders as a precursor).

The violent police state tactics (incredibly violent police attack at Columbia) were coupled with Zionist Brownshirt assaults (incredibly brutal violence at UCLA) and promises of permanent career suicide by Mossad (using digital facial recognition technology). For the latter Mossad threat, think of that famous scene from the movie “On The Waterfront” where mobster Johnny Friendly gets in Marlon Brando’s face with “you don’t work anywhere….”

You just dug your own grave.

You’re dead on this waterfront, and every waterfront from Boston to New Orleans.

You don’t drive a truck, or a cab – you don’t push a bag of dreck.

You don’t work noplace! You’re dead! ~~~ “On the Waterfront” – (watch the Crime Commission scene)

Shamefully, University Presidents across the country are caving in to political pressure and McCarthyite smears to prohibit encampments, suspend students, and invite police on campus to make arrests. It is a disgusting display of cowardice, careerism, and corruption.

There have been several terribly compromised deals to terminate encampments.

Brown University protesters cut a deal to dismantle in exchange for the promise of a vote to divest – a vote in October. Rutgers just cut a similar or even worse deal. Another University (Northwestern) cut a deal as well, this one for some (5?) academic slots for Palestinian students and curriculum “reform”.

So, just as rapidly as the Pro-Palestine campus movement arose, it may now be falling.

And Real News Network just cancelled Chris Hedges show, allegedly for tax purposes resulting from Hedges’ criticism of Biden and Democrats and interview of candidate Dennis Kucinich.

The House just passed legislation to make criticism of Israel a federal crime (antisemitism) and eliminate Constitutional rights of free speech and abandon any notion of academic freedom.

Truly dark times, with even worse on the horizon.