NJ union pension fund sues to remove coal boss

 

The New Jersey Building Laborers Pension Fund, a shareholder of Massey Energy Co., has brought a civil suit against Massey Energy Co and its CEO Donald Blankenship following the deaths of 29 workers earlier this month at the company’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia.

Long before drilling crews began boring into the Upper Big Branch mine in a desperate effort to rescue miners from the nation's worst mining disaster in four decades, Massey Energy Co. had not simply disregarded mine safety regulations - it treated them with contempt, according to the derivative complaint filed against Blackenship and Massey’s directors.

"Given Massey's chronic unwillingness
and failure to adhere to mining safety regulations," the death of 29 workers on April 5 "did not come as a surprise to many," the complaint states.

Massey has racked up nearly $27 million in fines since June 2008, nearly $13 million of them in 2009, according to the Chancery Court complaint. 

Massey owes "$25.6 million of still unpaid fines since 2005;"
10 of its 23 coal mines "had injury rates that exceeded the national rate;" four of those had injury rates "more than double the national average, and the 10 mines together received 2,400 federal safety violation citations in 2009 alone," according to the complaint. 

The plaintiffs focused their harshest criticism on "Massey's imperious CEO and Chairman, Donald Blankenship."

"The Board's unwillingness or inability to prevent one man's heedless and misguided views from determining company practice has resulted in needless, tragic destruction of human life, as well as severe damage to the Company's reputation and finances," the complaint states. "It is not in the company's interest to continue to accrue fines or penalties as a result of this pervasive, and apparently continuing, pattern of flagrant disregard for mine safety laws and regulations."

The union fund managers are seeking punitive damages for breach of fiduciary duties. They also want all the company's mines inspected and Blankenship removed from office.

Related:
Mine Blast Was No Surprise, Shareholders Say 
Coal miners evacuated after surprise inspections 
Surprise inspections at 3 Massey-owned mines

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In Today’s Environmental News - April 26 2010

NJDEP Commissioner Martin shuffles his deck

Bob Martin, the former business executive who is determined
to make the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection more business friendly (or, at least, less business-hostile), has reorganized the department. 

He’s consolidated in some areas, created a few new offices to streamline permit reviews, and shuffled senior staffing positions.

He says it’s all in keeping with his vision of a DEP that “balances rigorous environmental protection with the need to play our part in restoring the broken economy of our state.''

Among the changes are his creation of an Office of Green Energy Development, an Office of Economic Growth Coordination  and an Office of  One Stop Permitting.

Martin is also moving the Division of Water Quality, the state Geological Survey, the Watershed Standard Setting; Water Supply, Water Monitoring and Standards to a new Water Resource Management Program. He also plans to consolidate the Office of Planning and Sustainable Communities with Land Use Management.

"We need to play a key in the economic growth of the state,'' Martin said in a memo announcing the reorganization.  "We must make permitting and inspection of individuals, businesses, governmental bodies and other organizations both timely and predictable, basing decisions on science, data, facts and a cost/benefit analysis.

The Sierra Club does not approve

One perpetual environmental critic, Jeff  Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club sees nothing good in the changes.  He
asserts that the new offices will “act as lobbyist for polluters and developers.” 

What really gets under Tittel’s skin is Martin’s insistence that his staff  treat “all entities coming to the DEP for permits.. like customers.”

That, Tittel claims, is proof that Martin’s DEP  “works for the polluters not the public."

OK, we get it.  All permit applicants are polluters. Shoot first and ask questions later.

New Deputy Commissioner

Elevated to the number two spot in the department under the reorganization is Irene Kropp, a 28-year DEP employee who, as  assistant commissioner for Site Remediation, has been DEP’s point person for the new Licensed Site Remediation Professional program. 

Martin’s new Chief of Staff is Magdalena Padilla, an attorney and former director of business and economic policies for the state Commerce and Economic Growth Commission.  She will replace the widely respected Gary Sondermeyer who is retiring effective July 1 after 30 years of service at DEP.

The balance of Martin’s leadership team

Ray Cantor, a lawyer with 20 years of experience in state government, is Martin's chief counsel. Cantor previously served as Senior Counsel/Committee Aide to the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services in the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resource Section.

Amy Cradic will remain as an assistant commissioner and head the new Office of Ecological Restoration.

Marilyn Lennon becomes Assistant Commissioner of Land Use Management. Lennon previously was Vice President of Environmental Engineering and Operations for KeySpan Corp.; Senior Vice President with PS&S, a NJ-based environmental and engineering consulting firm; and most recently Director of Strategic Policy and Planning for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

Nancy Wittenberg, formerly the DEP's director of Environmental quality and the Office of energy, is the new assistant commissioner for Environmental Regulation. In that position, she will lead Air Quality, Environmental Safety and Health and Solid and Hazardous Waste Programs and will manage the Office of Climate Change and Energy.
 

John Plonski, who served as CEO of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources from 1995 to 2004, is the new assistant commissioner for Water Resources Management.

Wolf Skacel, will continue as assistant commissioner of Compliance & Enforcement.

Cathy Tormey will continue as deputy counselor to Martin.

Dave Glass, former head of Republican Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande's staff, and most recently Director of Community Relations for Rep. Leonard Lance in the 7th Congressional District, is the new deputy chief of staff and legislative liaison.

Larry Ragonese, a former assistant chief of The Star-Ledger's Morris County bureau, is the new communications director.

Richard Boornazian, who has 28 years of experience in real estate, finance and information technology, is the new Green Acres Program administrator.  He is former Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. and Vice President of Industry Relations for FIRETRAP Communications, Inc.

Scott Brubaker is the new director of the One-Stop Office.  Previously, he was Chief of the Bureau of Inspections and Investigations of Division of Solid Waste Management and Chief of the Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement. Most recently has been Acting Assistant Commissioner for Land Use Management.

Cindy Randazzo, who has 28 years of experience in business and finance, is the new director of the Office of Local Government Assistance.

Benjamin Witherell, formerly with the Delaware River Basin Commission, is the new director of Economic Analysis. Most recently he was a Catherine McMullen-Blake Fellow at Montclair State University where he conducted research on socio-economic drivers of land use change and resulting impact on watershed characteristics.

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Feds give green light to first offshore wind farm

After nine years of regulatory review, the Obama Administration today gave the green light to the nation’s first offshore wind farm, a sprawling project off the coast of Cape Cod that has split both the environmental and political communities in the region.

The New York Times reports today that the approval “ gives a significant boost to the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States, which has lagged far behind Europe and China in harnessing the strong and steady power of ocean breezes to provide electricity to homes and businesses. “

The news will be welcomed in he states of New Jersey and Delaware. Both also hope to build wind farms off their coasts

Related:
Cape Cod Project Is Crucial Step for U.S. Wind Industry
Pressure Is Building on Disputed Wind Farm 
Delaware breezes ahead of wind-energy pack 
Offshore wind energy faces stiff challenges 
How offshore wind won in Delaware 
Delaware: First to sign and the first to spin?

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NRDC keeps chromium lawsuit alive in NJ

The NRDC takes a bow for a recent court victory that keeps alive its chances of forcing Pittsburgh-based PPG to meet hexavalent chromium cleanup standards at a site in Jersey City that exceed what the New Jersey DEP is requiring.

In the NRDC online publication, Switchboard, Senior Attorney Mark Izeman, yesterday writes:

“Last year, NRDC, together with two community groups, Interfaith Community Organization and GRACO, filed a federal lawsuit in New Jersey to compel PPG Industries Inc. - a Pittsburgh-based corporation responsible for toxic hexavalent chromium contamination of a densely populated area of Jersey City - to clean up the hazardous waste it created decades ago. 

“Massive quantities of hexavalent chromium, a potent carcinogen and the villain in the film Erin Brokovich, continue to contaminate the former production site, groundwater beneath the site, and surrounding neighborhoods.  These dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium are a real threat to the health of community residents – and the toxin has been found in their homes, on their lawns, and in their basements.”

Izeman says that the state of New Jersey, for more than 35 years, failed to force PPG to clean up the site.

“But shortly after NRDC filed its lawsuit, the State, the City of Jersey City, and PPG announced that they had settled all outstanding claims in state court.  They then filed a motion in our federal case claiming on several legal grounds that our lawsuit should be dismissed because their agreement was sufficient.”

How do you read that?  To me it sounds like the state was doing nothing until the NRDC embarrassed it into action by virtue of
its lawsuit.

That, however, overlooks the fact that, back in June, 2005,
New Jersey’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit against PPG and
two other companies whose predecessors processed chromium—Honeywell and Occidental Chemical Corp. That legal action eventually resulted in the settlement that the NRDC does not
want to let stand.

It may be legitimate to ask why it took five years for the state to reach its settlement. But disputes over who did what when have more political and public relations value than the questions that likely will be addressed in the NRDC’s continuing federal lawsuit.

Apparently at the crux of the continuing legal dispute is the familiar environmental question: How clean is clean? 

As in, what cleanup standard for hexavalent chromium needs to be reached for a cleanup to be declared complete?  And, perhaps, the equally important question of who gets to decide what standards must be met. 

Is that the state’s DEP’s call? The EPA’s?  The court’s?  

Use the  comment box below to share your thoughts on the issue. 
If one isn’t visible, click on the tiny ‘comments’ line to activate it.

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In Today’s Environmental News - April 26 2010

Timing is everything department – When New Jersey’s new Republican Governor Chris Christie joined the state’s mostly Democratic Congressional delegation and environmental organizations in voicing strong opposition to President Obama’s decision to open up sections of the Atlantic coast to exploratory oil drilling, the decision may have appeared puzzling to some in Congress’s ‘drill baby drill’ population. Today, it looks absolutely prescient as 42,000 gallons of oil leak daily
into the Gulf of Mexico from a collapsed drilling rig. 

 

Oh great, another study of flooding in northern New Jersey
No, wait, this one’s different, proponents promise

Delaware River dredging opponents suffer another dunking Federal judge rejects implied "judge shopping" attempt by foes of Delaware River deepening project

Editorial: New York’s natural-gas drilling decision “King Solomon-like”

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NJ Economic czar leaving for law firm

Patti Sapone/Star-Ledger

Jerold L. Zaro, chief of the New Jersey Office of Economic Growth under former Governor Jon Corzine, will join the law firm of Sills Cummis & Gross effective May 1 and work out of the firm’s New York and New Jersey offices.

Zaro, who continued in his state position for several months under the administration of present Governor Chris Christie, said:

“Working in the public sector truly has been one of the highlights of my career. I am fortunate to have had the rare privilege of serving under outstanding governors from both parties. I look forward to returning to practicing law and am extremely proud to join Sills Cummis & Gross, one of the premier firms in the New York metropolitan area.”

In a news release, the law firm credited Zaro with playing a “pivotal role in the decision of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTTC) to move to Jersey City, bringing 1600 jobs to the State.”  It also  said that he was “instrumental in laying the groundwork for the New Jersey Nets eventual decision to move from the Izod Arena to the Prudential Center Arena in Newark.”

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Big changes ahead for regulations in New Jersey
A new role for the NJDEP: Economic Growth
What do you want from NJ's LSRP program?
Development trends show urban center rebound

Delaware breezes ahead of wind-energy pack

 
















Delaware, the state that prides itself on being the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution, also may prove to be the first to build a wind energy farm off its coast.

The Department of the Interior yesterday issued the nation's first Request for Interest for ocean-based renewable energy development. It formally asks wind energy developers if they want to build in the waters off Delaware's southern coast.

So far, only New Jersey-headquartered NRG Bluewater Wind, which has a contract to supply Delmarva Power electricity from a wind farm off Rehoboth Beach, has publicly expressed an interest in building there, although another developer said Wednesday he wouldn't rule out a competing bid. 

Details:  News Journal’s  Delaware wind farm nearer reality

Sidebar: Delmarva Power's parent company, Conectiv, is about to be acquired by Calpine Corp., a Texas firm that specializes in natural gas-fired generation.

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Related:
Request for interest issued for Delaware offshore wind farm
Delaware is closer to riding into the wind-for renewable energy
Department of Interior news release
How offshore wind energy won in Delaware

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Big changes ahead for regulations in New Jersey
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What do you want from NJ's LSRP program?
Development trends show urban center rebound
Confused about battery recycling? Read this

A 'do-over' for NJ town on eminent domain?

 

From today's Asbury Park Press:

LONG BRANCH — A state appellate panel has ruled the city improperly declared the lower Broadway area blighted, writing that the city's 1996 plan was not consistent with new "heightened" standards set forth in a 2007 state Supreme Court case.

The panel, however, also gave the city the right to revise the plan in an effort to see if it can comply with the newer standards, which require not merely a cosmetic detailing of blight but proof the blight is affecting surrounding neighborhoods before a government agency can use the controversial power of eminent domain.

The Appellate Division of Superior Court had ruled similarly in the much-publicized Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace Seaview Avenue — or MTOTSA — case, which was largely settled last year.

But the Broadway Arts Center decision released today went beyond that finding, said lawyer Peter H. Wegener, who also is representing the three property owners who challenged the Broadway blight designation.

"This is a good win," said Wegener, saying he wished he had had such a thorough finding when he represented MTOTSA. "They went one step further here and declared the ordinances illegal. . . .

"They've (city officials) got to start from the beginning," he said.

Will Long Branch try to fix its eminent domain approach and try again?

"The legal and political reality is eminent domain is completely dead, and that is fine," said Mayor Adam Schneider. "I don't see us using it again there or in (Broadway) Gateway.

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Big changes ahead for regulations in New Jersey

 

Businesses are going to see meaningful changes to New Jersey's regulatory system and see them quickly, according to top members of Governor Chris Christie's Red Tape Review Group.

The bipartisan group, which has spent 90 days reviewing New Jersey's regulatory system,  will release its report April 19 .

Speaking April 6 at a New Jersey Business and Industry Association briefing, Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, State Senator Steven Oroho, and Assemblymen John Burzichelli and Scott Rumana said the State will become an easier place in which to do business. 

Guadagno told the audience that the report would recommend eliminating 8,000 civil service classifications and 200 of the State's 700 independent boards and commissions.

It would also recommend pushing what should be local regulation issues back to the towns and counties. Guadagno cited a multi-million dollar project in Wildwood that has been held up for five years because it lacks two parking spaces.

The report would also recommend streamlining the State's rule-making process to make it easier to change proposed regulations based on public comment.

NJBIA’s Capitol Memo reported today that the legislative members of the Red Tape Review Group echoed Guadagno's sentiments.

Burzichelli, chairman of the newly formed Assembly Regulatory Oversight Committee, said he was particularly concerned about the use of guidance documents by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. The documents are supposed to give applicants compliance advice, but often they are enforced by agency officials as if they had the force of law. 

"People (at the DEP) were essentially setting up a second tier of regulations," Burzichelli said.

Burzichelli is sponsoring legislation, A2464,  that would clarify that guidance documents are voluntary. The measure has passed the Assembly.  He also is the sponsor of A2486 , a bill that  that would limit the circumstances under which a State agency could adopt regulations or standards that exceed comparable federal standards.

Oroho pointed out that regulations have a direct impact on the State's private-sector economy. He noted there are 26,000 pages of regulations in New Jersey, all of which have a five-year sunset provision so they can be periodically reviewed to determine if they are still needed. Yet, almost no regulations ever go away; they simply keep being renewed.

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A new role for the NJDEP: Economic Growth

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Commissioner Bob Martin told lawmakers on Monday that, while the environment is still Mission #1, he sees a second, important role for the agency—helping to revitalize the state’s economy.

In testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee, Martin said he’s planning to name a new Assistant Commissioner for Economic Growth and Green Economy.  Among other duties, that person will oversee a new “one-stop-shop” for businesses and individuals seeking environmental permits.

The change comes in response to the business community’s experience of the DEP as the place where permits go to die. Or, at least, to languish for periods so long  that the original business opportunity that prompted the application is lost.

This way of conducting state business has been just fine with a number of environmental groups who cling to the sophomoric notion that all business is evil and all growth is sprawl.

But it’s had the unintended (to be charitable) consequence of  discouraging businesses from expanding in New Jersey. In some cases, frustrated business owners have chosen to abandon New Jersey altogether, moving their operations (and tax revenues and jobs) to more business-supportive states, like Pennsylvania.

 

Martin’s efforts to “change the culture” at the DEP were generally applauded by members of the Budget committee, Republicans and Democrats alike. One legislator confessed to once flirting with the idea of  moving his own business out of state. 

We checked yesterday with the DEP’s Press Office and learned that Commissioner Martin is “considering several strong candidates” for the Assistant Commissioner’s post and is expected to announce his selection in a couple of weeks.

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What do you want from NJ's LSRP program?

One of the environmental priorities of NJ Gov. Chris Christie's administration is to get thousands of contaminated sites across the state restored to productive uses (not to mention to the tax rolls).

DEP Commissioner Bob Martin says the best vehicle for this is the state's new Licensed Site Remediation Professional program (LSRP) which shifts greater responsibility for the remediations from state regulators to licensed engineering consultants.

Although the program is still in its early implementation stage, more than 300 consultants already have been issued temporary LSRP licenses by the DEP and 400 more are in the queue.

 Guest blogger, Nicholas De Rose, was an early advocate of the LSRP program. Nick offered legislators and staff with his practical perspective as the legislation that created the program went through numerous amendments on its way to adoption.


Nick is Senior Principal at Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. and serves as president of the
NJ Licensed Site Remediation Professionals  Association.

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What do you want from New Jersey's LSRP program?

One of the realities for anyone who is looking to takes sides, pro or con, regarding New Jersey’s Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRP) program is that if they are honest in their analysis, they will find that the LSRP Program and the regulatory reforms of the Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) provides something for each stakeholder with an interest in New Jersey’s Remediation Program.  Unfortunately, the outcome of this ‘King Solomon’ approach is that while the LSRP baby has been claimed by its rightful guardians, there are many who have not accepted this reality.

Change can be frightening and from many conversations I have had with folks in Massachusetts, the transformation to their Licensed Site Professional (LSP) program was also characterized by an initial period of fear, uncertainty and politicizing.   Since we are not inventing the wheel in New Jersey, we have been able to incorporate many lessons learned in Massachusetts to ensure that New Jersey’s LSRP Program will be a success.   New Jersey’s LSRP program is also going to be successful because it offers bona fide improvements for every stakeholder.  Which leads me back to my original question – “What do you want from New Jersey’s LSRP Program?”

Increased environmental protection?  It’s here.  Had anyone heard of regulatory or mandatory time frames in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP) remediation program before the Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) of 2009?  The answer has to be a resounding “No.”  With the passage of the SRRA – all cleanups in the State must move ahead – there is no longer   the option of moving along voluntarily.  We also have new regulations that rightfully prioritize addressing Immediate Environmental Concerns (IEC).  These two reforms alone under SRRA will result in more cleanups being done then ever before.  Furthermore, resources are now being prioritized to address IEC conditions that pose unacceptable risk.  (Note: in fact NJDEP has established IEC levels based on chronic risk exposure in many cases – rather than acute exposure.  Something that one can argue should be corrected to ensure that the public is not misinformed regarding their actual risks.)

Changes to NJDEP’s overly prescriptive regulatory process?  Yes, concerns in this key area from responsible parties representing New Jersey’s businesses and corporations as well as from environmental professionals were heard.  Both groups recognize that spending available resources on long term studies can sometimes be wasteful with no added protection to New Jersey’s citizens and the state’s environment.  While NJDEP initiated many remediation policies that led the United States in the early days of the field of remediation, an argument can be made that over the last 15 years, NJDEP has stopped progressing in the scientific field of remediation.  As an example of this, there is very little discussion in New Jersey’s Technical Requirements for Site Remediation (N.J.A.C. 7:26 E) regarding the use of the Conceptual Site Model (CSM). 

 The CSM uses terms such as ‘source’, ‘exposure pathway’ and ‘receptor’ and the application of the CSM is one of the most effective ways to ensure that risks to human health and the environment are properly assessed and communicated.  This approach supports identifying appropriate remedial goals for cleanup rather than prescribing detailed methodologies which should be left to the Professional Judgment of the LSRP.   In order to support the new regulatory framework of the LSRP Program, SRRA mandates changes to NJDEP’s regulatory framework and establishes a stakeholder process for the development of technical guidance.   With the formation of the LSRP Steering Committee initial steps toward these changes are underway.

An expedited cleanup process to support economic development?  In addition to ensuring that cleanups would progress by establishing mandatory time frames, the establishment of LSRP Program brings to bear additional personnel to oversee remediation cases that have been otherwise stagnant due to overwhelmed NJDEP case managers and staff.  For Brownfields developers, the ability to move cleanups along expeditiously is worth real dollars as “time is money”.  And for the environment, moving quickly is an effective way to increase restoration of contaminated soil and ground water.  Once these concepts were understood and properly conveyed in SRRA, the legislation was approved in both New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support.

I congratulate our leaders in the legislature, NJDEP and the Christie Administration for supporting the LSRP program.   To NJDEP Commissioner Martin I would like to emphasize the need to appoint the LSRP Licensing Board as the critical next step towards ensuring program success.

I would also like to acknowledge those with informed moderate perspectives from all stakeholders including environmental professionals, attorneys, business organizations, community organizations and environmental organizations.  And as a reminder, there were important reasons for the inclusion of a three year transition period in SRRA before the establishment of the final LSRP Program.   This transition period presents the opportunity for constructive input and dialog to ensure success which appears to also be necessary to overcome unrestrained and often misinformed or blatantly self serving speculation.  

I look forward to continued dialog and for the opportunity to share my views on the LSRP Program as we move forward.

Nicholas De Rose, L.S.R.P. 
Senior Principal, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services 
President, NJ Licensed Site Professionals Association

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Development trends show urban center rebound

Residential development trends in New Jersey, Philadelphia and elsewhere demonstrate a notable rebound for urban centers.

In its latest Future Facts, New Jersey Future reports that:

• Between 1990 and 1995, New York City accounted for 15 percent of the residential building permits issued in its larger metropolitan area. Between 2003 and 2008, however, it averaged 48 percent of the metro total.

• Philadelphia's share of its metropolitan area's building permit activity jumped from a mere 3 percent to 13 percent between the same two time periods. In 2008 alone, Philadelphia accounted for 16 percent of total metropolitan building permits, retaining its improved stature even in the face of the real estate downturn.

• The eight "urban centers" identified by New Jersey's State Development and Redevelopment Plan (Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Trenton, Camden, New Brunswick and Atlantic City) accounted for only 3 percent of residential building permits issued statewide between 1990 and 1995-but jumped to 14 percent of those issued between 2003 and 2008.

New Jersey Future analyzed municipal building permits and found that the resurgence of construction in already-developed places:

”… was most dramatic in what can be thought of as the North Jersey "urban core": Hudson, Essex, Union and Bergen counties, plus the lower neck of Passaic County (everything from Wayne east) and Middlesex County north of the Raritan River. This group of counties and county segments more than doubled its share of statewide building permits, from 16 percent in the 1990-1995 period to 34 percent in 2003-2008.

“Not coincidentally, Hudson, Union, Passaic and Middlesex were four of the six fastest-growing counties between 2008 and 2009, a position in which these counties had not found themselves in years-or, in some cases, decades.”

The smart-growth organization says the trend makes it clear that it’s time for “ New Jersey state agencies and municipal governments to realign their growth policies to make redevelopment the default development pattern for the future.”


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Confused about battery recycling? Read this

The 'battery life' of your aging laptop is on life support. So, whenever you try to work outside the office, you're forced to hunt for one of the precious, few electric wall sockets available at your favorite Starbucks, Panera Bread or hotel lobby.

After much coffee-drinking, while you wait for that guy parked by the sole available outlet to finish editing his doctoral dissertation on the evils of modern technology, frustration drives you to concede that it's time to buy a new battery.

But what do you do with the old battery?

You remember reading somewhere that it's no longer environmentally necessary to recycle consumer batteries. So it's OK to throw yours in the trash, right?

Wrong!

A number of New Jersey county and municipal recycling programs decided in January, 2010 to eliminate the recycling of alkaline batteries. They are the relatively cheap batteries that power many toys and some cameras and other consumer products.

But the state still requires the recycling the more expensive rechargeable batteries--the ones that power your laptop, cellphone, cordless phone, digital camera, two-way radio, camcorder, remote control toys and portable power tools.

Why the change?

Modifications to federal regulations, combined with less hazardous battery components, mean the typical, "single-use' household AAA, AA, C, D and 9-volt batteries now fall below federal and state hazardous waste standards and should be tossed out in the trash, explains Larry Gindoff, solid waste coordinator for the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority.

But the use of materials (like nickel, cadmium and mercury) in the much more productive rechargeable batteries led New Jersey in the early 1990s to ban their disposal in normal trash collections to keep them out of landfills and waste incinerators. The same law required battery manufacturers to find a way to recycle them. This led to the establishment of a take-back program involving a network of participating retailers.

What types of rechargeable battery types can be recycled?

Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Lithium Ion (Li-ion), Nickel Zinc (Ni-Zn), and Small Sealed Lead Acid (Pb) weighing up to 11 lbs/5 kg per battery.

Looking to boost recycling numbers

The Association of New Jersey Household Hazardous Waste Coordinators (ANJHHWC) has announced a new partnership with Call2Recycle that's aimed at increasing rechargeable battery recycling by 15 percent in 2010.

ANJHHWC says that Call2Recycle is the only free rechargeable battery and cell phone collection program in North America. It collects them through a network of about 1700 retailers, businesses and public agencies in New Jersey alone.

You can learn where you can take your rechargeable batteries for free reclining by phoning Call2Recycle at 1-877-2-RECYCLE.

Or click on their Rechargeable Battery Recycling Locations web page. Here, you simply enter your zip code and up pops a number of the locations closest to you. I tried it and found outlets within several miles of my home and office, including Radio Shack, Sears Hardware, Best Buy, Staples and Lowe's.

Have you tried the program? Let us know what do you think. Or tell us about your other recycling experiences or recommendations. Use the comment box below. If one isn't visible, activate it by clicking on the tiny 'comment' link.

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PADEP ordered to pay enviro groups' legal fees

The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board last Wednesday ordered the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to pay the $20,000 legal costs of Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) and Friends of Dunkard Creek in the groups’ appeal and DEP’s resulting revocation of an amendment to the pollution discharge permit for the Shannopin Mine Dewatering Project.

According to a news release from the environmental organizations, the Shannopin Mine Dewatering Project was designed to prevent a catastrophic breakout of acid mine water from the abandoned Shannopin Mine into Dunkard Creek. The project originally was granted a permit allowing less stringent cleanup of the dangerous water.

The challenged permit amendment, for which no public notice was given, would have allowed the project to collect water from Consolidation Coal Company’s (Consol) permitted Humphrey No. 7 Mine, where no breakout risk exists, and to treat that water to the less than optimal cleanup allowed in the original emergency situation.

The permit amendment was granted by the DEP's Mining Program despite a finding nine months before by a DEP biologist that the Shannopin Project’s discharge into Dunkard Creek contained high levels of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and other pollutants, which were causing harm to aquatic life in the creek.

“DEP did the right thing by acknowledging the errors raised in our appeal and revoking the permit revision for the proposed Calvin Run pumping operation,” said PennFuture Senior Attorney Kurt Weist. “That revocation is important because it prevents the pumping of additional high-TDS mine drainage out of Consol’s Humphrey Mine and into Dunkard Creek.”

“Equally important,” emphasized Jim O’Connell of the Friends of Dunkard Creek, “are the actions DEP still must take concerning the current operations of the Shannopin Mine Dewatering Project.

“DEP is more than eighteen months overdue in renewing the project’s water discharge permit,” said O’Connell, “and a full year ago, its water quality experts recommended that the permit contain more stringent contaminant limits. The purpose of those tougher limits is to prevent the discharge into Dunkard Creek from the project’s Steele Shaft Treatment Facility from continuing to harm fish and aquatic life in the creek, and from contributing to TDS pollution in the Monongahela River.”

O’Connell and Weist both questioned the continued pumping of high-TDS mine drainage into the Shannopin Mine from Consol’s Humphrey Mine.

“As its name indicates,” said Weist, the Shannopin Mine Dewatering Project was supposed to prevent an outbreak from the Shannopin Mine by removing water from the mine. DEP made that job a lot harder in 2005 by authorizing, without public notice, the transfer of nearly six million gallons of mine drainage per day into the Shannopin Mine from Consol’s Humphrey Mine at the Watkins Run borehole operation.”

“DEP documents state that the Shannopin Project’s Steele Shaft pumps could be shut off for about ten years before an outbreak of mine drainage would occur,” explained O’Connell, “and that the only reason the pumps are running at their current rate is to handle the water transferred into the Shannopin Mine from Consol’s Humphrey Mine. The sole purpose for that transfer is to allow the mining of coal reserves above the Humphrey Mine.”

“The only reason mine drainage from Consol’s Humphrey Mine makes its way into Dunkard Creek is that DEP allowed it to be transferred into the Shannopin Mine,” said O’Connell. “Until the Shannopin Project’s discharge meets the more stringent contaminant limits recommended a year ago,” he continued, “DEP should minimize the damage by shutting down the transfer of water from Humphrey to Shannopin and reducing the amount of water pumped from the Shannopin Mine into Dunkard Creek.”

Related:
CONSOL might face lawsuit over Dunkard Creek water pollution

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