Friday, April 29, 2011

A merger of New Jersey law firms-north and south

The South Jersey law firm, Archer and Greiner, which has a substantial environmental and alternative and renewable energy practice, is merging with the North Jersey firm of  Herten, Burstein, Sheridan, Cevasco, Bottinelli, Litt & Harz, which has an active real estate and land-use practice.

The combined firm will retain the name Archer & Greiner PC and will become the state's fourth largest law firm.

Prior to the merger, which will become effective on May 2, Archer & Greiner had 170 attorneys firm-wide, including 134 in New Jersey. Founded in 1928, the firm has its headquarters in Haddonfield and additional New Jersey offices in Princeton and Flemington. Its regional network of seven offices also spans Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York.

Founded in 1987, Herten Burstein has 31 attorneys in its main office in Hackensack, N.J., and a satellite office in New York City.

The addition of the Hackensack location will significantly expand Archer & Greiner’s statewide presence. The firm also has full-service offices in Philadelphia and in Wilmington and Georgetown, Del. The merger with Herten Burstein will bring Archer & Greiner’s complement of attorneys to 201, along with 47 paralegals and 190 support staff, for a total workforce of 438.

Attorneys practicing Land Use, Environmental Permitting and  Alternative & Renewable Energy law in the pre-merger Archer and Greiner firm are:

Attorneys in Herten Burstein's Real Estate and Land Use section are:

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Posted by Frank Brill at 2:34 PM 0 comments
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Coal vs. Oil - How about other ecological impacts?



[We've got mail and we're sharing it with you below.  If you'd like to add to it, use the comment box below the letter.  If one isn't visible, click the tiny 'comments' link ]
Dear Editor,

Thank you for your thoughtful articles on the impacts of natural gas versus coal. Your readers may want to be aware of a tool for impact analysis that could help rationalize the debate. Lucent has developed Life Cycle Analysis software that is accepted by a global standards organization (International Standards Organization, ISO) for determining ecological impact of a product or process from start to finish. They use it to choose the best way to make a product like routers. Sometimes they even decide not to make a product because it will be too much long term environmental liability compared to short term profit. How smart is that?

So if you applied this tool to some proposed actions like large scale deployment of drilling in certain locations, what happens? Hmm... So maybe we should build a pipeline to deliver gas from Alaska where we do not have to fracture, while we develop better ways to drill in the eastern shale.

And if you applied this tool to making lots of wind farms with wind machines using rare earth elements dug up in East Africa where wildlife lives, what happens? Hmm... So maybe we should mine landfills and e-waste in New Jersey for the rare earth elements, while we develop a better way to get the rare earth out of Africa without harming the wildlife.

And if you applied this tool to cutting greenhouse gases at great expense while affecting global warming 0.1 degree F, what happens? Hmm... So maybe we should burn coal. We could even convert the coal to fuels for our vehicles. Remember the synfuels program? How about that. We could do that while we work on the long term solution to global warming.

Think of all the jobs we could create, right here in the Garden State. Trenton makes, the world takes.

Happy Easter.

God Bless You.

Gary T. Boyer, P.E. BCEE
Branchburg, NJ 08876
____________________________________________________________________________
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Posted by Frank Brill at 11:34 AM 2 comments
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

What you can do to keep a New York farm in business


We received this message today from the New York  League of Conservation Voters and pass it along to you in its entirety.

You already know that locally grown is good for New York's environment, economy and public health. It tastes better, too.

But did you know this? A New York farm goes out of business and is lost to development every three and a half days.

The state's existing Farmland Protection Program simply cannot keep up with the high demand or intense pressure to develop agricultural lands. A new approach is needed right away, or more farms will be lost for good.

Over the coming days, lawmakers in Albany will be working on proposals to generate new revenue to save New York's farms.

Please join NYLCV in asking the Legislature to protect New York's agricultural industry and keep high-quality, locally made products on New Yorkers' tables.

Act Now
then
Forward this message to a friend

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Posted by Frank Brill at 12:05 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

This Saturday, help sweep a Jersey beach--any one of 70!


A sure sign that Spring has arrived in New Jersey is Clean Ocean Action's massive Beach Sweep project that organizes thousands of volunteers in a day of beach cleaning.

The program has grown from 75 people at one site in 1985, to 5,163 volunteers at 115 sites in 2008.  Volunteers gather from Raritan to Delaware Bays and along the ocean to clean beaches and waterways, as well as underwater sites.

Participants join as groups (community, school, business, and organization), families, or individuals. In addition to picking up the stuff that shouldn't be on anyone's beach, they also collect and record data about debris, which COA uses in annual reports to advance federal, state, and local programs to reduce litter.

Keeping pace with the times, the event this year has its own Facebook page--a clever bit of social marketing by COA to get its supporters to spread the news far and wide. 

Here's a list of beach sweep locations. If you're participating on Saturday (9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.)  in a group of 10 or more, use COA's registration page.

To stay on top of all kinds of environmental events--workshops, seminars, webinars and other educational and networking opportunities, sign up for complimentary email or RSS updates at our free Enviro-Events Calendar.  


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Posted by Frank Brill at 11:23 AM 0 comments
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Saturday, April 23, 2011

The early bird gets the Jersey Fresh asparagus


Today, April 23, is the first day of the year that New Jersey grown asparagus should start appearing at roadside farm markets and retail stores.

The asparagus harvest is most active between May 1 and May 30, but you can still find some New Jersey asparagus as late as June 25. After that, it's wait till next year.

How do I know this?  I'm cribbing from the Harvest Dates Availability Chart on the state Department of Agriculture's Jersey Fresh page.  

Take a peek and you'll see that Jersey's early spinach crop also should be hitting the farm stands right about now. 

Here 's how to search for a roadside market in your area or a pick-your-own farm.

Fresh asparagus, fresh spinach, yum!   

 
Jersey Fresh Coming Attractions 

Lettuce - May 20 - July 15
Strawberries - June 1 - June 10
Cabbage - June 10 - Oct. 31
Peas - June 15 - June 25
Onions - June 25 - July 31
Snap beans - June 20 - July 20
Squash - June 25 - September 1
Beets - July 1 - Oct. 31

Are you an asparagus or spinach lover? What's your favorite way of preparing them?
Mine is to have someone else do it. And yours? Tell us in the comment box below.
If one isn't visible, click on the tiny 'comments' line to activate it.   


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Posted by Frank Brill at 2:01 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

No shale driller wants to rank high on this list

Click here  to activate map

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette performed a public service yesterday in publishing data from a
PADEP list of violations and fines imposed on Marcellus Shale drilling companies between 2005 and Feb. 1, 2011.

We call it a public service because such disclosure (perhaps even more so than the size of the fines) motivates companies to pay closer attention to their operations and quickly address problem areas.

Every smart company wants to claim that it is vigilant when it comes to environmental protection. Consistently ranking high on such lists provides ammunition to those who would argue that such claims are bogus.

That's the theory, at least, and former DEP Secretary John Hanger said he saw it proven in the case of Chief Oil & Gas.

When the company landed near the top of several lists -- including the most fines of any Marcellus Shale drilling company in Pennsylvania -- its leadership requested a meeting. Hanger recalls that they flew up from Dallas and told him they were "taking steps taking steps to improve their environmental performance, improving their control of water, improving their command and control on site."

"No one wants to be on a list," Chief's spokeswoman Kristi Gittins told the Post-Gazette. "We've been drilling shale for 15 years and we're good at it, so, we were surprised by the list of violations and fines we received" in Pennsylvania.

Following its meeting with Hanger, Gittins says Chief conducted a review of its operations, fired some employees and subcontractors, and began lining its entire site with plastic to help contain any spill. The company implemented a closed-loop system to contain drill pit water, which was the cause of four of its nine fines.

Is potential public shame enough to get drillers to perform properly?  Some environmental groups think that higher fines would help as well.

"A fine for environmental drillers really should hurt the pocketbook," said PennFuture president Jan Jarrett. "Even that $24,000 average [fine], in terms of the cost of putting up one of those multimillion dollars wells, that's just so much background noise to these companies."

State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, has a bill that would increase fines in the Oil & Gas Act that regulates the Marcellus Shale industry. His bill would increase the maximum fine from $25,000 to $100,000, and the fine for each day of continual violation from $1,000 per day to $10,500 per day.

Former DEP Secretary Hanger said he believes the state's Clean Streams Law, which is applied if well spills make their way to state waterways, also should be increased. Currently, a violation of the streams law is punishable by up to $10,000-per-day fine.

You may not be surprised to learn that industry representatives disagree.

"The way I hear the issue is it's not the amount of the fine, it's how do we improve performance to avoid them in the first place," said Kathryn Klaber, executive director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group representing the state's operators.

Read the entire story: What fines reveal about drilling in state

Related articles

What do you think?  Are violation lists effective?  Should fines be increased?  Why?
Let us know in the comment box below.  If one isn't visible, click on the tiny 'comments' line to activate it.

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Posted by Frank Brill at 1:01 PM 0 comments
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Friday, April 15, 2011

Black Bear gets easy pass out of tree along NJ Turnpike

The New Jersey Turnpike is the scene of plenty of news events--lengthy traffic jams, multi-vehicle accidents and an occasional police pursuit. But the big Turnpike news today was really, really big--at least a couple of hundred pounds worth.

Startled motorists watched a black bear cross the high-speed roadway early this morning and then climb some 20 feet into a tree off Exit 8.


It's difficult to excite New Jerseyans, but the appearance of such a big hunk of nature in a section of the state better known for housing developments and warehouses set off a bit of a frenzy.

Hearing the news, some local residents grabbed their cameras and jumped into their cars. The media, of course, sped to the scene, and a FOX  News copter caught it all on the video (see below).

It's hard enough to get a kitten out of a tree but a big black bear--wow!  Our hats are off to the firemen and state wildlife men who managed to get the bear safely to ground.  In a genuinely human gesture, a number of those burly guys sneaked up after the tranquilized bear was loaded into a truck, to give the bruin a reassuring pat. Well done, all!




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Posted by Frank Brill at 2:42 PM 0 comments
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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Is Pennsylvania rubber-stamping gas drilling permits?

Concerned about the environmental impacts of shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania? Here's one more cause for worry.

The Associated Press reports that DEP staffers spend as little as 35 minutes reviewing each of the thousands of applications for natural gas well permits they process each year.

And the regulators say they do not give any additional scrutiny to requests to drill near high-quality streams and rivers even though the waterways are protected by state and federal law.

The news agency reports:
"Staffers in the state Department of Environmental Protection testified behind closed doors last month as part of a lawsuit filed by residents and environmental groups over a permit that DEP issued for an exploratory gas well in northeastern Pennsylvania, less than a half-mile from the Delaware River and about 300 feet from a pristine stream.

"Reporting by the AP suggests that applications are rubber-stamped, rushed through with little scrutiny and rarely rejected. The staffers' statements indicate that DEP regulators are overburdened — and possibly ignoring environmental laws — as they struggle to deal with an unprecedented drilling boom that has turned Pennsylvania into a major natural gas player and raised fears about polluted aquifers and air."
Read the entire story here.  

Want to stay on top of all the environmental news from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Delaware?  Try our 30-day, no obligation, no-hassle trail subscription to EnviroPolitics.

Our most recent blog posts:
New study re-ignites natural gas vs. coal enviro debate
Environmental activist Jane Nogaki retires from NJEF
NJDEP stepping up enforcement of wells and pumps
NY to modify Catskill water releases to Delaware River
PA Senator wants a moratorium on natural gas-drilling


Posted by Frank Brill at 1:38 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

New study re-ignites natural gas vs. coal enviro debate

If you're following the controversy surrounding natural gas drilling and its hydrofracturing (fracking) technique, you'll want to read about a new study that's guaranteed to heighten that debate while also firing up the quarrel between gas and coal.

Subscribers to our daily EnviroPolitics newsletter learned yesterday about a Cornell University study which concluded that so much methane is escaping from gas wells and distribution lines that the fuel's accepted environmental benefit over coal is now questionable.

Poking holes into natural gas's credentials as environmentally preferable to coal is bad news for the
gas industry but should be warmly embraced by coal producers who have seen their market share steadily erode as more and more utilities switch over their power plants to burn natural gas.

It's not surprising that the gas industry reacted immediately with a detailed web rebuttal.

And this is just the start. Can you imagine the number of fervent calls going out from both sides today to PR and lobbying firms?

Expect an avalanche of white papers, special web sites and talking points to follow. 

What do you think?  Are you surprised by the Cornell study?  Think it's biased?
How do you see it shaping the ongoing national energy debate or shale drilling in PA?
Share your views in the comment box below. If one isn't visible, click the 'comments' line.  

Related stories:
Studies Say Natural Gas Has Its Own Environmental Problems
Methane Losses Stir Debate on Natural Gas
More Reasons to Question Whether Gas is Cleaner than Coal
Shale gas 'worse than coal' for climate
Five Things to Know about the Cornell Shale Study  
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Posted by Frank Brill at 1:46 PM 2 comments
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Environmental activist Jane Nogaki retires from NJEF


Jane Nogaki, who has been advocating for environmental issues before local and state government for more than 30 years, has retired from the New Jersey Environmental Federation where she was founding chairperson and also had served as Pesticide Campaign Coordinator and South Jersey Organizer.

During her 33 years of activism, Nogaki mobilized public support for NJ's Workers and Community Right to Know Act, Clean Water Enforcement Act, pesticide notification regulations, and the School Integrated Pest Management Act.

“While we are saddened by our loss (and honestly not quite sure how we will function without her), we want to celebrate and build on her more than 30 years of environmental activism and accomplishments,” said Amy Goldsmith, state director for the New Jersey Environmental Federation

“Jane had a unique ability to not only listen to others and understand their plight, help others with their local battle, but more importantly teach and encourage them create their own voice and, in turn, become activists themselves. If there is one thing that makes Jane stand apart from the rest, it’s that she not only used her mind, but her gentle and fierce heart, to fight for what is right in this world” Goldsmith said.

Related:
NJEF founder and board member Jane Nogaki retires after 33 years


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Posted by Frank Brill at 1:02 AM 0 comments
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Monday, April 11, 2011

NJDEP stepping up enforcement of wells and pumps

Responding to consumer complaints involving improper well construction and well pump installation issues, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has announced it is increasing enforcement efforts.

In an advisory issued today, the Department said it found the violations to be of great concern because they threaten "the quality of our aquifers and the safety of our water supplies."

DEP says the problems include wells and pumps installed by non-licensed or improperly licensed individuals, improper or faulty well construction and well pump installations, failure to obtain required permits, improper decommissioning of wells, and failure to timely submit well records and decommissioning reports.

What is DEP doing about it?

The Department's Water Compliance and Enforcement Program will be providing enforcement support to the Division of Water Supply’s Well Permitting and Regulation Section, which is primarily responsible for inspection of the well sites.

This support will include the issuance of formal enforcement actions with penalty assessments (which can be up to $5,000 per day per violation), and the suspension or revocation of licenses.

Read the entire DEP enforcement advisory here.


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Posted by Frank Brill at 11:46 AM 1 comments
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