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State Risk Communications Failures Exacerbated Uncertainty & Lack Of Trust

State Investigation Woefully Inadequate

Murphy DEP Commissioner Seeks To Derail A Broader Investigation

The NY Times published a well written and pretty thorough Op-Ed today on the alleged Woodbridge NJ Colonia High School cancer cluster. The author attempted to balance the science with the communication and human and emotional dimensions. Read the whole thing:

• ‘Something Is Wrong Here.’ More Than 100 Local Residents Had Brain Tumors, but What Was the Cause?

I’m glad that someone finally focused on the CDC Cancer Cluster Guidelines, particularly as they apply not only to the fundamental statistics of epidemiology, but to the key issues of communication with the community.

It is obvious that State Officials failed to even attempt to meet the spirit of these CDC guidelines, which I criticized as serious flaws in this May 2, 2022 post:

2. The federal CDC Guidelines for responding to an alleged cancer cluster are not being followed by NJ State government agencies.

Specifically, CDC Guidelines stress open and early communications with the community and media; transparency; and scientific rigor.

CDC does NOT recommend that federal and State health and environmental agencies delegate these investigations to local governments, as the Murphy Administration has done. Local governments lack the expertise, authority, and resources to respond.

Yet, instead of holding the Murphy administration to these guidelines and reporting State failures as facts, Spotlight reports these failures as shortcomings alleged by local residents.

I did not follow the local public hearings on the DEP response, so I was absolutely appalled to just now read Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette’s quote that attempts to suppress the scope of the investigation: (NY Times)

At the Colonia High School news conference in May, reporters pressed a panel of state experts on the decision not to test water and soil, even if just to reassure concerned community members that there was nothing there.

That kind of follow-up could have the opposite effect, said Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey’s commissioner of environmental protection, and send “the wrong message” that the suspicions deserved any more resources than what had already been invested.

Why would DEP Commissioner LaTourette want to cover up cancer risks?

The question answers itself:

• Oil, Chemical, And Pharmaceutical Polluters Dodge Scrutiny In Alleged Cancer Cluster Investigation

And it’s too bad that no one told The NY Times reporter about the Toms River childhood cancer cluster and how causal effects for certain cancers were attributed to local chemical air pollution and an unregulated chemical in drinking water:

(see NJ DoH Report)

“The study found that prenatal exposure to two environmental factors in the past were associated with increased risk of leukemia in female children. These exposures were: 1) access to drinking water from the Parkway well field after the time that the well field was most likely to be contaminated, and 2) air pollutant emissions from the Ciba-Geigy chemical manufacturing plant.”

[End Note: To give readers a sense of just how corrupted the entire “environmental” scene has become, consider that Woodbridge was ranked NJ’s #1 “Sustainable Town”. Hit that link, take a look and see if you agree!]

Here is my LTE to the NYT in response, which I doubt they will print:

Hi – The cancer cluster investigation was woefully inadequate.

The State DEP failed to consider any causal agents other than radiological concerns, despite their knowledge of the presence of known and suspected carcinogens in the ambient air and drinking water.

The Colonia HS is located a stone’s throw from the Garden State Parkway and a gas station, where thousands of vehicle per hour and gas pumps spew known cancer causing chemicals into the air (benzene, hydrocarbons, et al).

The region is densely populated with hundreds of known industrial air pollution sources that emit known carcinogens. EPA and DEP have conducted emissions stack tests, ambient air quality sampling, air quality modeling, and risk assessment. Based on that data and science, DEP knowns of excess cancer risk from regulated “Hazardous Air Pollutants” (HAPs). These cancer risks do not consider cumulative or synergistic effects, or the risks of exposure to unregulated chemicals.

Similarly, based on their own research, DEP knows that drinking water is contaminated by over 500 unregulated chemicals with unknown health risks, but many suspected to be biologically active and possible carcinogens.

For many years, DEP has downplayed and even suppressed the risks from the above.

I’d be glad to provide links and formal source citations to document the above claims.

Bill Wolfe

NRDC Consultant Supports Market Based Policy That Diverts From “Strategic Retreat”

Repetitive Flood Claims Fueled By NJ’s “Right To Rebuild” Laws & Lax Regulation

Serious Reforms Require A “One And Done” Approach

Almost 2 years ago, Murphy DEP Commissioner Shawn Latourette made highly revealing and hugely embarrassing on the record comments.

LaTourette suggested that market based real estate risk disclosure was an important tool to reduce risks of flooding, and could serve as an alternative to strict DEP land use planning and regulation: (NJ Spotlight,  10/14/20 – emphases mine)

Although developers and builders fear the new rules will tighten limits on where they can build in coastal and inland areas, the regulations are unlikely to do that, LaTourette said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News.

While no final decisions have been taken, the regulations are likely to require instead that builders and developers do a “climate impact analysis” for any new property that would be built in an area that’s expected to be hit by future floods, given scientific forecasts for sea-level rise and other climate-change phenomena, he said.

“We’re not at a point, nor do we think it’s our role, to tell people: ‘Don’t build here, you shouldn’t build there, you can’t do that,’” LaTourette said. “It is about making folks assess their risk and recognize the risk they are taking on. We are not saying: ‘You cannot build in a future flood-risk area.’ We’re saying that in a future flood-risk area, you need to at least do what you do now in an existing flood-risk area, which is: assess the risk, and notice that risk. It will forever live in the deed record of that property.” […]

“What’s important right now is that we make sure that people know that time is coming,” he said. “People writ large do not recognize it. By taking these kinds of measures and making people look at what’s happening, you begin to change the conversation, you begin to influence the risk that people are willing to take on.

At the time, I called him out for trying to substitute real estate market tools for his responsibility to regulate development, see:

• The Murphy DEP Refuses To Regulate To Protect Against Climate Impacts

Such an approach abdicates DEP’s public responsibility and inappropriately relies on information disclosure and individual private market based incentives to address deadly risks and catastrophic property damage.

Shortly after, LaTourette tried to walk back those comments and attacked his critics:

In another stunning set of absurd remarks, Mr. LaTourette falsely attacks critics:

• DEP warns environmentalists not to prejudge climate regulation review (NJ Spotlight, emphasis mine)

LaTourette said the critics were wrong to conclude that the DEP would leave it up to an individual to decide whether it was safe to build a house in a particular location.

“They have nothing to react to at this point,” he said. “For folks to jump to the conclusion that what we may propose to help ready our state to face this great risk, for folks to presuppose that whatever it is won’t be good enough, that’s not following the science.” […]

Bill Wolfe, a retired DEP policy analyst and the current author of an environmental blog, said the [LaTourette] comments “reflect an astonishing abdication of DEP’s regulatory responsibilities,” particularly coming from an administration that claims to be a leader in battling climate change.

“DEP must regulate to achieve deep emissions reductions and reduce risks as clearly reflected by an overwhelming scientific consensus,” Wolfe said. “Delay only makes matters worse.”

Wolfe argued that the DEP is required to regulate development under several laws, including the Flood Hazard Area Control Act and the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act.

Now, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the corporate planning group NJ Future have teamed up to provide cover for exactly that market based approach that LaTourette advocated. And they did so with no mention of long delayed DEP climate PACT regulations.

Today, NJ Spotlight reports on an “report for” NRDC (the vague “for NRDC” masks the fact that the Report was written by Milliman Inc., a private sector actuarial consulting firm, an important fact not disclosed in the Spotlight story, which misleads readers into thinking the Report was an NRDC product).

Once again, while promoting ineffective business friendly market based solutions, the Spotlight reporting ignores important issues, including the fact that – as I’ve written many times – NJ’s “right to rebuild” laws and lax regulation of development in flood prone areas are the drivers of NJ’s repetitive flood damage problem.

Real solutions to these problems would require a completely new DEP planning and regulatory strategy of “strategic retreat”, which would include legislatively revoking NJ right to rebuild laws and far more stringent DEP regulation of development in flood prone areas.

• Back Bay Flooding – In The Face of Climate Change – Highlights Imperative of Strategic Retreat

There was even legislation introduced to revoke the right to rebuild. As I wrote:

The Problem: (source: Huffington Post)

“New Jersey’s guaranteed right to rebuild following storm damage stands out as a highly unusual provision, according to a Huffington Post review of coastal laws in more than a dozen states on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.

North Carolina, for example, generally bars rebuilding in the same place after a structure is substantially damaged by a storm. Florida and Alabama typically require state reviews before approving the rebuilding of coastal structures damaged in major storms. Several other states, including South Carolina and Maine, require that property owners pull back from the ocean as much as possible following hurricane damage.

Experts describe New Jersey’s express right to rebuild as the single most significant impediment toward limiting the state’s vulnerability to future storms.

“The idea of putting it down on paper like that is strange, that’s not good,” said Orrin H. Pilkey, an emeritus professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke University, who has probed the dangers of building near disappearing shorelines. “It gives you no flexibility. If people want to rebuild, they can.”  ~~~ see: Jersey Shore Development Failures Exposed By Hurricane Sandy

The Solution:

A bill (S62 – Barnes) that would rescind the so called “right to rebuild” storm damaged property in NJ’s Coastal Zone was approved by the Senate Environment Committee last week, with surprisingly little debate or opposition.

But instead of even opening that Pandora’s box, here are the key findings Spotlight reported:

Over the length of a 15-year mortgage,  the owner of a previously flooded home can see estimated damages rise from $25,175 under current climate conditions to $32,707 under “medium” carbon emissions, and $50,756 if governments completely fail to curb emissions, said the report, titled “Estimating Undisclosed Flood Risk in Real Estate Transactions.”

Over a 30-year mortgage, the owner of a previously flooded home can expect to see flood damages rise from $50,351 to $55,415 under “medium” carbon emissions and $101,513 under a “high” carbon scenario, the report said.

NRDC didn’t need to pay a corporate consulting firm big money for that analysis – just 3 weeks ago I reported publicly available FEMA data that shows that the average flood insurance claim in NJ over the last 10 years was $47,700

Of course the economic value of those damages will increase as climate risks increase and more expensive real estate is rebuilt in the same hazardous location! (Paraphrasing Dylan) You don’t need a [corporate consultant] weatherman to know which way the wind blows!

But instead of economics and Neoliberal market based solutions, I wrote to focus on how DEP regulatory delays were exacerbating these problems:

Equally disturbing, during this delay, DEP has approved hundreds of land use permits and related approvals that put even more people and property in harms way, thereby exacerbating NJ’s national negative profile as a FEMA “repetitive loss” State.

Why aren’t NRDC and NJ Future advocating for real solutions to the costly and dangerous flood issues that plague NJ?

Why are they tinkering around the margins with diversionary business friendly market tools instead of educating the public about and advocating for real regulatory and planning solutions?

Those are the kind of questions real journalists would be asking and writing stories about.

“Let Us Go – Doubly Open – Into The Sea of Cortez”

A few weeks ago, we wandered upon a very cool scene in Port Townsend, Washington harbor.

A crowd had formed and there were several media cameras rolling – what was going on we wondered?

We happened upon a ceremony for the launch on John Steinbeck’s boat the Western Flyer, from his book The Sea Of Cortez! He sailed with marine biologist Ed Ricketts.

I love Steinbeck – when I was in Monterey (pics), I wrote:

Last night I opened The Log From The Sea Of Cortez (1941) and, after the homage to Ed Ricketts, was just blown away by the superb Introduction, one of the finest summaries on the scientific method and ways of seeing the world, thinking, travel, and living I’ve come across. Here’s an extended excerpt of that: (read full Steinbeck excerpt)

And his book Travels With Charley In Search Of America was an inspiration for my own travels with Bouy!

The restoration of the Western Flyer was a 7 year ordeal – you can read about it here. The Foundation also has a YouTube channel and there was a lot of media about the launch.

Some pics:

DEP Seeks To Narrow The “Compelling Public Interest” Loophole

DEP Makes A Basic Legal Error: Scope Of Regulation Contradicts Statute

To prepare for the public hearings on Murphy DEP’s proposed “Environmental Justice (EJ)” regulations, the NJ EJ activists have issued “talking points” to assist the public. (July 27 in Newark is final traditional public hearing. The written comment period is open until September 4, 2022).

Not surprisingly, those talking points are crap.

The activists just fail to understand that the flaws they criticize are created by the EJ law that they supported!

Activists highlight just one of the major flaws in the EJ statute that I’ve been writing about, the “compelling public interest” loophole.

The confused activists conclude:

If you remove the economic factors exclusion and make the compelling public interest clause broad in its application – you essentially create an enormous loophole that renders this landmark EJ bill a complete failure

They got one thing right: the “landmark EJ bill” is in fact “a complete failure.”

Here’s how the EJ activists describe that loophole: (emphases mine)

Compelling Public Interest

The law states that new permits for covered facilities in overburdened communities that contribute to the existing or new disproportionate pollution shall be denied. There is an exception for a compelling public interest in the host community when the facility primarily serves an environmental, safety, or public health purpose. This exception excludes economic considerations. This means that industry cannot use economic arguments to push through permits that contribute to pollution in overburdened communities. This part of the rule is very important because industries could use economic arguments to justify any permit application and essentially create a loophole in the rule.

I warned about the same loophole, when it mattered (i.e. before the bill was passed and before the Gov. signed it):

the DEP permit denial authority is destroyed by an “exception” – a huge loophole provision that allows DEP to waive the mandatory permit denial and issue the permit if a polluter claims that there is a “compelling public interest” for the industry or facility seeking the permit, even if there are disproportionate and unjust impacts.

But the EJ activists still supported the bill with that loophole.

So now, they flat out LIE about the compelling public interest loophole in the law that they supported.

The law does NOT “exclude economic considerations”.

The law does NOT require that “the primary purpose of the facility must be to serve an essential environmental, health, or safety need of the host overburdened community for which there is no reasonable alternative to siting within the overburdened community.”

That text is from the DEP proposed rule, not from the statute.

Here’s the text of the DEP regulatory proposal:

“1. The proposed new facility will primarily serve an essential environmental, health, or safety needs of the individuals in an overburdened community;

2. The proposed new facility is necessary to serve the essential environmental, health, or safety needs of the individuals in an overburdened community; and

3. There are no feasible alternatives that can be sited outside the overburdened community to serve the essential environmental, health, or safety needs of the individuals in an overburdened community.”

But compare that to the text from the law:

“except that where the department determines that a new facility will serve a compelling public interest in the community where it is to be located, the department may grant a permit that imposes conditions on the construction and operation of the facility to protect public health”

The law does not limit the scope of the compelling public interest.

It does not limit that interest to “essential environmental, health, or safety needs”, or “that no feasible alternatives can be sited outside the community.”

Just like DEP can not expand the scope of a legislative provision in regulations, DEP can not narrow one either.

Immediate grounds for a victorious NJ BIA/Chamber of Commerce/NJBA/NAIOP lawsuit.

Dennis Toft already has the briefs drafted and Ray Cantor has the press release ready to go.

Be warned: this is what happens when you negotiate a bad deal and compromise on essential principles, and then provide political cover for the politicians who sold you out.

[End Note: DEP Commissioner LaTourette, who signed off on the rule proposal, is a former corporate lawyer. So, I assume he is competent. If so, he may be sabotaging his own regulation to avoid accountability for a pro-economic development policy and mask flaws in the EJ law, and blame the business community.

Or he could just be incompetent, because this is a glaring and egregious basic legal error.

Have Sweeney’s Democratic Colleagues Moved Worker Safety Legislation He Supported?

I read NJ Spotlight’s story today about Amazon warehouse labor issues with interest.

I don’t usually get involved in labor issues, but I did in this case.

I brought a California bill [AB701] on warehouse worker safety issues to the attention of former Senate President Sweeney last September, and urged him to greatly expand his proposed legislation, based upon California legislation.

He agreed and wrote to thank me for bringing the legislation to his attention. In an October 11, 2021 email, Sweeney wrote: (emphases mine)

Dear Mr. Wolfe:

Thank you again for contacting my office to express your concerns regarding warehouse worker safety and sharing your support of Assembly Bill 4630 with the Governor.

I have reviewed the California warehouse bill, AB701, that you sent over. I think the bill will provide important protections for warehouse workers and I have asked my staff to look into how we could do a similar bill in New Jersey.

Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Sincerely,

Steve Sweeney

Senate President

Sweeney responded to my September 27, 2021 email:

Senator Sweeney – thank you for your reply and for advising me of your support of NJ A4630 – I will reach out to Gov. Murphy’s office and urge that he sign the bill into law.

However, the NJ A4630 bill applies narrowly to just the public sector.

In contrast, the California legislation, AB701, applies directly to the private sector and addresses specific workplace protections, among other things, see:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB701

I urge you to review the pending California legislation and consider broader and more effective protections for warehouse labor.

Sincerely,

Bill Wolfe

It would be interesting to know if Sweeney’s Democratic colleagues have pursued the California model legislation he expressed support for. And did Gov. Murphy sign the flawed bill (A4630) I initially wrote Sweeney to criticize?

[Update – just did the research. On Nov. 8, 2021,  Gov. Murphy Conditionally Vetoed the bill because he thought it would hurt “small” mom and pop businesses. He made a lame bill even lamer:

It looks like the Legislature has not concurred with the Gov.’s CV and the bill its dead. ~~~ end update]

But how is it possible that a retired environmental activist – with no funds, no staff and no resources – living in the national forests in a bus can have more impact on the NJ Senate President than well funded NJ labor unions and labor activists? (including environmental and labor coalitions).

[End Note: I’ve been a longtime critic of Senator Sweeney so he had no use for me. This only further baffles me as to how I could secure his support for the California bill (and at a time his own lame bill was on the Gov.’s desk):