WolfeNotes.com » Taxes

“WolfeNotes” blog launched – We aim to hold corporate polluters and government accountable

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:46:32 +0000

Below is the post that got my blog banned by the Star Ledger on June 10, 2009. So I thought it would be a good first post to use to launch my new blog, “WolfeNotes.com” .

That banned post illustrates the reasons that I blog and some of what I hope to accomplish. I try to combine serious ideas, visual images, and analysis to call out the bullshit I see in government, politics, and media every day.

I will focus primarily on environmental issues, not only because I love the natural world, but because the same forces that are destroying the environment also are responsible for our current accelerating economic and political collapse. Hopefully, I will remain too controversial for the Star Ledger. And perhaps someday we all will recall that I.F. Stone famously said, “all governments lie“. Yet our media institutions have lost touch with that fundamental truth and not only fail to hold government accountable, but often accept government spin at face value, which then becomes the dominant narrative (conventional wisdom, or propaganda) .

But, lets not blame government per se. Scratch the surface of most government lies and you find a cover for corporate power and economic interests. As political scientist Sheldon Wolin wrote in “Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism” (excellent review here), our democratic institutions have been hijacked by corporate interests and our Republic transformed to a global empire. And there is little indication that the Obama “change” is anything more than rhetoric. According to a Wolin interview in Chris Hedges’s new book “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” (Hedges interview here):

The basic systems are going to stay in place; they are too powerful to be challenged.” Wolin to me when I asked him about the Obama administration. ”This is shown by the financial bailout. It does not bother with the structure at all. I don’t think Obama can take on the kid of military establishment we have developed. This is not to say that I do not admire him. …I think he is well meaning, but he inherits a system of constraints that make it very difficult to take on these major power configurations. I do not think he has the appetite for it in any ideological sense. The corporate structure is not going to be challenged. There has not been a word from him that would suggest an attempt to rethink the American imperium.”

So, this is the frame of reference I will try to apply to the more circumscribed world of NJ environmental issues and politics. Let me know what you think – one of my aims is to spur dialogue.

Thrifty Individual Reducing Carbon FootPrint

“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism., question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them.”
George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language,” 1946
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

Bill Wolfe Vacationing close to home – camping in public parks

(warning – graphic images on the flip)

“The Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009″
http://gawker.com/5285064/yahoo-nukes-mans-photos-over-obama-comments

Art and Freedom

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:00:25 +0000

“He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.”
Ben Franklin http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
“As a poet, I would have to say that 9/11 changed the language itself … 9/11 is a big abstraction. … In the name of 9/11 and in the name of the war on terror, phrases like “weapons of mass destruction” and “enhanced interrogation” have entered our political vocabulary. These phrases, for me, divorce language from meaning, and thus divorce action from consequence. If you’re engaged in enhanced interrogation you’re not engaged in torture, and thus, we in society come to embrace torture in the name of security. I think we have to do whatever we can to combat this tendency in the language. The fact is that this language is used to foster a culture of fear so that in turn people will act against their own interests. And that’s why we’re now embroiled in two wars“
Martin Espada. Poet and Professor, University of Massachusetts
PBS Newhour – 9/11/08 MP3 http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2008/09/11/20080911_sevenyears28.mp3
Espada’s website:http://www.martinespada.net/
“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism., question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them.”
George Orwell – “Politics and the English Language” 1946
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
On the shoulders of these giants, I share my pedestrian experience.
Yesterday, I went to US District Court in Newark to listen to oral argument in a case filed by Edison Wetlands Association seeking to force a toxic polluter to stop discharging toxic chemicals to the Raritan River. A long and disgraceful story.
But, as I approached the Federal Square complex, a beautiful piece of sculpture caught my eye. Of course – since a core part of my mission is amateur photojournalism – I moved to take a picture.

Bill Wolfe

In response, US Federal marshall Gerald Mauriello aggressively swooped in, sternly advised that I was on “federal property”, and “taking pictures of federal buildings is prohibited”. He demanded personal identification. I asked on what legal basis he did so, under the impression that we have both Constitutional and inalienable rights, and there is no US citizen identification card (at least not yet).
To which he angrily replied: “Don’t you know what f-cking day it is!”

Bill WolfeUS Marshall Mauriello rushes to avert terrorism because – as the Leader and Decider has repeated – the terrorists hate our freedom.

Feel safer now?

Bill WolfeThomas Paine – patriot and truth teller

Bill Wolfe“Don’t tread on Me”

Bill Wolfe
Hey Mr. US Marshall Mauriello – is it now illegal to photo these federal buildings? Just askin’.

Bill Wolfe

Bill WolfeUS Supreme Court – note the couple kneeling in prayer on the steps

DEP losing money on State land leases

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:43:50 +0000

Oil & gas companies, luxury boats/Marina’s subsidized while Park Visitor Fees Increase

Bill Wolfe

Today’s Asbury Park Press and Morris Daily Record are reporting that the Department of Environmental Protection’s management of leases, easements, and concessions is in disarray, and losing lots of money.
This news comes after Governor Corzine threatened to close state parks and raise parking and entrance fees:
State loses money on leases – DEP’s lease program disorganized — but at what cost?
BY MICHAEL RISPOLI • GANNETT STATE BUREAU • AUGUST 3, 2008
Tenants know how it works: Rent goes up every year, and if it’s not paid they get evicted.
But for years when lessees did not pay New Jersey for using the state’s parklands, they didn’t even get a slap on the wrist. As the value of the land they occupied went up, some kept paying the same rate.…
The DEP has 232 leases currently on file — which include family homes, education centers and utility lines — but no complete list is available. Staffers currently are combing through state park files to find the total number, which they estimate to be upward of 300. A review of records from the State House Commission, the state panel that oversees such agreements, shows at least 10 agreements approved since 2006 that are not included on the list.
…Raising park user fees may wind up plugging the park’s budget hole, but Wolfe says the state is going after the wrong people.
“(Gov.) Corzine’s willing to raise park user fees, but he’s not willing to say the corporations who are using these lands have to pay up,” Wolfe said.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080803/NEWS/808030434
Look DEP – in case you can’t find it in your files. This is an easement – Texas Eastern Pipeline across D&R Canal State Park

Bill WolfeTexas Eastern Gas Pipeline crosses D&R Canal State Park just north of Lambertville

Bill Wolfe

A Generational Challenge to Repower America

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:48:35 +0000

“We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.”
Ladies and gentlemen:
There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more – if more should be required – the future of human civilization is at stake….
…Many Americans have begun to wonder whether or not we’ve simply lost our appetite for bold policy solutions. And folks who claim to know how our system works these days have told us we might as well forget about our political system doing anything bold, especially if it is contrary to the wishes of special interests. And I’ve got to admit, that sure seems to be the way things have been going. But I’ve begun to hear different voices in this country from people who are not only tired of baby steps and special interest politics, but are hungry for a new, different and bold approach.

Al Gore
Link to text of speech and to view video:
http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/304/

Fifty Cents Per Month?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:06:31 +0000

Trenton Politicians are Not Serious about Global Warming

[Update: 7/20/08 - "Of course the greatest obstacle to meeting the challenge of 100 percent renewable electricity in 10 years may be the deep dysfunction of our politics and our self-governing system as it exists today. In recent years, our politics has tended toward incremental proposals made up of small policies designed to avoid offending special interests, alternating with occasional baby steps in the right direction. Our democracy has become sclerotic at a time when these crises require boldness."
Al Gore
http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/304/
I wrote on Wednesday about DEP's proposed new rules to create a pollution trading scheme under "RGGI" (the northeast state's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative):
Global Warming rhetoric meets reality
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/07/global_warming_rhetoric_meets.html
Based on the comments, it is obvious that we have a "failure to communicate" (Cool Hand Luke).
So let me take another stab at one key point - ideally, this could be the question of the day for the site. I throw down that challenge to site editors. I dare you to ask this question of Star Ledger readers (or better yet, conduct a formal poll of NJ residents on it)
Are you willing to pay more than 50 cents per month to prevent global warming?
[Note - good suggestion that the word "prevent" should instead be "reduce" or "mitigate". Global warming is already happening now and can not be prevented.]
Governor Corzine and the NJ Legislature say the answer is NO.
They enacted a law that lets polluters off the hook for paying pollution fees that might cost any more than 50 cents per month in the average homeowners electric bill.
That alone is an outrage.
The fact that the proposal allows a 9% INCREASE in CO2 emissions, when for YEARS it has been sold to the public as an emission REDUCTIONS plan, just adds insult to injury. (as we all know due to the extensive PR, that the Global Warming Response Act mandates a 20% reduction by 20202, and 80% by 2050)
Have I made myself clear?
(technical note: the DEP rule stated that the RGGI proposal allows for a 4% increase in average missions from 2002 – 2004 across the 10 state RGGI region. This downplays the fact that it allows for a LARGER 9% increase in NJ emissions. How this data was reported reveals DEP’s attempt to mislead.
Additional bonus point observation for those that really get down in the weeds: DEP adds further misleading analysis by comparing RGGI pollution allowances with PROJECTED emissions under what is an assumed “Business as Usual” scenario (BAU). Again, this grossly misleads, because the BAU scenario assumes an incredible growth of electric demand (27%) by the year 2020. So, instead of the real emissions REDUCTIONS mandated by law, RGGI merely SLOWS THE RATE OF INCREASE in the growth of emissions. Comparing RGGI pollution allowances with a Projected BAU scenario is the same methodology that the Bush Administration’s Department of Energy has been severely criticized for by national environmental groups. Yet that same method applied in NJ by DEP has been praised by environmental groups. Go figure.).

Heads should roll for this

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:10:11 +0000

[Update: 8/3/08- the press finally covered this story. See:
DEP's lease program disorganized -- but at what cost?
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B3/20080803/NEWS0301/808030350/1123/NEWS02
State loses money on leases
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080803/NEWS/808030434
Star Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine recently correctly took me to task for not doing my homework before making inaccurate comments on his recent column. I was held accountable for and as a result quickly acknowledged my (minor) error. Case closed. Academics and science work in a similar fashion: peer review discloses errors - errors are then corrected.
But, I wish someone would do basic research on the issue of whether the threat to close State parks due to lack of money - and the recent diversion of beach replenishment funds to fill the funding gap - was even necessary. If my facts are accurate, current, and complete, someone has a lot of explaining to do.
Follow this brief chronology:
1. December 2005: I was asked to make recommendations to the Corzine Transition Team on environmental policy. One recommendation - based on prior OLS audits and internal DEP information provided to me - was to look for uncollected revenues in the DEP Office of Leases and Concessions. I provided documentation to Corzine's staff to back this up.
2. February 2006: These recommendations were presented to the Assembly Budget Committee (see question #10, page 17 of this link:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/budget2007/DeptResponse/EvnProtection%20responses.pdf
3. April 2006: The Department was asked and provided written response to legislative questions on the FY 2006-2007 budget on leases and concessions revenues, specifically in response to Question #10 (page 17)
"Have any leases been renegotiated or back rent collected during the past year, and if so, how much more revenue is anticipated as a result of these actions in FY 2006 and FY 2007?"
DEP response to that question concluded:
"... we do not foresee the collection of back rent and the renegotiation of existing leases generating "millions" of dollars of revenue for the state."
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/budget2007/DeptResponse/EvnProtection%20responses.pdf

So, it looks like the end of the story about DEP leases and concessions, right?
WRONG. Lets get current.
4. April 21, 2008 - Anticipating the huge debate about closing the parks, I filed an Open Public Records Act request (OPRA) at DEP to get current data on collection of EXISTING leases and concessions revenues. I was blocked by DEP, who asserted OPRA loopholes and threatened to levy "extraordinary charges" for the information sought. Frustrated by the OPRA barriers and the DEP's apparent failure to consider my Transition recommendations on leases and concession revenues, I released this:
NEW JERSEY PARKS LOSE MILLIONS IN UNCOLLECTED LEASE PAYMENTS -- Park Closures Could Be Averted by Reaping Concessionaire and Easement Revenue
Trenton -- Questionable deals to reduce or waive rental payments from private leases and concessions throughout New Jersey's State Parks is costing taxpayers a bundle, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The state has ignored repeated warnings that it is forfeiting millions of dollars each year by failing to collect what is owed by easement-holders and concessionaires, including some of the state's largest corporations.
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1030
5. May 11, 2008 - the NY Times reported a compromise that involved leases and concessions:
"[DEP Commissioner] Ms. Jackson said options for coming years include seeking money from private leases and concessions,…..”
A Reprieve for State Parks, but Not a Solution
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/11parksnj.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
6. May 12, 2008 - I wrote DEP Commissioner Jackson, outlined the above chronology, and asked this pointed question (never received a reply):
“I request that you update this [April 2006] testimony, as appropriate in light of current data and your May 11, 2008 NY Times statement. I ask that you specifically clarify the status of revenue collection and renegotiation of access easements across State park lands.”
7. June 30, 2008 – According to the Governor’s press release, Corzine signs legislation which “allows in FY2009 up to $9 million from “Shore Protection Fund” to be used to help defray State park and forest operation and maintenance costs; requires DEP to study State park and forest fee structure and revenue sources, and modify fees accordingly.”
http://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/2008/approved/20080630c.html
While the term “and revenue soruces” is vague in the press release, a close reading of the bill he signed reveals that this includes EXACTLY the EXISTING (not NEW) easements, leases and concessions revenues that are uncollected! Section 4 directs DEP to::
(2) conduct a re-appraisal of the rents and fees charged for all
residences and other buildings and structures, and for utility
easements and right-of-ways, located on State park or forest lands
to ensure they reflect current fair market values and will continue to
do so;
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/A3000/2806_R1.PDF
8. July 5, 2008 - The Gannett papers reported opposition by republican lawmakers regarding the diversion of beach replenishment funds to keep state parks open. According to that story:
“The bill allows for funding to be shifted for one year only; by year’s end, the DEP is supposed to complete a study of its park system and identify ways — such as higher admission and parking fees, new amenities or better collections of existing leases and easements — to use parks to fund parks.”
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B3/20080705/NEWS0301/807050302/1123/NEWS02
We know that DEP denied any problems in the Office of Leases and Concessions in April 2006, but did the Governor threaten to close parks with the full knowledge that DEP had not collected revenues or upgrades leases, easements, and concessions to reflect current market rates, as recommended by a series of prior OLS audits?
How did DEP get in so wrong in April 2006? How has DEP dodged accountability and suffered zero criticism for this?
How could Corzine have known this and threatened to close parks?
Will entrance and parking fees for people at State parks be increased while this corporate revenue goes uncollected?
Who will hold these folks accountable? I sure have tried.
And someone please correct me if I am wrong – I diligently tried to get current facts and asked the DEP Commissioner as well.

October 16, 2007

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:52:40 +0000

Bill WolfePhillipsburg, NJ. October 16, 2007.

Not Another War

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:51:03 +0000

Don’t let Bush Expand the War and Attack Iran

Bill Wolfe

Bill WolfeObama speaks at rally at Capitol in Harrisburg Pa. on April 19, 2008

Bill Wolfe

Probe Called For In Clifton Toxic High School Fiasco

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:46:24 +0000

Inspector General Asked Why “Kiddie Kollege” Law Failed

Bill WolfeDEP Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson

[Update. See: Board defends handling of Brighton school site
http://www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=35723
See also my letter of clarification:Download file
The purchase of a polluted former industrial site for conversion to a Clifton High School without environmental testing shows that legislation enacted last year in the wake of similar scandals from toxic-laden schools and day-care centers is not working, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER today asked New Jersey’s Inspector General to determine why anti-pollution rules were set aside by state and local environmental and educational officials.
The $11 million high school annex for 500 students in Passaic County is located in an old industrial site which used more than 50 types of toxic chemicals, including pesticides, arsenic, and a host of volatile organics. Despite this history, the school district did not perform a “due diligence” investigation into potential hazards before purchasing the property. In addition, according to an analysis of the Clifton case filed by PEER:
1) The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) allowed local construction to begin prior to certifying that the entire site required “no further action” to clean it up;
2) A stream running behind the property was not tested for contamination;
3) Soil samples were limited to only certain pollutants in selected locations;
4) the school district failed to notify the public and DEP about known toxic contamination of soil and groundwater at the sites; and
5) DEP expedited approvals at the behest of legislators and DEP Managers held private meetings that excluded concerned citizens.
“What is going on at the Clifton high school is precisely what the highly touted reforms enacted just a few months ago were supposed to prevent,” stated New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, referring to the “Kiddie Kollege” legislation, named after a day-care center was found to be operating in a mercury-laden former thermometer factory. “We want the Inspector General to look into this case, name names and hold responsible officials accountable; otherwise we can expect school construction debacles like this to recur on a regular basis.”
In a prior 2005 report, the Inspector General determined that New Jersey has spent nearly $330 million to purchase environmentally contaminated lands found by to be “patently unsuitable” for schools, including a radioactive former Manhattan Project facility in Union City and a Superfund site in Gloucester City. This latest experience in Clifton suggests that the underlying flaws in the school construction program remain unabated.
One aspect of the case PEER is asking the Inspector General to review is private meetings between elected officials who were promoting the project and top DEP officials. It is unclear whether DEP improperly expedited the school project in response to political pressure.
“The safety of a high school should not be hashed out behind closed doors with politicians without the parents present,” added Wolfe. “I am utterly amazed that New Jersey is still putting its children into facilities built on some of the nastiest toxic pits in the state.”

###
Read the PEER letter to the Inspector General
http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_20_5_ig_ltr.pdf
View the PEER analysis of problems with the Clifton high school
http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_20_5_analysis_of_Clifton_school.pdf
Look at e-mails about closed door meetings inside DEP
http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_20_5_meetings_emails.pdf
See the weaknesses in the school construction reforms enacted in 2007
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=899
New Jersey PEER is a state chapter of a national alliance of state and federal agency resource professionals working to ensure environmental ethics and government accountability.

Memo to Jon -”Skin in the game”

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:21:20 +0000

Bill Wolfe

Dear Jon:
I read in today’s paper that you are denying speculations about privatizing the parks – thanks a lot pal.
However, you did say you were considering privatization of Parks concessions (Governor denies plans to privatize state parks
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-10/12095301923020.xml&coll=1
Let me suggest that there are better alternatives – especially for the corporations that hold easements over state lands to – as you like to say – get some skin in the game.

See below. Be advised that this same information was presented to your Transition Team over 2 years ago, so someone’s got some explaining to do, no?
New Jersey Parks Lose Millions in Uncollected Lease Payments
Park Closures Could Be Averted by Reaping Concessionaire and Easement Revenue
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY – April 21 – Questionable deals to reduce or waive rental payments from private leases and concessions throughout New Jersey’s State Parks is costing taxpayers a bundle, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The state has ignored repeated warnings that it is forfeiting millions of dollars each year by failing to collect what is owed by easement-holders and concessionaires, including some of the state’s largest corporations.
Governor Jon Corzine has proposed to close several parks serving an estimated two million visitors each year and lay off 80 park workers in order to save the state roughly $4.5 million. Yet, the Governor’s people failed to consider the unutilized revenue potential of the system they are trying to collapse.
“Collecting rents is basic management 101, but that is a course our top folks evidently failed,” stated New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, a former state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) analyst, noting that utilities, oil companies and other big corporate players are not paying current market rates for use of state lands, facilities and right-of-ways. “Our parks can no longer afford corporate welfare.”
Internal documents from DEP, the parent agency for the Division of Parks and Forestry, indicate that uncollected and subsidized rents are common throughout the system. Problems include lack of lease agreements, failure to collect owed rents, rent-free arrangements, and outdated decades-old leases:
Millions of dollars in lease revenue goes uncollected from major corporations granted use easements for transmission lines, pipelines and sewage lines across State Park lands;
In Six Mile Run and Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, for example, none of the agricultural tenants are paying any rent nor do they even have current leases; and
The parks Office of Leases and Concessions routinely signs off on “rent abatements” and other give-aways described by one former superintendent as “a scam”.
Over the past few years, Parks Supervisors repeatedly identified similar problems, but DEP management took no action. DEP also ignored a series of Office of Legislative Services Audit reports issued in 1997, 1999 and 2003 documenting a lack of internal financial controls needed to track lease payments owed.
“With parks facing shutdowns and visitors hit with higher entry and parking fees, it is past time to put our fiscal house in order,” added Wolfe. “Our parks are supposed to be free for the enjoyment of the public, not the concessionaires.”
Look at 2003 OLS Audit finding that DEP had not addressed prior reports of lost lease revenue
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/Auditor/42023.pdf
See the lease arrangements at one state park
http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_21_4_lease_problems_profile.pdf
Read e-mail describing Office of Leases and Concessions problems
http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_21_4_leases&concessions_email.pdf

Echoes from California

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:32:51 +0000

Corzine & Schwarzenegger both slashing parks and blowing hot air on global warming – California does it bigger
Are the two “Governators” reading from the same playbook – “Politics for idiots” ?

Bill WolfeCorzine & Schwarzenegger face off at Yale to sign “Governors Declaration on Climate Change”.

Headlines in California eerily echo NJ’s. Here’s news from California:
Governor Schwarzenegger Has Really Rattled the Cages with Proposed Cuts to California’s State Parks
The Save Our State Parks (SOS) Campaign held a rally on the West Steps of the Capitol yesterday in protest of the proposed cuts to state parks. More than 300 park advocates including legislators, mayors, surfers, hikers, campers, RV enthusiasts, and other parks users chanted slogans and held signs decrying the proposed closure of 48 state parks and the reduction of life guard staffing at 16 state beaches. http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/04/governor_schwar_20.html
Same story in New Jersey:
Statehouse rally protests park closings
By Tom Baldwin • GANNETT STATE BUREAU • April 24, 2008
TRENTON — A rollicking array of hikers, horse people, historical re-enactors, Boy Scouts, birders, unionists — just about anyone who enjoys state parks and historic sites– rallied on the sun-splashed steps of the Statehouse Wednesday to urge Gov. Jon S. Corzine not to shut those venues as a way to economize in the budget crunch.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080424/NEWS0301/804240526/1007/NEWS03

Bill WolfeCorzine drew hisses from the Yale partisans when he brought greetings from the Princeton Tigers

Bill WolfeSchwarzenegger was well received and got laughs for remarks that ridiculed environmentalists

Taxpayer money gone uncollected by DEP

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:22:12 +0000

While the Corzine Administration proposes to close state parks to save $4.5 million, DEP has failed to collect millions of dollars in money damages from some of the largest corporate polluters in the state. The below court decision was issued on August 24, 2007 – 8 months later, DEP still has done nothing to adopt the regulations required to collect millions of dollars in pollution damages.
NEW JERSEY FORFEITS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN POLLUTION DAMAGES — Court Ruling Faults DEP for Failure to Enact Rules to Compensate Public
In a stunning legal setback, the State of New Jersey cannot recover damages from polluters in what may be thousands of contaminated groundwater cases, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The problem stems from the state’s failure to adopt regulations governing how to calculate “natural resources damages” (NRD) for polluted drinking water. As a result, polluters can avoid compensating the public for treatment of tainted groundwater, replacement water supply lines, drilling new wells and associated damages — leaving taxpayers with uncalculated costs.
On August 24, 2007, a state Superior Court dismissed with prejudice an attempt by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to recover a natural resource damage claim involving benzene and toluene contamination of private wells in the Hillwood Lakes area of Ewing Township. (N.J. Dept. of Envtl. Prot. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., Docket No. MER-L-2933-02 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. Aug. 24, 2007)). The Court found that DEP did not follow the rule making process to establish, by regulation, a reliable formula for calculating natural resources damages. In the absence of regulations, the Court also found DEP lacked adequate scientific support to proceed on a case-by-case basis.
This ruling affects as many as 4,600 contaminated sites prioritized by DEP. The problem may be fatal due to an inexplicable related lapse by the Corzine Administration in allowing the statute of limitations on these cases to expire on June 30, 2007, after it had been twice extended under previous administrations.
“This regulatory train wreck was completely preventable,” stated New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, a former DEP analyst, pointing to repeated acknowledgements by state officials of the need to act:
* In 2002 “Vulnerability Assessments,” DEP estimated that as many as 4,600 cases may require NRD litigation which would necessitate both rule making and extending the statute of limitations. This data prompted former DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell to say he was “astounded to find on taking office in [2002] that the [DEP] had not pursued, or left unsettled, thousands of cases against polluters responsible for a wide range of damages to New Jersey’s natural resources,” pledging to put the program “back on track”;
* In a 2004 settlement agreement of the case New Jersey Society of Environmental & Economic Development v. Campbell (N.J. Super. Law Div., Mercer County) DEP legally committed to propose formal natural resource damage regulations; and
* At a May 24, 2005 seminar at Rutgers’ Cook College, John Sacco, Chief of DEP’s Office of Natural Resource Restoration pledged that natural resource damage regulations will “hopefully” be proposed in fall 2005. But since then, there has been no apparent activity to move rules forward.
In a June 2007 press release, DEP touted the filing of 120 NRD lawsuits that “could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from polluters who have harmed New Jersey’s natural resources, including numerous manufacturers and marketers of the gasoline additive MTBE.” Not only are all these NRD suits now in jeopardy, but so are all future such litigation and ongoing NRD settlement negotiations in an unknown number of groundwater pollution cases.
“The corporations who had the most at stake stalled the NRD program during the Whitman administration but failed to kill it outright. Now, through inaction, the Corzine administration has provided polluters precisely the relief they sought,” Wolfe added. “Those officials responsible for these policies and blocking these regulations should be identified and drummed out of public service.”
###
See a summary of the N.J. Dept. of Envtl. Prot. v. Exxon Mobil Corp ruling http://www.klgates.com/newsstand/Detail.aspx?publication=4036
Look at the DEP press release touting ill-fated recovery litigation http://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2007/07_0037.htm
Read a 2006 law review (FDCC Quarterly) article on “New Jersey’s Natural Resource Damage Initiative” http://www.thefederation.org/documents/Qt%20V56N31.pdf
New Jersey PEER is a state chapter of a national alliance of state and federal agency resource professionals working to ensure environmental ethics and government accountability.

Parks lose millions in uncollected payments

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:06:03 +0000

Park Closures Could Be Averted by Reaping Concessionaire and Easement Revenue

Bill Wolfe

Questionable deals to reduce or waive rental payments from private leases and concessions throughout New Jersey’s State Parks is costing taxpayers a bundle, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The state has ignored repeated warnings that it is forfeiting millions of dollars each year by failing to collect what is owed by easement-holders and concessionaires, including some of the state’s largest corporations.
Governor Jon Corzine has proposed to close several parks serving an estimated two million visitors each year and lay off 80 park workers in order to save the state roughly $4.5 million. Yet, the Governor’s people failed to consider the unutilized revenue potential of the system they are trying to collapse.
“Collecting rents is basic management 101, but that is a course our top folks evidently failed,” stated New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, a former state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) analyst, noting that utilities, oil companies and other big corporate players are not paying current market rates for use of state lands, facilities and right-of-ways. “Our parks can no longer afford corporate welfare.”
Internal documents from DEP, the parent agency for the Division of Parks and Forestry, indicate that uncollected and subsidized rents are common throughout the system. Problems include lack of lease agreements, failure to collect owed rents, rent-free arrangements, and outdated decades-old leases:
* Millions of dollars in lease revenue goes uncollected from major corporations granted use easements for transmission lines, pipelines and sewage lines across State Park lands;
* In Six Mile Run and Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, for example, none of the agricultural tenants are paying any rent nor do they even have current leases; and
* The parks Office of Leases and Concessions routinely signs off on “rent abatements” and other give-aways described by one former superintendent as “a scam”.
Over the past few years, Parks Supervisors repeatedly identified similar problems, but DEP management took no action. DEP also ignored a series of Office of Legislative Services Audit reports issued in 1997, 1999 and 2003 documenting a lack of internal financial controls needed to track lease payments owed.
“With parks facing shutdowns and visitors hit with higher entry and parking fees, it is past time to put our fiscal house in order,” added Wolfe. “Our parks are supposed to be free for the enjoyment of the public, not the concessionaires.”
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Look at 2003 OLS Audit finding that DEP had not addressed prior reports of lost lease revenue (see: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/Auditor/42023.pdf
See the lease arrangements at one state park (see:http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_21_4_lease_problems_profile.pdf
Read e-mail describing Office of Leases and Concessions problems (see: http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/08_21_4_leases&concessions_email.pdf
New Jersey PEER is a state chapter of a national alliance of state and federal agency resource professionals working to ensure environmental ethics and government accountability.

Yale Does Schwarzenegger

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:48:58 +0000

Yalies embrace “Governator” over Nobel Laureate

Bill WolfeYale’s Woolsey Hall is packed to the rafters.

The Yale University community turned out for “The Governors Declaration on Climate Change” on Friday. The well promoted event was timed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of President Teddy Roosevelt’s landmark “Conference of Governors” in Washington DC.

Bill WolfePinchot is buried in Milford, Pennsylvania, along the Delaware River

That 1908 event helped launch the conservation movement (precursor to today’s environmental movement). Roosevelt’s close advisor, first Chief of the US Forest Service and conservationist Gifford Pinchot, worked to establish the National Parks System and inspire State programs to protect land. In an historic debate that still rages, Pinchot’s “conservationist” views clashed with the “preservationist” orientation advocated by John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club.

Bill WolfeNobel Laureate Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), welcomes the warm reception.

The event focused on the leadership of 18 Governor’s who signed the “federal partnership” declaration on global warming, but California Governor Schwarzenegger clearly won the hearts and minds of the Yale crowd. In remarks in which he took personal credit for forming the fitness “movement”, Schwarzennegger took the opportunity to ridicule environmentalists.

Bill WolfeSchwartzenegger speaks at Yale.

Schwarzenegger characterized environmentalists as effete (gay? feminine?) elite proponents of a failed movement based upon shame, guilt, pessimism, government solutions, and limits to growth (you think the Ahnold can say “Malthusian”?).
Analogizing to what he described as the takeoff in today’s hugely popular personal fitness “movement” (a “movement” he took credit for having started with “Pumping Iron”, back in the day when weightlifters were considered nerds), Schwarzenegger advocated his new muscular macho brand of the “environmental movement”.

Bill WolfeSchwarzenegger and Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell sign Governor’s Declaration at Yale.

This new “movement” he is leading is optimistic, exciting, cool, sexy, and most importantly, macho. It relies on capitalist market investment and trusts technological solutions, and is NOT antiquated government command and control driven.
The contrast with the humble Nobel Laureate scientist, Dr. Pachauri could not have been more stark.
But the Yale community absolutely ate Schwarzenegger up – his remarks were punctuated with applause and laughter. The crowd gave him a spontaneous standing ovation, which was far in excess of the response to Nobel Laureate and IPCC Chair Dr. Pachauri.
Frankly, I was embarrased for Yale – an elite University supposedly dedicated to the life of the mind and pursuit of Truth, not the promotion of political propaganda.
In my view, Schwarzenegger is a bully who blends certain retrograde cultural myths and machismo with uninformed market fundamentalist rhetoric. His public policy views may be informed by good speech writers, but he clearly is overly optimistic – bordering on utopian – in his advocacy of capitalism, private markets, and technology to provide a magic bullet to solve our environmental problems.
This is a very dangerous combination of attributes in a politician. But I’m sure the California folks who elected him are beginning to understand this “Hybrid Hummer environmentalism”.

Bill WolfeIn a wonderful historic gesture, grandsons of Gifford Pinchot and Teddy Roosevelt are special guests at Yale (from left).

Obama Rocks Harrisburg – photos

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:22:12 +0000

I had a press pass for the Obama rally in Harrisburg on Saturday night and was able to take these excellent photographs – click on this link to view the pictures:
http://128.2.8.237/bw/photos/obama/selects/
This is my favorite:
http://128.2.8.237/bw/photos/obama/selects/IMG_4226.jpg
The 12+ MB original RAW files have been reduced for posting. Originals are far higher quality and suitable for copying, up to poster size. Shoot me an email if you are interested in making copies:
bill_wolfe@comcast.net