Scott LaMar, host and executive producer of WITF’s Smart Talk Program, asked an interesting question Wednesday-- What happened to Pennsylvania’s environment over the last 10 years his program has been on the air?

 Click Here to listen to the program to find out how former Sen. Franklin Kury, and author of the Environmental Rights Amendment, answered the question.

Here is more background to answer the question gleaned from the pages of the PA Environment Digest in bullet form.  It’s organized in 5 parts--

1. Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Development - brought fundamental change to Pennsylvania’s energy sector, economy, landscape and to DEP programs

2. Support For Local Environmental Improvement Projects - Cut 75 percent

3. State General Fund Support To Run Environmental Programs - Cut 40 percent, staff cut 30 - 40 percent

4. Threats To Natural Resources, Wildlife, Humans-- Multiplying

5. Basic Environmental Measures-- Improving, Mixed

Marcellus Shale Natural Gas

Clearly, and by any measure, the biggest single agent of change in Pennsylvania’s environment from 2008 to 2018 was the development of Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas.  Consider--

-- In 2008 DEP’s Oil and Gas Regulation effort was a sleepy little program with maybe a couple of dozen staff overseeing conventional oil and gas drilling since 1984.  Things fell into a routine.

-- In 2003 the first exploratory Marcellus Shale well was drilled in Washington County,

-- By 2008 the Marcellus boom was just starting to really ramp up, DEP bragged about issuing 257 Marcellus drilling permits that year, in 2009 1,984 permits were issued, in 2013 2,965, the peak year for permits so far.  As of end of June 2018 Pennsylvania had 11,327 unconventional gas wells.

-- In 2008 permit fees were still $100/well like they had been since 1984 to support the cost of the Oil and Gas Program, clearly inadequate.  Recently, DEP proposed a $12,500 per well permit fee to support what is now DEP’s largest permitting and enforcement program with 190+ staff.

-- In 2008 DEP had no comprehensive, updated regulations covering the much more complicated unconventional wells and fracking and no standards for safe disposal of wastewater.  Both DEP staff and the unconventional drilling industry were learning on the fly how to safely drill wells in a climate and geology much different than Oklahoma or Texas.

-- Mistakes happened, most notably an improperly constructed Cabot shale gas well that allowed natural gas to affect 13 private water supplies in a 9 square mile area near Dimock,  Susquehanna County. Ultimately, some water supplies were restored and others hooked up to public water supplies.

-- It wasn’t until 2012 that Pennsylvania had comprehensive law to regulate Shale gas development and a drilling impact fee (tax) to support a variety of environmental programs (Act 13, signed on Valentine’s Day).

-- $1.4 billion in drilling impact fees (taxes) were paid by the drilling industry to the state since 2013.

-- Shale gas drillers paid over $5.3 billion in royalties to landowners leasing their land for drilling between 2012 to 2016, according to the Independent Fiscal Office.

-- The state also benefited financially from the Shale gas boom. Gov. Rendell leased 138,866 acres of state forest land for gas drilling beginning in 2008. In 2009 and 2010 a $478 million windfall from this leasing was used to balance the state budget, rather than being reinvested in restoring and improving the environment.

Today, there are about 653 wells drilled on state forest land, about one-third of the potential, that generate about $80 million annually in royalties, much of which goes to pay administrative costs of DCNR.  Recently, DCNR released its second environmental monitoring report on state forest drilling.

-- In 2010, just a few days before the gubernatorial election, Gov. Rendell imposed a moratorium on drilling in state forest land. Gov. Corbett then followed with a no surface impacts moratorium on state forest land drilling.  Gov. Wolf renewed the Rendell moratorium when he took office in 2015. Various lawmakers have wanted to lift the moratorium to allow more drilling to get more money to balance the state budget, not to put toward making the environment better.

-- Between 2007 and 2016 natural gas production in Pennsylvania increased over 2,800 percent-- from 198.2 billion cubic feet (9.7 billion shale) to over 5.6 trillion cubic feet in 2017 (5.1 trillion from shale).  The result of this abundance fundamentally changed the energy sector in Pennsylvania, regionally, nationally and internationally.

-- The build out of natural gas infrastructure continues throughout Pennsylvania.  Over the next decade there are estimates another 30,000 miles of new pipelines will be built to carry natural gas to markets.  As a result, the General Assembly is wrestling with how or if it should regulate the siting of pipelines and deal with the conflicts, spills and other issues these projects bring.

-- Because of abundant natural gas, residential and commercial natural gas consumers in Pennsylvania saved over $30.5 billion 2006-2016, according to an industry estimate, because natural gas prices fell.

-- Because cheaper natural gas could generate electricity at less cost, between 2010 and the end of 2017 one-third of coal-fired capacity for electric generation in Pennsylvania shut down. FirstEnergy just announced the closure of its last and Pennsylvania’s largest coal-fired power plant in the state and more are slated to close.

-- Because of cheaper natural gas, some nuclear power plants could not compete in the wholesale electric power marketplace.  Exelon announced it would close the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in September 2019 and FirstEnergy announced the 2021 closure of Beaver Valley (interestingly on March 28, the date of the TMI accident in 1979).  Both companies are requesting the state, PJM and federal governments to “properly” price electricity generated from these facilities to take into account their climate and other pollution reduction benefits.

-- In 2010 coal accounted for almost half of electricity generated in Pennsylvania and natural gas 15 percent.

-- By 2017 coal had declined to 25 percent and natural gas increased to almost one-third.

-- Between 2010 and end of 2017 the number of natural gas power plants in Pennsylvania grew by nearly two-thirds, all funded by private investment. In July, one group estimated there were no less than 48 new or planned natural gas-fired power plants being developed in Pennsylvania.

-- In 2018 alone, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported 5.2 gigawatts of natural gas electric generation will be connected to the grid in Pennsylvania.

-- The switch from coal to natural gas caused by energy market conditions caused Pennsylvania’s greenhouse gas emissions to drop significantly, so much so the state is actually very close to or in fact meeting EPA’s original Clean Power Plan carbon emission reduction goals without the state doing anything else.

-- Pennsylvania has also seen significant energy efficiency savings from a variety of initiatives since 2008, including the Act 129 Energy Conservation Program covering electric utilities.  In 2017, the Public Utility Commission estimated Act 129 initiatives over the previous 3 years by utilities saved customers $2.2 billion and 3.3 million megawatt hours of electricity use.

-- Updates to the state’s Uniform Construction Code that went into effect October 1 will save up to 25 percent of energy costs for new residential and a similar amount for commercial construction.

-- The economic impact of energy efficiency and clean energy projects is also growing in Pennsylvania.  In June a report found 86,000 Pennsylvania work in clean energy and energy efficiency jobs across the state.

-- Legal challenges to Act 13 of 2012, the comprehensive law regulating oil and gas drilling, and the revenue generated by drilling on state forest land, resulted in two landmark PA Supreme Court decision involving the Environmental Rights Amendment to the state constitution--

-- The 2013 Robinson decision said clearly all levels of government have a fundamental responsibility to implement the Environmental Rights Amendment which says-- “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

-- The 2017 PA Environmental Defense Fund case went further saying the state and other governments, as a matter of principle, must act as a “trustee” for the environment under the Environmental Rights Amendment and specifically in the way the General Assembly used Oil and Gas Lease funds derived from gas drilling in state forest land to balance the state budget.  This legal battle continues.

Support For Local Environment Improvement Projects Cut 75%

-- State support for local, community-based green infrastructure and environmental improvement projects-- water quality improvement (mine reclamation, nonpoint source pollution), land conservation, recreation, water and wastewater infrastructure-- has been cut 75 percent during the last decade and more.

-- In 2017 state lawmakers also proposed raiding $450 million in state monies set aside to pay the cost of already approved local, community-based environmental improvement projects.  It would have been the single largest cut in local environmental project funding ever proposed.  There was no plan to pay the money owed to communities.

-- This project funding is at the heart of environmental restoration efforts and a huge part of how Pennsylvania meets its clean water, Chesapeake Bay and other environmental cleanup obligations.

-- Funding cuts have also left communities to cobble together funding to deal with local stormwater pollution reduction and flooding threats as Pennsylvania experienced this past summer.  And that has meant communities adopting stormwater and other fees to support the green infrastructure projects that are uniquely suited to providing cost effective ways to deal with many of these threats.

-- And threats from stormwater pollution and flooding are only likely to increase.  A Penn State study done for the Center for Rural Pennsylvania in 2017 (and updated this year) found very heavy precipitation events have increased 71 percent over the last 50 years and the frequency is likely to keep increasing.

-- Heavy rain events have also resulted in an increase in landslide and sinkhole formation in areas of the state affected by heavy rains.

State Budget To Run Environmental Programs - Cut 40%

-- State General Fund support to pay the costs of running environmental protection programs at DEP has been cut 40 percent and staff in those programs by 30 to 40 percent.

-- State funding cuts have resulted in several federal agencies finding DEP does not have the resources to administer the Safe Drinking Water, Stormwater, Air Quality, Mining and other programs for the feds in Pennsylvania.

-- As a result of these cuts by lawmakers and Governors since 2003, DEP has had to significantly raise permit review and other fees imposed on the local governments and businesses it regulates.

-- About 30 percent of  DEP’s funding now comes from the feds, 20 percent from the state General Fund and now 50 percent from fees and some fines.  State funds used to make up 50 percent of DEP’s budget.

-- There have only been 2 years in the last 15 or so where DEP’s budget did not contain cuts or simply provided enough money to carry the existing DEP programs.  One was this year when the General Assembly approved the 35 new positions at DEP Gov. Wolf asked for and in 2014 when Gov. Corbett asked for a $10 million increase for DEP.

Legacy environmental programs like curbside Recycling and Hazardous Sites Cleanup have both turned 30 years old and are in need of a refresh.

-- Recycling in Pennsylvania has turned into a $22.6 billion industry since the recycling law was passed in 1988, but the program now faces challenges in terms of marketing collected materials, an electronics waste recycling effort that is foundering and a recycling funding model that may be out of date. Click Here for more.

-- When the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Program was established in 1988, it was supported by over $41 million in annual funding, now that has been cut to just over $16.6 million this year.  The need, however, to fund the state’s share of federal Superfund cleanups, to cleanup hazardous waste sites Superfund does not cover and to respond to emergencies involving hazardous materials has not decreased.  Click Here for more.

Threats To Natural Resources, Wildlife, Humans - Multiplying

-- Starting in the 1970s, it used to be the threat of Gypsy Moths eating our forests was the only threat they faced (map).  Now threats are multiplying.

-- The threat from the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid from Japan and first identified in eastern Pennsylvania in 1960s has significantly grown since 2004 (map).  This critter is even more insulting because it is attacking our state tree.

-- The Emerald Ash Borer from Asia and first identified in Western Pennsylvania in 2007 has grown into an aggressive new threat to the state’s forests.

-- The Spotted Lanternfly first identified in 2014 as a threat to agriculture and forests has forest and other products quarantined in 13 counties in Pennsylvania.

-- The growing threat of non-native and invasive plants are “ecologically castrating” our landscapes, causing significant declines in pollinators and insects that are critical to agriculture, the survival of birds and other wildlife.  As a result this and loss of habitat, the number of insects have declined by 45 percent worldwide and 432 bird species (one-third) in North America risk of extinction.  Click Here for more.

-- West Nile Virus first appeared in Pennsylvania in 2000, carried by mosquitoes and once thought of as a tropical disease, is now a growing threat to people, horses, birds and even the state’s official bird-- the ruffed grouse.  This year there have been 72 human cases so far and 2 deaths.  West Nile has been followed by another mosquito-borne disease-- the Zika Virus-- another tropical disease.

-- Lyme Disease from deer ticks was first identified in the 1970s and Pennsylvania has been ground zero for the most cases in the nation.  There were 10,000  cases in Pennsylvania in 2017.  A 2015 Task Force made significant recommendations on how to deal with this public health threat.

-- Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and elk first documented in 2012 has been called by the Game Commission an “ecological disaster unfolding before our eyes.”

-- Another threat to deer-- Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease-- has seen outbreaks in 2002, 2007, 2011 and suspected cases this year.

-- White-Nose Syndrome in bats was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2008 and has resulted in significant declines in bat populations across the state. Lots of resources from wildlife agencies have been focused on the cause and cure for this deadly disease.

-- This does not detail issues with aquatic invasive species as well.

Basic Environment Measures Improving, Mixed

Many basic measures of environmental quality have improved over the last decade--

-- Air quality, in particular, continues to improve both because coal-fired power plants have been shutting down and more effective air pollution reduction measures have been put in place.  In 2008, Pennsylvania had 17 counties in nonattainment ozone pollution, in 2018 there are 5 counties all in the Southeast. There is more work to be done.

-- Improving water quality is perhaps Pennsylvania’s most significant challenge. Abandoned mine drainage, agricultural and stormwater runoff are still the number 1, 2 and 3 sources of water pollution in the state.

In 2008 Pennsylvania had 16,000 miles of streams that did not meet federal standards water quality standards. In 2016 there were 19,900 miles of impaired streams. (Click Here for interactive map.)  In between the numbers went up and down.

-- In the 43 counties making up the Chesapeake Bay drainage in Pennsylvania and where more resources are concentrated to improve water quality, there has been more documented improvements. 

-- A focused, data-driven effort is now underway to develop plans to reduce water pollution in Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams leading to the Chesapeake Bay.  A draft strategy just released by Lancaster Clean Water Partners gives some idea of the scope of the task ahead, not only in the Bay watershed but throughout the state.

The Future

However much people get wrapped up in what “Harrisburg” is doing or not doing, the fact is tens of thousands of people and organizations all across the state-- business people, farmers, land trusts, watershed groups, students, local officials, volunteers and many more-- are working every day or in their spare time to make Pennsylvania’s environment better.

Those efforts to build local partnerships to achieve those goals will continue.

It’s “Harrisburg’s” job to support those local, community-based efforts and in that regard, the record over the last 10 years hasn’t been good and in fact has been going backwards in many ways.

It’s up to groups engaged in green infrastructure, energy, land conservation, recreation and other projects to educate members of the General Assembly on the value, in particular economic value, of these initiatives.

Return on investments studies at both the county and local level are now underway to document the economic-- as well as environmental-- benefits of green infrastructure projects.

An initiative in the 10-county Kittatinny Ridge area of the state is aimed at developing “return on environment” studies by counties and townships to help guide investments where they will do the most good for the fewest dollars.

Recently, the PA Township News had an article that described the studies and how they are being used by local governments.

Armed with new tools that captures the true value of green infrastructure investments to individual people, farmers, communities and businesses, groups should be better equipped to engage legislators on the benefits of investing in these projects.

The state of Pennsylvania’s environment is getting better, but huge challenges remain. 

Working together, as Pennsylvanians have done in the past to adopt world-class programs to protect the environment, the Commonwealth can’t help but continue to make progress.
(Written By: David E. Hess, Former Secretary of DEP.  He can be contacted by sending email to: PaEnviroDigest@gmail.com.)

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NewsClips:

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[Posted: Oct. 11, 2018]

10/15/2018