The information you need to follow legislation in the House and Senate- starting with articles and NewsClips from last week--

Environment & Energy NewsClips--

Gov. Shapiro

-- Gov. Shapiro Visits Lower Alsace Twp., Berks County Impacted By Short-Duration, High-Intensity Flooding [PaEN]

-- Reading Eagle: Gov. Shapiro Visits Berks County As Communities Reel From Flooding

-- PennLive - John Baer: Shapiro Fixed One Collapsed Bridge, Can He Fix Another Political Bridge?

-- TribLive Editorial: PA Budget Standoff Drags On

Budget

-- The Center Square: State Budget Deal Unlikely Before September

-- PA Capital-Star: Update On State Budget Impasse - Week Two

-- PA Capital-Star: 10 Things To Know About Pennsylvania’s Budget Impasse

-- Gov. Shapiro: State Budget Impasse Questions & Answers  [Who Gets Paid And Who Doesn’t]

-- Politics PA: What Does PA’s Budget Impasse Mean For You?

-- WESA: Nonprofits Hurt By Prior Budget Impasses Worry About Lack Of PA State Budget

-- PA Capital-Star: PA Is Still Without A Final Budget, What Does The Impasse Mean For State, County Programs?

-- PA Capital-Star: PA’s Budget Impasse Is A Binge-Worthy And Totally Fixable Summer Drama

-- Post-Gazette - Ford Turner: PA Budget Standoff Deepened As Senate Republicans Signaled No Intent To Return To Harrisburg

-- City & State PA: Senate Republican Leader - Hundreds Of Millions In State Funding Could Be At Risk Without Moving More Budget Bills; House Democrats Urge Senate To Advance Already-Passed Spending Plan

-- Senate Republican Majority Leader’s Letter To House Democratic Leader On Budget

-- PA Capital-Star: Senate Republican Leader: Hundreds Of Millions In State Funding Could Be At Risk Without More Budget Bills

-- AP: Students In Shortchanged PA School Districts Plug Away While State Lawmakers Dither Over Funding

-- LancasterOnline: State Budget Impasse Could Stretch Into September; Local School Districts Brace For Delay In Funding

-- PennLive: PA Budget’s Big Ideas Likely To Generate Fiscal Code Fights As Impasse Grinds On

-- AP: PA Budget Still In Turmoil Over School Vouchers And Equity Funding Case

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: State-Related University Funding On Ice In Pennsylvania

-- AP/WITF: Impasse On Funding For Pennsylvania Universities Could Mean Higher Tuition

-- Inquirer: Temple Raises Tuition More Than 4% For Pennsylvania Students

Norfolk Southern Train Derailment

-- WTAE: Carnegie Mellon Researcher Publish February Mobile Air Sampling Results From Norfolk Southern Train Derailment

-- Altoona Mirror Editorial: Scrutiny Needs To Continue Over Rail Safety

-- Grist: In The Wake Of The Norfolk Southern Train Derailment In Ohio, Other Train Towns Wonder - Are We Next?

PA Politics Of Russian Invasion

-- Baker Hughes: PA Natural Gas Drill Rigs Same As Last Week - 23

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Red Tape, Low Prices To Blame For PA’s Natural Gas Production Decline [Not Red Tape, Everything To Do With Prices]

-- US Energy Information Administration Predicts Higher Natural Gas Prices As Industry Reduces Production

-- Independent Fiscal Office Reports PA Natural Gas Production Peaked In 4th Quarter 2021 [PaEN] 

-- US Energy Information Administration: 2022 Appalachian Natural Gas Production Flat With Productivity Declines In Key Counties In PA

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Have Biggest Weekly Loss Of The Year

-- Reuters: Next Wave Of North American LNG Natural Gas Export Projects To Face Labor Challenges

-- Bloomberg: Sweet Spot For Building New US LNG Natural Gas Projects Is Fading

-- Bloomberg: European Power Prices Fall Below Zero This Weekend With Green Power Boom  

Environment/Energy Issues

-- DEP Secretary Negrin To Citizen Activists: ‘We Don’t Represent Chevron, We Don’t Represent Shell And I’ve Made That Absolutely Clear-- We’re Holding Those Leaders Accountable’  [PaEN] 

-- Marcellus Drilling News: PA DEP Secretary Negrin Sucks Up To Radical Anti-Drillers At Citizens Advisory Council Meeting 

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 8 to 14; Failed Shale Gas, Conventional Well Plugging; Leaking Conventional Wells  [PaEN]

-- Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund: The Law Did Not Save Grant Township’s Water From PA General Energy Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well, The People Of Grant Did

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Do Oil & Gas Drillers Owe Taxpayers Royalties For Oil & Gas Under Roads, Streets, Bridges And Other Taxpayer-Owned Land?  [PaEN]

-- PA Eligible To Apply For $76.4 Million In Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Funding To Plug Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; Conventional Operators Still Abandoning Wells  [PaEN]

-- TribLive: Protect PT Seeks Support For Proposed Ordinance Regulating Shale Gas Wells In Penn Twp., Westmoreland County; Meeting July 13 

-- Farm and Dairy: More Than 450 People Evacuated After Natural Gas Leak At Shale Gas Well Pad In Columbiana County, Ohio

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Columbiana County, OH Evacuates 450 After Hilcorp Natural Gas Well Accident  [Hilcorp Caused Only Documented Earthquakes Related To Fracking In PA]

-- Public News Service: Report: Oil And Gas Air Pollution Effects On Health Of Pennsylvanians  

-- Environmental Defense Fund Blog: New Health Study Shows Cost Of Oil & Gas Pollution In Appalachia

-- 2nd Annual Marcellus Shale Water Business Update Conference Aug. 9 In Pittsburgh On Managing Shale Gas, Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- MethaneSAT-EDF Successfully Test Methane Detection Technology To Be Used To Document Methane Emissions From Onshore Natural Gas Production In North America  [PaEN]

-- DEP Announces July 13 Local Steering Committee Meeting For $5 Million Shell Petrochemical Plant Community Fund  [PaEN]

-- Beaver County Times: Community Panel To Make Plan For Shell’s $5 Million Air Quality Violations Settlement Fund

-- Living On Earth: Shell Petrochemical Plastics Plant Pollutes

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Congress Should Eliminate Certain Environmental Reviews To Build Energy, Natural Gas Infrastructure Faster - By Fmr State Sen. Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery)

-- Centre Daily Times: 10 Poorest Counties In PA: Cameron, McKean, Forest, Cambria, Venango, Clearfield, Fayette, Warren, Jefferson, Elk [Also Happens To Be Heart Of Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling In PA]

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Congress Should Eliminate Certain Environmental Reviews To Build Energy, Natural Gas Infrastructure Faster - By Fmr State Sen. Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery)

-- City & State PA Guest Essay: Hydrogen Energy Sounds Too Good To Be True - Because It Is - By Clean Air Council

-- Senate Bill Introduced To Provide $5 Million In Tax Credits To Develop Solar Energy Facilities On Brownfields, Abandoned Mine Sites, Warehouse Roofs  [PaEN]

-- Post-Gazette - Mary Ann Thomas: 1880s Barn In Butler County Park Has Modern Solar Energy Profile

-- TribLive: Audubon’s Succop Nature Park Will Be Energy Self-Sufficient By Year’s End In Butler County

-- Penn State Hosts Online Solar Law Symposium Aug. 23  [PaEN]

-- Federal Court Settlement Between CBF, Other Groups And EPA Over Requiring Pennsylvania To Meet Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Requirements Now Final 

-- PA Capital-Star: Settlement Finalized In Lawsuit Over Chesapeake Bay Pollution From PA

-- Bay Journal - Karl Blankenship: Federal Lawsuit Over PA’s Role In Chesapeake Cleanup Comes To Settlement

-- EPA Region 3: Statement By Adam Ortiz On Final Chesapeake Bay Settlement

-- Progressive Farmer: Chesapeake Bay Lawsuit Dismissal Clears Way For EPA Runoff Crackdown On Farms In 7 PA Counties

-- Chesapeake Bay Foundation Asks PA Supreme Court To Reverse A Commonwealth Court Decision Saying West Chester Stormwater Fee Is A Tax  [PaEN]

-- Post-Gazette Guest Essay: What The Wildfire Smoke From Canada Tells Us About Climate Change - By Larry Schweiger

Other

-- Erie Times: Erie’s Tom Ridge Honored By Penn State Behrend

Top 10 Stories On Harrisburg/PA Politics Last Week--

Because In Politics Everything Is Connected To Everything Else--

-- Top 10 Stories: Harrisburg/PA Politics Reported By Local News Media Last Week [PaEN]

Bill Calendars

House (September 26): House Bill 962 (Vitali-D- Delaware) to restore DEP’s authority to review conventional oil and gas well plugging bonding amounts to help prevent the routine abandonment of between 400 and 600 conventional oil and gas wells a year by operators Read more here;  House Resolution 79 (Pisciottano-D- Allegheny) urging the Biden Administration and Congress to designate Pennsylvania as a hydrogen hub.<> Click Here for full House Bill Calendar.

Senate (September 18): Senate Bill 286 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would redefine when a spill needs to be reported by letting the polluter decide when to notify DEP taking into account control and remedial measures, whether the discharge will harm receiving waters or public health  Read more here; Senate Bill 382 (Laughlin-R-Erie) exempting Lake Erie coastal property owners from annual groin structure fees; Senate Bill 831 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would direct the state to apply for primary authority to regulate Class VI carbon dioxide underground injection wells from the U.S. EPA  Read more here.  <> Click Here for full Senate Bill Calendar.

Committee Meetings

House   

<>  Click Here for full House Committee Schedule.

Senate

 <>  Click Here for full Senate Committee Schedule.

Bills Pending In Key Committees 

Check the PA Environmental Council Bill Tracker for the status and updates on pending state legislation and regulations that affect environmental and conservation efforts in Pennsylvania.

Session Schedule

Here is the latest voting session schedule for the Senate and House--

House

September 26, 27

October 2, 3, 4, 16, 17, 18, 30, 31

November 1, 13, 14, 15

Senate

September 18, 19, 20

October 2, 3, 4, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25

November 13, 14, 15

December 11, 12, 13

[Posted: July 14, 2023]

7/17/2023