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

-- PA Capital-Star: Looking To Harness ‘Great Potential,’ PA Banks On The Future Of Organic Agriculture

-- AP: PA State Employee Unions Begin Voting On Proposed Contracts; 20% Raise Over 4 Years

Budget

-- PA Senate Republican Budget Update: Sen. Kim Ward: We’re Negotiating With Gov. Shapiro And Things Are Moving Forward [Still Not Recognizing House Democrats In Charge Of House]

-- PennLive: Senate Republican Leader Says Senate ‘Will Return’ In August To Clear Budget Impasse

-- Politics PA: Shapiro Administration Provides Budget Update To Stakeholders

-- The Center Square: State Budget Deal Teased In Pennsylvania

-- City & State PA: What State Leaders Are Saying About The Ongoing Budget Impasse

-- PennLive: 12 House Members Won’t Take Pay Until PA Has A State Budget

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: PA Republicans - Stop Sulking And Move The Budget Forward

-- TribLive Editorial: PA Lawmakers Need Training Camp [To Focus On Settling The State Budget]

-- TribLive Editorial: Private Cyber Charter Reform Needs To Be About Education, Not Politics

-- Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh Nonprofits, Still Reeling From Pandemic, Face Uncertainty As PA Budget Impasse Continues

Flooding

-- MCall: Search Ends For 9-Month-Old Swept Away In Bucks County Flash Flood: ‘We Have Exhausted All Means’

-- WHYY: Police Narrow Search For Infant Lost In Bucks County Flash Flood, After 2-Year-Old Sister’s Body Found

-- Reading Eagle: Antietam Students To Stay On District Grounds For Core Classes After Flooding Damages Middle, High School Building

-- Reading Eagle: Berks Flood Victims Getting Some Helping Hands In Cleanup Efforts

-- KYW: Flooding Tuesday Prompts 16 Water Rescues In Chester County

-- KYW: Boil Water Advisory Issued For Parts Of Chester County

-- Republican Herald: Frustrated Property Owners Want End To Flooding In Downtown Pottsville

-- National Stream Restoration Conference Aug. 21-23 In Baltimore  [PaEN]

-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: Climate Adaptation Carries $15 Billion Price Tag For PA Towns, Study Says

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: PA Municipalities Have Big Climate Tab Coming Due, Who Should Foot The Bill?

-- PA Capital-Star: Report Outlines Costs Of Climate Change On PA Communities, Taxpayers

Train Derailments

-- TribLive: Norfolk Southern To Give Beaver County Town $660,000, Lawrence County $340,000 In Wake Of Ohio Train Derailment

-- Gov. Shapiro: Darlington Twp, Beaver County, Lawrence County Receive $1 Million In Community Relief From Norfolk Southern For Impacts Related To Train Derailment

-- LancasterOnline: Listen: WITF Talks To Lancaster Online Reporter On Toxic Trains, Transparency

-- PennLive: Norfolk Southern Safety Train Rolls Into Harrisburg To Train First Responders

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Months After Norfolk Southern Train Derailment, EPA ‘Has Failed To Protect’ East Palestine, OH, Purdue University Professor

-- The Allegheny Front: Ohio Activists Join National Groups To Deliver Petition To EPA To Ban Vinyl Chloride, Chemical Burned At Norfolk Southern Train Derailment

-- Post-Gazette/Religion News Service: East Palestine OH Church Hosts Chemical Exposure Study In Wake Of Norfolk Southern Train Derailment

-- WTAE: Norfolk Southern CEO On Choice To Vent And Burn Chemicals After Train Derailment: ‘The Right Decision At The Time’

-- AP: Norfolk Southern Says Cost Of Train Derailment Doubles To $803 Million As Cleanup Continues

PA Politics Of Russian Invasion

-- TribLive: Jump In Oil Prices Driving Gasoline Price Hike In Pittsburgh Area

-- AAA Gasoline Prices: Pennsylvania $3.85, National $3.75, Ohio $3.49

-- KDKA: Heat And Production Cuts Causing Rise In Gasoline Prices At The Pump

-- Baker Hughes Pennsylvania Natural Gas Rig Count 22, Down 1 From Last Week

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: With Natural Gas Prices Down, Range Resources Will Continue Steady Drilling Pace

-- Reuters: Natural Gas Producer EQT Posts 2nd Quarter Loss On Lower Sales, Natural Gas Prices

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Slump As Storage, Renewables Offset Risks

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Slip As Shell Sees Healthy Winter Stockpiles

-- Reuters: Shell CEO Says Europe Heading Into Next Winter In ‘A Good Place’

-- Bloomsberg: European Natural Gas Prices Fall With Sluggish Demand Keeping Lid On Prices

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Erase Gains As High Storage Offsets Risks  [Just 3 Hours Ago Prices Were Rising]

-- Bloomberg: LNG Natural Gas Stored In Ships At Sea Sign Of Weak Demand In Europe

-- Reuters: TC Energy’s 26-Inch Columbia Gas Natural Gas Pipeline Exploded In Western Virginia Near I-81, No Injuries Reported, Declares Force Majeure

-- WSET: Video: Fire Erupts After Explosion At TC Energy Natural Gas Pipeline In Virginia

Environment/Energy Issues

-- University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health Will Release Results Of Shale Gas Development Health Impact Study On Aug. 15 In Washington County  [PaEN]

-- LancasterOnline: Study Finds Radioactive Materials In PA Waterways Near Treatment Plants Linked With Oil & Gas Industry Waste

-- Scranton Times Editorial: Repeal Law Prohibiting Increases In Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Bonds

-- Observer-Reporter: EQT Donates $500,000 To Wisecarver Reservoir Recreation Project In Greene County [Greene County Residents Still Without Clean Water A Year After EQT Frack-Out ]

-- DEP Signs $660,000 Penalty Agreement With Sunoco To Resolve More Violations During The Construction Of Mariner East Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline In 9 Counties; Penalties Now Total Nearly $31 Million Just From DEP  [PaEN]

-- WHYY: DEP Orders Sunoco Pipeline To Pay $660,000 Penalty For Environmental Violations Related To Mariner East Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline  [Sunoco has paid nearly $31 million in penalties from DEP for just this one pipeline.]

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 15 to 22;  8 More New Conventional Well Abandonments  [PaEN]

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 22 to 28  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - July 29  [PaEN]

-- Comments Submitted On Proposed Roulette Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well In Potter County By Save Our Streams PA Show Principals Have Been Involved In Abandoning 8 Previous Injection Wells  [PaEN]

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Proposed Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well Riles Community In Fayette County

-- Warren Times: Proposed Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well In Fayette County Riles Community

-- Beaver County Times Guest Essay: Here’s What’s Happening As A Result Of Shell Petrochemical Plant’s [$5 Million] Fine - By Daniel Rossi-Keen

-- Post-Gazette Guest Essay: Pittsburgh’s Problem With Shell Petrochemical Plant’s Plastic Nurdles - By Jack Doyle

-- WTAE: GASP: Allegheny County, State Regulators Allow Air Quality Permits To Lapse For Years

-- TribLive: Explosion, Large Fire At Pittsburgh’s Brunot Island Electrical Station

-- WTAE: Fire Raging At Brunot Island Electrical Station In Pittsburgh After Part Of Station ‘Catastrophically Failed’

-- KDKA: Crews Respond To Large Fire At Brunot Island Electrical Station In Pittsburgh After Part Of Station ‘Catastrophically Failed’

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: What Is A Shunt Reactor, The Cause Of Brunot Island Electrical Station Fire In Pittsburgh?

-- TribLive: Fire At Electrical Station On Brunot Island Reignites Interest In Historic Pittsburgh Island

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Allegheny County Health Dept.  Begins Appeal Hearing On Invenergy Natural Gas Power Plant Proposed In Elizabeth Twp.

-- WHYY: SEPTA Natural Gas Power Plant In Nicetown Still Faces Opposition As Philadelphia Weighs Permit Renewal

-- NRDC: PJM Electric Grid Operator Report Confirms Blackout Danger From Poor Maintenance At Natural Gas Power Plants

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Legislators Want DEP To Have More Environmental Justice Powers

-- Post-Gazette: Western PA Members Of Congress Team Up With Biden, Sen. Manchin In Court Fight For Mountain Valley Natural Gas Pipeline In WV/Virginia

-- Williamsport Sun: PA Republican Cong. Meuser Files Brief In Support Of Mountain Valley Natural Gas Pipeline In WV/Virginia

-- KDKA: Sen. Cappelletti Introduces ‘Right To Dry’ Bill To Allow People Living In Condos To Use A Clothesline To Dry Clothes

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

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.

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.

Committee Meetings

House   

August 8-- Senate/House Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committees hold information session on 2023 Federal Farm Bill. Ag Progress Days, 2170 W. Pine Grove Road, Furnace, PA. 8:30 a.m.

<>  Click Here for full House Committee Schedule.

Senate

August 8-- Senate/House Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committees hold information session on 2023 Federal Farm Bill. Ag Progress Days, 2170 W. Pine Grove Road, Furnace, PA. 8:30 a.m.

 <>  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-- 

Senate

September 18, 19, 20

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

November 13, 14, 15

December 11, 12, 13

House

September 26, 27

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

November 1, 13, 14, 15

[Posted: July 30, 2023]

7/31/2023