Opportunities to learn more about environmental and energy issues affecting Pennsylvania for students and adults--

Awards/Recognition

-- In Celebration Of The Many Contributions Of John Dawes To Protecting And Restoring PA’s Environment, Foundations Create The R. John Dawes Clean Water Fund  [PaEN]

-- Tribune-Democrat: Community Foundation For The Alleghenies Starts R. John Dawes Clean Water Fund

-- Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition: 16th Annual Student Symposium On The Environment Draws Over 130  [PaEN]

-- Coal Region Canary: ‘Porcupine Pat’ McKinney Retiring As Environmental Education Coordinator For Schuylkill County Conservation District

-- PASA Sustainable Agriculture Honors 2024 Pasabilities Award Recipients  [PaEN]

-- Dept. Of Health, Other Agencies Invite Students To Enter Tick, Lyme Disease Art, Video Contest  [PaEN]

-- DCNR, POWR: Allegheny River Named PA's 2024 River Of The Year  [PaEN]

-- TribLive: Allegheny River Voted PA’s 2024 River Of The Year

-- Warren Times: Allegheny River Selected As PA’s 2024 River Of The Year

Grants

-- Pike Conservation District Accepting Applications For $500 Environmental Education Project Grant In County

-- PA Organization For Watersheds & Rivers Now Accepting Applications For PA Sojourn Grants  [PaEN]

Help Wanted

-- Help Wanted: Environmental Health Project Fellowship Summer 2024  [PaEN]

-- Help Wanted: Partnership For Delaware Estuary Engagement Assistant Coordinator  [PaEN]

-- Help Wanted: Berks Nature Community Garden Coordinator  [PaEN]

-- Game Commission: Become A PA Game Warden, Application Period Open

Upcoming Events

-- PA Interfaith Power & Light Unitarian Universalist Approaches To The Environment Feb. 1 Webinar, Noon to 1:00 p.m.

-- Planet Philadelphia Radio Show: Feb. 2 - Measures To Improve Our Climate & Lives, 4:00 p.m.

-- Asbury Woods Environmental Center Invites Public To Feb. 3 Trout In Classroom Unveiling In Erie  [PaEN]

-- Educators Invited To Next Online Meeting Of Southwest Regional Environmental Literacy Coalition Feb. 12  [PaEN]

-- Manada Conservancy Hosts Feb. 22 Woodland Vernal Ponds Program At Hershey Gardens Conservatory  [PaEN]

-- PA Society Of Professional Engineers Host Feb. 22 Virtual DEP Update On MS4 Stormwater Program, NPDES Water Quality Permitting  [PaEN] 

-- Still Time To Register! Keystone Coldwater Conference Feb. 23-24 In State College  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Extension Hosts Feb. 28 Webinar On Green Stormwater Infrastructure [PaEN]

-- March 4 Penn State Extension Webinar On Monitoring Soil Moisture: A Climate Smart Ag Practice  [PaEN]

-- March 11 Streambank Stabilization And Stream Crossings On Farms Webinar  [PaEN]

-- MCall: 4 State Parks In Path Of Totality Zone For April Solar Eclipse

-- Registration Open For French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust Iron Tour Cycling For Open Space June 9 In Chester County

Programs/Information

-- Penn State Center For Ag Conservation Assistance Hires Engineering Firm To Help Develop Certification Program For Conservation Professionals; Spring Conference; Seeking New Faculty  [PaEN] 

-- LancasterOnline: Lancaster City Schools Expand Outdoor Learning, Transform Schoolyard Habitats

Public Participation

-- Environmental Quality Board Meets Feb. 13 On Land Recycling Program Cleanup Standards For More PFAS Chemicals, Revised Standard For Lead, Rulemaking Petition For Fletcher Run, Greene County By CONSOL Coal  [PaEN]

-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council Meets Feb. 13 To Discuss Guidance Limiting Impacts Of Pipeline Construction; Pipelines Needed For Carbon Sequestration, Hydrogen; Electrification  [PaEN]

-- DEP Notice Of Hearing On Regional Haze Air Pollution Best Available Retrofit Technology

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - February 3  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 56 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In February 3 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Background On Issues

-- Protect PT: Commonwealth Court Vacates Penneco Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well Permit, Remanding It To Plum Boro For Additional Fact Finding In Allegheny County  [PaEN]

-- What’s That Pink Stuff Spilled At Apex Energy Shale Gas Well Pad In Salem Twp., Westmoreland County?  [PaEN]

-- The Energy Age Blog: Reality - ‘Proprietary’ Fracking Chemicals Remain Secrets, But What About The Bigger Picture?

-- Marcellus Shale Gas Industry Coalition Twitter comment on Gov. Shapiro's new Fracking Chemical Disclosure Policy: "This info is already submitted to @PennsylvaniaDEP through Greenport when the well pad & first well are permitted. DEP has had this information on its servers for years.”

-- CNX Natural Gas Drilling CEO Nick Deiuliis Says  Dr. Edward Ketyer’s Comments Raising Questions About The CNX ‘Radical Transparency’ Initiative May Violate His Hippocratic Oath

-- The Energy Age: Energy Politics In PA - CNX CEO Critical Of Dr. Ketyer’s Comments On ‘Radical Transparency’

-- The Hill: European Union Lawmakers To Biden: We Don’t Need More US Natural Gas 

-- The Energy Age Blog: Liquefied Natural Gas Or LNG: EU Lawmakers To Biden - We Don’t Need More US Natural Gas

-- PA Business Report: Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition, Other Groups Call For End To Permit Halts For New LNG Export Facilities

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Hold On Permits For New LNG Natural Gas Exports May Undermine Global Emissions Reduction Goals [Natural Gas Industry]

-- DelcoTimes.com: Chester Mayor Says LNG Natural Gas Export Plant ‘Dead In The Water’

-- Inquirer: Biden’s Pause On New LNG Natural Gas Export Facility Approvals May Have ‘Saved Chester,’ The City’s New Mayor Says

-- WHYY: Chester LNG Natural Gas Export Project Promises Return, Despite Biden’s Pause And Other Hurdles

-- The Hill: European Union Lawmakers To Biden: We Don’t Need More US Natural Gas 

-- The Energy Age Blog: Liquefied Natural Gas Or LNG: EU Lawmakers To Biden - We Don’t Need More US Natural Gas

-- Reuters: US LNG Natural Gas Exports Fall In January On Arctic Freeze, Plant Outages

-- Inquirer: Casey, Fetterman Split With Bide Over LNG Natural Gas Export Facility Pause

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Casey, Fetterman Say They’re Concerned About Biden’s LNG Natural Gas Export Facility Pause

-- E&E News Energy: FERC Continues To Review LNG Natural Gas Export Facility Permit Despie Biden’s Pause

-- Financial Times: Household Energy Costs Factor Into Biden’s Pause On New LNG Natural Gas Export Facilities  [Industrial Energy Consumers: “More Exports Equal More Reliability And Price Risk”]

-- Energy News Network: Why A Natural Gas Storage Climate ‘Disaster’ Could Happen Again [Equitrans Rager Mountain Storage Area Leak In Cambria County In 2022 Used As Example]

-- The Derrick - Makayla Keating: Aqua Pennsylvania Continues To Operate Venango Water System Serving The Village Of Reno After A Conventional Well Wastewater Release Contaminated Its Water Supply Last July  [PDF of article]

-- PA Solar Center: 2 Get Solar Projects Move Forward In Lawrence, Centre Counties;  Get Solar Webinar Feb. 29; FirstEnergy Companies Double Solar Rebates  [PaEN]

-- The Energy Age Blog: Electric Vehicle & Home Solar Energy Use January 2024

-- New Report: Implementing 30% By 2030 Renewable Energy Policy Would Generate $13 Billion For PA

-- Environmental Health News: Faulty Economic Studies Misled PA Lawmakers To Give Shell Petrochemical Plant Billions In Taxpayer Subsidies

-- Ohio River Valley Institute: PA’s Bad Bet: Why The Shell Petrochemical Plant Didn’t Save Appalachia With Plastics

--  PA Capital-Star: Faulty Economic Studies Misled PA Lawmakers On Billions In Subsidies For Shell Petrochemical Plant

-- Beaver County Times Guest Essay: Shapiro Shows How Unfortunate Circumstances Can Still Produce Noble Results - By Daniel Rossi-Keen  [$10 Million Shell Petrochemical Plant Penalty]

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Rocky First Year For Shell Petrochemical Plant Commercial Operations In Beaver County

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Shell Petrochemical Plant’s Costs Much Higher Than Previously Disclosed,-- $14 Billion; Won’t Be Fully Up And Running Until 2025, 2026

-- Reuters: Shell Posts $28 Billion Profit In 2023, Boosts Dividend

-- Broad+Liberty Guest Essay: Gov. Shapiro’s Support For RGGI Puts Us On A Dangerous Path - By Commonwealth Foundation

-- Group Against Smog & Pollution: US Steel Appeals $2.2 Million Fine For Clairton Coke [Coal] Works Air Pollution Violations

-- TribLive: ‘This Is What Money Smells Like;’  $2.2 Million Fine Is Latest Entry In Clairton Coke ‘Coal’ Plant’s Air Pollution History

-- WESA: Environmental Groups, Residents Hail ‘Historic’ Settlement In Air Pollution Case Against Clairton Coke [Coal] Works In Allegheny County

-- Post-Gazette: Residents Eager For Change As Landmark US Steel Air Pollution Settlement Brings Environmental Solutions To Mon Valley

-- Inside Climate News: Old Fight Over Air Quality From Clairton Coke [Coal] Plant Drags On Outside Pittsburgh

-- AP: US Steel Agrees To Spend Millions To Settle Lawsuit Over Air Pollution Violations  In Allegheny County

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Steelworkers Say Nippon Steel Isn’t Giving Them Enough Information

-- TribLive: Plans For New Westmoreland Power Line Spark Property Owner Concerns Over Potential Impacts

-- Post-Gazette - Ford Turner: PA Lawmakers Told Aliquippa Incident Shows Cyber Risks To Public Infrastructure

-- WJAC: Somerset County Man Called A ‘Miracle’ By Doctors For Recovering From Mining Accident 

-- WNEP: Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine, Steam Train Museum In Schuylkill County To Begin Mine Reclamation

-- Inside Climate News: With World Stumbling Past 1.5 Degrees Of Warming, Scientists Warn Climate Shocks Could Trigger Unrest

-- PA Environmental Council In Case You Missed It In January Now Available  [PaEN]

-- Delaware RiverKeeper Feb. 2 RiverWatch Video Report

-- Allegheny County Conservation District Unveils Insights Into County Development And Stormwater Infrastructure  [PaEN]

-- DCED: Gov. Shapiro Launches First Statewide Economic Development Strategy In Nearly 2 Decades

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Shapiro Pays Hollow Lip Service To Natural Gas In New Economic Strategy [PDF of article]

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Energy Plays Priority Role In Shapiro’s Economic Development Plan

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Hazelwood Green Mill 19 Fitting Scene For Unveiling Shapiro’s Economic Plan

-- WITF/WVIA: Plan In Place To Grow Pennsylvania’s Outdoor Recreation Economy

-- Warren Times: Pursue Your Happiness: State Wants To Bet Big On Outdoor Recreation

-- Water At Risk: The History And Mystery Of Lawns, Try A Lower Maintenance, Natural Landscaping Instead - By Carol Hillestad for the Brodhead Watershed Association  [PaEN]

-- Protecting Clean Water Together: Explore The Brodhead Watershed In Monroe County - By Carol Hillestad for the Brodhead Watershed Association  [PaEN]

-- The Gazette: Wandering The Pennsylvania Wilds

-- LancasterOnline - Ad Crable: No Longer Feared, Controlled Burns Return To Fields And Forests In Lancaster County, State

-- AP: Punxsutawney Phil Predicts An Early Spring

-- WITF/AP: Feb. 2 Groundhog Day’s Biggest Star Is Phil, But The Holiday’s Deep Roots Extend Well Beyond Punxsutawney

-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: Climate Change Could Contribute To Honey Declines, Study Says

-- Pike Conservation District: Our Pest Control Pals In Nature

-- TribLive: Gardening And Growing Food A Form Of Liberation For The Black Community

-- KDKA: Start Now To Stop The Spread Of Spotted Lanternflies

-- LancasterOnline: Snow Geese Are Landing At Middle Creek Wildlife Area

-- Beaver County Times - Brian Whipkey: Coastlines Along Lake Erie Are Great For Bird Watchers, Here’s Why

-- Post-Gazette - Mary Ann Thomas: Christmas Bird Count Shows All-Time Highs For Ravens, Bald Eagles, Redwing Blackbirds

-- Warren Times - Audubon Nature Center: Intricacies In The Natural World

-- York Daily Record: Exotic Pets For Adoption After Central PA Owner Dies: Rescue

Visit the PA Parks & Forests Foundation’s Events webpage and DCNR’s Calendar of Events for activities happening near you.

Visit DEP’s Teaching Green webpage to learn about more environmental education resources.

Visit the PA Environment Digest Calendar Of Events for more opportunities.

[Posted: February 4, 2024]

2/5/2024