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

Awards/Recognition

-- Sand County Foundation Selects 3 Finalists For Pennsylvania Leopold Farm Conservation Award  [PaEN]

-- Dickinson College Included In AASHE Sustainable Campus Index For Third Straight Year

Grants

-- Shapiro Administration Announces $75 Million In Environmental Repair Grants To 109 School Districts To Deal With Lead, Asbestos, Mold, Other Contaminants

-- PA Capital-Star: PA Environmental, Education, Labor Advocates Celebrate New ‘Solar For Schools’ Grant Program

-- FEMA: President Issues Tropical Storm Debby Disaster Declaration For Lycoming, Potter, Tioga, Union Counties

Help Wanted

-- The Allegheny Front: Citizen Help Wanted Collecting Spotted Lanternflies So Saint Vincent College Scientists Can Track Them

-- Post-Gazette: US Dept. Of Labor Electric Vehicle Apprenticeship Program Coming To Pittsburgh

Upcoming Events

-- LancasterOnline - Erin Negley: New Law Limits Grass Fertilizer In PA; Free Sept. 11 Webinar Teaches How To Feed Your Lawn

-- Warren Times: Weather Cooperating For 16th Allegheny River Cleanup

-- Southwestern PA Community, Health Organizations To Hold Sept. 17 Online Press Event - One Year After Pitt Shale Gas Health Impacts Studies And The Failure To Fulfill Essential Promises Made To Residents  [PaEN] 

-- Ohio River Valley Institute, Black Appalachian Coalition Host Sept. 19 Webinar On Environmental Justice & Building A Clean Energy Economy  [PaEN]

-- DCNR Conservation & Natural Resources Advisory Council Meets Sept. 25 On Sustainability And Green Infrastructure Initiatives; Ecological, Economic Benefits Of Restoration Work  [PaEN]

-- Manada Conservancy, Partners To Host Sept. 26 Climate Change & Penn's Woods; Oct. 6 Walk In Penn's Woods Events In Dauphin County  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Extension Hosts Oct. 17 Webinar - Adenosine Triphosphate In Algal Bloom Tracking  [PaEN]

-- Swatara Watershed Assn., Master Watershed Stewards Host Oct. 19 Waterways On Wheels - Swatara Rail Trail In Schuylkill County  [PaEN]

-- Independence Conservancy Hosts Waste Tire Collection Events In Beaver, Washington Counties [PaEN]

-- Horn Farm Agricultural Education Center Launches New Ecological Restoration Certification, Ecological Gardener Training Programs  [PaEN]

Programs/Information

-- DCNR To Host Programs In 25 State Parks For Girl Scouts Love State Parks Weekend Sept. 13-15

-- WESA: Pittsburgh Environmental Charter School’s New CEO Goes Back To School

-- Secretaries Of Maryland Dept. Of Natural Resources, PA DCNR Discuss Water Quality Goals, Potential Interstate Trail Connections At Joint Event

-- Penn State Extension Field Crop News: Managing Damage By Flooding; Upcoming Events

-- Forests For The Chesapeake Bay News: Planning For Resilience; Loblolly Pine; Upcoming Events; News Around The Watershed

-- Volunteer Gary Grahl Finds Next 'Career' As A Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward In Berks County  [PaEN]

-- Gettysburg Times: What’s In Your Water? - By Adams County Master Watershed Stewards

-- Chester County News: Stroud Water Research Center In Avondale Is Pioneering Watershed Health

-- NextPittsburgh: 10 Great Creeks To Explore Around Pittsburgh

-- Williamsport Sun: Just 3 Floating Classroom Programs Left For This Year

-- LancasterOnline: Lancaster County Company To Be Featured In $1 Million Project To Define ‘Regenerative Poultry’

-- Observer-Reporter: Greens Bring Green$: Trails Like Panhandle, Montour, Great Allegheny Passage Support Local Businesses

-- Warren Times Editorial: Plan For More Jakes Rocks Trails Success

-- PA Natural Heritage Program Wild Heritage News Highlights Partners & Priorities In Invasive Species Management, Aquatic Mushrooms And Much More  [PaEN]

-- PA Firefly Festival Newsletter Reflects On 2024 Firefly Festival Week; Describes Firefly Education Services And More  [PaEN]

-- LancasterOnline - Ad Crable: Why Is Lancaster County Seeing An Increase In Yellowjackets?

-- Warren Times - Audubon Community Nature Center: A Big Buzz Over The Worker Bees

-- NextPittsburgh: After 87 Years, Zebra Swallowtail Butterflies Return To Pittsburgh Thanks To Pawpaws

-- NextPittsburgh: How My Backyard Project Helped Bring Zebra Swallowtail Butterflies Back To Pittsburgh

-- The Guardian: US Cave System’s Bats, Insects Face Existential Threat: Discarded Cheetos

Public Participation

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - September 14 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 82 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In September 14 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

-- House Committee Sets Sept. 17 Hearing On PA One Call Underground Utility Notification Program Reauthorization; Almost All Conventional Gas/Oil Pipelines Specifically Excluded  [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On Draft PA Great Lakes Water Management Program 5-Year Report  [PaEN]

-- Reading Eagle: Input Sought On Improvements For Recreation Area Along Schuylkill River In Southeastern Berks

-- Vote Now For Your Favorites In Delaware Highlands Conservancy People’s Choice By Sept. 20 

-- York Daily Record: Sept. 12 Public Hearing On Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Damaged Unit 2 Set As Talk Swirls That Unit 1 Could Be Restarted

Background On Issues

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - September 7 to 13 - 12,600+ Gallon Shale Gas Wastewater Pipeline Release; 1,000 Gallon+ Subsurface Conventional Wastewater Spill; 28+ Abandoned Wells; Stray Gas Investigation In Elk Viewing Area  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reports Subsurface Release Of An Estimated 1,000 Gallons Of Wastewater At Hebron Gas Storage Field Conventional Well In Hebron Twp., Potter County; Water Supplies Impacted, Report Well Problems To DEP Near This Facility  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Violation To Apex Energy (PA) LLC For Failure To Submit List Of Fracking Chemicals For 37 Shale Gas Wells Over 6 Years In Westmoreland County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Declares 21 Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Owned By Schreiner Oil & Gas Inc. Abandoned, Not Plugged In Erie, McKean Counties; 747 Violations For Conventional Well Abandonment This Year  [PaEN] 

-- Senate Hearing: Landowner Concerns About Liability For Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells May Be Impediment To Plugging Leaking Wells; Need To Make Plugging Programs More Effective To Deal With ‘Growing Problem’  [PaEN]

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: State’s $100,000+ Cost To Plug Abandoned/Orphan Wells ‘Outrageously Enormous;’ Taking Care Of Problem No Simple Task 

-- Groundbreaking Initiative Using Drones To Locate Orphan, Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Pennsylvania Kicks Off  [PaEN]

-- The Derrick - John Bartlett: An Eye In The Sky Will Seek Old Oil, Gas Wells  [PDF of Article] 

-- Cecil Township Supervisors Direct Solicitor To Prepare Ordinance Increasing Setbacks From Shale Gas Well Pads By At Least 2,500 Feet; Another Hearing, Vote Expected Nov. 4   [PaEN]

-- WESA: New Freeport, Greene County Residents File Lawsuit Against EQT Gas Drilling Company Over Contaminated Water Supplies  [PaEN]

-- WESA: New Freeport, Greene County Residents File Lawsuit Against EQT Gas Drilling Company Over Contaminated Water Supplies

-- PublicSource.org: New Freeport, Greene County Residents In Federal Court Demanding Clean Water From EQT Natural Gas Company After Frack-Out 

-- PUC Publishes Final Public Utility Owned Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards In Sept. 14 PA Bulletin  [Read background here ]

-- TheDailyClimate.org: PA’s CNX Resources Gas Drilling Company With More Than 2,000 Environmental Violations Selected For Federal Hydrogen Hub Environmental Justice Funding

-- TribLive Letter: Between 2016-2023 PA Households Paid 51% More For Natural Gas As LNG Gas Exports Surged; Shale Gas Drillers Accumulate 81,289 Environmental Violations - By Jan Milburn, Westmoreland County

-- Susquehanna River Basin Conditions Trigger Low-Flow Water Use Restrictions At 7 Shale Gas Water Withdrawals In Bradford, Susquehanna, Tioga Counties  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approves Water Withdrawal Requests - Including 8 For Shale Gas Development; Total Of 23 In 2024  [PaEN]

-- Natural Resources Defense Council Blog: Fracking Loopholes Remain, With More Sick Families In Communities [Includes Pennsylvania Examples]

-- WHYY Climate Fixers - Susan Phillips: A 20,000 Square Foot Philly Building Ditched Natural Gas By Tapping Into The Heat Beneath Our Feet

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: ‘Good Bones:’ A New Life For The Former Bruce Mansfield Coal Power Plant Could Mean It Stays Put; Possible Conversion To Gas Due To High PJM Electricity Prices

-- US Dept. Of Energy Awards $20 Million To Improve Siting Of Renewable Energy Facilities; $1.96 Million To PA  [PaEN]

-- Shapiro Administration Secures $1.96 Million US DOE Grant To Help Communities Build Out Clean, Renewable Energy Projects

-- The Keystone: PA Received Over $1.08 Billion In Clean Energy Investments From Federal Inflation Reduction Act

-- Vote Solar, Solar United Neighbors, 60+ Groups Urge PA Senate To Unlock Community Solar Energy Benefits By Taking Action On Bipartisan Legislation  [PaEN]

-- AP: Pollution Of The Potent Climate Warming Gas Methane Soars, People Mostly To Blame

-- Centre Daily Times: Climate Action, Resiliency A Team Effort In Centre County

-- Grist: Coalition Of PA Trade Unions Launch New Clean Energy Advocacy Group-- Union Energy

-- Ohio River Valley Institute: $55 Million Federally-Funded Tenaska Carbon Geologic Sequestration Project Expected To Permanently Employ 4 People, According To A WV University Study  [PaEN]

-- Politico: Cleveland-Cliffs Steelmaker Weighs Abandoning $500 Million Federal Grant To Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Ohio Steel Plant

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Growing Demand For Power, But No Clean Plan For PJM Grid Operator

-- Utility Dive: PJM Seeks OK From FERC To End Energy Efficiency Capacity Payments; No Evidence, They Say, They Spur Energy Efficiency Investments

-- Utility Dive: Rising Power Prices Increase Credit Risk For Utilities - Moody’s  [PJM Price Spikes Included]

-- Utility Dive: Illinois Power Plant Reverses Plan To Shut Down 540 MW Power Plant Amid Record PJM Electric Prices

-- Environmental Quality Board Approves Proposed Stream Redesignations For Public Comment; Votes Down Motion To Decouple Truck Emission Standards From California In 2 Years  [PaEN]

-- TribLive: Greensburg Approves Plan To Improve Infrastructure For Walking, Cycling With WalkWorks Grant

-- Warren Times: State Police Corporals Swoop In To Rescue Red-Tailed Hawk

-- PA Resources Council What’s Up Watershed: Beautiful Your Yard With Three Native Plants!

-- Williamsport Sun - Bill Bower: Reflections In Nature - Colorful Arrays Of Flowers

-- Financial Times: Wildfires Sweep Amazon As Brazil Suffers Worst Drought On Record

Visit the  DEP Calendar of Events;  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: September 15, 2024]

9/16/2024