Linda McKenna Boxx, the president of the Allegheny Trail Alliance and the driving force behind the creation of the Great Allegheny Passage, a 150-mile trail connecting Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, received a lifetime achievement award, this week from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

The Growing Greener Watershed Restoration Program will be ten years old in December and to help celebrate 10 groups have come together to invite watershed groups to share their success stories on a special Growing Greener website.

The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee this week held a hearing on legislation-- House Bill 2791 from 2008-- to create a Pennsylvania Power Authority which prime sponsor Rep. Camille George (D-Clearfield) said would help fix what he said is a broken retail electric market.

The State Conservation Commission will begin accepting applications for the next round of Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) farm conservation tax credits beginning August 3.

The flood-ravaged Cadosia and Sands creeks near Hancock, N.Y., will be the subject of a $55,000 study aimed at their restoration, Samuel N. Rowe Jr., supervisor of the Town of Hancock, announced this week.

Pennsylvania, New York City and other states in the Delaware River Basin have reached two agreements regarding the plan that safeguards the drinking water supply for 15 million people and supports the basin's diverse wildlife habitat, Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger announced this week.

The Department of Environmental Protection this week announced eight contracts and 22 grants have been awarded for 47 flood protection and stream improvement projects in 21 counties. An additional four projects in two counties are currently in the grant execution process and will be awarded soon.

The Board of Game Commissioners approved the transfer of three tracts of land, totaling 12 acres, in Bushkill Township, Northampton County from Wildlands Conservancy. The action was taken in an effort to connect State Game Land holdings in Northampton County.

Applications are being accepted by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for grants to protect Pennsylvania's non-game animals, native plants and their habitat.

State wildlife officials who examined the five young Peregrine falcons that recently hatched from a nest at the Rachel Carson State Office Building determined this year’s clutch consists of four females and one male.

A north-central Pennsylvania hillside is being transformed into the largest elk watching and conservation education center in the eastern United States.

The Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival On Tour will be held at the Mount Nittany Middle School on June 25 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The White House this week announced Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center will be the site for the world G20 economic summit in September.

The Public Utility Commission this week finalized procedures and guidelines that allow for the limited expansion of qualified alternative energy sources and the requirements mandated by Act 129 of 2008.

The Public Utility Commission this week approved an updated Technical Reference Manual, which is used to assess energy savings attributable to energy efficiency and demand response measures for the implementation of the state's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act and the energy efficiency and conservation provisions of Act 129 of 2008.

Amid children experimenting with hands-on displays about landfill gas technology and solar energy, Exelon opened its Renewable Energy Education Center at Fairless Hills this week.

The advisory committee charged with coming up with a Climate Change Action Plan for Pennsylvania by October 9 voted this week to support legislation sponsored by Sen. Mary Jo White extending the deadline for the plan to allow for meaningful public review of the plan.

It was a tough battle to the end but Bellefonte High School pulled out the victory the the recycling competition held between Bald Eagle, Bellefonte, Penns Valley & Philipsburg-Osceola High Schools.

Here’s a selection of NewsClips on environmental topics from around the state--

Read a sampling of NewsClips on watershed topics from around Pennsylvania.

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice of proposed changes to the Air Quality State Implementation Plan for the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area.

The Department of Environmental Protection published proposed guidance on nutrient credit trading for comment and notice of recent nutrient credit trading actions.