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Here are the Senate and House Calendars and Committee meetings showing bills of interest as well as a list of new environmental bills introduced--

The following bills of interest saw action this week in the House and Senate--

The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee reported out bills this week to increase minimum oil and gas royalties and provide more protection for ground and surface waters from drilling as well as a bill to promote solar energy systems.

House Bill 2342 (Hornaman-D-Erie), which would open the door for the harnessing of wind energy via off-shore wind turbines in Lake Erie, was passed by the House this week and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

In response to citizen and community concerns about the safety of water resources, Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Lackawanna) is preparing a series of bills to provide additional protections to drinking water sources.

The 2010 Ohio River Watershed Celebration will be held on September 15 with Consol Energy as the prime sponsor of the event.

In celebration of World Environment Day being held in Pittsburgh, the Allegheny Land Trust is holding a public event to unveil its Abandoned Mine Drainage treatment system at its Wingfield Pines Conservation  area in Upper St. Clair on June 3.

Join the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Education, Erie County Conservation District, Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, Harrisburg Area Community College, Green Center of Central Pennsylvania and Dickinson College’s Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education for a free Introductory Alternative Energy Educator’s Workshop to be held on the following dates and locations:

The Allegheny Front radio program added three new offering this week online-- first an attempt by Venture Outdoors in Pittsburgh to break the canoe/kayak flotilla record, an effort by school districts to cash in on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling for revenue and more on World Environment Day in Pittsburgh.

The PA Association of Environmental Professionals announced their 2010 PAEP Member Awards this week. The winners include:

On May 5 Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary John Quigley gave out awards recognizing the contributions and achieves of DCNR employees across the state.  The event was attended by the recipients, their families and co-workers.

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice of the opportunity to bid on an abandoned mine reclamation project in Indiana County.

This section gives you a heads up on upcoming deadlines for awards and grants and other recognition programs. NEW means new from last week.

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice revising air quality permit exemption list for certain oil and gas production facilities and asking for comments and notice of Nutrient Credit Trading actions related to the Cove Area Regional Digester.

Upcoming legislative meetings, conferences, workshops, plus links to other online calendars. Meetings are in Harrisburg unless otherwise noted.  NEW means new from last week.  Go to the online Calendar webpage.

Send your stories, photos and videos about your project, environmental issues or programs for publication in the PA Environment Digest to:  DHess@CrisciAssociates.com.

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