PA Environment Digest Blog: Thursday PA Environment & Energy NewsClips 12.9.21

House returns to session Dec. 13, 14, 15

Senate returns to session Dec. 13, 14, 15

-- Updated 2022 Voting Session Day Schedule

-- TODAY 9:15: Virtual. Agenda Posted. DEP Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Contact: Kirit Dalal, kdalai@pa.gov. [Note: Will discuss draft final regulation to limit Methane Emissions From Oil & Gas Operations-- PPT Slides + draft regulation.]

-- Now On Demand: Videos From 2021 Shale Gas & Public Health Conference; Including Preliminary Results Of A Penn State Study On Health Risks From Road Spreading Conventional Drilling Wastewater [PaEN]

-- Physicians For Social Responsibility-PA Host Dec. 10 Virtual Conference On Health Hazards Of Oil & Gas Industry In Pennsylvania [PaEN]

-- Group Against Smog & Pollution Dec. 15 Webinar: Making The Connection - The Link Between Pollution & Mental Illness [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project Personal Narrative: Rose Friend's Home In Washington County Surrounded By Natural Gas Drill Pads, Compressor Stations

-- WHYY Guest Essay: If You Don’t Trust The Air You Breathe, Keep Reading - By Philadelphia Council Member Katherine Gilmore and Ebony Griffin, Public Interest Law Center, Environmental Justice Working Group

-- PG - Anya Litvak: 2 Pittsburgh CEOs Make Very Different Pitches For Why The World Needs More Natural Gas

-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: He Wanted To Help Lebanon County Creek, Instead He Watched Sunoco/Mariner East Pipeline Pollute It

-- LancasterOnline: Lancaster County Heating Fuels Increase By Double Digits [Driven By Increases In Natural Gas]

-- YorkD: Saubel’s Markets Receives Rural Energy For America Grant To Harness Solar Energy

-- Guest Essay: COP26 Shines A Light On The End Of Fossil Fuels - By Dr. Keith E. Peterman, York College

-- Penn State Extension Hosts Dec. 29 Water Cooler Talk: Pennsylvania Flood Risk With Climate Change [PaEN]

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal Forum: It’s Time To Stem The Flood Of Woes Brought On By Climate Change - By Jon Mueller, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

-- Delaware River Basin Commissioners Celebrates 60 Years Of Managing, Protecting & Improving the Basin’s Water Resources [PaEN]

-- PennLive: Is There A Christmas Tree Shortage? Depends Whom You Ask

-- Metka Family Partners With Natural Lands To Save 26 Acres Near French Creek State Park, Berks County [PaEN]

-- PA Parks & Forests Foundation Offering On Demand Videos On Health Benefits Of Outdoor Recreation [PaEN]

-- DCNR Blog: Nature Provides The Perfect Setting For Achieving Physical Or Mental Health Goals

-- Citizen Science: Upper Delaware BioBlitz Identified More Than 700 Species Of Plants & Wildlife [PaEN]

-- Appalachian Chapter Of Audubon Society: Hog Island Audubon Camp Scholarship For Students Ages 14-17 [PaEN]

-- PennDOT Extends Deadline For Grades 9-12 Student Innovations Challenge On Public Engagement

-- Williamsport Sun: Senate Environmental Committee Hearing Finds Audience Divided On ATV Pilot Program’s Possible Expansion

-- PennLive - Marcus Schneck: Bugs, Other Things In Christmas Trees: What To Do

-- TribLive: Hutting To Sell Seven Springs, 2 Other Ski Resorts To Vail Resorts

-- Help Wanted: Berks Conservation District - Agriculture Resource Conservationist [PaEN]

Hurricane Ida

-- Gov. Wolf: Hurricane Ida Assistance Deadline Extended 1 Month For Individuals In 8 Counties

-- Inquirer: Hurricane Ida Destroyed Affordable Rental Units, Hundreds Of Families Can’t Find New Ones

American Rescue Plan Funding

-- ErieT: Will $9 Million In American Rescue Plan Funds Turn Crumbling Paper Plant Into New Erie Park?

Build Back Better Budget Bill

-- TribLive Guest Essay: We Must Tackle Climate Change To Truly Build Back Better - Conservation Voters Of PA

National/International

-- Utility Dive: Major U.S. Utilities Plan Nationwide Charging Network, Anticipating 22 Million EVs By 2030

-- Financial Times: Oil & Gas Majors Compete To Recruit Talent In Shift To Greener Future

PA Politics

-- AP: Lawmakers To Take First Steps Toward New Congressional Voting Districts Map

-- PA Cap-Star: House Republicans Pick Citizen Map Submission As Draft Congressional Plan

-- Spotlight PA: Proposed Redrawing Of PA’s Congressional Voting District Map Gets Mixed Reviews

-- YorkDR: ‘A Waste Of Taxpayer Money’: Senate Republican Election ‘Investigation’ Heads To [Republican] Commonwealth Court

-- AP: Big Republican Donor In PA Supreme Court Race Eyeing Candidates For Governor

-- Guest Essay: Balance Of Power In Government Means More Power For The People [As Defined By The General Assembly And Only The General Assembly] - Sen. Aument (R-Lancaster) + House Speaker Cutler (R-Lancaster)

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Personal Freedoms Are Worth Fighting For - Sen. Corman, Republican Candidate For Governor [Worked to overturn Nov. 2020 election results]

-- LancasterOnline Editorial: White Nationalist Stickers At Millersville U. Offer Disturbing Evidence Of Hatred That Must Be Rebuked

-- PennLive - John Baer: Taxpayers Subsidizing Local News? A Scam, A Way To Kill Free Press Or A Lifeline?

-- MCall: In Lehigh County, School Boards First To Feel Impact From Lawsuit Over Certifying Election Results

-- PennLive: State Employees Retirement Board Defeats Effort To Cancel Wolf’s Vaccination Bonus For Some Staff

-- AP: Geisinger Health Runs Out Of Beds As Largely Unvaccinated COVID Patients Overrun 9 Hospitals

-- PennLive: Packed Hospitals In Rural PA Sound Alarm Over Surging COVID Cases

-- Inquirer: COVID Hospitalizations Are At Highest Since January, With Spikes In Central, Western Regions

-- TribLive: Allegheny County Health Director: ‘I Don’t Expect The Situation To Improve Soon’

-- PennLive: People Over 70 Make Up Well Over Half Of PA’s Latest COVID Deaths

-- ErieT: Here’s Why COVID Vaccinations Have Spiked In Erie County

-- AP: PA Supreme Court Grapples With Legality Of State School Masking Mandate

-- ReadingE: Mental Health Struggles Are Growing For Young People Due To COVID Pandemic