Wednesday PA Environment & Energy NewsClips 6.1.22

Are You Telling Your Story?

Senate returns to session June 6, 7, 8 [Budget Time!]

     -- Committee Schedule

House returns to session June 7, 8, 9 [Budget Time!]

     -- Committee Schedule

TODAY’s Calendar Of Events

TODAY 10:00: DCNR Snowmobile & ATV Advisory Committee meeting.  Room 105 Rachel Carson Building. Click Here to attend virtually. Contact: Jake Newton, 717-783-3349.  (formal notice)

-- DEP Advises 18 Municipalities Where Road Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater Is Occurring The Practice Is Illegal And Considered Waste Disposal  [PaEN]

-- Inquirer Guest Essay: Eat Your Crabs, And Have Their Backs Too - By Hilary Falk, Chesapeake Bay Foundation [Allocate $500 Million In Federal American Rescue Plan Funding] 

-- Bucks County Beacon Guest Essay: Time For PA To Make Historic, Bipartisan Investment In Conservation - By Molly Parzen, Conservation Voters Of PA

-- PA Soil Health Coalition Learning Challenge - 'Soil Your Undies' To Learn More About Soil Health  [PaEN]

-- DEP Chesapeake Bay Program Update: Healthy Waters Partnership, County Water Quality Plan Updates, Program Progress

-- Capital RC&D Equine Pasture Management Field Day June 25, Columbia County [PaEN]

-- Warren Times: Warren Conservation District Awards Scholarships To Area Seniors

-- Slippery Rock Creek Watershed Coalition Highlights Jennings Environmental Center Day Camps; Lake Arthur Regatta; One Room Schoolhouse Restoration  [PaEN]

-- WHYY: Academy Of Natural Sciences River Feeds Back Immersive Sound Exhibit Takes You Inside The Schuylkill River

-- WESA: Pittsburgh Preparing For More Severe Flooding Due To 13% Increase In Rainfall In The Worst Storms Caused By Climate Change  [Pittsburgh Stormwater Design Manual]

-- Bay Journal: High-Res Maps Of Chesapeake Bay Watershed Reveal More Development, Lost Forests, Urban Trees, Spread Of Pavement

-- York Daily Record Guest Essay: Tropical Storm Agnes, 50 Years Ago: ‘It Was Like Something Out Of The Bible’

-- Gov. Wolf Announces Over $8.4 Million In Water, Sewer Community Block Grants In 5 Counties

-- WHYY: As Philly Water Shutoffs Return, City Rolls Out Relief Policies

-- DEP Took Action On 658 Permits, 93% Within Permit Decision Guarantee Deadlines; Conducted 1,371 Inspections; Responded To 7 Environmental Emergencies Last Week 

-- DEP Blog: To Lower Your Electricity Bills, Take A 3-Prong Approach 

-- PUC Reminds Consumers Of Options For Managing Summer Energy Utility Bills; Reduce Energy Use, Shop For Competitive Electric Suppliers

-- PUC Holding June 1 Collaborative With Installers Of Distributed Energy Generation Systems 

-- Scranton Times Editorial: PJM Connection Accelerates Addition Of Renewable Energy Generation At Competitive Prices To Grid 

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Duquesne Light Expanding Public Electric Vehicle Charging Offerings

-- University Of Pittsburgh European Studies Center: Just Energy Transition Workshop Online Event June 3-4  [PaEN]

-- PA Interfaith Power & Light, Jewish Earth Alliance June 15 Webinar - Proposed EPA Rule Reducing Oil & Gas Methane Emissions  [PaEN]

-- MCall Guest Essay: Lehigh University’s Solar Project Not A Bad Neighbor

-- MCall Guest Essay: Joining Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Puts PA On Greener Path - Molly Parzen, Conservation Voters Of PA

-- TribLive: Trafford Resident Takes On Local West Nile Virus Monitoring In Westmoreland

-- Republican Herald: Ticks Out In Force In Schuylkill County

-- TribLive: Allegheny Land Trust Secures Capital To Preserve 75 Acres In Sewickley Hills

-- DCNR: Wolf Administration Art Partnership Engages Schools In Project To Make State Parks More Welcoming To All

-- PennLive - Marcus Schneck: Free Sunscreen At State Park Beaches, Pools

-- WGAL: Safe Harbor Trestle Bridge In Lancaster County Expected To Be National Draw

-- Warren Times: Northern Allegheny Mountain Biking Assn. Works To Expand Biking Throughout Region

-- Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh Council Approves Camping In City Parks

-- Penn State Master Gardeners - What’s The Buzz?  Pollinator Garden Newsletter - Garden Of Merit Kathy McClure

-- Erie Times - Brian Whipkey: Youth Enjoy Free Day Of Bowfishing At Pymatuning Reservoir, Crawford County

6th Oil/Natural Gas Spike: True Energy Independence Means Renewables

[There Is No Limit On What Oil/Natural Gas Industry Can Make You Pay]

-- Natural Gas Intel: LNG Demand Seen Driving Natural Gas Prices Higher This Summer, FERC Says 

-- Bloomberg: Traders Are Betting Texas Natural Gas Producers Will Be Selling At A Discount Because Of A Lack Of Pipelines

-- Bloomberg: Latest Russian Natural Gas Curbs Affect Germany, Denmark, Netherlands

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Fall As Russia Expects No Further Supply Cuts 

-- Reuters: U.S. Oil Output Rose 3% In March; Still Far Below Record High In 2019

-- The Economist: Why Oil Is Back Above $120 Per Barrel 

-- Financial Times: Diesel, Gasoline Supply Crunch Sets Off Sharp Rally In Crude Oil Market

American Rescue Plan Funding

 

-- $11 Billion In Federal American Rescue Plan Funding To PA State Government, Local Governments Has Yet To Be Invested.  What’s Your Community Doing?

 

Other States/National/International

-- Financial Times: DWS/Deutsche Bank Chief Resigns After Police Raid Over Greenwashing Claims

PA Politics - Everything Is Connected

-- Scranton Times Editorial: Legislative Gift Bans Long Overdue

-- MCall: U.S. Supreme Court Halts Counting Undated Lehigh County Mail-In Ballots

-- WPost: U.S. Supreme Court Delays Counting Of Undated Mail-In Ballots In PA

-- City & State PA: Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Asks For Recounts In 12 Counties

-- LancasterOnline: 2 Lancaster County Legislative Districts Appear Headed For Partial Hand Recount

-- LancasterOnline Editorial: Unnecessary Election Recounts Are Inevitable Result Of The Big Lie

-- Post-Gazette - Salena Zito: People, Places & Politicians: Abstract Rhetoric Doesn’t Respond To Voters’ Real Concerns

-- PA Capital-Star: With Budget Season Approaching, PA Business Leaders Want Corporate Tax Cut  [On Top Of $30.7 Billion They Got In Federal Aid In 2020, 2021 - IFO] 

-- PA Capital-Star: States, Including PA, Headed For ‘Fiscal Cliff’ After COVID Aid Runs Out

-- TribLive: Parkland School Shooting Survivor Joins Pittsburgh Leaders In Calling For Gun Reform

-- Post-Gazette: Parkland School Shooting Survivor Joins Crowd Outside Pat Toomey’s Office In Pittsburgh Demanding Gun Reform

-- TribLive: Pittsburgh Community Mourns Youth Violence

-- Post-Gazette: Students Searched At Indiana County Junior High After Weapons Threat

-- WHYY: Teen Gun Violence Coalition Issues Call To Action Based On Survey Data

-- WHYY: Bucks County Students Grieve Lives Lost To Gun Violence In Texas, Around Them

-- Courier Times: Once Again, Pennridge Students In Bucks County Shed Light On Victims Of Gun Violence

-- KYW: Hundreds Of Students Demand Action Against Gun Violence Outside Philly City Hall: ‘This Is Our Safe Zone, Not Your War Zone’

-- The Atlantic: Students Should Refuse To Go Back To School Until There’s Action On Stricter Gun Laws 

-- PennLive - Jan Murphy: Wolf: Money Could Be Spent To Address Gun Violence, But ‘We Cannot Ignore The Elephant In The Room’

-- BillyPenn: Why Philly Can’t Make Stronger Gun Law, And The Legal Battle To Get That Changed

-- PA Capital-Star: Gun Violence Reduction Laws Will Pass Only When More Blacks Get Guns - Michael Coard, Philadelphia Tribune

-- Inquirer Guest Essay: The Cycle Of Gun Violence In Philadelphia Is Sickening

-- TribLive Editorial: De’Avry Thomas Won’t Be The Last Victim Of Gun Violence

-- The Center Square: Philadelphia Schools Rely On $1.8 Billion In Federal Pandemic Aid To Stay Out Of Red Ink

-- Erie Times: Erie Childcare Centers Share $11.3 Million In COVID Aid

-- Inquirer: Commonwealth Court: PA Liquor Control Board Liable For Damages, Legal Fees In Wine Shopping Fight

-- Post-Gazette: Congress Isn’t Acting On Data Privacy, So PA Should

-- MCall: Northampton Community College Picks David Ruth As Next President

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[Posted: June 1, 2022]  PA Environment Digest

Capital RC&D Equine Pasture Management Field Day June 25, Columbia County

Assessing pasture health can feel challenging any time but may be especially difficult during seasonal transitions and weather extremes. 

There are tools available that horse owners can use to determine pasture health and management techniques that can be adopted to improve the health and survival of pasture forages. 

These tools and techniques will be the focus of the equine pasture management field day hosted by Capital Resource Conservation and Development Area Council on June 25 at Quodomine Veterinary Services, 70 Schoolhouse Road, Bloomsburg, Columbia County from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. 

Dr. Linda Quodomine, DVM, event co-host and owner of Quodomine Veterinary Services will provide information about new protocols for parasite management. 

Donna Foulk, Grazing Advisor with Capital RC&D, will demonstrate how to evaluate pasture quality, will discuss the biology of forage growth and health, will highlight practices that can enhance forage survival, and will help participants identify major forages and weeds. 

She will be joined by Suzette Truax, Grazing Specialist with USDA-NRCS, who will focus on how to develop rotational grazing systems and heavy use areas that can be beneficial in maintaining forage survival throughout the year.  

Suzette will also discuss resources that are available to make pasture improvements.

There is no charge for the event but registration is requested and can be made online at the Capital Area RC&D Events webpage, by emailing info@capitalrcd.org,  or by calling 717-241-4361- please leave a message for extension 15.

This event is sponsored by Capital RC&D through partnership with the Stroud Water Research Center and with funding through a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed grant.

For more information contact Cheryl Burns at Capital RC&D at 717-241-4361 or via email at cburns@capitalrcd.org.  

Visit the Capital Resource Conservation and Development Area Council website for more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and more.

Take Action Now!

-- Tell Your Legislator NOW To Set Aside $500 Million From Federal American Rescue Funds To Support Local Environmental, State Park & Forest Projects

[Posted: May 31, 2022]  PA Environment Digest

Slippery Rock Creek Watershed Coalition Highlights Jennings Environmental Center Day Camps; Lake Arthur Regatta; One Room Schoolhouse Restoration

The May Catalyst newsletter from the Butler County-based Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition highlights several events this month.

DiscoverE Day Camps At Jennings!

Jennings Environmental Education Center in Butler County is excited to announce the return of their DiscoverE Day Camps!

Children ages 4 through 12 will love spending time exploring outside and learning some awesome information about our forests and more! Sessions are broken into 3 age categories:

-- Hide-N-Seekers (4 & 5 year olds) Tuesdays from June 14 - July 5, explore Fantastic Forests (choose an AM or PM session, $2 per session)

-- Outdoor Explorers (6-8 year olds) Thursdays from June 16 - July 7, Seeing the Forest AND the Tree (choose an AM or PM session, $5 per session)

-- Penn's Adventurers (9-12 year olds) on Wednesdays from July 13 - July 27 (one session each day) will be announced soon!

Registration and payment are required in advance: (for both Hide-N-Seekers and Outdoor Explorers) 

Lake Arthur Regatta

Mark your calendars for the Moraine State Park Regatta on August 5-7 and plan for some summertime fun! A full weekend of free family fun at the shores of beautiful Lake Arthur will have something to offer everyone. 

Schoolhouse Restoration

Turns out there is more to restore in the Slippery Rock Creek Watershed than just land and streams impacted by abandoned mine drainage! 

This particular location was impacted by time and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (the law of increasing entropy — as time goes by, everything decays, breaks down, etc.) 

We’re talking about the Foltz Schoolhouse, located in Slippery Rock and under the care of Jennings Environmental Education Center. 

Click Here to read the entire newsletter.   Click Here to sign up for your own copy.

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can get involved, visit the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition website.

Take Action Now!

-- Tell Your Legislator NOW To Set Aside $500 Million From Federal American Rescue Funds To Support Local Environmental, State Park & Forest Projects

[Posted: May 31, 2022]  PA Environment Digest

University Of Pittsburgh European Studies Center: Just Energy Transition Workshop Online Event June 3-4

The European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh is hosting an online Just Energy Transition Workshop June 3 and 4.

The Just Energy Transition Workshop is a timely workshop to examine the progress of the EU member countries, as well as the United States and Canada, following the COP-26 in Glasgow in 2021 and the IPCC Sixth Assessment Reports published in 2022.

It brings together scholars from North America and Europe to explore the equity aspects of the energy transition, within the context of their countries’ historical patterns of energy production and consumption. 

For countries that have made significant adoption of renewable energy, how can policies be designed to further expand renewable energy adoption, while ensuring broader sharing of benefits, both as a valuable end in itself and in order to sustain political support for the energy transition. 

For countries that continue to have a strong reliance on fossil fuel extraction, how can policies help the shift towards renewable energy while assisting workers and communities, which have been reliant on fossil fuel extraction, to diversify their economies?

The keynote speaker will be: Jim Skea (Ph.D. Cambridge) is the Co-chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental  Panel on Climate Change. He was the Research Director of the interdisciplinary UK Energy Research  Centre until 2012, leading the Phase I Energy 2050 project. 

Other speakers include--

-- Patrice Geoffron (Ph.D. Paris-Dauphine University) is a Research Fellow of the Centre on Regulation in Europe, member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Management and Network Economics, and co-editor of the Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment journal.

-- Pablo del Rio Gonzalez (Ph.D. Autonomous University of Madrid) is the head scientist of the Environmental Economics group of the Institute of Policies and Public Goods of the Higher Council for Scientific Research.

-- Shanti Gamper-Rabindran (Ph.D. MIT) is an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Her book America’s Energy Gamble (Cambridge University Press 2022) details how political, financial and legal institutions entrench fossil fuel dependency, but how efforts to shift to renewable energy are gaining traction.

-- Espen Moe (Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles) is a professor in the Department of  Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

-- Andrea Prontera (Ph.D. University of Florence) is assistant professor of international relations in  the Department of Political Science, Communication and International Relations at the University of  Macerata, Italy. 

-- Nancy Olewiler (Ph.D. University of British Columbia) is a professor at the School of Public  Policy at Simon Fraser University, affiliated with organizations such as Powertech Labs Inc. and the Center for Public Research.

-- Mogens Rüdiger (Dr.Phil. Aalborg University, Ph.D. Copenhagen University) is a professor at Aalborg University, research coordinator for the Contemporary History research unit, and a member of various academic boards and councils.

-- Miranda Schreurs (Ph.D. University of Michigan) is Chair of Climate and Environmental Policy at the Technical University of Munich.

Click Here to register and for more information on the agenda.

[Posted: May 31, 2022]  PA Environment Digest