-- Article I, Section 27 Pennsylvania Constitution [It’s Not A Suggestion]
Senate Voting Schedule
Budget hearings will be held February 23-26, and March 2
March 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25
April 20, 21, 22
May 4, 5, 6
June 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30
House Voting Schedule
Budget hearings will be held February 23-26, and March 2
March. 23, 24, 25
April 13, 14, 15, 27, 28, 29
May 4, 5, 6
June 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
September 28, 29, 30
October 5, 6, 7, 19, 20, 21
November 9, 10
TODAY’s Calendar Of Events
February 26-- Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing: 1:00 - Department of Environmental Protection.
March 2-- House Appropriations Committee budget hearing: 1:00 - Departments of Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources. Click Here to watch live.
March 3-- Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing: 1:00 - Public Utility Commission.
March 5-- House Appropriations Committee budget hearing: 1:00 - Public Utility Commission. Click Here to watch live.
March 18-- CANCELED. Rescheduled for April 30. DEP Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board meeting. 10:00 a.m. Contact: Todd M. Wallace twallace@pa.gov. (formal notice)
April 16-- DCED PA Grade Crude [Oil] Development Advisory Council meeting. Penn State, State College. 10:00. Contact: Adam Walters 717-214-6548 or adwalters@pa.gov.
-- DEP Issues Water Quality Permits For Major Longwall Coal Mining Damage Prevention Project Covering 4 Texas Eastern Natural Gas Pipelines In Greene County [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - February 21 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posted 63 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In February 21 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
-- TribLive: Ice Jams Cause Flooding Risks Along Allegheny River
-- The Derrick: Evacuation Possible In Emlenton, Venango County Due To Record Rise Of Allegheny River [PDF of Article]
-- Morning Call: Lehigh County Authority Customers Asked To Reduce Water Use As Drought Warning Declared
-- Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader Guest Essay: Volunteers Vital To Nation And Nonprofits - By Robert Hughes, Eastern PA Coalition For Abandoned Mine Reclamation
-- Philadelphia Solar Energy Assn: March 5 Webinar - Energy Affordability - How Plug-In Solar Energy Can Help [PaEN]
-- Eastern PA Coalition For Abandoned Mine Reclamation: Report On Repurposing Flooded Abandoned Coal Strip Mines For Cooling Purposes, Heating Storage, Solar Development
-- Penn State Extension Hosts April 7 Webinar On Grazing Sheep At Solar Energy Facilities [PaEN]
-- Erie Times Guest Essay: Think Energy Is Unaffordable Now? Just Wait Until 2029 [When Federal Methane Rule Kicks In]- By Daniel Weaver, PA Independent Oil & Gas Assn. [Represents conventional gas industry that produces less than 1% of natural gas in PA, but most of the uncontrolled methane emissions in the state]
-- EPA Region 3 Administrator Highlights Energy, Water Infrastructure Investments On Visit To Wilkes-Barre, Scranton
-- The Allegheny Front: Study: Air Pollution In Pittsburgh Region Responsible For 3,500 Deaths In 2019
-- The Allegheny Front: President’s EPA Rolls Back Mercury, Air Toxics Rules For Coal-Fired Power Plants
-- Adirondack Explorer: USGS Study Shows Fish Populations Double In Adirondack Streams Following 40 Years Of Controlling Power Plant Emissions Causing Acid Rain
-- Spotlight PA: President’s ICE Memo Reveals Timeline, Scale Of Warehouse Plans To House Detainees In Berks, Schuylkill Counties
-- AP: President’s ICE Quietly Buying Warehouses For Detention Centers And Leaving Local Officials Out Of The Loop [Includes PA Cases]
-- The Allegheny Front/WESA: PA Agriculture Officials Try To Stem Spike In Bird Flu Cases; 7 Million Birds Died In Recent Weeks
-- Chesapeake Bay Program: Pay-For-Success Projects Reduce Nutrient, Sediment Pollution As Part Of the Conowingo Dam Watershed Implementation Plan In York County [PaEN]
-- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service-PA To Hold 10 Local Working Group Meetings From Feb. 23 to April 3 [PaEN]
-- Registration Open For 5-Part Ag Water Webinar Series Starting March 2; Penn State Extension Watershed News [PaEN]
-- DCNR Names Emma Isaacson Assistant Manager Of Ridley Creek State Park Complex In SE PA
-- Manada Conservancy Announces New Kittatinny Landowner Stories Video Series On Land Conservation [PaEN]
-- PA Invasive Replace-ive Program To Encourage Replacing Invasive Species With Native Plants To Continue, Expand In 2026 [PaEN]
-- PA Interfaith Power & Light Launches Roots, Branches & Hands Initiative To Plant 55,000 Native Trees And Shrubs [PaEN]
-- Help Wanted: Chesapeake Bay Foundation PA Streams & Schoolyards Manager, Field Educator [PaEN]
-- Post-Gazette - Mary Ann Thomas: Bald Eagles Welcome First Egg Of Season At US Steel Irvin Plant
-- York Daily Record: Bald Eagle Found In York County Dies From Apparent Lead Poisoning, Raven Ridge Wildlife Center
-- York Daily Record: Bobcat Rescued From Car Grille In Adams County, Donations Needed For Rehab, Raven Ridge Wildlife Center
A.I. /Data Centers
-- The Citizens’ Voice: Luzerne County Planning Office Hosting March 5 Public Forum On Draft Zoning Ordinance Amendment On A.I. Data Centers [PDF of Article]
-- Morning Call Guest Essay: What A.I. Data Centers Could Mean For Lehigh County’s Water Supply? - By Liesel Gross, CEO of Lehigh County Authority
-- Pittsburgh Business Times Editorial: Pittsburgh Region Should Make Way For More Data Centers [Even Though They Have Few Employees, Use Huge Amounts Of Energy, Are Increasing Energy Prices, Are Hot And Noisy]
Today’s Oil & Gas Violations
-- Today’s Violations: DEP: Big Dog Energy LLC failed to comply with Order to plug shale gas well in Gulich Twp., Clearfield County for 998 days and counting. DEP inspection report.
-- Today’s Violations: DEP: M4 Energy LLC failed to comply with Order to restore shale gas well site in Stewart Twp., Fayette County for 1,517 days and counting. DEP inspection report
-- Today’s Violations: DEP: CNX Gas Co LLC failed to submit initial cleanup report from January 2 spill of wastewater at the NV48 shale gas well pad in Morris Twp., Greene County for 41 days and counting. DEP inspection report.
-- Today’s Violations: DEP: EQT Chap LLC failed to obtain approval for the disposal and processing of drilling cuttings on the Edenborn shale gas well pad in German Twp., Fayette County. DEP inspection report.
-- Today’s Violations: DEP: Diversified Prod LLC failed to report a release of wastewater at the Spesak conventional well site in Fallowfield Twp., Washington County. DEP inspection report.
-- Today’s Violations: DEP: EQT Prod Co failed to plug the abandoned Spangler 454 conventional well in Monroeville Boro, Allegheny County to prevent the flow of gas for 326 days and counting. DEP inspection report.
Clairton Coke [Coal] Works Explosion
-- The Allegheny Front: After Deadly Explosion, Safety, Environmental Lapses At US Steel’s Clairton Coke [Coal] Works Now Rest With Nippon
-- TribLive: Lawsuit Claims Nippon/US Steel Failed To Avert Fatal Clairton Coke [Coal] Works Blast
-- Post-Gazette: Lawsuit Alleges Wrongful Death, Negligence In Nippon/US Steel Clairton Coke [Coal] Works Fatal Explosion
Train Derailments
-- Gov. Shapiro: PUC Votes To Update Railroad Safety Regulations For First Time In More Than A Decade And 3 Years After The Norfolk Southern Train Derailment Disaster [PaEN]
International/National Impacts On PA Natural Gas
[Energy Independence Means Renewables]
-- AAA Average Gasoline Prices: National- $2.93 Ohio- $2.86 PA- $3.12 [Much Higher In Many Areas]
-- Baker Hughes: PA Natural Gas Drilling Rigs- 20 - Up 2 From 2 Weeks Ago
-- Bloomberg: Expand Energy Shale Gas Driller Surges As Traders Eye Proposed Ohio Natural Gas Power Plant Proposal
Federal Administration
-- The Allegheny Front: Study: Air Pollution In Pittsburgh Region Responsible For 3,500 Deaths In 2019
-- Adirondack Explorer: USGS Study Shows Fish Populations Double In Adirondack Streams Following 40 Years Of Controlling Power Plant Emissions Causing Acid Rain
-- The Allegheny Front: President’s EPA Rolls Back Mercury, Air Toxics Rules For Coal-Fired Power Plants
-- Environmental Defense Fund: EPA Dismantles Protections For Mercury, Air Toxic Emissions From Power Plants
-- EPA: Finalizes Repeal Of Costly Mercury, Air Toxics Restrictions On Power Generation, Continues To Reverse Democrats’ War On ‘Beautiful Clean Coal’
PA Politics - Everything Is Connected
-- Inquirer: Gov. Shapiro Joins President For Meeting With State Governors Friday After Clash Over Democrats’ Attendance
-- Williamsport Sun: Vargas Family Shares Their Story Of How Chaos In Immigration Policy Is Affecting Legal Immigrants To US - Work Permits Taken Away, Mother Still In ICE Prison After 4 Months Without Charges [PDF of Article]
-- LancasterOnline: Elimination Of Federal Funding To Resettle Refugees Cuts Lancaster County To The Core
-- The Allegheny Front/WESA: PA Agriculture Officials Try To Stem Spike In Bird Flu Cases; 7 Million Birds Died In Recent Weeks
-- Spotlight PA: President’s ICE Memo Reveals Timeline, Scale Of Warehouse Plans To House Detainees In Berks, Schuylkill Counties
-- AP: President’s ICE Quietly Buying Warehouses For Detention Centers And Leaving Local Officials Out Of The Loop [Includes PA Cases]
-- TribLive: President’s ICE Detention Center In Clearfield County Steeped In Secrecy, Drives Local Economy
-- Morning Call: Quakertown H.S. Student Protest Of President’s ICE Ends With Arrests
-- Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh-Area Companies Brace For What Comes Next In The President’s Tariff Roller Coaster
-- TribLive:Tariff Ruling Bolsters US Supreme Court’s Credibility In Eyes Of Duquesne President Ken Gormley
-- AP: President Imposes 10% Global Tariff By Executive Order
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[Posted: February 21, 2026] PA Environment Digest
