Friday, May 19, 2017

May 22 PA Environment Digest Now Available

The May 22 PA Environment Digest is now available.  Here are just a few of the headlines--

On Friday, PennLive posted this editorial entitled, “Pennsylvanians Can’t Wait For Clean Water, State Must Act Now,” about significant funding gaps in DEP’s Safe Drinking Water Programs and the ramifications on clean water and public health.  The text of the editorial follows—

The PA Environmental Council Thursday wrote a letter to the members of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee expressing its opposition to Senate Bill 624 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson) that would retroactively change the rules for protecting streams affected by underground coal mining under Act 54.

Pennsylvanians are invited to share their views on how the Commonwealth can best achieve federally mandated water pollution reductions in counties in the Chesapeake Bay watershed at a public event hosted by the Department of Environmental Protection on June 5.

The Times Leader reported Friday the City of Wilkes-Barre and Kingston Borough were fined a total of $37,000 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for not complying with EPA’s program to reduce water pollution from stormwater runoff in Pennsylvania’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

On May 14 the Mehoopany Creek Watershed Association in Wyoming County submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of the review required by President Trump’s Executive Order to identify EPA regulations that are not needed or overly burdensome. (EPA Docket: EPA-HQ-OA-2017-0190)

Reports Friday about the Trump Administration’s final recommendations for the FY 2018 federal budget offer states and the public little or no relief from the drastic cuts proposed in the Administration’s proposed budget blueprint in March.

The 2017 PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation Conference this year features a unique Walking Tour & Film Festival option to be held on the first day of the Conference-- June 21 in Wilkes-Barre.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Monday announced that on May 2, Keep Chester Beautiful in Delaware County became a Keep America Beautiful affiliate as a result of a public-private-civic partnership process that began in 2014.

The National Small Business Environmental Assistance Programs has recognized Pik Rite, Inc. as the 2017 winner of its Small Business Environmental Stewardship Award. The company, based in Lewisburg, Union County was chosen by the SBEAP’s National Steering Committee.

The Department of Environmental Protection Wednesday reported violations by conventional oil and gas operations rose nearly 80 percent in 2016 and fines and penalties collected from both conventional and unconventional (Marcellus Shale) well operators nearly tripled to over $9.6 million.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission now has 37 permit applications in its system for pumped storage hydroelectric projects across the county, 17 of those are in Pennsylvania, all from one company-- Merchant Hydro Developers, LLC based in Doylestown, Bucks County.

To read the Digest, visit: www.PaEnvironmentDigest.com.  Click Here to view or print the entire Digest.

PA Environment Digest is edited by David E. Hess, former Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and is published as a service of Crisci Associates.


Additional Tools--
Click Here to sign up to receive the Digest directly by email.
Click Here for a Calendar of Upcoming Events.
Click Here to search back issues of the Digest.
PA Environment Digest Twitter Feed: Update on PA environmental issues.
PA Environment Daily Blog: Update on PA environmental issues.
Green Works In PA Google+ Circle: Update on PA environmental issues.
Questions?: Send email to David Hess at: DHess@CrisciAssociates.com

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe To Receive Updates:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner