PA Environment Digest Blog: Wednesday PA Environment & Energy NewsClips 3.9.22

Is Your Story Being Told?

House returns to session [Budget Hearings] March 21, 22, 23

Senate returns to session [Budget Hearings] March 28, 29, 30

ADVISORY - DEP Computer Problems Ongoing: DEP continues to experience computer database, applications outages that started at least Feb. 28. Applications include DEP Green Port, eFACTS, interactive Oil & Gas Reporting, online eDMR reporting and other program reporting functions. Although DEP said it was not the result of a cyberattack, it is clearly a big issue. Read more here.

TODAY 2:00: DEP, Leon H. Sullivan Charitable Trust & Reinvestment Fund Celebrates $30 Million In Low-Interest Commercial Energy Efficiency Project Loans From DEP Green Energy Loan Fund in Philadelphia.

TODAY 3:30: DEP To Celebrate Latest Electric Vehicle Charging Station Installed At A Wawa in Philadelphia.

-- New European Commission REPowerEU Plan Does Not Justify Dramatic Increase In Drilling, Gas Infrastructure Build Out PA Natural Gas Politicians Are Calling For [PaEN]

-- PA Natural Gas Politicians Want To ‘Unleash’ PA’s Gas Industry - What We Need First Is For Industry To Take Up The Slack; Oil & Gas 2.0; True Energy Independence

-- PA House Republicans Outline Agenda For Boosting PA Energy Production: Open Delaware River Watershed & State Forest Land For Drilling, Stop RGGI Carbon Reduction Program

-- PennLive - Jan Murphy: PA House Republicans Call For Gas Drilling On State Lands To End Reliance On Foreign Sources [65% Of Existing Gas Leases In State Forest Land Going Unused 40% Of Gas Drilling Permits Issued By DEP Go Unused ]

-- Gov. Wolf Applauds Biden’s Ban On Russian Energy Imports, Calls On Congress To Enact Federal Gasoline Tax Holiday

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Fracked Gas In Appalachia Won’t Help Ukraine, But Will Hurt Our Communities - Anais Peterson, Earthworks

-- PG Guest Essay: Ukraine Crisis Time To Pivot To Renewable Energy - PennFuture

-- York Dispatch Guest Essay: Clean Energy Transition Would Break Russia’s Geopolitical Hold - Citizens Climate Lobby

-- York Dispatch Editorial: American Drives Do Have Some Reasonable Options In Battle Against Higher Gasoline Prices - Ditch The Gas-Guzzlers

-- The Atlantic: America Is The World’s Largest Oil Producer, So Why Is Losing Russia’s Oil Such A Big Deal? “... U.S. oil companies have developed the opposite of [energy] independence.”

-- WLVR: PA Farmers See Fertilizer Prices Spike And Russia’s War Could Make It Worse

-- PA Master Naturalist: Let’s Celebrate PA Master Naturalist Volunteers Kristin Joivell, Nancy Thorne & Sandy Stanko On International Women’s Day!

-- Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Celebrates The Women Of Hawk Mountain On International Women’s Day!

-- Natural Lands: President Oliver Bass Named To Philadelphia Business Journal’s Power 100

-- Dickinson College Hosts Climate Justice Teach-In March 30 https://tinyurl.com/25ee7zdb [PaEN]

-- UtilityDive: Accounting For Clean Energy Capacity Value In PJM Would Lower Costs, Emissions, RMI Study Finds

-- National Fuel Gas Company Releases Inaugural Climate Report

-- Warren Times: Warren Conservation District Seeks Student Healthy Soil, Healthy Life Art Contest Submissions

-- WHYY: New Federal Legislation Would Reauthorize Funding Strategy For Delaware River Watershed

-- State Agencies Encourage Pennsylvanians To Protect Themselves Against Tickborne Diseases When Outdoors [PaEN]

-- PennLive - Marcus Schneck: ‘Rare But Dangerous’ Deer Tick Virus Found At Elevated Levels In More PA Locations

-- ScrantonT: The Nature Conservancy Removes Century-Old Dam, Reservoir In Lackawanna County

-- PA Federation Of Sportsmen & Conservationists Oppose Redesignation Of Delaware Water Gap As National Park, Concerned About Loss Of Hunting, Fishing Access

-- PennLive - Marcus Schneck: Elk Populations Continue To Grow In Eastern States, PA

True Energy Independence - The Big Picture

[Our Dependence On Oil/Natural Gas Is Being Used As A Weapon Against Us - Again]

-- New European Commission REPowerEU Plan Does Not Justify Dramatic Increase In Drilling, Gas Infrastructure Build Out PA Natural Gas Politicians Are Calling For [PaEN]

-- BBC: EU Unveils Plan To End Reliance On Russian Gas

-- Bloomberg: EU Maps Out Plan To Replace Russian Gas On Threat Of Cut-Off

-- Financial Times: EU Plans To Cut Russian Gas Imports By Two-Thirds In A Year

-- Bloomberg Green: Europe Is On Wartime Mission To End Its Addiction To Russian Fossil Fuel

-- Reuters: U.S. LNG Exporters Emerge As Big Winners Of Europe Natural Gas Crisis; Price For LNG 10 Times Its Value A Year Ago

-- The Guardian: ‘This Is A Fossil Fuel War’: Ukraine’s Top Climate Scientist Speaks Out

-- PA Natural Gas Politicians Want To ‘Unleash’ PA’s Gas Industry - What We Need First Is For Industry To Take Up The Slack; Oil & Gas 2.0; True Energy Independence

-- PG Guest Essay: Ukraine Crisis Time To Pivot To Renewable Energy - PennFuture

-- York Dispatch Guest Essay: Clean Energy Transition Would Break Russia’s Geopolitical Hold - Citizens Climate Lobby

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Fracked Gas In Appalachia Won’t Help Ukraine, But Will Hurt Our Communities - Anais Peterson, Earthworks

-- WLVR: PA Farmers See Fertilizer Prices Spike And Russia’s War Could Make It Worse

-- The Atlantic: America Is The World’s Largest Oil Producer, So Why Is Losing Russia’s Oil Such A Big Deal? "...under the U.S. oil industry as it exists today, there is no way to spin up new oil production in a few weeks or months. But more important, it means that U.S. oil companies have developed the opposite of independence.

“Since Congress lifted the ban on oil exports in 2015, all American-drilled oil and some of our natural gas have been priced on the international market. Global market forces, not our abundance of domestic fossil fuels, set the price of oil and gasoline in the United States."

"Market dynamics, not overzealous regulations, have imprisoned the industry. That hasn’t stopped lobbyists from pretending otherwise.”

“Energy independence was not an awful goal. But true independence cannot be achieved by the market alone.

“The U.S. ensures that its food supply, timberlands, and water quality are not administered solely by the market.

“That same philosophy can apply to two of its most important natural resources: its fossil fuels and its climate.

“The first goal can be achieved through more aggressive management of the industry; the second, by a phaseout of fossil fuels altogether.

“Only through such stewardship can the United States secure the true dividends of prosperity and freedom.”

-- Financial Times: Biden Administration Ratchets Up Pressure On U.S. Shale Producers To Increase Supply To Tame Oil Prices

-- Reuters: OPEC Meets With U.S. Shale Executives As Oil Prices Skyrocket

-- AP: Biden Banning Russian Oil Imports, Warns Of ‘Costs’

-- White House: Remarks By Biden Announcing Russian Oil Ban - “In the United States, 90 percent of onshore oil production takes place on land that isn’t owned by the federal government. And of the remaining 10 percent that occurs on federal land, the oil and gas industry has millions of acres leased. They have 9,000 permits to drill now. They could be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year. They have 9,000 to drill onshore that are already approved.” [40% of unconventional gas drilling permits issued by DEP in Pennsylvania haven’t been used.]

-- AP: Explainer: What Does A U.S. Ban On Russian Oil Accomplish?

-- Financial Times: What Does Banning Russian Oil Mean For Global Energy Markets?

-- Reuters: Oil Falls Towards $125 As Investors Weigh U.S. Import Ban

-- Financial Times: International Energy Agency Ready To Release More Oil To Ease Soaring Energy Prices, Says Chief

-- Reuters: U.S. LNG Exporters Emerge As Big Winners Of Europe Natural Gas Crisis; Price For LNG 10 Times Its Value A Year Ago

-- Bloomberg: Hackers Targeted U.S. LNG Producers In Run-Up To Ukraine War

-- Bloomberg Green: Credit Suisse Investors Push Bank To Cut Fossil-Fuel Financing

-- Bloomberg: Solar Firms Jump As U.S. And U.K. Move To Ban Russia Oil Imports

-- USA Today: U.S. Officials Put Americans On Alert For Russian Cyberattacks As Ukraine War Grows, Especially On U.S. Infrastructure

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?

Bipartisan Federal Infrastructure Law