PA Environment Digest Blog: 100+ Business, Religious, Community, Public Health, Elected Officials, Environmental Leaders: Pennsylvania Needs a Sustainable, Inclusive Economic Development Plan

On February 14, 2024, over one hundred businesses, religious organizations, community leaders, public health, elected officials, and environmental advocates from across Pennsylvania signed a letter addressed to Governor Shapiro expressing their concern that his Ten-Year Strategic Plan for Economic Development in Pennsylvania, titled “Pennsylvania Gets It Done,” fails to prioritize sustainable industries and instead doubles down on fossil fuels.

Economic development policy is environmental policy. The type and size of projects promoted by a statewide economic plan directly impact the quality of our air, water, land, and climate.

The letter requests revisions to the plan that will prioritize sustainable industries and an equitable strategy to protect communities, workers, and the environment from climate change and pollution impacts.

The number of supporters on this letter demonstrates the strength and breadth of public support for eschewing the Commonwealth's dependence on fossil fuels and for prioritizing an equitable transition to an economy fueled by clean energy and energy efficiency innovation.

While the “Gets It Done” plan has many admirable components, such as broad-based investments in education, innovation, workforce development, outdoor recreation, and agriculture, when it comes to choosing the energy industries the Commonwealth will fight for, the strategy still only points to fossil fuels.

As currently written, “Gets It Done” would hinder Pennsylvania's efforts to build a sustainable economy and put us behind many other states in the nation.

We urge the Governor to return to his campaign platform of forging a new path toward a clean and sustainable economy so that we can all work together to ensure Pennsylvania’s 10-year economic strategy gets it right.

The text of the letter follows--

Dear Governor Shapiro--

We, the undersigned non-profit organizations, businesses, local government officials, and community groups, write to express our concerns with your recently announced statewide initiative: Pennsylvania Gets It Done: A Ten-Year Strategic Plan for Economic Development in Pennsylvania.

In short, we urge you to prioritize sustainable industries, particularly the rapidly growing renewable energy, battery storage, electric vehicle, and energy efficiency sectors.

We agree the Commonwealth needs a long-term economic development strategy. While we respect your efforts in this significant undertaking, the proposed plan will worsen Pennsylvania's economic position by linking it to the fossil fuel-driven boom-and-bust economic cycles of the past.

Instead, we urge you to return to your campaign platform of forging a new path towards a clean and sustainable economy that supports workers and protects the climate.

Pennsylvania is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions in the nation.

Consequently, the state looms near the bottom for growth in sustainable industries, even as we watch neighboring states begin to transition to renewable energy development, including those that have historically relied on fossil fuel industries.

This economic development strategy is one of the most consequential environmental decisions your administration will make during your tenure as Governor—and we want to work with you to get it right.

Economic Development Policy is Environmental Policy

The economy shapes and reshapes the physical landscape of our communities—from main streets to country roads, factories to coal mines.

We experience it through our senses—it is possible to see, hear, and smell the impacts of economic development—and through our physical health, especially when done carelessly.

That is why, after generations of lived experience with extractive industries, Pennsylvania amended its constitution to include an Environmental Rights Amendment, Article 1, Section 27, which states that “the people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the environment.”

In fact, the Gets It Done plan rightfully cites the “complex environmental legacy” of past economic decisions, but it doesn’t fully act on those lessons learned beyond a nod to brownfield site development.

We must continue to learn from what history taught us—short-sighted economic development decisions can and will impact these fundamental rights. We must act accordingly.

Economic Development Policy Must be Equitable from the Ground Up

This plan correctly calls for an equitable energy transition, yet it omits strategic players that are necessary to support such a transition.

Specifically, the agencies dedicated to protecting and preserving the health of the environment for all Pennsylvanians were excluded in its development according to the list of advising agencies, namely: the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), and the DEP Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ).

Additionally, community-focused and sustainable business trade organizations are not included or referenced in this plan.

We maintain that if the plan is designed to benefit communities, then the inclusion of vital state agencies and organizations focused on sustainability is necessary to support the goal of equity.

It is clear that the development of this plan did not include meaningful engagement with environmental justice communities because the priorities will continue to perpetuate environmental injustices.

The Plan Proposes a Fossil Fuels-First All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy

The Gets It Done plan explicitly states it is using an “all-of-the-above-energy strategy” to build the Commonwealth’s energy sector, but it falls short in two ways.

First, it doesn’t present a plan to grow our renewable energy industry.

In fact, it only mentions solar, wind, or renewable energy three times in the entire 44-page plan, either as an extension of doing something else, like building transmission lines to bring renewable energy generation into the state from projects outside our borders, or taking advantage of federal infrastructure investments in renewable energy.

The implication is that renewables are an afterthought and are only in the mix if there are federal incentives to do so or another state builds it.

Second, while there are passing mentions of nuclear energy and hydropower, fossil fuels are the dominant energy technology prioritized by the plan—industries that have failed to deliver long-term financial growth and are detrimental to Pennsylvania's health and environment.

The plan emphasizes our existing dependence on fracked gas production, while highlighting the infrastructure needed to support extractive industries, such as pipelines, or manufacturing, such as coal and hydrogen.

The Plan Doesn’t ‘Move at the Speed of Climate Change’

Notably, this plan does not provide a roadmap to reach the administration's own climate goals of 30% renewables by 2030 (30x30) and net zero by 2050.

In fact, the plan’s few mentions of carbon pollution couch its goal as the undefined and problematic “low-carbon economic growth.”

This term both contradicts your stated goal to achieve net-zero carbon pollution by 2050 as well as promotes the false narrative that Pennsylvania can continue its dependence on fossil fuels without economic or environmental consequences.

Furthermore, it is bewildering that the plan addresses climate change only twice, and even then only indirectly: (1) within the context of building a blue hydrogen industry relying on fracked gas; and (2) within the context of vaguely building electric transmission infrastructure, seemingly to bring renewable energy resources into the state (though no plan is presented for actually developing and deploying them in-state).

Even then, these strategies are supported only by another vague reference to federal funding.

The Modern Sustainable Economy is Passing Pennsylvania By

Failure to prioritize renewable energy development in its 10-year economic plan puts Pennsylvania in the precarious position of being one of only a few states not capitalizing on the emerging sustainable economy.

Other fossil fuel-producing states like West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, and Mississippi are adapting and modernizing, quickly diversifying their economies to highlight renewable energy, with great economic success.

For instance, in 2023, Form Energy, a next-gen, utility-scale iron-air battery manufacturer with offices in Eighty Four, Washington County, chose to build a new $760 million plant at the site of an old abandoned steel mill in Weirton, West Virginia rather than expanding its operations in western Pennsylvania.

The Gets It Done plan should have a clear strategy to rectify this problem and attract more sustainable businesses in order for Pennsylvania to become an energy powerhouse of the future.

Regrettably, this plan’s primary focus on the fossil fuel industry diverts attention and resources away from proactively attracting these businesses and building the renewable energy infrastructure necessary to facilitate their success.

For instance, rather than state agencies prioritizing and coordinating plans to attract federal infrastructure dollars for renewable energy, the state has spent the bulk of its time working to attract federal funds for a fossil fuel-based hydrogen project.

We fear that the Gets It Done plan is a signal to these sustainable industries that they are not wanted in the Commonwealth and we will continue to fall behind.

Conclusion

We appreciate your proactive approach to Pennsylvania’s economic challenges, and we agree with your desire to set forth a clear strategy for economic growth and, most importantly, for building more vibrant communities.

Many of the overarching policies aimed at increasing innovation, housing, education, outdoor recreation, workforce training, and site development are strong and much needed.

However, in order to have a thriving economy, Pennsylvania needs an energy sector that supports public health, a clean environment, and a stable climate—characteristics that the fossil fuel sectors prioritized in this economic plan do not support.

For this and future generations, we must look forward and not backward.

We urge you to reconsider your economic strategy for Pennsylvania’s energy sector and work equitably with clean energy businesses and communities to build a sustainable economy we can all prosper in and be proud of.

Click Here for a copy of the letter and a list of signatories.

Resource Link:

-- DCED: Gov. Shapiro Launches First Statewide Economic Development Strategy In Nearly 2 Decades

NewsClips:

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Carbon Dioxide Storage Hub Landmen Seek 80,000 Acres Across Western PA, Ohio, WV

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Pittsburgh-Based EQT Could Curtail Some Natural Gas Production As Gas Prices Fade

-- Reuters: European Union Says Biden’s Pause On Approvals Of New LNG Natural Gas Export Facilities Will Have No Effect On US LNG Supplies To Europe Over Next 2 or 3 Years [LNG Exports Are Expected To Double By 2030 On Already-Approved Projects]

-- Coalition For Community Solar Access Thanks House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee For Hearing, Calls For Vote On House Bill 1842 [PaEN]

-- PennEnvironment Report Finds PA Lags Behind Many States In Rooftop Solar Facilities, Recommends Policies For Improving Growth [PaEN]

-- PA Solar Center, Partners Host Feb. 23 Webinar On Solar Energy For Municipalities And Water Authorities [PaEN]

-- Southwest PA Municipal Project Hub Will Help Municipalities In 10 Counties Apply For Historic Federal Funding To Develop Clean, Sustainable Economic Development Projects, Communities [PaEN]

-- PA Taxpayers To Give $130.9 Million In Tax Credits To Subsidize Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County; Total Expected To Be $1.17 Billion Thru 2042; No Regard For Environmental Compliance Record [PaEN]