Environment & Energy Educational Opportunities For Students & Adults

Opportunities to learn more about environmental and energy issues affecting Pennsylvania for students and adults--

Awards/Recognition

-- DCNR, Local Groups Celebrate The Allegheny River As The 2024 River Of The Year  [PaEN]

-- TribLive: ‘Special’ Allegheny River Recognized As PA River Of The Year

Grants

-- MyChesCo.com: Finite Carbon Expands Forest Carbon Offset Program To Northeastern US

Help Wanted

-- Game Commission: Volunteers Needed To Count Pennsylvania's Birds For 3rd PA Bird Atlas  [PaEN] 

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: PA Out Birdwatching To Build Third Statewide Bird Atlas

-- Post-Gazette: Patrick Dowd Leaving Allegheny Health Dept. Director Post For Pittsburgh’s Environmental Charter School

-- Help Wanted: Allegheny Land Trust Vice President, Land Conservation 

-- Help Wanted: Adult Mentors Needed! Wildlife Leadership Academy Summer Student Field Programs 

Upcoming Events

-- Erie Times: Presque Isle Ranks High For Summer Solstice Sunrise Watching In Erie

-- Inquirer: Summer Solstice 2024 - 10 Things To Know About The Longest Day Of  The Year

-- Wilkes-Barre Times: RiverFest - Celebrating The Susquehanna River

-- Wilkes-Barre Times: Riverfest Set To Begin After Storm-Delayed Launch

-- PA Parks & Forests Foundation Virtual Book Club Features 'Susquehanna River Of Dreams' Author Susan Stranahan June 26  [PaEN] 

-- Lackawanna Historical Society June 28 Webinar Features Prof. Allen Dietrich-Ward On An Environmental History Of Pennsylvania  [PaEN]

-- Warren Times: Allegheny National Forest To Offer Free Orienteering Program

-- Lehigh Valley-based Wildlands Conservancy Highlights July Programs, Appalachian Bat Count; Firefly Fiesta; Bird Walk; Volunteer For Stream Team 

-- US Army Corps Of Engineers: Love Your Lake During July At Blue Marsh Lake In Berks County 

-- Rodale Institute Annual Organic Field Day July 19 In Berks County

-- Western PA Conservancy, Fallingwater Webinar Aug. 15 - Between The City And Forest, Creating Safer Habitats For Birds  [PaEN]

-- Manada Conservancy/Dauphin County: Ice Cream Social; Summer Native Plant Sale; Bird Blitz For Conservation; Climate Change & Penns Woods - What Does The Future Hold? 

Programs/Information

-- Inaugural Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program Conference Recap; Award Winners Recognized  [PaEN] 

-- Gov. Shapiro Visits Dickinson College Farm To Highlight Energy Plan, Proposed Investments In Agriculture

-- Post-Gazette Guest Essay: America Has The Heroes We Need - We Went To The Moon And Discovered The Earth - By David Shribman

-- Williamsport Sun: Ground Broken For Clean Energy House Instruction, Job-Producing Projects At Penn College

-- TribLive: Plum Among School Districts Eyeing Electric Bus Fleet

-- Post-Gazette: Stargazing - A Unique Moon Looms For The Summer Solstice - By Carnegie Science Center 

-- Wilkes-Barre Times: Luzerne Community College Holds Ribbon Cutting For Yeager Arboretum

-- Republican Herald: Day Campers At Frog Hollow Nature Area Learn In Nature’s Classroom 

Public Participation

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - June 22 [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posted 53 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In June 22 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

-- DEP To Hold July 2 Virtual Hearing On PA General Energy Project To Construct 3.7 Miles Of Shale Gas, Water Pipelines Thru Exceptional Value, High Quality, Wild Trout Streams In Lycoming County  [PaEN]

-- PennLive: Trout Unlimited, Mid State Trail Assn. Unhappy With Proposed Route Of PA General Energy Shale Gas Pipelines Thru Lycoming County

-- Williamsport Sun: Mid State Trail Assn., Susquehanna Chapter Trout Unlimited Challenge PA General Energy Multiple Shale Gas Pipeline Plan In Northwestern Lycoming County

-- DEP Hearing, Special Comment Period Notices For Projects In Jefferson (Solar), Lehigh (Warehouse), Lycoming (Gas Pipeline) and York (Air Permit) Counties  [PaEN]

-- Game Commission Seeks Feedback From Hunting License Buyers

-- The Water Center At University Of Pennsylvania Accepting Applications For Regional Network Collaborative For Water Leadership In Greater Philadelphia Region  [PaEN]

Background On Issues

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - June 15 to 21 - More Failed Shale Gas Well Plugs; Landslides; Venting Gas; Injection Well Issue?  [PaEN]

-- Warren Times Guest Essay: Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Still Pose A Threat - By Amanda Veazey, Geologist, CSR Services, LLC, Crawford County

-- WESA/WPSU: Federal Funding Targets PA’s Abandoned Coal Mines, Economic Development 

-- PA Interfaith Power & Light Volunteers Distributed Over 16,000 Trees In Pennsylvania; Fall Tree Planting Program Being Planned  [PaEN] 

-- TribLive: Chalfant Run Remediation Set As Transformation Of Former Churchill Country Club Continues 

-- Warren Times - Josh Cotton: Volunteers, Western PA Conservancy Work To Stabilize Brokenstraw Creek Streambank

-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: Conodoguinet Creek In Cumberland County Focus Of New Citizen Science Water Quality Project 

-- Circle Of Blue - Kyle Bagenstose: Billions Over Budget, Questions Swirl Over Philly’s ‘Green Fix’ For Sewers

-- Master Watershed Stewards, Erie Water Works, Ernst Conservation Seeds, Volunteers Team Up To Plant Native Meadow In Erie  [PaEN] 

-- PA Capital-Star: PA Supreme Court Will Consider Benefits Vs. Higher Costs In Private Ownership Of Water Utilities

-- WHYY: 30+ PA Schools Detected High Levels Of PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Their Drinking Water 

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal - Ad Crable: Push To Save Native Trout In PA Hampered By Stream Study Backlog 

-- IRRC Approves Final Revised PUC Regulations Strengthening Rules For Intrastate Hazardous Liquids Pipelines; Gas Pipelines Fined Over $71 Million, Have Worst Compliance Record Of Any Industry, Including Criminal Charges  [PaEN]

-- PUC To Hold July 15 Prehearing Conference On Future Of Venango Water Company, Related Companies As Follow-Up To Conventional Oil Well Wastewater Spill In Venango County  [PaEN]

-- PUC: Act 13 Drilling Impact Fee Revenue Drops $100 Million From Last Year’s Record To $179.6 Million, Even Though Gas Production Increased In 2023; Puts Hole In State Budget  [PaEN]  

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Shale Gas Drilling Impact Fees Bring In $180 Million For 2023 On Lower Gas Price, Less Drilling

-- Observer-Reporter: Shale Gas Impact Fee Funds Plummet Due To Low Natural Gas Prices  

-- The Energy Age Blog: Act 13 Shale Gas Impact Fee Drops $100 Million From Last Year’s Record, Even Though Gas Production Increased In 2023

-- TribLive: Natural Gas Well Impact Fee Allocations Drop; But ‘Every Little Bit Helps’

-- Marcellus Shale Coalition: Shale Gas Impact Fee Returns $180 Million [$100 Million Less Than Last Year]; Natural Gas Prices Drop $1.8 Billion In 2023, [Down From International Price Spikes Of 2022]

-- TribLive: North Huntingdon Twp Could Get Nearly $7,000 For Gas Rights Under Township Land In Westmoreland County

-- Observer-Reporter: Cecil Township Puts Off Hearing On Shale Gas Drilling Ordinance In Washington County

-- The Allegheny Front - Reid Frazier: CNX Plan To Turn Mine Methane Gas Into Jet Fuel A ‘Win-Win’ Or Carbon Accounting ‘Gimmick’?

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Will Creating Hydrogen Hubs In PA Get Us Away From Fossil Fuels? But How To Do It, And Whether It’s Possible Are Open Questions

-- CNHInews: Advocates Urge True Clean Energy Approach For Hydrogen, Others Pine For PA’s Natural Gas

-- Utility Dive: NERC 2023 Report - Aging Coal Power Plants Are Increasingly Unreliable Due To Cycling Increases And Deferred Maintenance

-- Tribune-Democrat: PA’s Mine-Scarred Land Presents Challenges For Solar Development Despite Financial Incentives 

-- Tribune-Democrat: Sites Other Than Farmland More Feasible For Solar 

-- Tribune-Democrat/CNHInews: Solar Energy Ordinances, Regulations Vary Across Pennsylvania

-- Tribune-Democrat: Health Agencies Encourage Solar Panel Recycling

-- White House Releases Agency Climate Adaptation Plans To Build Climate Resilience

-- Reuters: Fossil Fuel Use, Emissions Hit Records In 2023, Report Says

-- Erie Times: EPA To Sample Soil Of Former Erie Coke [Coal] Plant Neighbors To Check For Toxic Pollutants

-- PA Coal Alliance: Coal Industry Supports 5,164 Jobs, $2.2 Billion Of Direct Economic Value

-- WNEP: Dozens Brought To Safety After Lackawanna Mine Tour Car Loses Power Underground

-- WHYY: Former Employees Remember Philadelphia Refinery Explosion, 5 Years Later: ‘This Is How I’m Gonna Die’

-- BeaverCountian.com: Shell Petrochemical Plant’s Sirens Caused Alarm In Beaver County; Company Took Nearly A Month To Address Middle-of-the-Night Alarms 

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Shell Petrochemical Plant Explains Nighttime Fire Alarms At Beaver County Plant, Warns Sirens Will Sound Later This Week 

-- KDKA: Shell Petrochemical Plant Holding Emergency Drill TODAY In Beaver County

-- The Hershey Company Updates Science-based Targets As It Advances Efforts To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions 

-- The Allegheny Front/WPSU: Climate Change Is Making Heat Waves Like This Week’s More Common And Severe In PA

-- TribLive: Excessive Heat Warning Extended Thru Saturday

-- WHYY: Philly Declares First Heat Health Emergency Of The Year Amid Scorching Temps

-- Western PA Conservancy Protects 250 Acres To Safeguard Forestland, Water Quality In The French Creek Watershed, Venango County  [PaEN] 

-- Land Conservancy Of Adams County, Hugh & Nell Matthews Partner On 37+ Acre Conservation Easement  [PaEN]

-- MCall: Lehigh County Preserved 400+ Farms, Here’s What The Future Holds

-- NextPittsburgh: Scenic Pittsburgh Opens City’s Newest Greenspace In The Hill District

-- Penn State: PA Private Forest Landowners Value Fire As Tool To Manage Woodlands 

-- WHYY: Drexel Professor, Students Take A Deeper Look At Textile Waste

-- Inquirer Column: Philly Mayor’s Cleanup Efforts Are Speaking My Anti-Litter Love Language

-- Centre Daily Times: Have Fun At Summer Festivals, But Don’t Forget To Recycle

-- Inquirer - Frank Kummer: Swarthmore’s Move To Ban Gas Leaf Blowers Gets Blowback, And Support 

-- MCall: Hundreds Of Teens Gathered In The Lehigh Valley For National Youth Bike Summit 

-- The Allegheny Front: Swissvale, First ‘Bird Town’ In Allegheny County Commits To Creating Bird-Friendly Community

-- LancasterOnline: Birders In Lancaster County Offer Trips And Tips

-- Republican Herald - Doyle Dietz: Young Wildlife Are Neither Lost Nor Abandoned, Merely Out On Their Own

-- Williamsport Sun - Bill Bower: Reflections In Nature: Determining The Sex Of A Bird Isn’t As Difficult As You May Think

-- Post-Gazette - Mary Ann Thomas: Spotted Lanternfly Nymphs Are Back, You Might Need A Shop Vac 

-- LancasterOnline: Spotted Lanternflies Arrived In PA 10 Years Ago, Here’s What Experts Have Learned

-- Agriculture Secretary, Sen. Comitta Visit Chester County’s Jenkins Arboretum, Highlighting Bill To Protect Pollinators, Boost Agriculture  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Extension Is Celebrating Pollinator Week June 17-21! [PaEN]

-- TribLive: Freeport Post Office Adds Garden To Support Native Pollinators 

-- The Allegheny Front/WHYY: Beekeeper At Delaware’s Winterthur Museum & Garden Wants You To Consider Raising Bees

Visit the  DEP Calendar of Events;  PA Parks & Forests Foundation’s Events webpage and DCNR’s Calendar of Events for activities happening near you.

Visit DEP’s Teaching Green webpage to learn about more environmental education resources.

Visit the PA Environment Digest Calendar Of Events for more opportunities.

[Posted: June 23, 2024]  PA Environment Digest