110 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA

Here are 110 new stories in the PA Environment Digest about individuals, groups, local governments, farmers, businesses, watershed groups and many more working all across Pennsylvania to restore and protect the environment and show others the beauty that surrounds us.

Thank you for your leadership!

-- DCNR Blog: Braving The Flames - The Stories Of Two Women Wildland Firefighters; Join The Crew!  [PaEN]

-- TribLive: Crews Work To Stabilize Abandoned Mine Sinkhole In Westmoreland After Woman’s Death 

-- TribLive Editorial: Laurels & Lances - Rescue & Ratings

-- Foundation For Sustainable Forests: Mallory Forest – Loving the Land Through Working Forests, Landowners Tell Their Stories  [PaEN] 

-- French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust, Bob & Shelley Casciato Partner To Preserve 10.4 Acres In Chester County  [PaEN] 

-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper: US Fish & Wildlife Service Proposes Eastern Hellbender As Endangered Species After Groups Push For Better Protections

-- PennLive: Eastern Hellbender, PA’s Official Amphibian, Proposed As Endangered Species

-- The Guardian: Monarch Butterflies To Be Added To Threatened Species List In US 

-- DEP Forms Internal Work Group To Develop Position On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater; Shapiro Administration Supports Legislative Ban On Road Dumping  [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Now Operate As Many As 95% Of Conventional Wells To Vent Methane Gas Making It Too Expensive To Comply With New EPA Methane Emission Reduction Regulations  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Invites Comments On 2 PA General Energy Company Pipeline Projects Impacting Exceptional Value Streams And Wetlands In Lycoming County To Support Shale Gas Development  [PaEN] 

-- Farm & Dairy: Western PA Residents Fight For Increase In Shale Gas Well Pad Setbacks

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Dec. 7 to 14 - Failed To Restore Shale Gas Well Pad, Impoundment For 12 Years; Spills On Top Of Spills  [PaEN]  

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind: DEP: Nucomer Energy LLC Fails To Restore Shale Gas Well Pad, Water Impoundment In Forest County For More Than 12 Years After Drilling Was Completed  [PaEN]

-- EPA, Justice Dept., DEP Settlement With PennEnergy Resources LLC Requires Payment Of $2 Million Penalty, $3.6 Million Investment In Reducing Oil & Gas Facility Air Pollution Emissions  [PaEN] 

-- WTAE: PennEnergy Resources Agrees To Settlement After Alleged Environmental Law Violations

-- The Allegheny Front: PennEnergy Shale Gas Company Agrees To Reduce Harmful Emissions From Oil & Gas Sites In Western PA

-- Mountain State Spotlight: WV Landowners Lawsuit Settlement With Diversified Energy Company, EQT Corporation Will Result In Plugging 2,600 Wells In WV, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania Over 10 Years

-- Independent Fiscal Office Estimates Act 13 Drilling Impact Fee Revenue Of $163.8 Million In 2024, Down $115 From 2022  [‘Lower Expectations’ Of Shale Industry Support]  [PaEN] 

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: PA’s Shale Gas Impact Fee Project To Drop This Year

-- AP: Fatal Natural Gas Explosion At Reading Chocolate Factory Caused By Faulty Gas Pipeline Fitting, Federal Safety Board Finds 

-- PUC: Investigation Into Reading Chocolate Factory Natural Gas Explosion Can Help Drive Gas Pipeline Safety

-- NPR: Proposed Federal Rule Requires Gas Utilities To Find and Fix More Climate-Warming Leaks

-- PA Capital-Star: It’s Do Or Die Time For Philly Hydrogen Hub, Green Groups Are Rallying Against It 

-- The Guardian: Locals In Beaver County Pennsylvania Feel ‘Sacrificed’ For Shell Petrochemical Plastics Plant 

-- Beaver Times: Shell Petrochemical Plant To Host Free Smoke Detector Distribution Dec. 12  

-- The Energy Age Blog: Formaldehyde Cancer Risk In Your Neighborhood

-- EPA Bans Use Of Certain Dry Cleaning Chemicals

-- Chesapeake Bay Executive Council, Including Gov. Shapiro Announce Plans To Revise Watershed Agreement, Form New Agricultural Advisory Committee  [PaEN]

-- PA Capital-Star: Shapiro Joins Governors In Renewed Commitment To Chesapeake Bay Cleanup

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal: Governors Seek To Shore Up Bay Cleanup Amid Uncertainties

-- Lancaster Farming: New Ag Committee To Advise Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Program

-- DEP Awards $24 Million In Grants To Support County Clean Water Projects To Improve Water Quality In Chesapeake Bay Watershed  [PaEN] 

-- LancasterOnline: Lancaster Conservation District Receives $5.9 Million For Chesapeake Bay Watershed Pollution Reduction

-- Altoona Mirror: Mid-State Counties Receive Funds To Fight Pollution Of Chesapeake Bay

-- The Daily Item Editorial: State Grants Support Shared Responsibility For Chesapeake Bay Cleanup

-- Forests For The Chesapeake Bay Newsletter: Loysville Youth Center Reforestation Project; Hackberry; Tree Tender & Woods In Your Backyard Education; Much More!

-- Penn State Extension Center For Agricultural Conservation Assistance Training Hosts Jan. 22 Webinar On Safeguarding Private Drinking Water Sources [PaEN] 

-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Blog: 2025 Calendar Offers Key Dates To Connect With Nature, Tips For Journaling And Citizen Science 

-- Coalition For The Delaware River Watershed, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Announce $17 Million In Grants To Enhance The Health Of The Delaware River Watershed  [PaEN] 

-- WHYY: Conservationists Celebrate More Than 200 Federally Funded Projects To Restore Waterways In Delaware Watershed

-- Friends Of The Wissahickon Mark Completion Of $3.5 Million Valley Green Run Restoration & Pedestrian Bridge Project  [PaEN] 

-- Partnership For The Delaware Estuary: Gardening For Clean Water Newsletter For Habitat Owners, Caretakers 

-- Headwaters To The Ohio Water Network Launches Assessment Of Needs Of Community-Based Watershed Groups And Leaders; Seeks Partners In PA  [PaEN]

-- PA Interfaith Power & Light Launching Watershed Circle Watershed Protector Training For Congregations, Community Groups  [PaEN] 

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal - Ad Crable: Study Points To Farmland Treated With Biosolids As Possible Source Of PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Fish

-- Post-Gazette: How To Reduce Intake Of Ubiquitous Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals  

-- Centre Daily Times: University Joint Authority $81 Million Biosolids Project Underway To Turn Waste Into Renewable Energy

-- USDA Invests $9.1 Million In Sewage Facility Upgrades In Dauphin, Westmoreland Counties 

-- Post-Gazette Guest Essay: Allegheny County’s Stormwater Issues Require Coordinated Response - By Olivia Zelinsky, Chatham University student  

-- PA Sea Grant Now Accepting Research Proposals To Enhance Use, Conservation Of PA's Coastal, Watershed And Great Lakes Resources; Jan. 15 Webinar  [PaEN] 

-- PA Sea Grant: Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Application Period Open For Graduate Students  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Finalizes Great Lakes Water Management Program 5-Year Report  [PaEN]

-- USGS PA Water Science Center Fall Newsletter: Pesticide Sampling; Philadelphia Water Resources Tool; Sampling For PFAS Contamination; Addressing Microplastics Science Gaps  [PaEN]

-- Congress Passes Good Samaritan Legislation To Address Toxic Legacy Of Abandoned Mines, Biden Expected To Sign  [PaEN] 

-- Trout Unlimited: A Watershed Moment: Congress Passes Good Samaritan Legislation To Address Toxic Legacy Of Abandoned Mines

-- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership: Federal Good Samaritan Legislation To Help Cleanup Abandoned Mines Heads To President’s Desk

-- National Wildlife Federation: Final Passage Of Federal Good Samaritan Act Will Encourage Abandoned Mine Cleanup

-- TribLive: Westmoreland Water Authority Finds 3% Of Water System Has Lead Service Lines

-- Tribune-Democrat: Officials: Johnstown Water Authority, No Property Owners, Responsible For Lead Pipe Replacement

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: US Army Corps Of Engineers Awards Nearly $800 Million Contract For Upper Ohio River Lock & Dam Project

-- PA Solar Center: Whitehall Borough, Allegheny County To Install Solar Energy Facility In Early 2025  [PaEN] 

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Solar Energy Pilot Leasing Program Looking For 100 Low-Income, Solar Curious Households In Southwestern PA 

-- The Energy Age Blog: Dream Team: Rooftop Solar With Electric Vehicle - Crunching The Numbers From Sept. to November

-- Penn State Extension: How Local Ordinances Can Address Concerns About Physical Impacts Of Grid-Scale Solar Development  [PaEN] 

-- Penn State Extension Energy Essentials Newsletter: Grid-Scale Solar Technologies; Home Heating Assistance; Biomass Heating; Education Opportunities

-- Guest Essay: Renewables Can Help Stop Winter, Summer Power Outages, Avoid Energy Price Spikes - By Matt Walker, Clean Air Council and Julia Kortrey, Evergreen Action  [PaEN] 

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Republican Administration’s Big Oil/Gas Cronies Poised To Prop Up Fossil Fuels With $17 Billion In Subsidies, Incentives To Export Gas To China, Other Overseas Markets 

-- TribLive Guest Essay: Time To Get Real About Renewable Energy, They Can’t Do What Fossil Fuels Can Right Now 

-- Inside Climate News: Clean Energy Industry Questions New PJM Proposal That Could Move Fossil Fuel Projects To Front Of Interconnection Queue 

-- Utility Dive: FERC Rejects Plan To Shift PJM’s Electric Transmission Planning Protocol In Win For State Regulators 

-- PennLive - Charles Thompson: Middlesex Twp., Cumberland County Could Become Home To Region’s First Large Scale, 700 Acre Data Storage Complex 

-- TribLive: Data Center Planned On Arconic Site In Upper Burrell Twp. Site In Westmoreland County

-- Utility Dive: PJM Expects Summer Peak Load To Grow 2% A Year On Average Driven By Data Centers

-- WITF/StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: How To Save Energy And Make Your Home More Comfortable This Winter

-- PA Environmental Professionals Hosting Jan. 14 Webinar On PA Policies & Plans For Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions  [PaEN] 

-- PUC Reaffirms Commitment To Utility Consumer Protections

-- Wilkes-Barre Times: PUC Policy Ensures Utility Consumer Safeguards

-- The Allegheny Front - Reid Frazier: What Will It Take For The American Steel Industry To Go Fossil-Free?

-- MCall - Elizabeth DeOrnellas: What The Lehigh Valley Can Expect From Winter Weather As Drought Persists 

-- EPA Awards $735 Million To Support Local Purchases Of Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Including $2.8 Million To Penn Hills School District In Allegheny County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Awards $2.25 Million In Grants To Support Clean Fuel Infrastructure, Purchase Of Clean Vehicles  [PaEN]  

-- PA Resources Council: Go GREEN This Holiday Season - PRC's Greening Guide Shows You How  [PaEN]

-- Help Wanted: Ursinus College Conservation Stewardship Coordinator, Montgomery County

-- Environmental Health News: Environmental Justice Communities In Southwestern PA Face Higher Rates Of Pollution Violations

-- PittsburghUnionProgress.com: Frick Environmental Center Exhibit Celebrates Artists, Creative Entrepreneurs Representing Marginalized Voices

-- Penn State: Targeted Coal-Fired Power Plant Closures May Boost Environmental, Health Outcomes 

-- Center For Biological Diversity: Lawsuit Launched To Cleanup Coal Ash Storage Pond At Talen Energy Brunner Island Power Plant Along The Susquehanna River In York County 

-- Appalachian Voices: Advocates Respond To New Federal Rule Cracking Down On Coal Industry’s Abandonment Of Black Lung Liabilities

-- Warren Times: Allegheny River Cleanup Recognized By US Forest Service 

-- DCNR Releases Results Of PA Recreation Needs, Value Survey Leading To Public Release Of Draft PA Outdoor Recreation Plan In February For Public Review  [PaEN] 

-- Altoona Mirror: PA Outdoor Recreation Association Aims To Boost Outdoor Recreation

-- Vote Now For Pennsylvania's 2025 River Of The Year Among 3 Finalists-- Delaware River, Perkiomen Creek, Youghiogheny River [PaEN]

-- Scranton Times: PA Environmental Council Awards 2024 Environmental Partnership Award To Anthracite Bicycle Coalition

-- DCNR Celebrates $10 Million Investment In Trails, Highlights Work To Extend Susquehanna River Walk In Williamsport

-- Williamsport Sun: Susquehanna Riverwalk Trail Extension’s Initial Stage Praised

-- South Mountain Partnership Jan. 31 Winter Partnership Meeting In York County; Holiday Gift Guide [PaEN] 

-- DCNR Grants Newsletter: Camp Tuckahoe Recreation Area Acquisition; Expanded Access To Lackawaxen River; DCNR Grant Round Opens Jan. 21

-- Tribune-Democrat: Ribbon-Cutting Marks Another Step Forward For Ghost Town Trail Expansion  

-- Altoona Mirror: Ghost Town Trail Marks Milestone

-- Altoona Mirror: Logan Valley Trail Opens In Blair County

-- Warren Times: Allegheny National Forest North Country Trail Assn. Details 2024 Work, Talks 2025 Plans 

-- Republican Herald: Schuylkill Haven Vying For WalkWorks Grant

-- NextPittsburgh: Landforce, Partners Receive $15.3 Million Federal Grant For Workforce Development Program 

-- PittsburgUnionProgress.com: Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Events Aim To Ensure All Ages Can Enjoy Winter Activities In Pittsburgh’s Parks

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: Pittsburgh Families Suffer Substandard Parks Despite Approving Special Parks Tax

-- The Nature Conservancy Now Accepting Applications For Resilient & Connected Appalachians Land Protection Grants; Jan. 15 Webinar  [PaEN]

-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Blog: DCNR Botanist: Protecting Habitat For Rare Wetland Plants Critical As Certain Populations Struggle 

-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Blog: New GIS Map Plots More Than 22,000 Bird Detections, 170 Species From 24-Day West Branch Susquehanna Kayaking Trip 

-- The Patch: Audubon Climate Watch Volunteer Training Jan. 4 In Montgomery County

-- Post-Gazette - Mary Ann Thomas: Can You Count 17,000 Crows, Or 8 Bald Eagles In Pittsburgh? 

Visit the PA Environment Digest website to learn more.

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-- 92 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA

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-- 4,258 Stories In 2023 - Environmental & Conservation Leadership, Significant Events In PA  [PaEN]

-- 3,190 New Stories In 2022 - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership [PaEN] 

[Posted: December 15, 2024]   PA Environment Digest