Environment & Energy Educational Opportunities For Students & Adults

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

Awards/Recognition

-- TribLive: 22 Nest Boxes At Powdermill Nature Reserve Leads Ligonier Teen To Eagle Scout Title In Westmoreland 

-- Master Watershed Stewards Expand Watershed-Friendly Residential Certification Program To Include New Residents; Over 400 Certified So Far [PaEN] 

-- Little Lehigh Watershed Stewards: Monitoring Road Salt Pollution And Taking Action At Home  [PaEN] 

-- The BURG (Harrisburg): Stewarding Streams: Volunteers Team Up With Penn State Extension Program To Foster Watershed Health

-- The Allegheny Front: Advice From A Youth Climate Organizer; Preview Of Pittsburgh Youth Climate Summit

-- StateCollege.com Guest Essay: Youth Know The Direction America Should Take - I’m Listening - By Peter Buck, Director of Education At Penn State Sustainability 

-- Guest Essay: March 28, 1979 At 3:53 a.m. Cascading Failures Combined To Produce The Worst Nuclear Power Accident In US History At Three Mile Island - By James M. Seif, Former Administrative Assistant to Gov. Dick Thornburgh  [PaEN] 

Grants

-- DEP Launches Federally-Funded, No-Cost Drinking Water Lead Sampling, Grant Program For Schools, Childcare Facilities  [PaEN] 

Help Wanted

-- PennDOT, DEP, Keep PA Beautiful Invite Public To Be Part Of Pick Up Pennsylvania Litter Cleanup By Organizing Or Volunteering For Local Cleanup Events  [PaEN]  

Upcoming Events

-- North Branch Land Trust April 12 Birding Walk & Birdhouse Craft Event, Luzerne County

-- April 18 Webinar: RISE PA - Decreasing Industrial Pollution For Pennsylvania Families [PaEN] 

-- PA Recycling Markets Center To Host May 20 Recycled Metals Commodities Markets, Tariffs Update Webinar  [PaEN] 

-- Call For Presentations: WeConservePA Accepting Presentation Proposals For PA Greenways & Trails Summit In Harrisburg  [PaEN] 

-- PA Organization For Watersheds & Rivers Hosts March 26 Webinar On Illustrating Appalachian Biodiversity With Author/Illustrator Rosalie Haizlett  [PaEN] 

Public Participation

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - March 29 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 103 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In March 29 PA Bulletin  [PaEN] 

-- DEP To Hold May 7 Hearing On Proposed Title V Air Quality Permit For Tennessee Gas Pipeline Compressor Station 219 In Jefferson Twp., Mercer County  [PaEN]  

-- DEP Invites Comments On 401 Water Quality Certification For Rover Pipeline Rover-Bulger Compressor Station, Harmon Creek Meter Station Expansion In Smith Twp., Washington County   [PaEN] 

-- DEP Proposes To Delist Currie Landfill Site In Erie County From State Priority List Of Hazardous Sites, Comments Invited  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Invites Comments On Air Permit For Kratos Cryptocurrency Mining Facility Powered By Natural Gas In Clinton County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On Chapter 105 Permit For A MarkWest Liberty 4.5 Mile, 20-Inch  Natural Gas Pipeline In Allegheny, Washington Counties Impacting Montour Trail Property  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Invites Comments On Waste Permit For Expansion Of Brunner Island Power Plant Waste Disposal Landfill In York County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Environmental Justice Office Highlights 2024 Accomplishments, Updates On Shell Petrochemical Plant, Homer City Energy Site, More  [PaEN] 

Programs/Information

-- Guest Essay: March 28, 1979 At 3:53 a.m. Cascading Failures Combined To Produce The Worst Nuclear Power Accident In US History At Three Mile Island - By James M. Seif, Former Administrative Assistant to Gov. Dick Thornburgh  [PaEN] 

-- DEP: Conventional Well Owner Has 2nd Well Explosion, Fire In A Week In Westmoreland County  [PaEN]

-- Republican Herald: Weather Extremes Spark Perfect Conditions For Brush Fires

-- ​​Physicians For Social Responsibility PA, Climate Action Campaign Webinar On The Impacts Of Climate Change On Women's Health Now Available On Demand  [PaEN]

-- TribLive: Visitors Welcome As Structural Work To Protect Iconic Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright Home Continues In Fayette County 

-- City & State PA: Meet The Pennsylvania Timber Mills Behind The Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat

-- Game Commission Estimates 2024-25 Deer Harvest At 467,880, Up From 430,010 Last Season

-- PennLive: What Anglers Need To Know For PA’s 2025 Fishing Season Opener April 5

Background On Issues

-- DEP To Recommend Environmental Quality Board Accept A Petition For Study To Increase Setbacks From Shale Gas Wells At April 8 Meeting  [PaEN]

-- Criminal Convictions; Record Penalties, Restitution Of Over $158.3 Million Highlight Big Shale Gas, Related Petrochemical Industry Compliance History In Pennsylvania  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reports 575 Water Supply/Stray Gas Complaints About Oil & Gas Operations In Last 2 Years; Investigation Can Take A Year, Sometimes 2-3 To Find Those Responsible [PaEN]

-- Daily Grind Living Next To Oil & Gas Industry: Spills, Polluted Water Supplies, Smells Like Gas, Noise, Air Pollution, Explosions, Truck Traffic, Erosion, Radioactive Waste, Gas Flares, Dust, Lights, Road Dumping Waste, Abandoned Wells  [PaEN] 

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - March 22 to 28 - Failed To Comply With Well Plugging Order For 63 Months; Abandoned Conventional Well Violations Hit 113; Another Conventional Well Explosion, Same Owner  [PaEN]  

-- DEP: Conventional Well Owner Has 2nd Well Explosion, Fire In A Week In Westmoreland County  [PaEN]

-- WHYY: Bucks County Residents Sue Energy Transfer/Sunoco Pipeline Over Pipeline Leak That Contaminated Their Wells

-- Courier Times: Bucks County Residents Suing Energy Transfer/Sunoco Pipeline For Pipeline Leak That Poisoned Drinking Water 

-- DEP: US Interior Dept. Withdraws Orphan Oil & Gas Well Regulatory Improvement Grant Program To Help Prevent Future Well Abandonments, A Severe Problem In PA  [PaEN]

-- High Country News: President Halts Historic Orphaned Oil & Gas Well Plugging Program 

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission: Low Stream Flows Triggering Restrictions On 19 Shale Gas Water Withdrawals, 17 More Approaching Restrictions  [PaEN] 

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Releases Natural Gas Industry Water Use Report 2019-2023

-- E&E News/Politico: Energy Transfer Partners [Sunoco] Gas Pipeline Company Suing Federal Pipeline Safety Agency Alleging Its Enforcement System Is ‘Unconstitutional’ 

-- Warren Times Editorial: DEP Should Take Close Look At Oil & Gas Drilling Permit And Its Impact On Betts Park Users In City Of Warren

-- Local Officials Tour Burkholder's Country Market Solar Energy Project In Spring Mills, Centre County  [PaEN] 

-- PublicNewsService.org: PA Works To Counter President’s Clean Energy Rollbacks With ‘Lightning’ Energy Plan 

-- Lancaster Farming/Hazleton Standard-Speaker: Luzerne County Residents Share Concerns About Local Climate Impacts With DEP  [Click Here for remaining meetings.] 

-- Gov. Shapiro, Farm Leaders Visit Penn England Farms In Blair County To Promote ‘Lightning’ Energy Plan 

-- Altoona Mirror: Gov. Shapiro Touts ‘Lightning’ Energy Plan In Blair County

-- Lancaster Farming: Shapiro Touts Methane Digesters In Visit To Dairy Farm

-- Gov. Shapiro: What Labor, Industry, Environmental, Consumer Leaders Are Saying About The ‘Lightning’ Energy Plan To Secure Pennsylvania’s Energy Future

-- Post-Gazette - Ford Turner: Gov. Shapiro, Republicans Appear Headed For Energy Showdown

-- PUC Launches Review Of Electric Grid Impacts From Data Center Growth, Sets April 24 Hearing  [PaEN]  

-- PA Capital-Star: PA Public Utility Commission Sets Hearing On A.I. Data Centers’ Impacts On Electricity Grid

-- PJM Interconnection Reliability Initiative Attracts 94 Applications For 26.6 GW Of New Electric Generation Capacity; Reviews To Be Completed By 2026; List Of Projects Not Available Now  [PaEN] 

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Expect Higher Electric Bills This Summer By As Much As 20%  [Thousands Of Energy Projects Stuck In PJM Review] - By Rob Altenburg, PennFuture 

-- Tribune-Democrat: Homer City Coal-Fired Power Plant Demolition Begins To Make Way For Natural Gas Power Plant   [PDF of Article] 

-- Reuters: US Power Firms Increase Carbon Pollution Emissions By 9% So Far In 2025 To Protect Profits 

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: EQT Committed To ARCH Hydrogen Hub Aviation Fuels Project Despite Federal Challenges; Other Companies Drop Out

-- Politico: US DOE Considering Cutting Hydrogen Hub Projects In Democratic States

-- WHYY: Philly Area’’s MACH2 Hydrogen Hub Funding Could Be On Chopping Block, According To Report 

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Foundation Distributes First Grants From US Steel Clairton Coke [Coal] Work Air Pollution Settlement 

-- City & State PA: Warehouses Have Become PA’s Biggest Cash Crop-- For Better And Worse 

-- WITF/StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: Threat Of Bird Flu In PA Still Present, Despite Popular Wildlife Area Reopening To Public 

-- Tribune-Democrat: Soaring Eagles Symbolize Importance Of Preservation, Conservation - By Chip Minemyer, Publisher  [PDF of Article] 

-- Post-Gazette - Mary Ann Thomas: First Bald Eagle Chick Hatches At US Steel’s Irvin Plant In Allegheny County

-- Williamsport Sun: Speeding Up Bird Education Learning Curve For Bird Watchers 

-- Williamsport Sun: Cornell Lab Of Ornithology NestWatch Project Invites People To Monitor Nearby Bird Nests

-- Williamsport Sun - Bill Bower: Reflections In Nature: Most Waterfowl Return To Same Area they Were Raised

Federal Funding Cuts, Freeze

-- Post-Gazette: Deep Fear In Coal Country: DOGE Cuts Put Region’s Miners And Families On Edge 

-- Grist: President Moves To Shutter Mine Safety Offices In Coal Country 

-- E&E News/Politico: Energy Transfer Partners [Sunoco] Gas Pipeline Company Suing Federal Pipeline Safety Agency Alleging Its Enforcement System Is ‘Unconstitutional’ 

-- USDA Gives Rural Energy For America Applicants 30 Days To Remove 'Harmful DEIA And Far-Left Climate Features' From Their Project Proposals [PaEN]

-- EarthJustice: USDA Requires Unlawful New Conditions For Release Of Rural Energy For American Funding

-- The Allegheny Front: Farmers Were Counting On Clean Energy Grants, Then Presiden’ts USDA Moved The Goalposts

-- Post-Gazette: Gov. Shapiro Demands President Rescind $13 Million In Funding Cuts Affecting PA Food Banks, Farmers

-- Inquirer: PA Dairy Farms Produce A Billion Gallons Of Milk A Year; As Tariff Wars Rage, The Cows Could Be Stuck In The Middle [Exported $364 Million In Dairy Products]

-- LancasterOnline Editorial: Lancaster County Dairy Farmers Need Certainty, Not The Chaos Of President’s Shifting Tariffs Policy

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal: President’s Deregulatory Blitz Threatens Chesapeake Bay, Environmental Advocates Say

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal: New Federal Administration Upends Chesapeake Bay Watershed Cleanup Work

-- PublicNewsService.org: Report: Repeal Of Federal Energy, Climate Program Could Raise Pennsylvania Energy Costs, Threaten Jobs

-- PublicNewsService.org: PA Groups Urge Congress To Preserve Clean Energy Tax Incentives

-- TribLive Letter: A Clean Environment Is Not ‘Government Waste’ - Barbara Jones, Environmental Consultant

-- AP:  Democrats Say EPA Illegally Canceled Hundreds Of Grants Aimed At Boosting Environmental Justice

-- WHYY: More EPA Grant Terminations Hit Philly Region, Tree Planting, Internships For Teens, Community Engagement 

-- WESA: PA, Other States Push To Shift Road Funds To Transit, Bike Projects As President Threatens Cuts

-- The Guardian: US Honeybee Deaths Hit Record High As Scientists Scramble To Find Cause; USDA Calls On Universities For Help After Staff Cuts

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: March 30, 2025]  PA Environment Digest