The legislation included--
-- Geothermal Energy: House Bill 2076 (Venkat-D- Allegheny, Williams-R-Chester), bipartisan legislation that would establish a regulatory framework for the generation of geothermal resources in the state [amended];
-- Advanced Transmission Line Technology: House Bill 2223 (Fiedler-D- Philadelphia) requiring electric utilities to evaluate the use of advanced transmission technologies when they file transmission line siting applications [amended]; and
-- PA Energy Financing Authority: House Bill 2347 (Fiedler-D-Philadelphia) would update the duties of the PA Energy Development Authority and change its name [amended].
“I believe right now our constituents, as I said, are facing skyrocketing bills and our neighbors who sent us here are looking for relief. They're looking for someone to act,” said Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia), Majority Chair of the Committee. “And while not every solution comes from this legislative body, I believe there are many things that we can do to help bring people's bills down or at least to make sure they don't go even higher.
“One of the solutions is to get more power online. We also must make sure our existing grid is used to its maximum capacity,” said Rep. Fiedler. “And I believe that the agency formerly known as Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, now known as PEFA, can play a key role in doing that.”
GeoThermal Energy
House Bill 2076 (Venkat-D-Allegheny, Williams-R-Chester) is bipartisan legislation that would establish a regulatory framework for the generation of geothermal resources in the state.
“It's clear to me that in the coming years we need to produce more energy. All of us here, Democrats and Republicans, are accountable to our constituents back home,” said Rep. Fiedler. “And we all know that their bills are rising. People are afraid, people are frustrated, and people are worried about what the future holds.
“We held a hearing on this legislation a few weeks ago and the industry, administration, environmental groups, and labor were all in agreement that this legislation will lay the groundwork for investment in a promising new energy generation industry,” said Rep. Fieldler. “This is tremendously exciting. In fact, I'm not aware of any stakeholder opposition to this bill.”
Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron), Minority Chair of the Committee said, “I'd like to thank the sponsors of this bill. I do think that this is an opportunity for us to work in a bipartisan manner. Although I will say that I think the bill still needs to be refined. Certainly willing to work with anyone who wants to work in that direction.
“And my hope is that while I'll be opposing the bill moving from Committee today, my hope is that we can continue to work toward a final product and that it can be a bipartisan product in the future.”
Rep. Causer offered an amendment to the bill that would have removed the authority of DEP to prevent geothermal energy well owners from abandoning their wells through an effective well plugging bonding program; establishing setbacks and assessing community impacts of the facilities; and charging fees on well owners adequate to support the cost of the regulatory program.
“I have a number of concerns with the bill, particularly regarding the broad authority granted to our bureaucratic agencies to regulate the industry and impose fees and burdensome requirements on the industry however they see fit,” said Rep. Causer. “And reviewing the bill brings back a lot of memories of the challenges that we've had with oil and gas operations across the Commonwealth.
“Unfortunately, we've seen agencies like the EP working through the EQB impose some really crushing requirements on a number of industries. And that is why I've proposed this amendment which limits the authority of DEP and EQB with these matters and would ask for support for the amendment.”
[In other words, the amendment would create the same kind of program, supported by Rep. Causer, that failed to prevent the abandonment of tens of thousands of conventional oil and gas wells that have become a financial burden on taxpayers.]
Rep. Fiedler said-- “My concern is that the amendment removes important language that would allow the Environmental Quality Board to consider community impacts when it is creating regulations.
“And of even greater concern to me is the amendment's removal of DEP's ability to pause operations when there are repeated violations. This piece is incredibly important to me to make sure we are protecting the people who already live in these communities.
“Removing that power creates what I deem an unacceptable potential risk to public safety and the public in general, and I'm asking [Committee] members for a no vote.”
The amendment was defeated along party lines-- Republicans supporting.
The bill was reported out of Committee along party lines-- Republicans opposing.
Advanced Power Line Technology
House Bill 2223 (Fiedler-D- Philadelphia) would require electric utilities to evaluate the use of advanced transmission technologies when they file transmission line siting applications.
Rep. Causer expressed a concern about the cost of the bill-- “There are still concerns with the bill in that it is a mandate that someone's going to have to pay for. And so I don't think the bill is completely refined to the point where we can support it, but hope that we can get there in the future. I'm going to be against the bill.”
Rep. Fiedler responded by saying-- “I believe the work of this Committee is to do everything we can to get more power online, to work to make our grid more reliable and resilient so that we can hopefully avoid some of these worst case scenarios, blackouts, brownouts, bills that are even larger than they are now, things that none of our constituents can possibly afford or be expected to deal with.”
“I'm excited for this bill, the Advanced Transmission Technologies bill, because I think it fits into that goal of cutting costs and trying to keep costs as low as possible for people and trying to make as much as we can from our existing grid.
“That in fact is exactly what these ATTs do, preventing the need to run new transmission lines so that we can get as much as possible out of the ones that we have right now.
The bill was reported out of Committee largely on party lines-- Republicans opposing.
PA Energy Financing Authority
House Bill 2347 (Fiedler-D-Philadelphia) would update the duties and rename the PA Energy Development Authority to the PA Energy Financing Authority to allow the state to qualify for federal energy funding.
Rep. Fiedler said-- “There is tremendous money available via the federal government, and those are tax dollars that our constituents sent via their federal taxes to DC. Those are dollars that are available to us if we have a state authority that is able to own projects, and that's exactly what we are trying to do here.
“We are trying to change the language in this authority so that it is able to own projects with the goal of bringing back some of that federal tax money to Pennsylvania for projects to get more energy online.
“I think that last piece, getting more energy online is something that we all say that we would like to do.
“And I believe that we need to do everything we can to make that happen, like I said, with the goal of keeping people's bills as low as possible, making sure they don't go even higher.”
Rep. Craig Williams (R-Chester) said-- “I don't think that the government ought to be in the business of building things that people don't want, don't want to build, and certainly don't want to pay for, especially in an era where the number one issue of the day in terms of our economics is whether or not we have enough electricity.
“Building more uneconomic electricity that is non-dispatchable and intermittent is not the answer. [He’s referring to renewable energy.]
“Large, large generation plants is the future of Pennsylvania, not a new financing authority that is going to own Pennsylvania generation. I encourage a no vote.”
The bill was reported out of Committee along party lines-- Republicans opposing.
Click Here to watch a video of the meeting.
Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia) serves as Majority Chair of the House Energy Committee and can be contacted by calling 215-271-9190 or click here to contact. Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-5075 or by sending email to: mcauser@pahousegop.com.
Resource Links:
-- Senate DEP Budget Hearing: How Energy Storage Can Add Capacity To The Grid; Chesapeake Bay Cleanup [PaEN]
PA Oil & Gas Industry/Public Notice Dashboards:
-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 4 to 17: Failed To Restore 5 Water Impoundments For 3,197 Days; Software Glitch Leaks 704,000 Gallons Of Fresh Water; 166,729 Gallons Recovered From Wastewater Spill [PaEN]
-- DEP Investigating Possible Software Malfunction That Released An Estimated 704,000 Gallons Of Fresh Water From Coterra Energy Shale Gas Water Impoundment In Springville Twp., Susquehanna County [PaEN]
-- DEP: Frontier Natural Resources Failed To Restore 5 Water Impoundments At 3 Shale Gas Drilling Sites In Clinton County For 3,197 Days [PaEN]
-- TheDerrick.com: Who Will Pay The Water Bill? Aqua Pennsylvania Is 'Evaluating Its Options’ For Recovering Money It Spent Operating The Venango Water Company From Oil & Gas Well Owner After Wastewater Spill [PaEN]
-- Residents Around MarkWest Harmon Creek Natural Gas Cryogenic Processing Plant In Washington County Urge DEP To Deny A New Air Quality Permit Because Of Frequent, Ongoing Black Smoke, Incomplete Combustion Violations At The Plant’s Natural Gas/Chemical Flare [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - April 18 [PaEN]
-- DEP Issues 2nd Air Quality General Permit For Diesel-Fired Nonroad Engines At Homer City A.I. Data Center Campus In Indiana County
-- DEP published notice in the April 18 PA Bulletin announcing the rescission of the Standards and Guidelines for Identifying, Tracking and Resolving Oil and Gas Violations technical guidance and posting a Standard Operating Procedure with the same name and posted on DEP’s website.
-- DEP published notice in the March 28 PA Bulletin announcing the rescission of a technical guidance document Civil Penalty Assessments in the Oil and Gas Management Program and posting with separate Civil Penalty Assessment Standard Operating Procedures for conventional oil and gas well owners and shale gas well owners that have now been posted on DEP’s website.
-- DEP Posted 76 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 18 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
-- DEP Invites Comments On Renewal Of Wastewater Permit For Restart Of Constellation Energy’s Three Mile Island Nuclear Data Center Power Plant In Dauphin County [PaEN]
-- DEP Invites Comments On Water Encroachment Permit For Mid-Atlantic Interstate Transmission, LLC Project To Rebuild Power Lines To Three Mile Island Nuclear Data Center Power Plant In Dauphin County [PaEN]
-- DEP Accepting Comments On Stormwater Permit For SNA North LLC/QTS A.I. Data Center Project In Salem Twp., Luzerne County [PaEN]
-- DEP published notice in the April 18 PA Bulletin inviting comments on an Individual Stormwater permit covering 25.87 acres of the Keystone Appalachian Transmission Company (FirstEnergy) Stoney Springs Junction 138kV transmission line project located in Salem Twp., Westmoreland County. (PA Bulletin, page 2143)
Related Articles This Week - Energy:
-- House Energy Committee Reports Out GeoThermal Energy, Advanced Transmission Technology, Energy Financing Authority Bills [PaEN]
-- PA House Passes Bills To Develop Model Zoning Ordinance To Help Local Governments Regulate, Mitigate The Impacts Of A.I. Data Center Developments; Report Water, Energy Use [PaEN]
-- PA House Blue-Green Labor, Environmental Caucus Endorses 9-Bill Package To Expand Clean Energy Generation, Strengthen Workforce [PaEN]
-- Spotlight PA: Gov. Shapiro Repeats Threat To Pull Pennsylvania Out Of PJM Regional Grid Operator, If Electricity Costs Keep Rising
-- In Case You Missed It: A.I./Data Center Articles - NewClips From Last Week - April 20 [PaEN]
-- Shapiro Administration Secures $14 Million From US DOE For Enhanced GeoThermal Systems Pilot Demonstration Project In Indiana County [PaEN]
-- US Dept. Of Energy Announces $14 Million To Support DEP Project For Enhanced Shale Gas Well GeoThermal Demonstration In Pennsylvania [PaEN]
-- Report: President Canceled 28.2 Gigawatts Of US Electric Generation- Funding For 13 Gigawatts Lost In Pennsylvania- In Face Of Unprecedented A.I. Data Center Demand, Grid Reliability Concerns [PaEN]
-- DEP Linkedin: Oil & Gas Program Sets Inspection Record In 2025, Including 5,213 Wells Never Inspected Before, Responded To 674 Complaints, Incidents [PDF of Article]
-- Mountain Watershed Association Appeals 90% Reduction In Mine Subsidence Damage Bond For Rustic Ridge Coal Mine In Westmoreland, Fayette Counties From $3.1 Million To $292,679 [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Watershed Low-Flow Conditions Trigger Stop To Shale Gas Drilling Water Withdrawals At 19 Locations, 13 More Approaching Restrictions [PaEN]
-- PA House Passes 3rd Natural Gas Safety Bill After Fatal Reading Chocolate Factory Explosion [House Bill 1522]
-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: PA Electric Utilities Appreciate ‘Market Signals,’ But Not Market Prices; Some Utilities Want More Direct Role In Securing Power, Managing Prices For Customers
-- PECO Withdraws Proposed 12.5% Electric, 11.4% Natural Gas Rate Increases From PUC Consideration [PaEN]
-- PUC Opens Investigation Into UGI Electric Proposed 12.8% Rate Increase [PaEN]
-- PUC To Investigate Proposed 13.1% Rate Increase Request by Peoples Natural Gas [PaEN]
-- PUC Modifies UGI Gas Settlement To Require More Direct Support To Customers Impacted By Improper Service Terminations
-- PUC Marks April As Safe Digging Month
-- Penn State Extension Hosts Anaerobic Digestion On The Farm Conference, June 9-11 [PaEN]
-- PennFuture June 4 Energy Dialogue 2026 - Growing A Sustainable Energy Economy In Pennsylvania To Be Held In Hershey [PaEN]
-- Penn State Extension Energy Essentials News: Data Centers Q/A; National Biogas Conference; Tips For Picking Reputable Solar Developer
NewsClips:
-- WHYY - Susan Phillips: Philadelphia Gas Works Proposed LNG Natural Gas Plant Replacement In Port Richmond Neighborhood Now In Limbo
-- Reuters: Williams CEO Says PA-NY Constitutional Natural Gas Pipeline Could Be Online In 2027
-- EPA, DOE, DOI Break Ground On Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement Natural Gas Pipeline Taking PA Gas Into New York City
-- The Guardian: Top Oil, Natural Gas Companies Set To Make An Extra $234 Billion By End Of 2026
-- Inside Climate News - Jon Hurdle: As Tech Groups Predict Huge Pennsylvania A.I. Data Center Growth, Critics Say Some Bills Would Reduce Local Control; One State Senator Plans 3-Year Moratorium
-- PennLive/LehighValleyLive: Republican Sen. Coleman Calls For Giving Local Governments Authority To Put A Moratorium On A.I. Data Centers While They Revise Zoning Ordinances
-- WESA/The Allegheny Front: Electric Transmission Line Company Wants Authority To Condemn Property From PA PUC For Proposed Power Line In SW PA To Feed A.I. Data Centers In Virginia
-- Gov. Shapiro Demanded, And PECO Withdrew Its 12.5% Electric, 11.4% Natural Gas Rate Increase Saving PA Consumers $510 Million
-- WHYY: PECO Withdraws Its Rate Hike Case After Backlash From PA Governor, Lawmakers
-- Inquirer: PECO Withdraws Request For Double-Digit Rate Hike, After Facing Backlash
-- Post-Gazette: Solar Energy Facility To Help Offset Energy Costs Of 4 Pittsburgh Schools
-- LancasterOnline: Muddy Run Pump Storage Hydroelectric Plant To Test Warning Sirens In Lancaster, York Counties April 23
-- Center For Rural Pennsylvania April 17 Hearing On A.I. Data Centers, Coolidge Theatre At The Deane Center, Wellsboro, Tioga County
-- Breathe Project - April 20 Webinar On When Air Kills - Pittsburgh’s Hidden PM2.5 Particulate Toll, 7:00 p.m.
-- Better Path Coalition To Host May 13 A.I. Data Centers Virtual Town Hall Meeting, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
-- The Hill: US DOE Secretary Predicts Energy Prices May Rise, Hit Peak In ‘Next Few Weeks’
[Posted: April 13, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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