PA Environment Digest Blog: Wednesday PA Environment & Energy Articles

“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. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

-- Article I, Section 27 Pennsylvania Constitution [It’s Not A Suggestion]

House Voting Schedule

June 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

September 28, 29, 30

October 5, 6, 7, 19, 20, 21

November 9, 10

-- Committee Schedule

Senate Voting Schedule

June 3, 8, 9, 10, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30

-- Committee Schedule

TODAY’s Calendar Of Events

Anything Can Happen: June State Budget Marathon Is Here!

TODAY 10:00: Agenda Posted. DEP Storage Tank Advisory Committee meeting. 10:00 a.m. Contact: Randy D. Martin ramartin@pa.gov. (formal notice)

TODAY Noon: ReImagine Appalachia, Ohio River Valley Institute, Partners Host Webinar On Applying For DEP’s RISE PA Industrial Decarbonization Funding. Noon to 1:30 p.m.

June 4-- Agenda Posted. Susquehanna River Basin Commission business meeting. 4423 N. Front Street, Harrisburg. 9:00 a.m. (formal notice)

June 4-- Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Partners Host Creekside Connections At Little Fishing Creek Family-Friendly Educational Experience, Stream Buffer Tour In Bellefonte, Centre County, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

June 4-5-- In-Person. Penn State Extension: Mid-Atlantic Agroforestry Conference. Pennsylvania Furnace, Huntingdon County.

June 5-15-- PA Society For Ornithology 2026 Breeding Bird Blitz

June 8-- NEW. House Environmental & Natural Resource Protection meets to consider House Bill 84 (Vitali-D-Delaware) prohibiting the spreading of oil and gas wastewater on roads and by land application, House Bill 426 (Pielli-D-Chester) encouraging the construction of new habitats for monarch butterflies and native insects at Commonwealth-owned facilities, House Bill 1567 (Mullins-D-Lackawanna) requires public consideration of host community benefit agreements for power plants between communities and school districts and establishes minimum requirements for those agreements. Room B-31 Main Capitol. 11:00 a.m. Click Here to watch online. Read more here on agenda.

June 9-- Agenda Posted. Environmental Quality Board meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson Building. 9:00 a.m. Contact: Laura Griffin, Regulatory Coordinator, laurgriffi@pa.gov, (717) 772-3277.

June 9-- In-Person. ReImpagine Appalachia, Ohio River Valley Institute, Partners Host Workshop On Applying For DEP’s RISE PA Industrial Decarbonization Funding. Pittsburgh. 9:00 a.m. to Noon

June 9-- Penn State Extension Webinar On Creating Connections Through Citizen - Community Science. 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.

June 11-- Virtual. Team PA Webinar On Pennsylvania Nuclear Energy Roadmap. 11:30 a.m. Click Here for more on Nuclear Roadmap

June 23-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council meeting. 12:30 p.m. Contact: Ian Irvin iirvin@pa.gov or 717-579-0329.

June 25-- DEP Hearing On Air Permit For ETC Northeast Pipeline Cryo II Project At The Revolution Cryogenic Natural Gas Processing Plant In Smith Twp., Washington County. Burgettstown Area Middle/High School Campus, LGI Room, 100 Bavington Road in Burgettstown from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

-- House Committee To Consider Bills To Prohibit Road Dumping Oil & Gas Wastewater, Set Minimum Standards For Power Plant Community Benefit Agreements, Encourage Monarch, Native Insect Habitats On June 8 [PaEN]

-- Independent Fiscal Office Reported First Quarter PA Natural Gas Production Declined Slightly From 4th Quarter, Lowest In Any Quarter Of 2025 [PaEN]

-- PUC Invites Comments On New Public Utility Billing Practices Regulations

-- Planet Philadelphia Radio Show: June 5 First Global Conference On Transitioning From Fossil Fuels, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

-- Observer-Reporter: Cecil Twp. Approves Solar Energy Facility Ordinance In Washington County

-- PA Interfaith Power & Light June 5 Webinar On How To Order Trees To Plant Under Roots, Branches & Hands Program Opening June 8 [PaEN]

-- DCED Awards $7.4 Million In Community Development Block Grants To Support Water, Sewage System Improvements In Adams, Armstrong, Cambria, Greene, Jefferson, Sullivan, Tioga Counties

-- The News-Item: DEP, Federal ICE Object To Environmental Group Intervention In Appeal Of Detention Warehouse Issues To Environmental Hearing Board

-- Republican Herald: Federal ICE Considers Selling Warehouse Detention Centers [NBC News], Future Of Berks, Schuylkill Facilities Unclear

-- WHYY - Zoe Read: Lessons Learned From Hurricane Ida: Philadelphia Must Brace For Next Big Storm, Penn Researchers Say

-- TribLive: Friends Of Flight 93 Hosts Speaker Series With Emergency Managers, Memorial Architect

-- Heritage Conservancy Permanently Preserves 82 Acres In Williams Twp., Northampton County [PaEN]

-- Manada Conservancy Protects 40 Acres Of Woodlands For Future Generations In Dauphin County [PaEN]

-- WVIA: Tick Bites Up In US, PA This Spring Prompting Renewed Emphasis On Prevention

-- ExploreJefferson.com: Seneca Rocks Audubon Society To Host June 10 Butterfly Program At The Clarion Free Library

-- Erie Times - Brian Whipkey: Foster Kids Discover Benefits Of Fly Fishing In The Mayfly Project Across PA

-- WESA: Frog Fest At Centre County’s Spring Mills Promotes Environmental Education, As Natural Habitats And Federal Funding Shrink

A.I. /Data Centers

-- The Center Square: Bipartisan Desire To Tap Brakes On A.I. Data Center Development Grows In General Assembly

-- WPXI: Residents Looking For Answers At Meeting About Plans For Possible A.I. Data Center In Beaver County

-- The Center Square: PA Members Of Congress Ask FERC How They Are Overseeing Power Demands From A.I. Data Centers

-- LancasterOnline Editorial: The Citizen Revolt Against A.I. Data Centers Comes To Columbia; Elected Officials Ought To Take Heed

-- Republican Herald Editorial: Move Quickly On A.I. At Our Own Peril

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Demolition, Earth Moving Complete At Site Of 4.5 GW Natural Gas Power Plant Dedicated To Feeding 3,200 Acre Homer City A.I. Data Center Campus In Indiana County

-- PennFuture, Climate Power Host June 16 Webinar On A.I. Data Center Energy Challenges With PJM Independent Market Monitor Dr. Joseph Bowring Who Has Called For Blocking Interconnections And Power Plant Sales That Destabilize The Grid, Increase Prices [PaEN]

-- Wall Street Journal: America’s A.I. Data Center Build-Out Is Falling Way Behind Schedule; Google Buying Its Own Power [Including In PA]

--Bloomberg: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Grants Waiver To Constellation Energy To Allow Faster Grid Connection For Three Mile Island Nuclear Data Center Power Plant By Transferring Eddystone Connection Rights [Over Objections Of PJM Market Monitor]

-- Financial Times: ‘Close To The Terminator Narrative:’ The Dawn Of Self-Improving A.I.

Today’s Oil & Gas Violations

-- Today’s Violations: DEP notified of shale gas wellpad spill by EQT ARO LLC at Wallis Run Hunting Club in Lycoming County, Cascade Twp. from wastewater tanks that escaped containment liner with 3 holes and spilled out on the pad 6.2.26 DEP inspection report.

-- Today’s Violations: DEP: Oil & Gas MGMT Inc. did nothing to address or respond to multiple spills, violations issued March 10, 2026 for conventional well in Somerset County, Somerset Twp. for 78 days and counting. DEP inspection report.

International/National Impacts On PA Natural Gas

[Energy Independence Means Renewables]

-- June 3: PA Average AAA Gasoline Price Dropped 2 Pennies Since Yesterday, Now $4.44/Gallon - $1.33/Gallon Higher Than On Feb. 27 [Venango County Average Price Still Highest at $4.79]

-- June 3: Average AAA Gasoline Prices: National- $4.26 Ohio- $4.21 PA- $4.44

-- Feb. 27: Average AAA Gasoline Prices: National- $2.98 Ohio- $2.79 PA- $3.11

PA Politics - Everything Is Connected

-- Erie Times/USA Today: How Shapiro Budget Plan Would Use $4.7 Billion In PA Rainy Day Fund

-- TribLive: Paper Ballots Cost Westmoreland County Taxpayers $31 Per Vote

-- Spotlight PA: Half Of Child Deaths Left Unreviewed In PA Since 2020 As Counties Struggle With ‘Unfunded Mandate’

-- PennLive Editorial: Harrisburg Can’t Accept Dead Children As The Price Of Inaction On Guns

-- TribLive: State-Owned Universities Trying To Close Workforce Development Gap: Too Many Jobs, Not Enough Workers

-- AP: President Plans To Impose Extra Tariffs Of 10 to 12.5% Americans Must Pay On Trading Partners Canada, Taiwan, United Kingdom Dozens Of Others For Allegedly Failing To Enforce Forced Labor Import Ban