May 22, 2015

May 25 PA Environment Digest Now Available

The May 25 PA Environment Digest is now available.  Here are just a few of the headlines--

The Southwest PA Environmental Health Project made a presentation to the DEP Citizens Advisory Council Wednesday about the need for a health registry to try to document any health-related impacts from Marcellus Shale natural gas development and infrastructure.
Raina Rippel and Jill Kriesky said the Project is staffed by medical health professionals from a variety of backgrounds dedicated to providing information to individuals and communities on issues of public and individual health arising from natural gas development.

Gov. Wolf’s Chief of Staff Kathleen McGinty told the Pennsylvania Press Club Monday the Governor supports the Act 13 drilling impact fee and it is maintained under his severance tax proposal.
“The governor supports the impact fee. The impact fee is incorporated in his plan and actually he takes it one step better and guarantees those impact dollars to impacted communities at the highest levels they’ve ever been,” said McGinty.
However, severance tax proposals introduced last week advertised as the Governor’s severance tax proposal specifically do not retain the drilling impact fee.  The language says the fee expires on January 1, 2016.

This week, the PA Environmental Council, Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA, Environmental Defense Fund, PA Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and the Western PA Conservancy submitted comments on the Department of Environmental Protection’s  proposed final regulatory changes for Marcellus and other unconventional shale gas development.

Pennsylvania farmers are protecting their soils, their bottom lines, and the state's waterways by widely adopting conservation practices in their crop operations, according to a study commissioned by the Department of Agriculture.

U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.) have written to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraging more federal support for farmers’ efforts to prevent pollution into the Susquehanna River Basin and Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Thursday announced 12,809 volunteers from 50 counties canvassed their communities to remove 646,210 pounds of trash and debris from Pennsylvania’s waterways and coastal regions during the 2014 International Coastal Cleanup.

The Uniform Construction Code Review and Advisory Council rejected revisions the 2012 International Code Council building standards Wednesday, missing a significant opportunity to make Pennsylvania safer and more energy efficient.

Students 13 to 15 can now register for the Goddard Leadership Legacy Institute set for July 12-17 at the Ironmaster’s Mansion at Pine Grove Furnace State Park, Adams County.

The PA Emergency Management Agency Friday urged residents to prepare for possible severe weather during Hurricane Preparedness Week, which stretches May 24 through May 30.

To read the Digest, visit: www.PaEnvironmentDigest.com.  Click Here to print the entire Digest.

PA Environment Digest is edited by David E. Hess, former Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and is published as a service of Crisci Associates.


Additional Tools--
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PA Environment Daily Blog: Update on PA environmental issues.
Green Works In PA Google+ Circle: Update on PA environmental issues.
Questions?: Send email to David Hess at: DHess@CrisciAssociates.com