May 13, 2016

May 16 PA Environment Digest Now Available

The May 16 PA Environment Digest is now available.  Here are just a few of the headlines--

Once again, the health and welfare of Pennsylvanians are being used as a political pawn.  Over the last five years, the Department of Environmental Protection has worked with environmental groups, gas and oil industry leaders, and Pennsylvanians from across the Commonwealth to develop much needed updates to our oil and gas drilling regulations.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA Tuesday applauded both chambers of the Pennsylvania legislature for unanimously approving resolutions designating the week of June 5-11 as Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week.

The PA Growing Greener Coalition thanked members of the Senate for designating the month of May as Clean Water Counts Month by passing  Senate Resolution 359 (McIlhinney-R-Bucks, Alloway-R-Adams).

Karl Blankenship, Editor of the Chesapeake Bay Journal, recently did a comprehensive article examining the issues related to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s midpoint assessment and whether states are meeting their sediment and nutrient reduction targets.  Here is just a small part of the article.  Click Here to read the entire article.

Volunteers, including PA Environmental Council staff and DCNR Bureau of Forestry personnel kicked off a large tree-planting operation throughout Weiser State Forest [Columbia County] on April 30.

Philadelphia Water Commissioner Debra A. McCarty joined students and members of the West Philadelphia Coalition for Neighborhood Schools at Henry C. Lea Elementary Tuesday to celebrate five years of Green City, Clean Waters.

Since January 2015, the Department of Environmental Protection has embarked on a wide-ranging, Secretary-prioritized, internal modernization effort that will include improved business processes, a transition to new geolocation-based mobile solutions, paperless workflows, archive digitization, internal data-driven analytical research efforts, and greater data transparency.

The May 17 Environmental Quality Board meeting agenda includes another proposed regulation increasing fees, this one is for the laboratory accreditation program that would raise about $170,000 more per year.

Methane emissions, the main component of natural gas and a highly potent greenhouse gas — and their consequences for Pennsylvania in the natural gas age is the topic of April’s “Environmental Focus” now available online.

Covanta Energy’s recent comments on DEP’s draft Climate Action Plan Update highlighted the need for the Plan to recognize the benefits of energy-from-waste facilities in reducing climate-changing emissions from the disposal of waste as countries around the world have done.  Covanta fully supports Pennsylvania’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Wednesday congratulated the Pennsylvania winners of the 2016 RecycleMania competition-- Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia was the Grand Champion with a recycling rate of 48.9 percent and the Per Capita Classic winner was Bucknell University in Lewisburg who recycled 26.5 pounds per capita.

The Pennsylvania Treasury, in partnership with leading national clean energy finance company Renew Financial and the Energy Programs Consortium Thursday announced the relaunch of the award-winning Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (KeystoneHELP)
KeystoneHELP provides Pennsylvania homeowners with up to $20,000 of affordable financing for home energy efficiency improvements.

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--
Click Here to sign up to receive the Digest directly by email.
Click Here for a Calendar of Upcoming Events.
Click Here to search back issues of the Digest.
PA Environment Digest Twitter Feed: Update on PA environmental issues.
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