The July 18 PA Environment Digest is now available. Here are just a few of the headlines--
Harry Campbell, executive director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Pennsylvania said, “The new budget falls short of providing the resources necessary for the Commonwealth to successfully follow-through on the rebooted clean water strategy it committed to earlier this year. With its latest budget, the Commonwealth has missed yet another opportunity to step up and make significant progress toward meeting the commitment it made to its citizens to clean up and protect our rivers and streams.”
The PA Growing Greener Coalition Thursday issued the following statement from Executive Director Andrew Heath in response to the state budget agreement-- “This budget reflects the second year the Growing Greener program has experienced a significant reduction of $15 million. Combined with last year’s cut, the communities and nonprofits that rely on Growing Greener funding have lost more than $30 million for critical projects and programs.
“As we look ahead to the future, we strongly urge the Governor and General Assembly to invest in a Growing Greener III program to ensure that Pennsylvanians continue to have access to clean drinking water, parks and trails, green open spaces, and locally grown farm fresh food.
House Bill 1605 (James-R-Butler), the Fiscal Code vehicle redirects $39 million in monies from the Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund, the Recycling Fund, a CFA green building program and other special funds to the state’s General Fund to help balance the budget.
The Independent Fiscal Office Thursday released a report on Act 13 drilling impact fees projecting a continued decline in revenue from the fees in 2016 in a variety of likely scenarios of between $5.4 million to $56.5 million.
The PA Environmental Council released this statement in response to Senate action Monday to amend and pass Senate Bill 1229 (Vogel-R-Beaver) which now contains language offered by Sen. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Allegheny) that weakens DEP’s Chapter 78 Marcellus Shale drilling regulations with respect to waste disposal reporting, restoration of drilling sites and on-site water storage standards.
Citizen-science volunteers will soon monitor the state of threatened water sources for millions of people with the help of a $2.5 million grant from the William Penn Foundation to the Stroud Water Research Center in Chester County.
The PA Environmental Council’s most recent Environmental Focus TV program on the challenges of reclaiming Pennsylvania’s abandoned mine lands and plugging abandoned oil and gas wells is now available online. Click Here to watch this episode.
The Department of Health Thursday began distributing Zika Virus Prevention Kits for Pregnant Women to provide educational material about the virus and list the steps that can be taken to avoid mosquito bites, as well as prevent the insects from multiplying around homes.
More than 66,000 Pennsylvanians work in the clean energy industry at 5,900 companies and business establishments across all 67 counties, according to a comprehensive new analysis unveiled Thursday by the national nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) and Philadelphia-based Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance (KEEA).
The Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation will host the annual celebration of the 2002 Quecreek Mine Rescue on July 23 at the rescue site on the Arnold Farm, 151 Haupt Road, Somerset, PA starting at 10:00 a.m.
By Davitt Woodwell, President, PA Environmental Council
While we work on a wide variety of environmental and conservation issues at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, our largest single area of focus is on trails and outdoor recreation.
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.
PA Environment Digest was the winner of the PA Association of Environmental Educators' 2009 Business Partner of the Year Award.
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