The Connection for Oil, Gas & Environment in the Northern Tier (C.O.G.E.N.T.) Friday reported in a Google+ post that JKLM Energy, LLC acknowledged contaminating several water supply wells in Sweden Township, Potter county with a surfactant solution containing isopropanol used in drilling and completing natural gas wells.

On Friday, Sen. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango) introduced Senate Bill 1011 amends the Fiscal Code to prohibit the Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Quality Board from finalizing and adopting Chapter 78 conventional oil and gas drilling regulations now pending.

The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee will hold an informational meeting on the Chapter 78 and 78A drilling regulations on October 26 starting at 9:00 a.m., according to  Rep. John Maher (R-Allegheny), Majority Chair of the Committee.

The PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources are now accepting nominations from nonprofit organizations for the 2016 Pennsylvania River of the Year.

By party line votes of 117 to 83, 113 to 86 and 112 to 87, House Republicans approved the Senate-House Republican stopgap budget package and sent the package to Gov. Wolf for his action. 

A comprehensive list of environmental issues will be the focus of the second annual PA Environmental Council Policy Conference, set for October 13 in Harrisburg.

PA Environment Digest now has a Google+ Circle called Green Works In PA.  Let us join your Circle.

Here are the Senate and House Calendars and Committee meetings showing bills of interest as well as a list of new environmental bills introduced--

The following bills were given final approval by the Senate and House and are now on the Governor's desk for action--

The following bills of interest saw action this week in the House and Senate--

The American Farm Bureau Federation and its allies, including the National Association of Homebuilders, made it clear that they intend to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn two lower court decisions upholding the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint. 

The Anthracite Region Independent Power Producer’s Association recently announced the award of its 6th Annual Abandoned Mine Land/Abandoned Mine Drainage Remediation Grants Program.

The Brodhead Watershed Association received a $3,000 donation from PPL Electric Utilities in support of its Adopt-a-Stream Program and 26th Annual Membership Celebration.

Join the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition October 10 for a full day of events at the Jennings Environmental Education Center in Butler County as the Coalition celebrates its 20th Anniversary! This event is open to the public and free of charge!

The August and September editions of The Catalyst newsletter are now available from the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition.

A call for presenters has been issued for the 2016 Schuylkill Watershed Congress to be held on March 12 at the Montgomery County Community College campus in Pottstown.  The deadline for submissions is November 1.

The Department of Environmental Protection Monday reminded Pennsylvanians about the importance of onlot septic system maintenance.

On the first day of autumn, the Department of Environmental Protection encourages residents to take precautions before filling their home heating oil tanks.

The PA Section of the American Water Resources Association will hold its Annual Conference on October 9 at the Days Inn-Penn State in State College.

B.F. Environmental Consultants Tuesday announced the launch of a new mobile app that will make it possible for homeowners to get answers about the quality of their drinking water.

Aqua Pennsylvania is reminding customers that its Helping Hand Assistance Program is available to low-income families who find it difficult to pay their water bills.

The latest update from Capital Region Water in Harrisburg is available featuring articles on--

At the recent Columbia County Water Education Day held at Briar Creek Lake Pennsylvania -- an event supported by a grant from PA American Water to the Columbia County Conservation District -- more than 500 eighth-grade students from throughout Columbia County learned about the important concept of 'Good Water = Good Life.'

The Department of Environmental Protection, Healthy Schools PA, the PA Green & Healthy Schools Partnership and Women for a Healthy Environment will host a free webinar on October 1 starting at 10:00 a.m. on Creating a Healthy School Environment.

The Department of Environmental Protection Thursday announced it has revoked accreditation in-full for Cedar Grove Environmental Inc., an environmental laboratory in Chester County, PA.

PennEast Pipeline Company LLC, Thursday announced it submitted its application September 24, 2015, to FERC for a permit to proceed with construction of the proposed PennEast Pipeline, signaling the next critical step in offering eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey energy consumers locally produced natural gas.

Chester County-based Pipeline Safety Coalition is hosting a free pipeline safety public forum at the Downingtown East High School, 50 Devon Drive in Downingtown, on September 29 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

The Department of Environmental Protection held the third meeting of its Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force Wednesday hearing a presentation from The Nature Conservancy on tools minimizing landscape impacts and others on regulation and permitting pipelines in Pennsylvania and pipeline emergency response resources.

Citing harm to their states and communities, representatives of 115 organizations delivered a letter to Gov. Wolf at his DEP Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force on Wednesday demanding that the Task Force of industry representatives be shut down, and that Gov. Wolf enact a statewide moratorium on fracking and help Pennsylvania residents harmed by fracking.

The Department of Environmental Protection Friday announced it will host a public hearing on September 29, regarding a proposed plan approval to allow Calpine Mid-Merit, LLC to transfer and use emission reduction credits at its electric power generation facility located in Peach Bottom Township, York County.

The Department of Environmental Protection will host a public hearing on September 30  regarding the proposed Elcon Recycling Services, LLC (Elcon) facility, a hazardous waste treatment facility to treat liquid waste from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful would like to congratulate its local affiliates in Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin and Perry counties on a successful 10th Annual Tire War which resulted in collecting nearly 4,000 tires earlier this month.

The PA Resources Council will host a series of Backyard Composting and Vermicomposting workshops in Allegheny County during October and November.

The Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority has placed a recycling container at the Walker Township Fire Hall, Howard, PA. 

The PA Resources Council will hold its two final collection events in Western PA on October 3 in Allegheny County and on October 10 in Beaver County.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday announced $400,000 in supplemental funding to the city of Allentown to support an ongoing brownfields cleanup project at the Allentown Metal Works Site.

PennTAP will hold a webinar on October 15 starting at noon on the process for completing a Pollution Prevention and Energy Efficiency Review at a facility and outline the benefits for your company.

Penn State engineering students work alongside PennTAP senior engineers performing pollution prevention and energy efficiency assessments for industrial manufacturing facilities.  In this way, students receive the opportunity to work on real-world engineering projects.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker issued this statement Wednesday regarding the visit of Pope Francis to the United States this week.

Sustainable Pittsburgh Monday announced a new two-year partnership among four business districts within the City of Pittsburgh to support the introduction of the Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurant Program to restaurants and consumers: Lawrenceville Corporation, Oakland Business Improvement District, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, and Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh.

DEP held its second listening session on EPA’s Clean Power Climate Plan requirements Monday in Pittsburgh and heard from a variety of groups, including these comments from the PA Environmental Council--

DEP held its first listening session on EPA’s Clean Power Climate Plan requirements September 15 in Harrisburg and heard from a variety of groups, including these comments from the PA Coal Alliance--

By Bill Kunze, Pennsylvania Chapter Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy

A series of 12 statewide meetings have been scheduled by DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry to seek continued public input on changes to its Draft 2015 State Forest Resource Management Plan charting the course of Pennsylvania’s state forests for future generations.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative, with the support of volunteers from across the U.S. and Canada, officially set a new Guinness World Record for the most trees planted in one hour by small teams, planting a total of 202,935 trees.

The first Fall Foliage Report is now available from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources showing expected peak color times across Pennsylvania.

Nature Abounds is seeking volunteers for the 2015-16 IceWatch season. IceWatch USA engages volunteers from across the United States to monitor local waterways over the winter season.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adam Dunn Tuesday extended an invitation to state park visitors to join her in a day of volunteer service to improve state parks by taking part in National Public Lands Day events across Pennsylvania on September 26.

On September 26 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 .p.m, Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center, 400 Belfast Road, Nazareth, Northampton County, will host the inaugural Lehigh Valley Greenways Festival organized by Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape partners. 

The September 23 edition of the Resource newsletter is now available from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources featuring articles on--

Since 1957, the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association has worked to protect and preserve ecologically sensitive properties around the Wissahickon Creek in order to improve water quality and to address the dangers of flooding.

With Pennsylvania’s new five-year Outdoor Recreation Plan seeking to connect citizens to healthy outdoor recreation now released, a series of webinars this fall aims to inform Pennsylvanians of how "natural connections" can be made.

 Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn Thursday joined other state and Bureau of State Parks officials in naming a multi-use trail at Maurice K. Goddard State Park in Sandy Lake, Mercer County in honor of DCNR's first secretary, John C. Oliver.

The Wildlands Conservancy is offering tours of the Trexler Nature Preserve and the Coplay Creek Stream Restoration Project and other educational programs for all ages in October.  Click Here for a guide to upcoming events.

The Lacawac Sanctuary & Biological Field Station in Wayne County offers a Fall 8K Run, Young Geezers Concert, free book swap and a holiday tea over the next few months. Click Here for a list of upcoming events.  Click Here to read a copy of the Fall Lacawac Sanctuary newsletter.

A husband and wife team from Elk County have adopted the West Creek Rail to Trail and so far have placed 23 geocaches along a 3 mile section of the trail. The gps coordinates for the hiding places can be found at www.geocaching.com under the name WCRT. 

A significant wildlife habitat restoration project continues to progress on the 25,000-acre Clermont Tract in southern McKean County.

The PA Wildlife For Everyone Endowment Foundation invites businesses and supporters to participate in The Pennsylvania State Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program. The program provides tax credits to eligible businesses that make charitable contributions to an approved tax-exempt charitable organization.

What do more than 1 million licensed anglers in Pennsylvania do before their first cast of the season? They pick up a copy of the Fish and Boat Commission’s Summary of Fishing Laws and Regulations.

The September/October edition of the Currents newsletter from the Fish and Boat Commission is now available featuring articles on--

Call it a “square-milestone.”  Pennsylvania’s state game lands system, which since 1919 has provided critical habitat for wildlife statewide, and a network of lands open to public hunting and trapping, now tops 1.5 million acres.

The Open Land Conservancy of Chester County and the Tredyffrin Township Bird Town are hosting a bird walk October 3 starting at 8:00 a.m. at the George Larimer Nature Preserve.

PA Audubon Bird Town Program and Montgomery County Parks will host the Upper Perkiomen Bird and Wildlife Festival on September 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Green Lane Park, 2298 Green Lane Rd., in Green Lane, Montgomery County.

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice of an opportunity to bid on an abandoned mine reclamation project in Somerset County.

The Governor’s Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation is seeking qualified candidates to fill a vacancy on the board of the Fish and Boat Commission in District Six, which includes Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties. The district was represented by Robert A. Bachman of Denver, Lancaster County, whose term has expired.

The Department of Environmental Protection Thursday announced numerous employment opportunities in its mining programs. Current workforce planning projections highlight the potential for upcoming retirements to open up more than 50 positions across the Commonwealth by 2017. 

This section lists House and Senate Committee meetings, DEP and other public hearings and meetings and other interesting environmental events.

This section gives you a heads up on upcoming deadlines for awards and grants and other recognition programs.  NEW means new from last week.

Here are NewsClips from around the state on all environmental topics, including General Environment, Budget, Marcellus Shale, Watershed Protection and much more--

No new regulations were published this week.  Pennsylvania Bulletin - September 26, 2015

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Send your stories, photos and links to videos about your project, environmental issues or programs for publication in the PA Environment Digest to:  DHess@CrisciAssociates.com.

PA Environment Digest is a supporting member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, Pennsylvania Council Trout Unlimited and the Doc Fritchey Chapter Trout Unlimited.  Sponsor: 2016 Keystone Coldwater Conference, State College, Feb. 26-27.