Before authorizing more drilling on DCNR’s State Forest land, let’s remember what the General Assembly did with the upfront revenues from State Forest Shale gas drilling authorized by Gov. Rendell in 2008-2009-- they immediately took the money to fill holes in the General Fund budget and it was never seen again.

On May 28, a new Chesapeake Bay Foundation report examining the state of the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint found both good and bad news. 

On May 30, the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee held a hearing in Media, Delaware County which highlighted both the regulations designed to make pipelines a safe way to transport product and the need to have an emergency response plan in the event of a leak.

On May 30, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, Williamsport/Lycoming County Chamber of Commerce, Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming), Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, and leaders from across the region gathered in Williamsport to discuss the significant benefits this tax has delivered to communities and how additional energy taxes threaten those meaningful benefits.

On May 31, the Independent Fiscal Office released its quarterly report on natural gas production in Pennsylvania which found total production grew 14.7 percent during the first quarter of 2019 to over 1.653 trillion cubic feet, compared to the first quarter of 2018.

On May 31, the PA Supreme Court issued an opinion allowing a municipality considering a local zoning permit for a gas drilling operation to take first-hand evidence and testimony of residents from another municipality with respect to the impacts to their health, quality of life and property from a similar drilling operation.

The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee is scheduled to meet June 4 to consider a number of significant and controversial bills in opposition to the fracking moratorium in the Delaware Watershed, nutrient reduction procurement legislation and a bill that would loosen the requirements for reporting spills and redefine what constitutes pollution under the state Clean Streams Law.

The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on June 5 to discuss third party view of DEP’s Chapter 102 (Erosion and Sedimentation) and Chapter 105 (Dam Safety and Encroachment) permits.

The Pittsburgh 2030 District has achieved its 2020 targets for energy and transportation, surpassing critical milestones in the international 2030 Challenge, according to the District’s 2018 Progress Report. The success marks the first time a 2030 District has incorporated renewable energy districtwide.

There’s been lots of political rhetoric lately about the need to make agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection more “accountable” by making them more “transparent” and about how DEP “sneaks” through regulations. 

Do you have student interns working and learning at your environmental, conservation organization or agency this summer?

Here are the Senate and House Calendars for the next voting session day and Committees scheduling action on bills of interest as well as a list of new environmental bills introduced--

The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet on June 3 to consider bills authorizing the Game and Fish and Boat Commissions to adopt their own license fees for 3 years.  The bills include--

The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee is scheduled to meet on June 5 to hold an informational meeting on House Bill 781 (Boback-R-Luzerne) amends Act 13 of 2012 to more specifically authorize the use of Act 13 drilling impact fees for stormwater management by counties (sponsor summary).

The Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet on June 5 to consider farm conservation other agriculture bills, including-- 

The House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet June 5 to consider several bipartisan farm conservation bills that are part of Gov. Wolf’s PA Farm Bill proposal.  The bills include--

The House Game and Fisheries Committee is scheduled to meet on June 5 to consider House Bill 1003 (Gillespie-R-York) further providing for the enforcement of safety markings for low head or run-of-the-river dams (sponsor summary).

The Joint Legislative Budget & Finance Committee is scheduled to meet on June 19 to release an independent performance evaluations of  DEP’s Chapter 102 and 105 Permit Programs required by Senate Resolution 226 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne).

The House Environmental Resources and Energy and Local Government Committees are scheduled to hold a joint hearing on June 19 to hear testimony from local government associations on MS4 Stormwater Pollution Reduction compliance.

On May 30, Senators Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), Wayne Langerholc (R-Bedford), Pat Stefano (R-Fayette), Elder Vogel (R-Beaver), and Michele Brooks (R-Crawford) announced they are introducing a package of legislation to eliminate parts of the state's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program.

The May newsletter is now available from the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee featuring stories on--

On May 29, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified the Allegheny County Health Department it has issued a waiver for enforcement of the low-Reid Vapor Pressure gasoline requirement in the Allegheny County until June 17 due to a failure in the Buckeye Laurel Pipeline.

The Southwestern PA Commission’s Water Resource Center and its partners will host a series of 5 workshops in June and July on a variety of critical stormwater pollution reduction and flooding topics.  The workshops include--

UPDATED: For reasons outside of their control, the tour of the DEP's Cresson AMD Treatment Facility and the picnic must be postponed. The business meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. on June 11 at a new location: Clearfield County Conservation District Office, 6395 Clearfield Woodland Hwy #2, Clearfield.

On June 4 Clean Water Action will host a lobby day in Harrisburg to draw attention to the need to protect drinking water sources from lead and PFAS contamination.

Help raise awareness of the threats to Pennsylvania's waterways and drinking water at the 3rd Annual Susquehanna River Rally on June 15 from 1:00 to 3:00 from City Island in Harrisburg.

The Westmoreland Conservation District will host a Next Generation Farm Summit on June 19 where farmers and would-be farmers can learn about all of these things and more.

The Stroud Water Research Center will host a special program June 3 on Dr. Ruth Patrick, A Pioneer In Science and the Woman Behind the Conestoga River Study at the Ware Center in Lancaster starting at 6:00 p.m.

The Lancaster Conservancy and many partners will hold their annual Lancaster Water Week education and action events from June 1 to 8.

EYE Con provides a fun, hands-on STEM opportunity for high school students grades 9 to 12 (as well as graduating seniors) to experience conservation science while earning college credit.

Elisa Sarantschin, director of NaturePHL, is helping Philadelphia’s children and families achieve better health through activity in local parks, trails, and green spaces.

The Wildlife For Everyone Foundation and the PA Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists will are hosting the 5th Annual Great Outdoor Picnic at Penn's Cave & Wildlife Park in Centre Hall, Centre County from 11:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The latest issue of Connect With Your Environment in the Erie Times-News features an overview of the Children’s Water Festival at the Penn State Behrend campus in Erie.

Nominations are now being accepted by the President’s Environmental Youth Award Program to recognize outstanding environmental projects by K-12 youth. The deadline for nominations is December 15.

The Department of Environmental Protection is inviting comments and will hold a hearing on the RACT II Air Quality Plan for the Lord Corporation facility in Saegertown Borough, Crawford County on July 17, if a hearing is requested. (June 1 PA Bulletin, page 2785)

The Department of Environmental Protection published notices in the June 1 PA Bulletin (page 2786) proposing to issue the Section 401 Water Quality Certification and the Chapter 102 (Erosion and Sedimentation) and Chapter 105 (Encroachments) permits for the proposed West Loop Natural Gas Pipeline by Dominion Energy Transmission.

On May 31, the Public Utility Commission's Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement announced it is continuing to investigate a reported natural gas explosion in Clarion County involving a home and adjacent greenhouse.

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the June 1 PA Bulletin of the opportunity to bid on a gas well plugging project in Clarion County.

On May 30, the Public Utility Commission announced the PA One Call Damage Prevention Committee imposed a total of 97 disciplinary actions, including $78,700 in administrative penalties against 48 underground facility owners, excavators and project owners who violated pipeline and utility line protection requirements.

The interstate Northeast Recycling Council is now accepting nominations for Environmental Sustainability Leadership Awards to recognize an individual or organization for their contribution to growing an environmentally sustainable economy within the NERC 11-state region.

On May 28, the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania announced the 2020 Pennsylvania Brownfields Conference will be held March 9-11 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center in State College.

The PA Municipal League and Sustainable Pittsburgh will host a Spring Sustainability Conference June 11 at the Toftrees Resort and Conference Center in State College.  The Conference sessions will include--

On June 19 join hundreds of Pennsylvanians at the Capitol in Harrisburg to lobby for bipartisan legislation to put Pennsylvania on a path toward 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.

On May 28, PJM Interconnection announced Andrew L. Ott, president and chief executive officer, is retiring from the organization on June 30, 2019.

The Department of Agriculture’s Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Committee published notice in the June 1 PA Bulletin it has added the tree of heaven, a haven for the spotted lanternfly, to the Class B Noxious Weed list.

By Pamela Hubbard, Master Gardener, Monroe County

Sara Fitzsimmons, Director of Restoration for The American Chestnut Foundation transported bare-root Chestnut seedlings to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County for planting on April 26 and oversaw the planting.

The 7th Annual Pennsylvania Firefly Festival will take place June 22 at the Black Caddis Ranch in Kellettville, Forest County between Tionesta and Marienville on Route 666 in the heart of the Allegheny National Forest.

Pennsylvania travelers can “pursue their scoops” on the newly expanded Pennsylvania Ice Cream Trail. After a popular inaugural season, the Pennsylvania Ice Cream Trail expanded from 12 creameries in Eastern and South Central PA, into three trails including a Western PA Trail, with a total of 32 stops in these regions for 2019.

On May 22, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn and other DCNR officials visited a project underway by the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps at Laurel Ridge State Park, Somerset County, where the secretary hailed the young adults for their strong work ethic.

In John Muir’s published collection of sketches and descriptions of national parks in 1901, he wrote that, “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”

Natural Lands invites visitors to get their groove on at Field Jam, the annual summer concert in the meadows at Gwynedd Preserve in North Wales, Montgomery County from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. There will be--

As its beautiful annuals and perennials awaken from their winter slumber, Gifford Pinchot’s Grey Towers National Historic Site in Milford, Pike County, opens for its 2019 visitor season.

The Summer 2019 Penn’s Stewards newsletter is now available from the PA Parks and Forests Foundation featuring articles on--

The May 29 Resource newsletter is now available from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources featuring articles on--

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources published notices in the June 1 PA Bulletin seeking engineering firms to conduct bridge inspections in State Parks and Forests and underwater diving consultants.

On May 30, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said his new performance audit shows the Game Commission should strengthen its financial oversight and hold gas and oil companies accountable for lease royalty payments.

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

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 highlights of actions taken by agencies on environmental regulations, technical guidance and permits.

CLICK HERE to View or Print the entire PA Environment Digest. This Digest is 105 pages long.

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

PA Environment Digest is proud to be a sponsor of the 2019 PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation and National Abandoned Mine Lands Program Conference to be held in Pittsburgh on September 8-11.

PA Environment Digest is a supporting member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, Pennsylvania Council Trout Unlimited and the Doc Fritchey Chapter Trout Unlimited.