Here are 60 new stories in the PA Environment Digest about individuals, groups, local governments, farmers, businesses, watershed groups and many more working all across Pennsylvania to restore and protect the environment and show others the beauty that surrounds us.

While PA Environment Digest’s priority is to highlight positive examples of environmental and energy leadership, 2022 is an election year which demands accountability to voters.

PA Environment Digest Is Putting The Best Links To Environment & Energy Articles and NewsClips Here.   Is Your Story Being Told?

On April 26, 15 projects by schools, businesses, and community organizations around the state were recognized with the 2022 Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence.

On April 8, 2022 the U.S. Department of Interior officially listed Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Berks County on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Sanctuary was also nominated and approved for its important role in both Conservation and Women’s History.

On April 29, the Department of Environmental Protection announced that $17.9 million in Growing Greener Plus and Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management grant funds is available to organizations and governments to reduce nonpoint source pollution in their local streams, rivers, and lakes.

By Russell Redding, PA Secretary Of Agriculture

On April 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the winners of its tenth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a national competition that engages college students in the design of on-campus green infrastructure solutions to address stormwater pollution.

On April 29, the Lancaster Clean Water Fund, administered by the Lancaster County Community Foundation and managed by the Lancaster Clean Water Partners, announced the award of  $1,731,835 to five Implementation Large Grant projects in the most recent grant round.

By Open Space Institute

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the April 30 PA Bulletin inviting comments on a proposed Total Maximum Daily Load Water Quality Plan for Little Buffalo Creek Watershed in Union County.  (PA Bulletin, page 2654)

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay is now accepting presentation proposals for the 17th Annual Chesapeake Watershed Forum on November 4-6 at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV.  The deadline for applications is June 3.

By Andy Yenta, Penn State Extension Educator

On April 28, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission announced $6.6 million in grant funding for 14 projects that will improve water availability and water quality in the basin during droughts.

The Delaware River Basin Commission will hold a virtual hearing May 11 on water withdrawal requests starting at 1:30 p.m.  (formal notice)

On April 25, Kurt Klapkowski, Acting DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, told the DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board Penn State’s latest study on the environmental impact of road dumping conventional oil and gas wastewater will have an “immediate,” “large” and “intense” impact on the use of this material in Pennsylvania, nationally and possibly internationally.

On April 25, Kurt Klapkowski, Acting DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, told the DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board he hopes to have a draft rulemaking covering conventional oil and gas waste processing and disposal ready for public review by the Board’s meeting on July 18.

On April 25, Kurt Klapkowski, Acting DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, told the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board DEP will be reviewing its bonding, financial assurance and well plugging requirements for conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells  to see if the state can qualify for an additional $70 million in funding from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Program.

On April 25, Kurt Klapkowski, Acting DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, told the DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board the new conventional oil and gas well plugging program funded by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is prompting a review of regulations allowing on-site disposal of radioactive and nonradioactive well plugging waste.

On April 25, Kurt Klapkowski, Acting DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, told the DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board it is unlikely that enough new oil and gas well permits will come in to DEP to fill an expected $8 million deficit in funding the agency’s Oil and Gas Regulatory Program.

On April 28, the Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Concerned Health Professionals of New York released their Eighth Compendium of Scientific, Medical and Media Findings On The Risk and Harms of Fracking And Associated Natural Gas And Oil.

On April 26, Republicans on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee reported out legislation imposing far-reaching decommissioning bonding requirements on solar and wind energy facilities, while ignoring the fact taxpayers are on the hook to pay for more than $1.8 billion to plug oil and gas wells regularly abandoned by conventional oil and gas operators.

Owners of Pennsylvania coal-fired power plants, a coal industry trade group and labor unions that represent their workers filed a lawsuit April 25 to stop the DEP from enforcing new rules that will require fossil fuel power plants to pay to release carbon dioxide.

A new solar array on the campus of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Fayette County will soon harness the power of the sun to offset 100% of electricity used by Fallingwater’s main and guest houses, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy announced on Earth Day, April 22.

On April 26, the Green Building Alliance announced it was awarded a $75,000 grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to lead the Higher Education Climate Consortium of Pittsburgh to continue the advancement of this collaboration on climate action.

By Penn State News

On April 28, the PJM Interconnection reported its members have overwhelmingly endorsed plans to speed up generation interconnection requests, improve project cost certainty, and significantly improve the process by which new and upgraded generation resources are introduced onto the electrical grid in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

On April 28, Department of Human Services Acting Secretary Meg Snead reminded Pennsylvanians that support from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) is still available.

Communities across the region were alive with volunteers last week in celebration of Earth Day and the 2nd Annual Susquehanna Greenway Cleanup Week organized with the help of the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership. 

The GIANT Company’s Reduced Emissions Program, developed in partnership with GreenPrint, help support local environmental improvement projects at the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education in York and the Centre County Recycling Center for Earth Day.

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership released a new economic study which found outdoor recreation in Pennsylvania, including hunting and fishing, generated $58 billion in 2020—that’s 26 percent more than in 2016.

By Ad Crable, Chesapeake Bay Journal

On April 29, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced the start of aerial spraying of state woodlands to combat spongy moth (Lymantria dispar dispar, formerly known as the gypsy moth) populations poised for spring outbreaks in many sections of Pennsylvania.

On April 25, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn dedicated two trailhead signs honoring longtime DCNR employee and former Jonestown Mayor George H. Kaufman.

On April 27, Natural Lands announced it has partnered with the Ross Family to add nearly 15 acres of land to Pennsylvania Game Lands in Haycock Township, Bucks County. The property includes Haycock Mountain, the highest point in the region, and is now forever protected from development.

On April 26, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn visited Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area in Dauphin County to celebrate its forest heritage and to induct it into the Old-Growth Forest Network.

On April 26, Lancaster Conservancy’s Otter Creek Nature Preserve in York County was inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network.

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy recently announced the purchase of a conservation easement to permanently protect and limit development on a 289-acre forested property in Cook Township, Westmoreland County.

By Penn State News

The April 29 Take Five Fridays With Pam is now available from the PA Parks & Forests Foundation.

Opportunities to learn more about environmental and energy issues affecting Pennsylvania for students and adults--

The American Society for Reclamation Sciences (formally American Society of Mining and Reclamation) is now accepting registrations for the 2022 Annual Meeting to be held in Duluth, Minnesota.

By Hailey Reiss, Penn State News

On April 28, the Westmoreland County Conservation District announced Norwin High School - Team One bested 18 other teams from eight area high schools to take first place in the Westmoreland County Envirothon.

The Pike County Conservation District is hosting a Wetlands Are Wonderful Identification Workshop on May 14 at Camp Spears, 143 Nichecronk Pd., Dingmans Ferry, PA 18328 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.

The 2022 Annual PA Firefly Festival will be held June 24 -25 in Kellettville, Forest County and  includes nature exhibits, presentations, firefly experts, music and firefly tours. 

The information you need to follow legislation in the House and Senate- starting with articles and NewsClips from last week--

Articles and NewsClips about federal actions impacting Pennsylvania--

Click Here for a list of public participation opportunities and a calendar of events.

Click Here for grants, awards, recognition programs and contest deadlines.

Highlights of the environmental and energy notices in the latest PA Bulletin--

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.

The PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation Conference will be held in-person and virtually June 22-23 at the Ramada Inn and Conference Center in State College.  This year's theme-- New Opportunities On The Horizon!  Registration Open!    Read more here.

PA Environment Digest is a supporting member of the PA Organization for Watersheds & Rivers, PA Outdoor Writers Association, PA Council Trout Unlimited and the Doc Fritchey Chapter Trout Unlimited.