While the workload of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has increased dramatically over the past two decades, its staff has shrunk significantly to the point where the department can no longer adequately enforce Pennsylvania’s environmental laws and regulations. Read more
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The state House Environmental & Natural Resource Protection Committee today held a public hearing at Widener University on legislation (H.B. 109) that would regulate the issuance of permits by the PA Department of Environmental Protection in environmental justice areas, according to committee Chairman Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, who hosted the hearing and is the prime sponsor, along with Reps. Chris Rabb and Malcolm Kenyatta, both D-Phila.,of the legislation. Read more
NEWLY LISTED PROGRAMS Department of Community and Economic Development: Local Share Account Statewide Who May Apply: Counties, municipalities, municipal authorities, economic development agencies, redevelopment authorities, land banks, or councils of government. Non-profits may partner with an eligible applicant to apply on their behalf. Use: Projects in the public interest. Projects that improve the quality of life of citizens in the community. Eligible projects must be owned and maintained by an eligible applicant or a nonprofit organization. See program guidelines for specific eligible uses of funds. Funds: The PA Race Horse Development and Gaming Act provides for the distribution of gaming revenues through the Commonwealth Financing Authority to support projects in the public interest. Grant requests must be at a minimum $25,000 and no more than $1,000,000. Application Deadline: November 30, 2024 More information: DCED Website Department of Education: Hunger-Free Campus Grants Who May Apply: Institutes of Higher Education. Use: Funding may be used to ensure students have access to healthy, nutritious food. Funds: Institutions with 3,000 or fewer students are eligible for $20,000 awards. Institutions with 3,001 to 7,000 students are eligible for $40,000 awards. Institutions with greater than 7,000 students are eligible for $60,000 awards. Application Deadline: September 23, 2024 More information: PDE website PROGRAMS OPEN FOR Read more
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has been chronically understaffed for years. The department is currently unable to fulfill its basic mission to protect public health and the environment. Additional positions proposed in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Commonwealth budget do not adequately address the department’s needs. When the Pennsylvania General Assembly and governor finalize the Commonwealth budget in the upcoming weeks, they must provide more staffing for DEP. Read more
NEWLY LISTED PROGRAMS Department of Education: Public School Environmental Repairs Program Who May Apply: School districts, area career and technical schools, charter schools, and regional charter schools that operate school buildings. Use: Eligible projects include, but are not limited to, the remediation and/or abatement of lead in water sources and paint, asbestos, and mold inside school buildings of eligible school entities. Funds: Up to $75 million in state funds will be competitively awarded. There is no minimum funding request. The maximum funding request is $10 million. One application per entity will be accepted, but the application may consist of more than one project in more than one school building. Application Deadline: June 30, 2024 More information: PDE Website Department of Agriculture: Farm-to-School Grant Program Who May Apply: Any school district, school, charter school, private school, or center with pre-K classes, kindergarten classes, elementary classes, or middle school classes through 8 th grade that participates in a Federal Child Nutrition Program. Use: The purpose of the Farm-to-School Program is to educate prekindergartners through eighth graders and their families about the importance of choosing healthy, locally produced foods and increase awareness of Pennsylvania agriculture. Eligible projects will achieve this purpose. Funds: $500,000 is available for Read more
Despite the Shapiro administration’s increased efforts to plug orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells, conventional drillers continue to abandon their wells at a rate faster than the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection can plug them. Unless the DEP’s Oil and Gas program is given adequate staffing to properly police conventional drillers and the ability to increase bonding amounts to ensure drillers fulfill their well plugging obligations, taxpayer money – both federal and state – will continue to be wasted on DEP’s well plugging efforts. Read more
December 2023 Newsletter Read more
July 2023 Newsletter Read more
In early May, just one day after the Pennsylvania House of Representatives held a public hearing on the cryptomining industry and climate change, the White House called for a new tax on the enormous amount of electricity used by cryptomining companies to minimize the industry’s outsized impact in worsening the climate crisis. Read more
April 2023 Newsletter Read more
A new governor offers hope that the chronic underfunding of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will finally end. Read more
December 2022 Newsletter Read more
“It’s a complicated issue because the immediate environmental benefits are pretty clear,” said Rep. Greg Vitali, who is the minority chair of the House Environmental and Energy Committee. “You reduce an unsightly site, you reduce acid mine drainage, you reduce the risk of a fire on these coal waste sites, but the costs of burning waste coal are a little more theoretical but very important – which is greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere. So it’s a balance of competing environmental concerns.” Read more
August 2022 Newsletter Read more
February 2022 Newsletter Read more
Gov. Tom Wolf’s address to Pennsylvania’s General assembly on Feb. 8h will mark the official opening of negotiations on the commonwealth’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget. Regrettably, this annual budget has shortchanged the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for many years. With a rosy revenue picture for the upcoming fiscal year, the governor and the General Assembly should adopt a budget that fully funds the DEP. The best measure of the DEP’s strength over time is its number of filled positions, i.e., the number of people paid to come to work each day. In 2003, the DEP had 3,311 filled positions. This past December it was down to 2,323 filled positions. That’s about a 30% reduction in staff over the last 18 years. This percent staff reduction is about double that of all commonwealth agencies over the same period. Reduced staffing has compromised the department’s ability to regulate oil and gas development, monitor and reduce air and water pollution and protect the Chesapeake Bay. Pennsylvania has the money to fully fund DEP. According to the commonwealth’s Independent Fiscal Office, Pennsylvania’s General fund revenue surplus for fiscal year 2021-22 is projected to be over 1.6 billion dollars -the second largest in a decade. Oil and Gas Program The DEP’s Oil and Gas Program has oversight over the almost 80,000 Pennsylvania oil and gas wells now in production. In 2015, this program had 226 filled Read more
November 2021 Newsletter Read more
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