department-of-environmental-protection

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Reliability v. sustainability: Inside the debate over the EPA’s proposed carbon rules

BY: - November 27, 2023

Grid operators are worried that fossil plant retirements are accelerating too quickly to ensure there are enough new resources to replace them.

Shapiro says state will appeal Commonwealth Court’s RGGI decision

BY: - November 21, 2023

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration announced Tuesday that it will appeal the Commonwealth Court’s decision to block Pennsylvania from entering the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program.  In a statement from the Governor’s office, Shapiro said he would appeal the Nov. 1 decision to block the Commonwealth from joining neighboring states in the multi-state carbon […]

ZIP code discrimination, pollution top concerns at DEP meeting on environmental justice policy

BY: - October 12, 2023

Air quality, interagency collaboration, and community investments were among the chief concerns shared by Pennsylvanians about the Commonwealth’s interim environmental justice policy at a public meeting Wednesday evening. 

Pennsylvania House committee hears testimony on riparian buffer bill

BY: - October 2, 2023

Members of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee heard testimony on Monday on a bill to protect existing environmental buffers near Pennsylvania waterways and give local and state entities oversight on their implementation. 

Report faults EPA for not enforcing limits on toxic benzene emissions at oil refineries

BY: - September 11, 2023

The federal Environmental Protection Agency must do a better job ensuring that oil refineries that exceed emissions limits for benzene, a toxic, carcinogenic pollutant, cut those concentrations, the agency’s inspector general found. “Thirteen of the 118 refineries we reviewed had benzene concentrations above the action level in 20 or more weeks after the initial exceedance,” […]

New federal water pollution rule draws mixed reaction

BY: - September 3, 2023

A federal rule limiting agencies’ power to regulate water pollution will severely restrict protections for waters and wetlands throughout the country, but could also be subject to challenges from conservative groups that maintain the new rule exerts more federal jurisdiction than the U.S. Supreme Court intended in a May decision. With the rule published last […]

COMMENTARY

What’s in a name? When it comes to Senate’s vote changing DEPs name? Everything | Opinion

BY: - June 16, 2023

A Republican-backed measure to rechristen it the Department of Environmental Services accomplishes nothing.

A heron is perched on a piling at sunrise on the Chesapeake Bay in Chesapeake Beach.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Biden wetlands regulation; what that means for the Chesapeake Bay

BY: - May 26, 2023

Wetlands unique to the Chesapeake Bay's watershed will lose protection from being dredged and filled without a permit.

Clean water advocates call on General Assembly to support pollution reduction efforts, legislation

BY: - May 3, 2023

The activists for the environmental organizations, including PennFuture and the Chesapeake Bay Commission, also urged lawmakers to codify the Office of Environmental Justice in funding programs, to ensure that underrepresented communities have a voice at the state level. 

DEP to host environmental justice town halls

BY: - April 6, 2023

Environmental justice communities are disproportionately affected by factors such as poor air quality, old housing and infrastructure, and limited transportation.

Permitting reform, carbon compact take center stage at DEP’s budget hearing

BY: - March 22, 2023

Lawmakers from both parties asked Negrín about the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state carbon credit program; permitting reform, and regulatory enforcement at Wednesday’s hearing, hoping to better understand the department’s spending priorities for the new fiscal year, which is set to begin on July 1.