Pa Environment Digest Oct. 22, 2018

Issue #747 Harrisburg, PA Oct.
22, 2017
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Bills On Recreation Liability, Lead Service Lines, Leaf Waste, Ag Advisory Board, 1-Stop
Permit Center On Governor’s Desk
Late Wednesday night the Senate and House held

what we thought was their last scheduled regular
voting day on bills in the 2017-18 legislative
session moving the last 5 environmental bills to
Gov. Wolf’s desk for his action.
The bills on the desk include legislation on
landowner recreation liability, lead service water
lines, leaf waste recycling, new responsibilities for
DEP’s Agricultural Advisory Board and setting up
a new 1-stop business and permitting center in
DCED.
The bills now on the Governor’s desk are--
-- Recreation Liability: House Bill 544 (Moul-R-Adams) further providing for liability
protection for landowners opening their land for public recreation (Senate Fiscal Note and
summary).
-- Leaf Waste Recycling: House Bill 927 (Rader-R-Monroe) amends Act 101 Municipal Waste
Planning and Recycling Act to eliminate the mandate on smaller municipalities to have a leaf
waste collection program (Senate Fiscal Note and summary).
-- Lead Service Lines: House Bill 2075 (Charlton-R-Delaware) authorizing rate recovery for
customer-owned lead water service lines (Senate Fiscal Note and summary).
-- DEP Agricultural Advisory Board: Senate Bill 1171 (Brooks-R-Crawford) provides detailed
procedures for DEP to consult with the existing Agricultural Advisory Board on the adoption of
technical guidance, changes to permits affecting agriculture and regulations (House Fiscal Note
and summary).
-- One-Stop-Business Center: House Bill 1284 (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a
one-stop-shop online business formation and permitting portal for business (Senate Fiscal Note
and summary).
The Governor has 10 days to sign or veto these bills.
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Not Making It
Among the bills not making it to the Governor’s desk are--
-- Conventional Drilling: House Bill 2154 (Causer-R-Cameron) which would weaken
environmental standards for conventional (not Shale) oil and gas drilling (Senate Fiscal Note,
House Fiscal Note and summaries) remains on the Senate Calendar for action. Click Here for
more.
-- Cleanup Funding: House Bill 2638 (Stephens-R-Montgomery) which would authorize new
local authorities to cleanup former military installations financed by tax refunds by businesses
and individuals working in the remediation area was amended to eliminate its application to all
properties with pollution to just those involving former military installations (Senate Fiscal Note
and summary), passed by the Senate. However, the bill was then defeated in the House on
concurrence by a vote of 95 to 86. Click Here for more.
-- Pipeline Commission: Senate Resolution 373 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery)-- a concurrent
Senate-House resolution to establish a Senate-House legislative Commission to Study Pipeline
Construction and Operations and to recommend improvements for the safe transport of oil,
natural gas and other hazardous liquids through pipelines was put back on the Calendar October
1.
-- Landowner Bill Of Rights: Senate Bill 1199 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery)-- providing for a
landowners’ bill of rights in cases of eminent domain, including by private entities like pipeline
companies (sponsor summary)-- was also reported out of Committee in June and has sat on the
Senate Calendar since then.
-- Emergency Pipeline Notification: Senate Bill 930 (Dinniman-D- Chester) setting notification
requirements related to pipeline emergencies (sponsor summary)
-- Safety Valves: Senate Bill 931 (Dinniman-D-Chester) requiring the installation of automatic
or remote controlled safety values in natural gas pipelines in densely populated areas was
reported out of committee in November of last year and has remained on the Senate Calendar
without action since then.
-- Eastern Hellbender: Senate Bill 658 (Yaw-R-Lycoming), which would have designated the
Eastern Hellbender as the state amphibian and clean water ambassador, remains stuck in the
House State Government Committee without action. By not acting, the House let down the high
school students who worked 2 years on the designation and the thousands of people who signed a
petition supporting the legislation. Click Here for more.
-- Electronics Waste Recycling Program Reform: On October 30, 2017 the Senate
Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 800 (Alloway-R-
Franklin) which totally revamps the whole electronics waste recycling law and put in its place a
new system that he believes will fix many of the problems. Click Here for more.
--Lawn Fertilizer Regulation/Education: Senate Bill 792 (Alloway-R-Franklin) regulating the
application of fertilizer by homeowners, golf courses and athletic fields passed the Senate in
March of this year. The House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee held a hearing on the
bill in June, but took no further action. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Richard Alloway, one of
Pennsylvania’s representatives on the Chesapeake Bay Commission. Click Here for more.
-- Keystone Tree Fund: House Bill 2486 (Everett-R-Lycoming) creating the Keystone Tree
Fund to providing funding for the Treevitalize and Riparian Forest Buffer Grant Program by
creating a $3 checkoff box on vehicle and drivers’ licenses was reported out of the House
Transportation Committee at the end of September and was Tabled, not seeing further action.
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Click Here for more.
-- Protect Existing Act 13 Drilling Impact Fee Income: A Commonwealth Court decision in
March on the definition of stripper well in Act 13 threatens to reduce revenue from the Act 13
drilling impact fee by another 10 percent ($16 million) a year. Although the Public Utility
Commission is appealing the decision, Rep. Pam Snyder (D-Fayette) introduced House Bill 1283
in April to fix the problem (sponsor summary). The bill was stuck in the House Environmental
Resources and Energy Committee since April Click Here for more.
-- Microgrids: House Bill 1412 (Barrar-R-Delaware) proposing a regulatory framework to
encourage energy storage and microgrids to improve electric grid resiliency during disaster
emergencies and other circumstances (sponsor summary) was the subject of two hearings by the
House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee. The bill was briefly reported
out and then back to the Committee. Click Here for more.
-- Electric Vehicle Infrastructure: House Bill 1446 (Quinn-R-Bucks) encouraging the
development of infrastructure for electric and natural gas fueled vehicles (sponsor summary) was
the subject of a House Transportation Committee hearing in November 2017, was reported out of
the Committee but then sat on the House Calendar with no further action. Click Here for more.
-- Act 129 Energy Conservation Program: Senate Bill 1236 (McGarrigle-R-Delaware) just
introduced this bill in the Senate in September to update the very successful Act 129 utility
Energy Conservation Program requirements for electric utilities. Click Here for more.
-- Community Solar: House Bill 2681 (Santora-R-Delaware and a bipartisan group of
cosponsors) would authorize community solar electric generation systems was just introduced
this month. Click Here for more.
-- Game, Fish Commission Fees: Legislation passed the Senate in March of 2017 giving the
Game and Fish and Boat Commissions the ability to set their own fees by regulation is now
stalled in the House Game and Fisheries Committee. Senate Bill 30 (Eichelberger-R-Blair)
authorizing the Fish and Boat Commission to adopt its own fees saw no action on the bill in
Committee. Senate Bill 192 (Stefano-R-Fayette) authorizing the Game Commission to adopt its
own fees was Tabled in the Committee. Click Here for more.
What’s Next?
OK, now there’s only one more scheduled voting day left for the House and Senate this
year after the House Thursday changed its November 13 return date to a voting day.
As of now, the House is on a 12-hour call by the Speaker and is scheduled to be back in
Harrisburg on November 13 for Leadership Elections (and now voting).
The Senate is adjourned to the call of the President Pro Tempore and is scheduled to be
back in Harrisburg November 14 for their Leadership Elections.
No more voting days have been scheduled in the Senate, but they could, for example, to
return to finish the biggest issue they left undone-- legislation to deal with the grand jury
recommendations on child sex abuse.
As a reminder, with the expected end of voting session for 2017-18, all bills introduced
will ‘die’ and will have to start over when the 2019-20 legislative session begins on January 8.
Environment/Energy Bills 2017-18
The major environmental and energy bills becoming law in the 2017-18 legislative
session include--
2018 -----------
-- Steel Slag Waste Exemption: Senate Bill 497 (Vogel-R-Beaver) exempting steel slag from
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the definition of waste under certain circumstances. A House Fiscal Note and summary is
available. Signed into law as Act 7.
-- Farm High Tunnels: House Bill 1486 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) exempting agricultural
high-tunnel structures from the Stormwater Management Act (House Fiscal Note and summary).
Signed into law as Act 15.
-- Mine Medical Personnel: House Bill 1341 (Pyle-R-Armstrong) further providing for training
and certification of emergency medical personnel responding to bituminous deep mine
accidents.. A House Fiscal Note and summary is available. Signed into law as Act 16.
-- Local Clean Energy Funding: Senate Bill 234 (Blake-D-Lackawanna), Property Assessed
Clean Energy Financing Program, that authorizes local governments to create energy
improvement districts to help fund energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation
projects for commercial, agricultural and industrial buildings to reduce their operating costs
(Senate Fiscal Note and summary). Signed into law as Act 30.
-- Fiscal Code-Multiple Provisions: House Bill 1929 (Marsico-R- Dauphin) amending the
Fiscal Code includes a new Private Dam Financial Assurance and Loan Program, direction to
DCNR on developing ATV trails and more funding for small water and sewer projects (Senate
Fiscal Note and summary, House Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for a summary by
House Democrats. Click Here for more. Signed into law as Act 42.
-- Limiting Eminent Domain: House Bill 2468 limiting the use of eminent domain by
government agencies on land with conservation easements for parks and open space purposes
except for emergency condemnation and condemnation by public utilities (House Fiscal Note).
Click Here for more. Signed into law as Act 45.
-- Alternative Ratemaking: House Bill 1782 (Delozier-R-Cumberland) authorizing alternative
ratemaking such as decoupling, performance-based, multiyear and other mechanisms for utilities
regulated by the PUC, including electric, natural gas, water and wastewater services (Senate
Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for more. S igned into law as Act 58.
-- Littering/Dumping: Senate Bill 431 (Scavello-R-Monroe) authorizes the designation of local
litter enforcement corridors where fines are doubled for certain offences or even tripled for
commercial littering or illegal dumping and designates all scenic highways as litter enforcement
corridors (House Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for more. Signed into law as Act 61.
-- Disposal Of Hospice Medication: Senate Bill 978 (Baker-R-Luzerne) disposal of unused
medicines in hospice or for home health care patients (House Fiscal Note and summary). Signed
into law as Act 69.
2017 ----------
-- Timber On Federal Land: House Bill 1494 (Rapp-R-Forest) authorizing the state to enter
into a cooperative agreement with federal agencies for the purpose of selling timber on federal
land (Senate Fiscal Note and summary). Signed into law as Act 25.
-- Alternative Septic Systems: Senate Bill 144 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) amending Act 537 on
include alternative on-lot sewage systems in sewage plans (House Fiscal Note and summary).
Signed into law as Act 26.
-- Natural Gas Vehicles: Senate Bill 589 (Langerholc-R-Bedford) increasing maximum
allowable weight for natural gas vehicles (House Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for
more. Signed into law as Act 31.
-- Roll Back Stream Protections From Mining: Senate Bill 624 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson)
retroactively rolling back protections for streams from deep coal mining (House Fiscal Note and
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summary). (Click Here for more.) Gov. Wolf allowed this bill to become law without his
signature as Act 32.
-- Uniform Construction Code: House Bill 409 (Evankovich-R- Allegheny) making changes to
the process for adopting amendments to the Uniform Construction Code, including energy
efficiency standards (Senate Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for more. Signed into law as
Act 36.
-- Sunset For $2/ton Recycling Fee Eliminated: Part of the Administrative Code bill-- House
Bill 118-- that became law included a provision eliminating the sunset date on the $2/ton
Recycling Fee ensuring financial stability for the state’s local Recycling Program into the future
(Senate Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for more. Signed into law as Act 40.
-- Closing Solar Borders: A provision requiring solar energy credits under the Alternative
Energy Portfolio Standards to be purchased within Pennsylvania also became law as part of
House Bill 118 (Senate Fiscal Note and summary). Signed into law as Act 40.
-- Manganese Standard: Included in the Administrative Code bill-- House Bill 118 (Kaufer-R-
Luzerne)-- is a provision which directs the Environmental Quality Board to adopt a proposed
manganese standard within 90 days that includes the 1 milligram/liter manganese standard
established under 25 Pa Code Chapter 93.7 and insure the standard is met at the point of intake
for water suppliers (25 Pa Code Chapter 96.3). The 1 milligram/liter standard is 20 times the
level of manganese that water suppliers are allowed to have in their water supplies, according to
EPA’s secondary maximum contaminant level (Senate Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for
more. Signed into law as Act 40.
-- Wild Resource Conservation Tax Checkoff: This checkoff was permanently reauthorized as
part of the Tax Code bill-- House Bill 542-- that became law. It helps assure funding for
DCNR’s Wild Resource Conservation Program (House Fiscal Note and summary). Signed into
law as Act 43.
-- Funding Sewer/Water Laterals: A section of the Fiscal Code bill-- House Bill 674-- that
became law allows public municipal authorities to use funds to replace private water and sewer
laterals (Senate Fiscal Note and summary). This was proposed originally to help the Pittsburgh
Water Authority deal with lead service lines. Signed into law as Act 44.
-- Noxious Weeds: House Bill 790 (Pashinski-D-Luzerne) repeal the Noxious Weed Control
Law and replace with the Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Act (House Fiscal Note and
summary). Signed into law as Act 46.
-- Performance-Based Budgeting: Senate Bill 181 (Mensch-R-Montgomery) providing for a
performance-based budgeting (exempting appropriations to the General Assembly and the
Judiciary) and creating a Performance-Based Budget Board (House Fiscal Note and summary).
Click Here for more. Signed into law as Act 48.
-- Natural Gas Gathering Pipelines: Senate Bill 242 (Baker-R-Luzerne) adding unconventional
and larger conventional natural gas gathering pipelines to the PA One Call utility safety program
is a major win (House Fiscal Note and summary). Click Here for more. S igned into law as Act
50.
-- Storage Tanks: House Bill 290 (Metzgar-R-Bedford) providing for legislative appointments
to the Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Board, fills a gap in funding for DEP’s
Storage Tank Program and extends the sunset date for the environmental cleanup programs for
storage tanks (House Fiscal Note and summary). Signed into law as Act 61.
-- Water Authorities Under PUC: House Bill 1490 (Turzai-R-Allegheny) placing the
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Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority under the regulation of the Public Utility Commission
(House Fiscal Note and summary) .Click Here for more. Signed into law as Act 65.
-- Banning Plastic Bag Bans: House Bill 1071 (Farry-R-Bucks) to prevent the imposition of a
ban, fee or surcharge on recyclable plastic bags (House Fiscal Note and summary). This bill was
vetoed by Gov. Wolf as Veto No. 1.
-- Lead Exposure Task Force: Senate Resolution 33 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) was passed by the
Senate creating a bipartisan task force to investigate the scope of Pennsylvania’s lead exposure
problem, including in drinking water (sponsor summary). Click Here for more. Adopted June 6,
2017.
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
DEP: 61 Watershed Restoration, Stormwater Projects Totaling $12.6 Million Funded By

Mariner East 2 Pipeline Penalty
The Department of Environmental Protection

Tuesday announced it has selected 61 projects to
receive grants from the historic $12.6 million
penalty assessed to Sunoco for violations related
to the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. The
selected projects improve water quality, restore
watersheds, and improve stormwater management.
“One thing that all of these projects have in
common is that they will improve Pennsylvania’s
water – whether that is through reducing runoff pollution, restoring watersheds, or other means,”
said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell.
In February 2018, DEP collected the $12.6 million penalty for numerous violations along
the Mariner East 2 pipeline and began accepting grant applications in April.
Grants were awarded for stormwater management, invasive species removal, forest
restoration, farm runoff reduction, streambank restoration, and many other projects that
ultimately improve water quality in Pennsylvania.
Grantees include County Conservation Districts, municipalities, school districts, and
non-profit organizations.
“These projects do not absolve Sunoco of its responsibility to restore any damage to
Pennsylvania waters and wetlands through the construction of the pipeline. But it is nice that this
penalty could be put directly towards other deserving improvement projects in the communities
along the right-of-way,” said McDonnell. “DEP has been vigilant in holding Sunoco accountable
for violations and will continue to do so.”
Click Here for a list of projects funded.
Reaction
Harry Campbell, Executive Director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Pennsylvania,
Wednesday applauded the Department of Environmental Protection for awarding of $12.6
million for watershed restoration and stormwater projects using funding comes from the penalty
assessed to Mariner East 2 Pipeline project. Mr. Campbell said:
“We applaud the distribution of these funds to 61 projects to improve water quality in 14
counties of the Commonwealth. Many of the projects are located within the Pennsylvania portion
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of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and are positive steps toward getting the Commonwealth back
on track toward its clean water goals.
“In Cumberland County, farmers will get needed technical assistance, and the amount of
polluted runoff into waters like Wertz Run, Hogestown Run, Cedar Run Creek, Yellow Breeches
Creek, and others will be reduced.
“Trees will be planted in Dauphin County and streambanks in Highspire Borough, and
the townships of Derry, Lower Swatara and Londonderry will be repaired and stabilized.
“In Huntingdon County, polluted runoff will be reduced in Shirley, Tell, Union, and Penn
townships.
“The floodplain in the Cocalico Creek headwaters will be restored in Lancaster County.
“Lebanon County will receive grants for nine projects that include planting riparian
buffers, improving stormwater management, restoring conditions along two creeks, and more.
“Roughly 19,000 miles of our rivers and streams are damaged by pollution. At CBF, we
believe that adequate investments of resources focusing on the right practices, at the right places,
and engaging the right people and partners will restore and protect cleaner water for future
generations of Pennsylvanians.”
For more information on actions taken by DEP related to the Mariner East 2 Pipeline,
visit DEP’s Mariner East 2 Pipeline webpage.
The Public Utility Commission has also taken a series of actions related to the Mariner
East 2 pipeline.
NewsClips:
Blanchard: DEP Awards Water Quality Grants Funded By $12.6M Penalty Against Sunoco
Grants From Penalty Help Flooding, Water Pollution Around Westmoreland
Crable: West Cocalico Twp. Floodplain To Be Restored In Lancaster With Pipeline Penalties
Funded By Mariner East 2 Pipeline Fine, Chesco Gets $1.8M For Conservation
Sauro: Mariner East 2 Pipeline Fines To Fund Blair County Projects
Blanchard: Full Mariner East Pipeline Risk Assessment Report Released By Citizens Group
Energy, Explained Podcast: How 1 Family Lost The Farm To A Failed Pipeline Project
Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Now Moving Natural Gas
Hurdle: Mariner East 2 Pipeline Operation Delayed To 2020, Sunoco To Use Mariner 1, 2 Other
Pipelines For Natural Gas Liquids In The Interim
Sources: FERC Chairman Expected To Step Down
Related Stories:
Delaware, Chester Citizens Group Releases Final Risk Assessment Report On Mariner East
Pipelines
Trout Unlimited’s New Tool For Pipeline Siting Considerations In The Delaware River Basin
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Delaware, Chester Citizens Group Releases Final Risk Assessment Report On Mariner
East Pipelines
The Del Chesco United for Pipeline Safety

citizens group Friday released the Final
Quantitative Risk Assessment Of Sunoco’s
Mariner East Pipeline Project in Chester and
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Delaware counties.
The Risk Assessment was completed by Quest Consultants of Norman, Oklahoma, under
a contract with the Clean Air Council which served as fiscal agent for the project.
The group said Tim Boyce, Director of the Delaware County Emergency Services
Department reviewed Quest’s abilities as part of a Risk Assessment proposal Quest presented to
Delaware County Council. Mr. Boyce reported that Quest was “fully qualified” to perform such
work.
Among the findings summarized by the group were--
-- 2,135 Foot Danger Area: Predicted consequences of a release of hazardous, highly volatile
liquids from the proposed 20-inch diameter “Mariner East 2” pipeline extend up to 2,135 feet.
This is a modeled result and not an upper limit.
-- Valve Site Risk: Valve sites are points where there is significantly heightened likelihood of
release. Due to the equipment present, and the aboveground placement of this equipment,
pipeline valve stations represent the highest risk locations. The risk of fatality near valve sites
was found to be in excess of the tolerable limit when compared to international criteria.
-- “Horizontal directional drill” (HDD) entry and exit points are locations of significantly
heightened likelihood of release. In the event of a breach along a deeply buried segment, gas will
flow along the path of least resistance, which is likely to be the HDD entry exit points. Gas may
also be released through fissures or cracks that may have been created during
loss-of-drilling-fluid events (“frac-outs”).
-- Multiple Pipelines Triples Probability: The presence of two pipelines approximately
doubles the probability of an accident over a single pipeline. Three pipelines triples the
probability, and so on. A doubling of probability represents a doubling of risk.
-- Undetectable But Serious Leaks: There is a threshold rate of release below which the
operator is unable to detect a leak is occurring. This threshold release rate is large enough that it
could produce very serious consequences including injuries, death, or property damage.
-- Small Leaks Could Be Deadly: Even the smallest leak of highly volatile liquids from a
transmission pipeline has potentially deadly consequences.
-- Delays Until Values Close: Should there be a leak or rupture of a particular segment that IS
identified by the operator, it will take many minutes (even under best possible circumstances) to
close block valves. Even with block valves closed, highly volatile liquids will continue to vent
from the breach until the failed segment is substantially emptied.
-- Vapor Cloud Explosions: Wooded areas serve to increase the surface area of a gas cloud and
act to worsen the consequences of a vapor cloud explosion. In cases modeled using CANARY,
the presence of trees increased the blast radius beyond what it would have been without trees.
-- Low-Lying Area Vapor Confinement: Any confinement of a combustible vapor cloud can
produce explosive effects. Examples of potential confinement include low-lying area surrounded
by higher terrain, densely developed areas, and buildings into which gas may find its way.
-- Advise Not Using Telephones: Should county emergency services departments be informed
of a leak, they intend to operate their “reverse 911” systems to notify residents via phone of the
need to self-evacuate or other instructions. However, the federal pipeline regulator advises
against the use of telephones and cell phones, warning “these can ignite airborne gases.”
-- Conflicting Advice On Sheltering In Buildings: The Final Report indicates that, under some
circumstances, being inside a building may provide protection from death or injury from fire
radiation or explosive effects. However, Sunoco’s one-size-fits all guidance recommends
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immediate on-foot self-evacuation, in the correct upwind direction. In all cases, Sunoco
recommends leaving the building if you are in one. Sunoco has not provided any information
about to determine when it may be safer to remain indoors; how to find wind direction; or how to
recognize when a “safe location” has been reached. Sunoco also has failed to provide guidance
about actions that should be taken by people of limited mobility such as seniors, young children,
or those with disabilities, particularly at night or during inclement weather.
Funding for the Citizens Risk Assessment was obtained through a public-private
partnership of impacted Pennsylvania municipalities; nonprofit corporations such as
homeowners’ associations; and from a crowd-sourced project soliciting contributions from
individuals across Pennsylvania.
Click Here to download a copy of the report.
Consequences Modeling Tool Available To Communities
Del-Chesco United has also acquired a temporary lease of the CANARY consequences
modeling program, a proprietary tool developed by Quest Consultants.
CANARY was used to model accidents on Mariner East for the Citizens Risk
Assessment, and Del-Chesco United is willing to operate CANARY for any interested
municipality, school district, or emergency response agency.
Del-Chesco United is currently seeking additional funding in order to purchase a
perpetual license for CANARY.
For more information, visit the Del Chesco United for Pipeline Safety Facebook page.
(Photo: One of a series of risk maps included in the report.)
NewsClips:
Related Stories:
DEP: 61 Watershed Restoration, Stormwater Projects Totalling $12.6 Million Funded By
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
PennVEST Awards $93M For Drinking Water, Wastewater, Nonpoint Source Projects,
Including Nearly $50M For Lead Service Line Replacement In Pittsburgh
The PA Infrastructure Investment Authority Wednesday announced the award of $93 million for
for 15 drinking water, wastewater, and nonpoint source projects across 12 counties.
The projects included a $35.4 million loan and a $13.6 million grant to the Pittsburgh
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Water and Sewer Authority to replace lead service lines in the City of Pittsburgh.
Nonpoint source projects included--
-- Delaware County: Chester City Stormwater Authority received a $5,652,282 loan pay for
retrofits of 125 catch basins, 55 tree box inlets, 18 grated inlets, 20 curb inlets 32 vortex inlet
control devices, and 1,440 square feet of porous concrete panels. The project will reduce
flooding and overflows from excessive runoff and lack of capacity in the conveyance and storage
system and sediment that is affecting Ridley and Chester Creeks.
-- Fulton County Conservation District received a $684,700 grant to implement manure
storage and waste containment facilities on the Brandon Gordon Dairy Farm. The project is
expected to annually reduce over 11,000 pounds of nitrogen and 3,500 pounds of phosphorus
from draining into Kendall Run, Big Cove Creek and Licking Creek all draining into the
Chesapeake Bay watershed.
-- Chester County Conservation District received a $547,860 grant to cover the costs related
to construction of manure storage facilities, heavy use areas, walkways, and stormwater controls
to reduce the runoff into Pequea Creek a high-quality cold-water fishery and White Horse Run a
warm water fishery. Annual reductions are estimated at 5,865 pounds of nitrogen, 2,425 pounds
of phosphorus and 3,780 pounds of sediment. All drain into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
-- Chester County Conservation District received a $465,280 grant to cover the costs related
to construction of a manure storage facility, unloading pit, related drainage, pumps transfer lines
and other runoff controls to reduce runoff into the East Branch of the Octoraro Creek, that is part
of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Annual reductions are estimated at 2,779 pounds of nitrogen,
1,222 pounds of phosphorus, and 3,400 pounds in sediment with the implementation of this
project.
“The approvals that we announce today demonstrate our commitment to clean water, and
strong communities to serve people of Pennsylvania,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “These projects
benefit public health, the environment, and support sustainable communities as we advance our
shared goal of a clean and safe environment for our families to enjoy, both now and for future
generations.”
The funding comes from a combination of state funds approved by voters, Growing
Greener, Marcellus Legacy funds, federal grants to PennVEST from the Environmental
Protection Agency and recycled loan repayments from previous PennVEST funding awards.
Disbursement of funds for these projects are made after receipts are submitted to
PennVEST.
Click Here for a list of projects approved for funding.
Visit the PA Infrastructure Investment Authority for more information on water
infrastructure funding opportunities.
Related Stories:
DEP: 61 Watershed Restoration, Stormwater Projects Totalling $12.6 Million Funded By
POWR, PEC To Hold Regional Watershed Workshops In Butler, Lackawanna Counties
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
DEP Awards Coastal Management Grants To 15 Projects Along Lake Erie, Tidal Delaware
River
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The Department of Environmental Protection Friday announced the award of nearly $550,000 to
support 15 projects by municipalities, schools, and community organizations that help protect
and restore water quality, shoreline stability, trails, and other community and natural resources in
the coastal areas along Lake Erie and the tidal Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
“Our coastal areas are complex ecosystems that provide a bounty of natural and
community resources,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “Local initiatives to protect their
environmental sustainability will also protect public health, infrastructure, business, and outdoor
recreation opportunities. This is essential as coastal zones come under increasing pressure from
development, erosion, severe storms, biodiversity loss, and pollution.”
This year’s grants support a variety of initiatives, including debris cleanup, public
educational programs, creek restoration and trail construction projects, a living shoreline to
stabilize erosion, research on algal bloom impacts, and development of local municipal capacity
to adapt to flooding related to climate change.
The projects funded include--
Tidal Delaware River Coastal Area
-- Bensalem Township – $50,000 to construct a segment of the Bensalem Greenway Trail
through Ryn County Park as part of the East Coast Greenway initiative from Maine to Florida
-- Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission – $50,000 to conduct outreach to
municipalities in the Delaware Estuary Coastal Zone focused on climate resiliency and related
hazard mitigation; $45,000 to implement the Coastal Management Program in the Delaware
Estuary Coastal Zone
-- Friends of Silver Lake Nature Center – $9,440 to provide water quality monitoring and
community educational programming on non-point-source pollution
-- Heritage Conservancy – $24,000 to provide community educational programming, help
restore biodiversity and habitat through invasive species control, and develop school and scout
volunteer stewardship opportunities at Croydon Woods Preserve
-- Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful – $10,000 to conduct community cleanups and debris removal
in the Delaware Estuary
-- Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Inc. – $52,722 to conduct a study on integrating
freshwater mussel restoration and living shorelines on the Schuylkill River; $34,503 to conduct
Pennsylvania Coast Day 2019 events to educate the public about coastal recreation, historic sites,
and public access
-- Schuylkill River Development Corporation – $50,000 to complete the final design for a new
segment of Schuylkill Banks, part of the Schuylkill River Trail, from Christian to Crescent;
$42,000 to complete the Bartram’s Mile fishing pier feasibility study
Lake Erie Coastal Area
-- County of Erie – $70,000for coordination and technical assistance with Lake Erie coastal
zone projects; $9,000 to assist Lake Erie coastal communities in administering the Bluff
Recession and Setback Act of 1980
-- Erie Times-News in Education – $41,572 for a recurring Newspaper in Education weekly
page focusing on coastal zone environmental issues
-- Gannon University – $11,915 to conduct the Regional Summer School of Excellence
-- Regional Science Consortium – $49,834 to research the impact of Harmful Algal Blooms on
wild and domestic animal populations
Coastal areas comprise coastal waters and adjacent shorelands. The 112-mile Delaware
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Estuary coastal area is in Bucks, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties. It encompasses islands,
marshes, and other areas in the Delaware Estuary watershed, as well as the Port of Philadelphia.
The 77-mile Lake Erie coastal area is in Erie County and includes the Lake Erie shoreline
and several major tributaries. It also extends to the middle of the lake, to the international
boundary with Canada, and inland an average of 1.4 miles.
For more information on this program, visit DEP’s Coastal Zone Resources webpage.
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
DEP Now Accepting Nominations For 2019 Governor's Awards For Environmental
Excellence
The Department of Environmental Protection Wednesday announced it is now accepting

nominations for the 2019 Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence to showcase the best
of the best among Pennsylvania’s environmental stewards.
The deadline for nominations is December 17.
“Pennsylvanians show their dedication to the environment in countless projects, from
stream monitoring to city park cleanups, to shop floor recycling,” said Department of
Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “We deeply appreciate the positive
difference these environmental stewards make all year round, and each spring look forward to
recognizing some of the very best initiatives.”
DEP oversees the application and award selection process, evaluating projects on seven
criteria: degree of environmental protection, climate change, sustainability, partnership,
economic impact, innovation, and environmental education and outreach. Projects don’t have to
meet all criteria to merit an award and may be nonprofit or for-profit.
The Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence are open to all individuals,
whether they led or participated in a project, and to all schools, nonprofit organizations,
businesses, farms, and government agencies. People may also nominate an individual or
organization by applying on their behalf.
Projects must have been completed before October 17, 2018, to be eligible. Past winners
may submit applications for new projects, but projects that have previously received an
Environmental Excellence Award aren’t eligible.
Last year, 23 projects received awards and achieved these results--
-- Volunteers: Enlisted 16,000 volunteers;
-- Greenhouse Gases: Prevented 258 million tons of greenhouse gases from entering the
atmosphere;
-- Cost Savings: Saved over $42 million in operation and maintenance costs;
12
-- Water Savings: Conserved 37 million gallons of water annually;
-- Waste Diverted: Diverted 29 million tons of waste and 57 million bottles from landfill
disposal;
-- Stream Buffers: Created 98,500 acres of riparian buffers;
-- Trees Planted: Planted 35,090 native trees and shrubs, and
-- Solar Energy: Installed 350 rooftop solar tubes.
For more information and to apply, visit DEP’s 2019 Governor’s Awards for
Environmental Excellence webpage.
Related Story:
23 Companies, Groups, Individuals Honored With Governor's Award For Environmental
Excellence
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
Bay Journal: Part 1 - Chesapeake Bay Cleanup May Lose Race To 2025 Goal, But Presses
On
By Karl Blankenship, Chesapeake Bay Journal
hesapeake Bay Journal

This article is the first in C
4-part special report, The Bay's Pollution Diet: Is
it Working?
As the Chesapeake Bay region enters what was

supposed to be the final stretch of a decades-long
effort to clean up the nation’s largest estuary, it —
once again — faces a cleanup goal it appears likely
to be missed.
Progress has been made — and Bay water quality
has improved — but the region is significantly off
track to meet its 2025 cleanup goals. In fact, updated pollution control targets approved by the
state-federal Bay Program in July show that the shortfall is greater than previously thought.
That wasn’t supposed to happen after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted
a new, more regulatory cleanup plan eight years ago.
Not only did the new “pollution diet” include oversight provisions that were supposed to
keep cleanup efforts on track, work was supposed to be front-loaded so that 60 percent of the
needed actions would be implemented by the end of 2017 and put the region on a glide path to
meet the 2025 goal.
While the region did meet goals for two targeted pollutants, phosphorus and sediment, it
achieved only 30 percent of the goal for nitrogen, which has long been the most difficult to
control and is the most harmful pollutant in much of the Bay.
More worrisome is that the new cleanup program doesn’t seem to have accelerated the
rate of nitrogen reduction. Since 2010, the amount of nitrogen reaching the Bay has decreased at
an average annual rate of 2.6 million pounds — or less than 1 percent per year — according to
figures from computer models used by the state-federal Bay Program.
13
That’s essentially the same pace as the previous 25 years — and a rate at which it would
take another quarter century to meet the Bay’s clean water goals.
“It didn’t create this monumental acceleration in implementation that we would have
liked to have seen,” said Beth McGee, senior water quality scientist with the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation, though she added that progress would likely have been even less without the new
cleanup plan.
The vast majority of nitrogen reductions have come from sources that are the easiest to
control: wastewater treatment plants. Those plants have nearly all been upgraded, though, so
most of the remaining nutrient reductions will have to come from the agricultural and stormwater
sectors, where getting significant reductions has been difficult.
“In the next couple of years, progress is really going to start to slip unless there are some
big changes in funding levels and improvements in programs,” said Jeff Corbin, the EPA’s
former “Bay czar” who is now with an environmental restoration firm. “It gets harder and harder
every day that we get closer to 2025.”
Some, including Corbin, even worry that the 35-year-old state-federal Bay Program
partnership could disintegrate into lawsuits that pit states against one another if progress
continues to falter.
So as the region reaches what was supposed to be the halfway point to its ultimate
cleanup goal, has the latest cleanup plan — the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load —
worked?
A Historic Moment
In December 2010, the EPA called it a “historic moment” as it unveiled the Bay TMDL,
which it had spent years crafting in collaboration with states in the watershed. Unlike earlier
voluntary commitments that failed to meet goals, the “pollution diet,” as it became known,
required states to write more detailed plans than ever before and to face potential consequences if
they fell short.
Then-EPA Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin called it “by far the most
comprehensive and rigorous road map to restoration we’ve ever had. Not just in the Chesapeake
Bay, but nationally.”
In fact, fearing the Bay TMDL would force more action by agricultural interests — and
inspire similar plans elsewhere — the American Farm Bureau Federation immediately sued to
block it, an effort that failed in federal court.
The TMDL is not unique to the Bay. It is a federal requirement for any waterbody that
falls short of water quality standards and is aimed at making rivers, lakes, streams and coastal
waters fishable and swimmable. A TMDL sets the maximum amount of a pollutant that a
waterway can receive and still meet those standards.
But the Bay TMDL was by far the largest — covering a 64,000-square-mile watershed —
and the most complex ever written. It defined the maximum amount of water-fouling nitrogen,
phosphorus and sediment that the Chesapeake could handle while meeting measurable goals to
improve water clarity and largely eliminate oxygen-starved summertime dead zones.
Those “maximum loads” were then allocated to states and major rivers. Mindful that past
Bay cleanup efforts had missed earlier goals set for 2000 and 2010, the EPA required states to
write detailed plans showing how their portion of the goals would be met.
The state plans also set reduction goals for different sources of pollution, called sectors,
such as wastewater, developed lands and agriculture, to provide better accountability.
14
To keep efforts on track, the EPA also required states to set interim two-year cleanup
goals, which are evaluated by the agency. Collectively, the states were charged with
implementing 60 percent of the needed cleanup actions by the end of 2017, roughly halfway to
the ultimate 2025 cleanup goal.
If states fell short, the agency could take a variety of actions, such as forcing even greater
— and more costly — reductions from wastewater plants than states had planned; regulating
smaller animal operations than normally covered by federal programs; withholding water grants;
or other actions.
In theory, the threat of those consequences would spur states to create new programs,
provide more funding or establish new regulations to rein in pollution. That was particularly
important for agriculture, an area over which the EPA has limited regulatory oversight.
“This was markedly different from the majority of other TMDLs,” said Jon Capacasa,
who is now retired but oversaw the development of the TMDL as the former head of EPA
Region III’s water protection division. “We gave it a running chance at success by paying
attention to detailed implementation strategies and the accountability framework that became
part and parcel of the TMDL package.”
Uneven Progress
Questions remain about the ability of the TMDL to push the region to the finish line,
though, as well as its effectiveness at getting needed pollution reductions from hard-to-control
sources.
Since the pollution diet was adopted, Bay Program figures show that 87 percent of the
nitrogen reductions have come from upgrading wastewater treatment plants, which are subject to
strict regulatory oversight, although they are not the largest source of nitrogen pollution.
Chris Pomeroy, an attorney with the firm AquaLaw, which has represented wastewater
treatment plants on Bay issues over the years, said it’s not surprising that entities with permits
would bear the brunt of the cleanup effort early on.
“Generally speaking, it probably is working about the way you would expect,” he said.
Pomeroy added that the long-term regulatory certainty provided for dischargers by the TMDL
fended off any potential litigation by wastewater treatment plant operators against the cleanup
plan.
In fact, wastewater treatment plant operators in Virginia and Maryland even joined the
EPA in defense of the TMDL when it was unsuccessfully challenged by farming interests and
homebuilders.
Wastewater plant operators, in their filings, said the cleanup plan provided a “holistic
watershed approach” that was needed to prevent excessive reliance on dischargers that would be
“inequitable and insufficient” to restore water quality.
But their support could change, Pomeroy said, if other sectors don’t do their share, and
states seek another round of costly wastewater plant upgrades.
“I can assure you there would be no patience in the wastewater sector for any sort of,
‘What have you done for us lately’ approach,” Pomeroy said. “We are looking for a stable
regulatory climate extending well into the future now that we have done our part.”
Taken as a whole, the wastewater sector has already reached its 2025 goal, and their
discharges will further decline in the next few years as upgrades at a handful of additional plants
come online. Their overachievement will help cover some of the shortfalls in other sectors. But
that benefit will only be temporary as the population they serve increases.
15
Virginia, for instance, overachieved its 2017 goals largely because discharges from its
wastewater treatment plants were nearly cut in half. But, cautioned James Davis-Martin,
Chesapeake Bay program manager with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality,
“Those loads are going to start climbing back up with continued growth through 2025.”
Meanwhile, stormwater runoff in the state has increased, and the nitrogen load from agriculture
has decreased only about 3.5 percent since the TMDL took effect. “This next period, even
though we hit those 60 percent targets, is going to be very difficult for us,” Davis-Martin said.
Difficulties Ahead
Controlling nutrients from stormwater is a costly and evolving challenge, especially for
older urban areas that were developed before stormwater controls became required in recent
decades.
Under the TMDL, permits for stormwater systems — which historically had been more
focused on managing water flows — are starting to include quantifiable nitrogen and phosphorus
reduction goals. But meeting nutrient reduction goals — especially as the acreage of developed
lands continues to increase — will be difficult.
Among the jurisdictions affected by the TMDL, only the District of Columbia, where a
huge underground tunnel is now capturing and storing much of its stormwater, has seen a
decrease in the amount of nitrogen runoff from developed lands.
Rich Batiuk, the recently retired associate director for science with the EPA Bay Program
Office, said states are starting to make progress with stormwater, but “they are probably going to
need another five to 10 years beyond 2025 to fully put their programs in place.”
Even that may not fully meet water quality goals for the stormwater sector. About 40
percent of developed lands in the Bay watershed lie outside areas covered by stormwater permits
and their regulatory requirements. “That is something that states have no idea how to get their
hands around,” Batiuk said.
Across the Bay watershed, agriculture remains the largest source of nutrients and is
responsible for about 48 percent of the nitrogen reaching the Bay. Since the TMDL was
established, many states have ramped up their oversight of agricultural programs and even
provided additional funding.
At the same time, though, federal assistance for agricultural conservation practices has
decreased after a Bay-specific funding program in the federal Farm Bill ended in 2014.
The net result is that nitrogen from agriculture has decreased 2.5 million pounds since
2009 — the baseline for measuring TMDL progress. That’s about a quarter of one percent per
year. And that reduction was driven in large part by the loss of farmland across the region.
In parts of the watershed, farm operations have intensified in recent years. Crop
production is increasing and, in some cases, low-intensity lands, such as pastures, were
converted to crop lands.
Also, data collected by the Bay Program show that more fertilizer is going onto more
fields than previously thought. In some areas, a growth in farm animal populations is generating
more manure.
Put another way: In many areas of the watershed, nutrient control best management
practices — or BMPs — have done little more than hold the line on active farmland since the
TMDL was enacted. Existing programs would need to be greatly ramped up to achieve the
needed goals of the pollution diet.
“It has not conquered the agricultural problem,” said Roy Hoagland, who was a vice
16
president at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation when the TMDL was being written. “And I don’t
think the TMDL alone ever could conquer the agricultural problem. I think we have an overall
flaw in the Clean Water Act when it comes to agriculture.”
A Boost For Programs
Nonetheless, Hoagland and many others involved with the cleanup effort say that the
TMDL has not failed, even as they acknowledge that it is unlikely to achieve its goal on
schedule. Without it, they say, the Bay’s restoration would be even further off track.
Leaders and advocates for the cleanup effort said the TMDL deserves credit for
prompting policy changes throughout the region that could produce improved results in coming
years. Many states, for instance, have ramped up their support for farmers and launched new
programs, such as a state-funded stream bank fencing initiative in Virginia.
Some have enacted new rules or regulations. Maryland, for instance, has taken action to
prevent farm animals from entering streams and enacted new rules to limit phosphorus
applications on farmland.
Recognizing that agricultural efforts need to be ramped up, the Chesapeake Bay
Executive Council — a panel that includes state governors and the EPA administrator — in
August pledged to increase the amount of technical support available to help farmers install
nutrient control practices.
Under the TMDL, states for the first time are starting to incorporate nutrient reduction
goals into stormwater permits. As a result, many local governments are starting to charge
stormwater fees to help meet Bay goals. And many places are testing new “green infrastructure”
techniques to treat urban runoff that they hope will become more widely adopted in coming
years.
In Pennsylvania, which has the greatest shortfall in nutrient reductions, the General
Assembly is debating legislation that could charge large water uses a fee that would be used to
help fund the state’s faltering cleanup efforts.
“People are no longer debating the need for reducing nitrogen, phosphorus and
sediment,” Hoagland said. “One of the strongest things [the TMDL] has done is it has made
water quality improvement in the Bay watershed, and the needs for these reductions, a routine
consideration. It has helped drive conversations. It has helped drive changes.”
Now that the region has reached the midpoint to its 2025 goal, states are required to
update their cleanup plans and describe how they intend to reach the remaining portion of their
nutrient reduction obligations.
As part of that process, the EPA is requiring states to develop more localized subgoals
and better incorporate local officials in the planning process to help drive further progress.
“We are poised to do the right things if we go to the local scale,” Batiuk said.
More Oversight Needed?
At the same time, there is growing pressure for the EPA to more aggressively use its
oversight to accelerate progress than it has thus far.
Most point their fingers to Pennsylvania as the biggest laggard — measured in sheer
pounds, it accounts for about half of the region’s shortfall in nitrogen reductions, and was the
only state to miss goals for phosphorus and sediment.
Like the region as a whole, Pennsylania’s nitrogen reductions have come almost entirely
from wastewater treatment plant upgrades. Runoff from developed lands and 33,000 farms in its
portion of the Bay watershed have both increased since the TMDL was enacted.
17
Past reports lay out a host of woes facing the state. It lacks the staffing to oversee its
programs or enforce regulations, faces an overall shortage of funding for conservation programs,
and has done a poor job of managing the federal grants it received to help the state address its
problems.
But there are other problems as well. New York has also shown little overall progress
with nitrogen and is the one place where wastewater discharges are increasing. Nor did
Delaware or Maryland meet nitrogen goals. Stormwater runoff is increasing everywhere except
the District of Columbia.
When the TMDL was enacted, the EPA had insisted that it would use its oversight to
keep states — and sectors — on track. It reiterated that pledge in a June letter to the states,
saying it would take “appropriate federal actions … if there is a lack of adequate progress”
toward meeting 2025 goals.
So far, the agency has been reluctant to impose the consequences it had originally
outlined in 2009, although it twice temporarily withheld grant funding from Pennsylvania to
force it to take certain steps.
“EPA has a role under the TMDL now to take backstop actions, and it is going to get
harder and harder and harder to not take some sort of action unless some of the states that are
lagging make progress, and some of the sectors that are lagging make progress,” said Corbin, the
EPA’s former Bay czar.
If that doesn’t happen, he said, “my nightmare scenario is that states are going to end up
challenging, legally or otherwise, the ones that aren’t making progress.”
Earlier this year, some Maryland lawmakers already engaged in saber-rattling about
taking Pennsylvania to court for lack of adequate progress. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has
been increasingly critical in his comments about his state’s northern neighbor.
Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles, who chairs a Bay Program committee
of senior state and federal agency officials, cautioned that “adding courts and litigation into the
mix can be a challenge” but added that “the patience grows thinner as 2025 gets nearer. So there
is a sense of urgency.”
“There is a point where the EPA has to provide less discretion and more backstop
authority and accountability and step in and impose different types of consequences,” he said.
“We need a strong and fair EPA to hold each state accountable — and keep our feet to the fire.”
Slow, but steady, progress
Ultimately, the success of the TMDL may be determined by patience. Reaching the 2025
goals is unlikely and would require a level of implementation — and funding — significantly
beyond what is occurring, or has ever occurred, in the stormwater and agricultural sectors.
Reaching those goals got even harder in recent months, when the Bay Program updated
its computer models to incorporate new science and better data and found that there was even
less progress in those sectors than previously thought.
Older models estimated that the region had achieved 36 percent of its nitrogen goal; the
new models revised that down to 30 percent.
And those figures do not factor in the substantial reductions that will be needed to offset
the impacts of climate change and the filling of the Conowingo Dam reservoir.
Climate change is projected to increase precipitation to the region and supercharge the
impact of stormwater and agricultural runoff.
The Conowingo reservoir, now filled to capacity with a backlog of sediment, is sending
18
more nutrients and sediments downstream instead of trapping them in the Susquehanna River. At
recent rates of progress, it would take six years of work just to offset those factors.
That said, nitrogen pollution does continue to be on a downward trend — at least for the
moment — despite increased development and a growing population. Phosphorus reductions are
on track — though the Bay will never meet its water quality goals without dealing with nitrogen.
“Overall, the TMDL has done, and continues to do the job of driving progress forward,”
Hoagland said. “It is a question of how fast it will move forward.”
“It’s easy for us to say we haven’t made our goals and we haven’t achieved the
reductions that we committed to,” he added. “On the other hand, you’ve made the reductions in
spite of continuing healthy economic progress and the unavoidable increases in pollution that
comes with that.”
For information on efforts in Pennsylvania to meet Chesapeake Bay cleanup obligations,
visit the PA Chesapeake Bay Plan webpage.
(Photo: Hurricane Florence muddies the Susquehanna River. )
NewsClips:
Bay Journal: Part 1-Chesapeake Bay Cleanup May Lose Race To 2025 Goal, But Presses On
Bay Journal: Part 2-New Nutrient Reduction Goals Reflect Updated Science, Data, Computer
Modeling
Bay Journal: Part 3-Success Of Chesapeake Bay’s Restoration Tied To PA, Which Lags Far
Behind
Bay Journal: Part 4-In Another Decade Or Two, We'll See A Different Chesapeake Bay
Related Stories:
Oct. 16 DEP Citizens Advisory Council Meeting To Focus On Chesapeake Bay Program
Next Meeting Of PA Chesapeake Bay Steering Committee Moved To Nov. 20
One Court Rejects Exelon’s Challenge To Maryland’s Conowingo Dam Cleanup Requirements
The Economic Value Of Green Infrastructure: Calculating A Return On Investments In Parks,
Watershed Restoration, Farmland BMPs, Open Spaces
Links:
Latest From The Chesapeake Bay Journal
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[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
Bay Journal: Part 2 - New Nutrient Reduction Goals Reflect Updated Science, Data,
Computer Modeling
hesapeake Bay Journal 4-part special report, The Bay's Pollution

This article is the second in C
Diet: Is it Working?
The state-federal Chesapeake Bay Program
19
partnership recently revised its nutrient reduction goals for 2025 based on improved information,
new science and updated computer modeling.
States are updating their cleanup plans to address the revised goals.
These watershed implementation plans, drafts of which are due to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency by April 12, 2019, are supposed to demonstrate that states
have realistic plans to meet their new goals, as well as adequate programs, regulations and
funding to get the job done.
States are also supposed to engage local officials and organizations, as well as establish
more localized planning goals in their plans.
Final plans are to be completed by August 9, 2019.
The revised cleanup goals, or “planning targets,” stem from new computer models
developed during the Bay Program’s “midpoint assessment” of the progress made since 2010
toward the 2025 cleanup goals outlined in the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, or
“pollution diet.”
The TMDL defines the maximum amount of pollutants the Bay can receive and still
attain water quality standards.
Overall, the new numbers show a more difficult path toward the 2025 goal than those
produced by the previous models.
While they continue to show that the region as a whole is on track to meet its phosphorus
goals, it is further behind on its nitrogen goals. (See the table, Chesapeake Watershed Nutrient
Trends and Goals. )
The previous computer model found that the region had, through the end of last year,
achieved 36 percent of the needed nitrogen reductions. The new model has found it is only 30
percent of the way to the target.
A variety of factors contribute to the changes. The new model uses a host of updated
information, such as improved land cover data, new information about soil types and better
information about nutrient movement through river systems.
The model also uses updated data about fertilizer sales, animal populations and the
implementation and effectiveness of a wider range of nutrient-reducing “best management
practices.”
Taken as a whole, the new analysis shows fewer nitrogen reductions from
non-wastewater sources.
The model analysis further incorporates refined information about the importance of
where nutrients are generated. Nutrient runoff that occurs closer to major rivers, for example,
tends to have more influence than runoff near smaller rivers because major rivers transport
nutrients to the Bay more effectively.
Nutrient reductions from the Potomac River basin also have a somewhat greater impact
on Bay health than was indicated by the previous model.
In addition, the relative impact of nitrogen is greater than phosphorus in the new
modeling.
Overall, the new model findings had the greatest impact on Maryland. In the old model,
the state needed to achieve 5.7 million additional pounds of nitrogen reductions to meet its 2025
goal; in the new model it has to achieve 8.4 million pounds of reductions.
The District of Columbia, which had already met its 2025 goals in the old model,
continues to do so in the updated model. West Virginia has also met its goal.
20
A Guide To Understanding Nutrient Trends
The figures in the table, Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Trends and Goals, show
computer-estimated nutrient “loads” reaching the Chesapeake from each major “sector” —
sources of nutrient pollution — in each state.
The figures presented for each state reflect levels in 1985, the approximate year in which
nutrient control efforts began; 2009 levels, which are the baseline for measuring efforts since the
Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load was established; estimated progress at the end of
2017; and the 2025 cleanup goals.
Load changes between 1985, 2009 and 2017 reflect the estimated impact of new urban
and agricultural runoff control practices, upgrades to wastewater treatment plants and land use
changes.
The sectors that generate nutrients are categorized as follows:
-- Agriculture, which covers all forms of farming, including large concentrated animal feeding
operations, croplands and low intensity pastures.
-- Developed Land, which reflects runoff from all urban and suburban land, including areas
covered under stormwater permits and areas where runoff is unregulated.
-- Wastewater, which includes discharges from treatment plants and sewer overflows, as well as
any industries that discharge nutrients.
-- Septic, which includes septic systems and other small, on-site treatment devices.
-- Natural Land, which includes forests (including harvested areas), wetlands, stream banks and
other largely natural areas. Many natural nutrient sources are largely uncontrollable.
As states develop new watershed implementation plans in the coming months, they will
set new sector goals for 2025, which the EPA will use to track progress toward overall goals, as
well as more local targets.
These figures do not include some significant nutrient sources which the Bay Program
has also committed to address:
-- The impact of the filling of the Conowingo Dam reservoir on the Susquehanna River. This
results in about 6 million additional pounds of nitrogen and about 260,000 additional pounds of
phosphorus reaching the Chesapeake each year. States have committed to writing a joint plan to
address that issue.
-- The impact of climate change. This results in about 9 million additional pounds of nitrogen
and 385,000 pounds of phosphorus reaching the Bay each year. Those estimates are being
reviewed, and states have committed to revising cleanup plans to address climate change in
2021.
-- The impact of continued population growth and development. Based on past trends, that
could mean another 4 million pounds of nitrogen and 154,000 pounds of phosphorus entering the
Bay by 2025.
-- Additional pollution reductions may be needed on the James River in Virginia. Right now,
Virginia figures only include reductions for the James River that are needed to address
Chesapeake Bay water quality.
But scientists and state and federal officials are working to establish a revised standard
for chlorophyll a (a measure of algae) that is needed to protect aquatic life in the tidal portion of
the James River, which could require additional nutrient reductions.
Sediment goals will be set later but are presumed to be accomplished by phosphorus
controls, which also control sediment.
21
NewsClips:
Modeling
Behind
Related Stories:
Links:
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Bay Journal: Part 3 - Success Of Chesapeake Bay Restoration Tied To Pennsylvania,

Which Lags Far Behind

This article is the third in C
Across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, controlling runoff

from agriculture and stormwater has proven difficult for
decades.
Nowhere is the problem greater than in Pennsylvania,
which has more of both than any other state in the Bay
region — and where efforts to control them are the farthest
off track.
Whether that trajectory changes may ultimately determine
whether the latest Bay cleanup plan — the Chesapeake Bay
Total Maximum Daily Load, or “pollution diet” — is
deemed a success.
“Pennsylvania is going to be the key,” said Nick DiPasquale, the recently retired director
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Bay Program Office. “They are going to need a
lot of help.”
22
Based on the EPA’s 2017 assessment of the cleanup effort, Pennsylvania accounts for
about half of the region’s shortfall in meeting its nitrogen reduction goal and is the only state that
also missed its goals for reducing phosphorus and sediment.
Pennsylvania does not border the Chesapeake Bay, but is intimately linked to its health.
The Bay is, in geologic terms, the ancient bed of the Susquehanna River, which drains
half of Pennsylvania, as well as a portion of New York and a bit of Maryland. (A small part of
Pennsylvania is in the Potomac watershed.)
The Susquehanna supplies about half of the freshwater to the Bay — and more than
two-fifths of the nitrogen pollution. Because the mouth of the river is at the head of the Bay,
those nutrients tend to have an especially large impact on the Chesapeake’s health.
Pennsylvania produces more runoff from agriculture and stormwater than any other state
in the Bay watershed.
About 59 percent of its nitrogen load to the Bay comes from the runoff generated by
33,000 farms, according to Bay Program figures.
Another 14 percent comes from runoff that originates on developed land, often from
small communities sprinkled throughout the landscape.
The amount of nitrogen from both of those sectors has increased in the state since the
TMDL went into effect in 2010.
Still, Pennsylvania has reduced its overall nitrogen load to the Bay since 2010 — by
about 4.8 percent — but the reduction has come almost entirely from upgrades at wastewater
treatment plants.
In Pennsylvania, though, those plants account for less than a 10th of the nitrogen that
ultimately reaches the Bay, which leaves a huge amount of additional reductions needed from
agriculture and developed lands.
Past EPA reviews have laid out a host of woes that got Pennsylvania into this situation.
The state has lacked the ability and capacity to oversee its stormwater and agricultural programs
or to enforce existing regulations.
Although Pennsylvania has the largest agricultural sector among the Bay states, it puts
the least amount of state funding into conservation programs.
It has even done a poor job of managing federal grants aimed at helping the state address
its problems, the EPA has said.
To meet Bay cleanup goals, Pennsylvania between now and 2025 would have to
accomplish more than 70 percent of the remaining nitrogen reductions needed from the entire
Bay watershed.
And that doesn’t account for additional reductions needed to offset the impacts of
increased precipitation from climate change and the filling of the Conowingo Dam reservoir,
both of which will deliver more nutrient pollution to the Bay, and both of which have
disproportionately large impacts in Pennsylvania.
‘Clearly Behind’ But Committed
At an August meeting, Pennsylvania Environment Secretary Patrick McDonnell
acknowledged to other cleanup leaders that the state was “clearly behind,” but “committed to
developing a plan that gets us to 2025.”
McDonnell also said the state anticipates that 80 percent of its needed nutrient reductions
will come from farms.
That means that from now through 2025, their farmers would have to accomplish 11
23
times what was achieved by farms throughout the entire Bay watershed since 2010.
The number and relatively small size of many Pennsylvania farms makes the task even
harder because working with so many individual farmers requires a huge amount of resources.
“If they accomplish a good third of what they have committed to do by the 2025
deadline, that would be huge,” said Rich Batiuk, the retired associate director for science with
the EPA’s Bay Program Office.
Batiuk had a leading role in crafting the TMDL and overseeing its implementation. He
estimated that Pennsylvania will need to come up with $100 million to $200 million a year just
to help farmers implement programs.
If keeping states on pace was one of the key goals of the TMDL, how did Pennsylvania
get so far off track?
“The bottom line is that EPA has not fully exercised its options — and what is listed
clearly for the partnership and the public — of tools that it has,” Batiuk said.
In a letter sent to states in 2009, the EPA outlined “consequences” that states might face
if their efforts fell behind. It included actions such as requiring additional nutrient reductions
from wastewater treatment plants, withholding clean water grants and directing how that money
is spent.
Another option is to draw more animal feedlots under its regulatory umbrella.
The EPA has twice temporarily withheld grant funding from Pennsylvania to prod it
toward specific actions. But withholding money from a cash-strapped state isn’t ideal.
“Some of the tools that EPA has, like withholding funds, doesn’t really help them get the
job done,” DiPasquale said.
The EPA does have the authority to require greater reductions at wastewater treatment
plants and has warned Pennsylvania that it could do so. Although most of the state’s largest
wastewater treatment plants have been upgraded, they still allow higher nitrogen concentrations
in their discharges than other states.
But Pennsylvania’s wastewater contributions are so small that, even if all of those
discharge pipes were corked, it would only get the state a quarter of the way to its goal and
would come at a high cost.
Local wastewater authorities already have spent $1.4 billion to upgrade 191 treatment
plants. Another round of upgrades could cost an additional $2 billion to achieve even smaller
results, said John Brosious, deputy director of the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities
Association.
“That has been a bone of contention with our [wastewater] sector. In the 13 years that
we’ve been at this, we have done every single thing that has been asked of us, and more,” he
said. “‘No good deed goes unpunished’ — we’ve had guys saying that.”
EPA’s Reach Is Limited
The EPA’s regulatory reach is limited too, particularly for agriculture. Typically, the
EPA regulates dairy operations with 700 or more cows. But it can regulate smaller operations if
they are contributing to a water problem, as the agency has warned it could do.
Several years ago, though, the agency reviewed Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County and
concluded it would have to regulate farms with as few as 50 cows to cover half of the dairy
manure produced in the county — something it concluded was unworkable.
The enforcement framework in the Bay TMDL was patterned after the Clean Air Act in
which the federal government sets overall standards, and states develop and implement the
24
needed actions.
If states fail to meet goals, they can lose federal highway funding — a huge amount of
money. The consequences under the Bay TMDL, though, do not have the same degree of
leverage.
“The options that we used were legal and available under the Clean Water Act, but we
didn’t have the same advantages that the Clean Air Act did with substantial backstops,” said Jon
Capacasa, the former head of EPA Region III’s water protection division, who wrote the 2009
letter to the states outlining the “consequences” the agency could take.
Still, some argue that the agency could take other actions, such as yanking grant funds
from the state and giving them to a third party to implement on-the-ground cleanup programs, or
further ramping up enforcement and oversight activities.
The threat of additional actions has had some impacts already. The state has dramatically
ramped up its inspections of farms to make sure they have required manure and erosion
management plans.
It also has launched the most aggressive effort of any Bay state to develop new
county-level cleanup plans showing how the state could reach its 2025 cleanup goals.
It is working to target problem areas to better focus its cleanup efforts.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is also debating legislation that could charge large
water users a fee that would be used to help fund the state’s faltering cleanup efforts.
Buy-In From Farmers Needed
John Bell, government affairs counsel with the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, praised the
state’s recent efforts to develop local plans, with input from farmers and others, which will more
clearly lay out what needs to be done.
Such extensive outreach didn’t happen with the state’s earlier cleanup plans, he said, and
resulted in strategies that many thought were unrealistic.
The latest effort, he said, is a process that can win buy-in from farmers, but he added
“there still needs to be an element of patience” and that farmers need to be able to view it as
realistic.
“I think the more important focus is devising a plan that Pennsylvania truly believes it
can do, whether it be 2025 or 2030, or years beyond,” he said.
Bell also cautioned that “if this exercise becomes one of ‘let’s pass more regulations and
laws and ordinances’ that attempt to restrict practices and uses, that is going to be problematic.”
How much patience others have remains to be seen.
Some think that if Pennsylvania’s shortfall is an obstacle to Bay recovery, it may spur a
lawsuit either by another state or an environmental group as an attempt to force more aggressive
actions.
“Certainly, it is not the first option that people want to exercise,” DiPasquale said. But,
“that is a potential option down the road if Pennsylvania can’t get the job done.”
Batiuk also said he thought it likely that others would sue if the state isn’t showing more
progress.
But, he said, “I would hope that the states would put more pressure on EPA to take action
versus they themselves feeling the need to do it.”
Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles, who chairs a committee of senior state
and federal agency officials that helps guide Bay policy, said the EPA needs to not only play the
role of umpire in assessing state progress, but take action.
25
“In order for it to be meaningful and real, you do need evidence that EPA follows
through on its consequences memo,” he said, adding that “you absolutely need as well, however,
the development of different tools and funding sources.”
Not everyone thinks EPA actions need to be punitive, though.
“Pressure is one thing,” Capacasa said. “I would speak to the power of affirmation.”
Capacasa said that while the EPA has a role in overseeing the TMDL’s implementation,
the agency acting alone “is an imperfect solution” because its tools are limited.
“It is up to the Bay community as a whole to hold states and jurisdictions accountable for
results,” he said. The EPA can do a better job working with states to get programs on track, he
said, and the region as a whole can do more to share knowledge about programs that work —
and how they can be improved.
“We can poke our fingers in their chest all we want,” agreed James Davis-Martin, the
Chesapeake Bay program manager with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and
co-chair of the Bay Program workgroup that helps evaluate cleanup actions. “It is not going to
make more implementation happen on the ground. Helping them develop new programs and get
them implemented in one year rather than three years, that is what is going to get more stuff on
the ground.”
Martin said that while it was unlikely Virginia would ever send money to Pennsylvania to
implement programs, it could possibly send staff to advise on areas where Virginia has made
progress, and how those programs could be adapted to another state.
‘This Could Get Ugly’
Determining how the EPA should exercise its oversight will likely become a bigger issue
in coming years, as the region faces its significant shortfall in nitrogen control efforts.
While Pennsylvania has the biggest hurdles, New York’s nitrogen numbers have
decreased only slightly since the TMDL went into effect, and Maryland and Delaware both
missed their nitrogen goals.
Nearly all states face hurdles in getting, or keeping, their agriculture and stormwater
sectors on track — where most remaining nitrogen reductions must come from.
“This could get ugly,” warned Jeff Corbin, one of the EPA’s former Bay experts who
now works for a private environmental restoration firm. “We are starting to max out on the
goodwill and the voluntary actions. Now we are getting into some really tough situations where
we don’t have the money, we don’t have the regulatory authority, and what happens now?”
Pennsylvania's Problematic Situation
Pennsylvania was the source of 112.7 million pounds of nitrogen reaching the
Chesapeake Bay in 2009, or 41.6 percent of the region wide total.
By 2017, the amount of nitrogen from Pennsylvania was reduced to 107.3 million
pounds, but its share of the region wide total had increased to 43 percent as other states did more
to reduce their nitrogen loads.
Here's a look at Pennsylvania by the numbers:
-- 5.4 million pounds: Nitrogen reductions since 2009;
-- 18.3 million pounds: Shortfall in needed nitrogen reductions through the end of 2017;
-- 34.1 million pounds: Needed Nitrogen reductions by 2025;
-- 6.3 million pounds: Nitrogen reductions from wastewater treatment plants since 2009;
-- 416,000 pounds: Nitrogen increases from agricultural lands since 2009; and
-- 614,000 pounds: Nitrogen increase from developed lands since 2009.
26
NewsClips:
Modeling
Behind
Related Stories:
Lancaster Clean Water Partners Release Draft Plan To Clean Up 11 Million Pounds Of Pollution
From County Streams
PA Chesapeake Bay Steering Committee Readies Information For 39 Counties On Water
Pollution Reduction Planning Process
Agriculture, Forestry Workgroups Present Key Recommendations To Meet PA’s Chesapeake
Bay Pollution Reduction Obligations
Links:
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Bay Journal: Part 4 - In Another Decade Or Two, We'll See A Different Chesapeake Bay

This article is the last in the C
This December will mark the 35th anniversary of the

original promise by regional leaders to work together to
protect the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay — and
the fish, crabs and other species that depend upon it.
More than three decades after it started, the cleanup
effort still has a long way to go. In its latest water
quality assessment, the state-federal Bay Program
partnership found that just 40 percent of the
Chesapeake’s tidal waters met agreed-upon goals for
clarity, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll.
That’s the best status report since the cleanup effort began, but still far from attaining
27
water quality standards.
So how long will it take to get there?
“Decades,” said Rich Batiuk, the retired associate director for science with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s Bay Program Office. “But I think, in another decade or two,
we’ll see a different Chesapeake out there.”
Indeed, while it might take decades to meet Baywide water quality goals, people could
see a substantially better Chesapeake much sooner-- in fact, they are already seeing it.
Last year, the Bay’s underwater grass beds exceeded 100,000 acres, a level not reached in
decades.
Their resurgence demonstrates results from decades of often slow but steady work. But
reaching goals for water clarity and oxygen concentrations throughout the Bay will be difficult.
The most recent plan to deliver a clean Bay, the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily
Load or “pollution diet,” sets a 2025 cleanup deadline.
But that doesn’t mean the Bay would be “clean” by 2025. The 2025 deadline is for states
to implement all of the actions needed to meet water quality standards.
Even if that happens on schedule, there would be substantial delays before the impact of
all of those actions would be felt in the Chesapeake.
It can take many years for some runoff control practices, like newly planted streamside
forest buffers, to become fully effective. And much of the nutrient pollution that enters the Bay
and its rivers first travels through slow-moving groundwater.
Management practices such as cover crops can reduce the amount of nitrogen sinking
into the groundwater, but it can take years to decades for the “old” groundwater-- which predates
the use of cover crops and other practices-- to work its way out of the system.
During the years it takes for the full impact of those actions to be felt in the Bay, states
will have to take even more pollution control actions to offset the impacts of population growth,
new development and increasingly intense agricultural operations-- just to hold the line on
pollution.
Also, the 2025 cleanup deadline does not account for the substantial new efforts that will
be needed to offset the filling of the Conowingo Dam reservoir on the Susquehanna River and
increased precipitation from climate change-- both of which deliver nutrients that were not
accounted for when setting the current cleanup goals.
At recent rates of nutrient reductions, additional efforts to offset those loads would take at
least five more years. And then, as with current efforts, it would take additional time for their full
impact to reach the Bay.
But there is good news. The nutrient reductions required by the TMDL were set to
achieve water quality standards in the deepest areas of the Bay, where dissolved oxygen
concentrations are lowest.
But lesser amounts of nutrient reductions will trigger improvements sooner in many other
areas, said Jon Capacasa, who is now retired but oversaw the development of the Bay water
quality standards as the former head of EPA Region III’s water protection division.
“There is going to be a lot of change happening in the shallow reaches of the Bay,
particularly where the habitat is most valuable, long before you return oxygen to the deep part of
the Bay,” Capacasa said.
That’s already been seen with the recent expansion of underwater grass beds.
Another positive factor, scientists say, is that better water quality can kick-start other
28
biological and chemical processes that lead to further improvements.
For instance, large underwater grass beds improve surrounding water quality, which in
turn allows those beds to expand farther than might be predicted by nutrient reduction efforts
alone.
Scientists say that’s already happening in places around the Bay, including the
Susquehanna Flats, an area that was nearly barren two decades ago but is now covered with
thousands of acres of lush underwater meadows.
Recent research has shown that nutrient reductions have also triggered
chemical-processing changes in deep areas of the Bay, resulting in better oxygen conditions than
were predicted.
While much of the Bay remains blanketed by a hypoxic (low oxygen) dead zone, the
amount of anoxic (no-oxygen) water has been gradually shrinking.
Some believe that slight improvements in water clarity will activate still more changes.
As light hits the bottom, it can spur the growth of certain bottom-dwelling algae species that help
bind sediment, preventing it from being churned up and clouding the water.
In short, they say, parts of the Bay are near a “tipping point” at which Mother Nature will
help improve conditions.
“That is really exciting,” said Beth McGee, senior water quality scientist with the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “We know the Bay isn’t going to be saved by 2025. But the big
unknown is what we are seeing now-- the notion of a tipping point. We are seeing
improvements.”
Scientists refer to that natural assistance as “positive feedback.” It has the potential to act
“like a turbocharger” for the ecosystem by producing greater-- and perhaps faster--
improvements, said Bill Dennison, vice president for science applications with the University of
Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
“We certainly have got the trajectory in the right direction,” he said. “That is the most
important thing because that positive trajectory helps accelerate the feedback.”
“But we can’t backslide,” he added. “We have to continue to make progress.”
(Photo: Susquehanna River at Chickies Rock County Park in Columbia, Lancaster County.)
NewsClips:
Modeling
Behind
Related Stories:
From County Streams
29
Links:
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Gov. Wolf's PFAS Action Team Outlines Public Outreach Plans, Nov. 30 Meeting
Gov. Tom Wolf’s PFAS Action Team held an organizational meeting Thursday and announced it
has opened a comment period to take public input regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS) and is inviting proposals for expert presentations to the Action Team at a public meeting
to be held on November 30.
“Public comment, expert presentations, public meetings, and additional testing can help
us develop a clear path forward, including more fully defining state agency roles to ensure we
are doing all we can to address this problem,” Gov. Wolf said.
Gov. Wolf signed an executive order forming the PFAS Action Team on September 19,
as one of a series of steps to address PFAS contaminants across the commonwealth and protect
Pennsylvania residents.
The Governor tasked the Action Team with developing a comprehensive response to
identify and eliminate sources of contamination, ensure drinking water is safe, and manage
environmental contamination.
“As we move forward aggressively to address these substances, it is critical that we work
closely with affected residents, municipal officials, water system operators, and the scientific
community to gather as much information as we can about potential impacts to public health and
the environment,” said Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell,
who chairs the Action Team.
Nov. 30 Meeting
The PFAS Action Team November 30th meeting will be open to the public, with
additional details on time and location to be announced shortly.
The PFAS Action Team invites presentation proposals on topics including: known
sources of PFAS chemicals, health limits and impacts, and environmental impacts.
To propose a presentation topic for the November meeting, please send an email to:
ra-epthepolicyoffice@pa.gov. The Action Team will take public comment through the DEP
eComment webpage.
In addition to Secretary McDonnell, the Action Team is led by the secretaries of the
departments of Health, Military and Veteran Affairs, Community and Economic Development,
Agriculture, Transportation, and the State Fire Commissioner.
Dept. Of Health Pilot Program
“The Wolf Administration is committed to ensuring that Pennsylvanians are informed of
the potential health risks of PFAS, and the work that has been done to investigate the topic,”
30
Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “The Department of Health has been on the
forefront, participating in a pilot project to inform future studies across the U.S. on PFAS. We
are committed to working to ensure the health and well-being of Pennsylvanians.”
Over the course of the past year, the Department of Health has been involved in a pilot to
help determine the prevalence of PFAS.
Part of the program, which is funded by the federal government, has involved conducting
blood level testing for members of randomly chosen households. These individuals have agreed
to the testing and visited a clinic to have a blood sample drawn.
DOH has begun sending results of the blood level testing to those who were tested.
A final report will be developed based on test results, with a public meeting planned to
discuss the final report.
Other Executive Actions announced by the Governor to address PFAS includes outreach
to both the EPA and Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to push for additional funding and
coordination and hiring toxicologists at DOH to evaluate defensible PFAS drinking water limits.
DEP Sampling Plan
In addition, DEP is currently developing a sampling plan to test public water systems and
identify any additional systems with elevated PFAS levels in drinking water. Sampling will
begin in early 2019, and water systems will be selected based on risk characteristics developed
by the department.
Results will be shared with the public via the Action Team when completed.
PFAS substances were commonly used in applications that include surface coating of
paper and cardboard packaging products, carpets, non-stick pans, and textiles, as well as
firefighting foams.
These substances have been detected in air, water, and soil in and around production
manufacturing facilities, and airports and military bases that used firefighting foams.
Companies began phasing out the production and use of several PFAS substances in the
early 2000s, and two of the most well studied-- perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and
perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)-- are no longer manufactured or imported into the United
States.
Despite the phase-out, contamination has been identified at 15 sites in Pennsylvania, each
of which are being addressed by state and federal cleanup efforts.
For more information on PFOA and PFOS contamination and contamination sites under
investigation by DEP, visit DEP’s PFOA and PFOS: What Are They webpage.
Click Here for information on the EPA effort to set a maximum contaminant level for
PFOA and PFOS.
NewsClips:
State Awards Pittsburgh Water Authority Funding For Replacing Lead Water Lines
Pittsburgh Water Authority Secures Millions In State Money For Lead Line Replacements
Turzai Calls Plan To Fund Lead Service Line Replacements In Pittsburgh A Taxpayer Bailout
Boil Water Advisory For Some In Wilkes-Barre After Main Break
Boil Water Advisory Lifted In Wilkes-Barre
1 Man Suffers Minor Injury From Chlorine Leak At Ephrata’s Water Plant
Related Story:
Gov. Wolf Signs Executive Order Creating PFAS Action Team (Includes Issue Background)
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
31
DCED OKs $1.7 Million In Funding To Help Cleanup 11 Former Industrial Sites In 6
Counties
The Department of Community and Economic Development Thursday announced the award of
$1.7 million in grants and loans from the Industrial Sites Reuse Program for 11 projects to clean
up former industrial sites in Allegheny, Berks, Blair, Cumberland, Erie, and Montgomery
counties to prepare them for occupation by businesses and residential properties.
“These projects will not only protect the environment and remove harmful contaminants
from these sites, but will also prepare them for development into residential or commercial
property where people can live and work,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “Eliminating blight is a crucial
component of growing local economies and improving quality of life in these areas.”
Because no redevelopment can occur at these properties if they still contain
environmental contamination, developers must first undergo extensive environmental cleanup
before the property can be put into productive reuse.
The ISRP provides loans and grants to help offset the costs of environmental assessments
and remediation to foster the cleanup of the contaminated material at these industrial sites.
“Assisting with the cleanup of these brownfield sites is vital for attracting business
investment and job creation,” Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED)
Secretary Dennis Davin said. “When brownfield sites sit vacant, they become eyesores, they
lower property values, and hold back economic development in the area. These projects will
ensure these sites become valuable properties that truly improve the communities in which they
are located.”
“Revitalizing brownfields and restoring them to productive use is critical to having strong
vibrant communities,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “We’re pleased to collaborate
with DCED on these brownfield redevelopment projects, and thousands more statewide.”
The 11 approved projects were:
-- Allegheny County: RIDC Southwestern Pennsylvania Growth Fund was approved for a
$300,000 grant to perform environmental remediation on a three-story building located at Mill
19 in the city of Pittsburgh. RIDC is redeveloping the massive, long-abandoned mill that sits on
the 12.6-acre Hazelwood Green site. Mill 19 is one of three existing structures that remain
standing from when the site was used for steel production.
-- Allegheny County: The Pittsburgh Trust For Cultural Resources was approved for a
$297,750 grant to perform environmental remediation on the former Duff’s Business Institute in
the city of Pittsburgh. Once developed, the site will be prepared for the development of a
400,000-square-foot office building.
-- Allegheny County: North Side Industrial Development Company was approved for a
$154,500 grant for a Phase II environmental assessment study located in the Lower Hill District
of the city of Pittsburgh. The property is 12.4 acres and comprised of six tax parcels that were
assembled and cleared in the 1960’s to become part of the former Civic Arena development, and
will be developed for residential, office, hotels, and retail/recreational use.
-- Berks County: Fleetwood Borough was approved for a $285,443 grant to perform
environmental remediation at the former Garden State Tannery site in Fleetwood. The borough
plans to develop the 2-acre lot into a public parking facility for businesses on Main Street.
-- Berks County: Berks County Convention Center Authority was approved for a $138,750
32
grant for environmental remediation costs at the Pearle Building site located in the city of
Reading. BCCCA plans to remediate the contaminated building and construct a multi-level
bar/restaurant totaling 33,000 square feet.
-- Blair County: Altoona Blair County Development Corporation was approved for a
$14,581 grant to assist with an environmental assessment at a former auto dealership located at
2300 North Branch Avenue in the city of Altoona. Once the site has been assessed, the site will
be converted into a 35-bed shelter and 6 apartments for low to moderate income residents.
Additionally, the developer will construct a new building which will provide administrative and
support space for the Blair County Community Action Agency and Classrooms for Blair County
Head Start.
-- Cumberland County: REC DC, LLC was approved for a $48,855 grant to perform
environmental remediation at the former Domestic Castings site in Shippensburg Township.
Once remediated, REC DC plans to redevelop the property into a mixed residential, office, and
retail property with five structures.
-- Cumberland County: Real Estate Collaborative, LLC was approved for a $231,709 grant
to perform environmental remediation at the former Tyco manufacturing facility in Carlisle.
Once remediated, the site will be redeveloped into commercial, retail, and entertainment space.
-- Erie County: Corry Area Industrial Development Corporation was approved for a
$667,345 grant to perform environmental remediation work at the former Thermo-Fab Inc. site
located in the Corry. The former 31,750-square-foot industrial building was built in 1953 and has
sat vacant since 2008.
-- Montgomery County: Renaissance Land Associates II, L.P. and Renaissance Land
Associates III, L.P were approved for a $885,289 loan and a $415,510 loan for environmental
remediation work of more than 20 acres on the site known as the former Alan Wood Steel
Company coking facility located in Upper Merion Township. Once the site is remediated, the
developer intends to redevelop the site for residential multi-family purposes.
-- Montgomery County: The Municipality of Norristown was approved for a $31,500 grant
for environmental assessment of the former Howie Corporation site located in Norristown. Once
the site is remediated, the Municipality of Norristown will partner with the current owner to
create a residential/mixed use property.
For more information on this program, visit DCED’s Industrial Sites Reuse Program
webpage. More information on the brownfield cleanup program is available on DEP’s Land
Recycling Program webpage.
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Nominations Now Being Accepted For 2019 River Of The Year
The PA Organization For Watersheds and Rivers and

the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
are now accepting nominations from nonprofit
organizations across the state for the 2019 Pennsylvania
River of the Year. The deadline for nominations is
November 9.
“Just like the preceding Rivers of the Year, the
Loyalsock Creek now has it swirling around it in 2018
33
-- a pronounced pride in a waterway that comes to the forefront with the annual support of this
selection process,” said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. “As I have seen year after year, all
nominated waterways emerge true winners when the public rallies around them.”
“We are excited to once again announce the opening of the nomination period for the
2019 River of the Year program. The River of the Year designation raises the awareness of the
importance of the Commonwealth’s waterways”, said PA Organization for Watersheds and
Rivers Director Janet Sweeney. “The River of the Year program engages a broader audience in
the appreciation of our rivers and streams, as well as, gives all Pennsylvanians a chance to
support their favorite waterway in friendly competition with others across the Commonwealth.”
All Pennsylvania waterways are eligible for nomination, except for the River Of The
Year winners since 2014. Selected nominations will then be voted on by the public beginning in
early November.
Pennsylvania’s River of the Year is an honor designed to elevate public awareness of
specific rivers and recognize important conservation needs and achievements. River of the Year
designations have been presented annually since 1983.
After a waterway is chosen, local groups implement a year-round slate of activities and
events to celebrate the river, including a River of the Year Sojourn. The nominating organization
of the winning river will receive a $10,000 leadership grant to help fund their River of the Year
activities.
Pennsylvania’s 2018 River of the Year is the Loyalsock Creek. Click Here for a list of
previous winners beginning in 1983.
For more information about the program, visit the 2019 Pennsylvania River of the Year
website.
Visit the PA Organization For Watersheds and Rivers website for more information on
this and other river and watershed-related programs.
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the PA
Environmental Council website, visit the PEC Blog, follow PEC on Twitter or Like PEC on
Facebook. Visit PEC’s Audio Room for the latest podcasts. Click Here to receive regular
updates from PEC.
Related Story:
Loyalsock Creek Named 2018 PA River Of The Year In Public Voting
Related Stories This Week:
Nominations Now Being Accepted For 2019 PA Trail Of The Year
DCNR Supports Local Recreation, Parks In 9 Counties
Op-Ed: Americans Support Parks And Prefer Candidates Who Do Too
Week 4: DCNR Fall Foliage Report: Best Color Reported In 3 Areas Of The State
DCNR, Partners, Sponsors, Volunteers Build New Playground In Cranberry Twp, Butler County
DCNR Blog: Can We Do Even More On Energy Efficiency, Renewables? The Answer Is… We
Can And Are!
New Good For PA Recreation Podcast First Episode - Good For Learning
Oct. 17 Resource Newsletter Now Available From DCNR
[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
34
DCNR’s PA Trails Advisory Committee is
now accepting nominations for the 2019 PA
Trail Of The Year. The deadline for
nominations is November 16.
Eligible trails must be at least one mile in
length and be open to the public. Nominations
will be reviewed by a panel of judges
composed of committee members.
The Trail of the Year will be announced in
January 2019 and will be recognized by:
-- News release by DCNR and the Trails
Advisory Committee
-- Commemorative poster for statewide distribution
-- Trailhead marker
-- Promotion on www.ExplorePAtrails.com and the DCNR website
A grant up to $10,000 for educational materials to promote safety and environmental
protection on the trail is also made available.
For the nomination form and more information, visit DCNR’s PA Trail Of The Year
webpage.
For more information on state parks and forests and recreation in Pennsylvania, visit
DCNR’s website, Click Here to sign up for the Resource newsletter, Visit the Good Natured
DCNR Blog, Click Here for upcoming events, Click Here to hook up with DCNR on other
social media-- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
(Photo: 2018 Trail of the Year winner Forbidden Drive, Philadelphia.)
Related Stories:
Can And Are!
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
By: Tim Herd, PA Recreation and Park Society
So much of what constitutes the appeal and

livability of our communities is our direct
35
connection to our parks, public spaces, and our natural and cultural assets.
Their facilities and features build a strong and resilient infrastructure. Their recreational
opportunities bolster our wellness and life satisfaction.
Together, our park and recreation systems contribute expansively to a healthy economy,
environment and society in dozens of documentable ways.
Americans get it.
On average, we visit our local park and recreation facilities more than twice a month.
Three in every four of us live within a 10-minute walk of a local park or other recreation facility.
And 85 percent of us consider high quality park and recreation facilities important factors when
choosing a new place to live.
These are among the ways that Americans engage with our parks, according to a recent
research survey from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).
The 2018 Americans' Engagement with Parks Report focuses on the public's interaction
with parks and recreation to better understand our use of our park facilities, resources and
services, and our willingness to fund them.
Because park and recreation systems are predominantly provided by local governments,
they are often reliant on tax support. Typically, these essential utilities must vie for funding with
other public services-among which they often collaborate and enhance.
In this competition however, many park and recreation agencies suffer from stagnant or
declining budgets, despite the solid support for their offerings and services.
Yet, while 85 percent of our elected officials agree that parks and recreation are well
worth the tax dollars spent on it, they also indicate that it is most likely to be hit with the largest
cut in funding during lean times.
(So documents another recent NRPA research report: Local Government Officials'
Perceptions of Parks and Recreation.)
Parks are not luxuries-mere nice amenities to have in prosperous times. They-and the
healthful opportunities they provide to individuals and communities-are critical services
transforming our cities and towns into attractive, desirable places to live, work and play-that
directly contribute to prosperous times.
Accordingly, public officials who are vying to be elected or reelected should keep the
public's preferences for public support of our parks very much in mind: 76 percent of Americans
are more likely to vote for local politicians who make park and recreation funding a priority.
Moreover, 78 percent of survey respondents indicate they want their governments to
increase park and recreation spending - even to the point of personally raising the ante: 31
percent would "definitely" support increased spending while another 46 percent would
"probably" support it.
The typical increase suggested by survey residents would bring the median American
investment to $8 per resident per month, or a 22 percent hike.
Key to understanding the breadth of this support for greater funding for parks and
recreation is recognizing that it comes from all demographic segments: all generations, all
household incomes and formations, all ethnicities, and even all political affiliations.
That's right: Americans overwhelmingly favor governmental increases in financial
support for our public park and recreation services.
However, the benefits of parks and recreation reach only those with easy access to them.
The good news is that many Americans already live within a 10-minute walking distance of a
36
park, but 25 percent do not.
Park and recreation advocates, elected officials and the public must work together to fill
these gaps for the good of all.
The 2018 Americans' Engagement with Parks Report demonstrates not only
overwhelming support for such initiatives, but also a willingness to pay more to ensure their
success.
On election day, vote for those candidates who understand and agree.
For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and training
opportunities, visit the PA Recreation and Park Society website. Like them on Facebook,
Follow them on Twitter, visit their YouTube Channel, and find them on Instagram. Click Here
to support their work.
Tim Herd, CPRE, is the CEO of the PA Recreation and Park Society, the principal statewide
association providing professional development, leadership, advocacy and resources for those
working and volunteering in the parks and recreation field.
Related Stories:
Can And Are!
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
LancasterOnline.com: Now 5 Deaths Statewide From West Nile Virus
Heather Stauffer, LancasterOnline.com, Tuesday

reported the Department of Health has confirmed
5 deaths from West Nile Virus so far this season--
2 in Lancaster and one each in Lebanon,
Philadelphia and Westmoreland counties.
In 2017, the Department of Health
reported 20 human cases of West Nile and 3
deaths.
Statewide the Department of Health told
Lancasteronline.com there are now 80 confirmed
cases of West Nile Virus statewide.
Certain mosquito species carry the West Nile virus, which can cause humans to contract
West Nile encephalitis, an infection that can result in an inflammation of the brain. According to
the Department of Health, all residents in areas where virus activity has been identified are at
risk of contracting West Nile encephalitis.
37
Weeks of unusually wet weather this summer has led to almost perfected conditions for
mosquito breeding, and breeding season will not be over until the first, hard killing frost.
Individuals can take a number of precautionary measures around their homes to help
eliminate mosquito-breeding areas, including:
-- Dispose of cans, buckets, plastic containers, ceramic pots, or similar containers that hold
water.
-- Properly dispose of discarded tires that can collect water. Stagnant water is where most
mosquitoes breed.
-- Drill holes in the bottom of outdoor recycling containers.
-- Have clogged roof gutters cleaned every year as the leaves from surrounding trees have a
tendency to plug drains.
-- Turn over plastic wading pools when not in use.
-- Turn over wheelbarrows and don't let water stagnate in birdbaths.
-- Aerate ornamental pools or stock them with fish.
-- Clean and chlorinate swimming pools not in use and remove any water that may collect on
pool covers.
If a resident has stagnant pools of water on their property, they can buy Bti (short for
Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis) products at lawn and garden, outdoor supply, home
improvement and other stores. This naturally occurring bacterium kills mosquito larvae, but is
safe for people, pets, aquatic life and plants.
Additionally, these simple precautions can prevent mosquito bites, particularly for people
who are most at risk:
-- Make sure screens fit tightly over doors and windows to keep mosquitoes out of homes.
-- Consider wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants and socks when outdoors, particularly when
mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk, or in areas known for having large numbers of
mosquitoes.
-- When possible, reduce outdoor exposure at dawn and dusk during peak mosquito periods,
usually April through October.
-- Use insect repellents according to the manufacturer's instructions. An effective repellent will
contain DEET, picardin, or lemon eucalyptus oil. Consult with a pediatrician or family physician
for questions about the use of repellent on children, as repellent is not recommended for children
under the age of two months.
For more information about West Nile virus and the state's surveillance and control
program, please visit the West Nile Virus website. [Note: Unfortunately this website is not being
updated.]
NewsClip:
2nd Lancaster County Death Attributed to West Nile Virus, Statewide Total Rises To 5
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Fish & Boat Commission Names Tim Schaeffer Executive Director
During a special meeting Thursday, the Fish and Boat

Commission Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to
appoint Tim Schaeffer to the role of Executive Director. Schaeffer
will assume his duties beginning November 13.
38
“Tim’s experience speaks for itself and it gives us great pleasure to present him with this
opportunity,” said Eric Hussar, PFBC Board President. “We look forward to seeing how he’s
going to lead us into the future and advance our mission.”
As Executive Director, Schaeffer will return to the PFBC where he previously served as
Director of Policy and Planning from 2008-2017.
Schaeffer will replace Executive Director John Arway, who will retire effective
November 3.
“I’m extremely honored and grateful to the board of commissioners for the opportunity to
lead such a great agency,” said Schaeffer. “I’m excited to get to work.”
Currently, Schaeffer is Deputy Secretary for the Office of Water Programs for the
Department of Environmental Protection.
Prior to his state service, Schaeffer served in leadership roles for Audubon Pennsylvania,
PA Environmental Council, and PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers.
His has a Ph.D. from State University of New York College of Environmental Science
and Forestry, where his doctoral dissertation addressed local governments as partners in adaptive
natural resource management; a Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law; a
Master of Science in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University; and a
Bachelor of Arts from Gettysburg College.
He resides with his family in New Cumberland, Cumberland County.
NewsClips:
Hayes: Tim Schaeffer Tapped To Head Fish & Boat Commission
Op-Ed: Conservation Is Never A Bad Investment, Increase Fish & Boat Commission Fees
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
The Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources Thursday Fall Foliage Report found the
drastic cooldown last week failed to deliver
anticipated, major foliage changes throughout
Pennsylvania.
Many northern hardwoods like red and sugar
maple, which typically give the most vibrant colors
across the state, dropped their leaves early.
Remaining leaves making up the forest canopy are
likely to be of several oak species, which peak
later.
Therefore, in many areas of the state, peak foliage
will now be predicted based upon the oak/beech
and oak/hickory community peaks, which occur one to two weeks after the northern hardwoods.
Best color for the oak communities in the Pennsylvania Wilds south through the
Pennsylvania Appalachians is expected in the last week of October and first week of November,
respectively.
Northeastern and a few northwestern counties continue to follow a predictable fall foliage
39
timeline, peaking or starting to fade this week, while the southeast from Lancaster to
Philadelphia remains essentially unchanged.
Foliage in the Laurel Highlands area in southwestern PA is peaking quickly but has been
described as “spotty.”
Continued average to below-average fall temperatures should push foliage toward peak in
many areas of the state.
Next week’s report is expected to feature the most color for the season.
Click Here for this week’s map and all the details! Visit DCNR’s Fall Foliage Report
webpage for more information.
Visitors can get suggestions about the best spots to view fall foliage on the Penn's Woods
Fall Foliage story map and on the Pennsylvania Tourism Office website.
NewsClips:
Poconos Peak Leaf Peeping Weeks Late
Will Colorful Fall Foliage Be A No Show This Year? Sadly, It’s Possible
Fall Hiking Guide In Central PA
6 Pocono Hikes To Catch The Foliage Before It Falls!
Northeast’s Trees Staying Green Later This Year
Schneck: Fall Foliage Season In PA: Will It Ever Get Here?
Related Stories:
Can And Are!
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Senate/House Bills Moving Last Week
The following bills of interest saw action last week in the House and Senate--
House
DEP Agricultural Advisory Board: Senate Bill 1171 (Brooks-R-Crawford) changing the
membership of the Nutrient Management Advisory Board was amended to provide detailed
and summary) was removed from the Table, amended on the Floor, referred into and out of the
House Appropriations Committee and was passed by the House. The bill was concurred in by
the Senate and now goes to the Governor for his action.
40
Authority Sales Of Water Systems: House Bill 104 (Godshall-R-Montgomery) relating to the
same of water and wastewater systems by authorities was passed by the Senate. It returned to the
House where it was amended and returned to the Senate for a concurrence vote.
Senate
Leaf Waste Recycling: House Bill 927 (Rader-R-Monroe) amends Act 101 Municipal Waste
waste collection program (Senate Fiscal Note and summary) was reported from the Senate
Appropriations Committee and passed by the Senate without changes. The bill now goes to the
Governor for his action.
Lead Service Lines: House Bill 2075 (Charlton-R-Delaware) authorizing rate recovery for
customer-owned lead water service lines (Senate Fiscal Note and summary) was reported from
the Senate Appropriations Committee and passed by the Senate and concurred in by the House.
The bill now goes to the Governor for his action.
One-Stop-Business Center: House Bill 1284 (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a

and summary) was reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee and was passed by the
Senate without amendments. The bill now goes to the Governor for his action.
Recreation Liability: House Bill 544 (Moul-R-Adams) further providing for liability protection
for landowners opening their land for public recreation (Senate Fiscal Note and summary) was
reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee, amended on the Senate Floor and was
passed by the Senate. The House concurred on the bill and it now goes to the Governor for his
action.
Cleanup Funding: House Bill 2638 (Stephens-R-Montgomery) which would authorize new
local authorities to cleanup former military installations or land having water, sewer or
stormwater pollution identified by the Department of Environmental Protection or the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency financed by tax refunds by businesses and individuals
working in the remediation area was amended to eliminate its application to all properties with
pollution to just those involving former military installations (Senate Fiscal Note and summary)
and reported from the Senate Transportation Committee, referred into and out of the Senate
Appropriations Committee and was passed by the Senate. The House defeated the bill on
concurrence 95 to 86.
Uniform Construction Code: House Bill 1469 (Heffley-R-Carbon) relating to third-party

private code enforcement was reported from the Senate Appropriations Committee, amended on
the Floor and was passed by the Senate. The bill returned to the House for a concurrence vote.
Conventional Drilling: House Bill 2154 (Causer-R-Cameron) which would weaken

environmental standards for conventional (not Shale) oil and gas drilling (Senate Fiscal Note,
House Fiscal Note and summaries) was referred into and out of the Senate Appropriations
41
Committee and is on the Senate Calendar for action.
Lead Testing: Senate Bill 1270 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne), (Baker-R-Luzerne) requiring universal

lead testing for children (sponsor summary) was reported out of the Senate Health and Human
Services Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.
Ag Security Areas: House Bill 1550 (Klunk-R-York) amending the Agricultural Area Security
Law to allow for a residence for the principal landowner (House Fiscal Note and summary) was
Tabled.
SepticSmart Week: Senate Resolution 462 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) designating September 17-21

SepticSmart Week to increase awareness of proper maintenance and service of on-lot septic
systems (sponsor summary) was adopted by the Senate.
Bills On Governor's Desk
The following bills were given final approval by the Senate and House and are now on the
Governor's desk for action--
Recreation Liability: House Bill 544 (Moul-R-Adams) further providing for liability protection
for landowners opening their land for public recreation (Senate Fiscal Note and summary).
“Adams County has a lot of farmland, trails and open spaces that could be available for
public use, but landowners who permit such use – at no cost – should not be held liable if
someone gets hurt on their land through no fault of the landowner,” said Rep. Dan Moul. Click
Here for more.
Leaf Waste Recycling: House Bill 927 (Rader-R-Monroe) amends Act 101 Municipal Waste
waste collection program (Senate Fiscal Note and summary).
Lead Service Lines: House Bill 2075 (Charlton-R-Delaware) authorizing rate recovery for
customer-owned lead water service lines (Senate Fiscal Note and summary).
In an effort to curb this problem, a bipartisan group of legislators wrote language into this
year’s Fiscal Code allowing municipal authorities and municipal governments to replace
homeowner’s water and sewer laterals when there is a public health concern such as lead.
“Unfortunately, left out of that was Pennsylvania’s regulated water and wastewater
utilities that serve much of my district,” said Rep. Alex Charlton. This legislations corrects that.
One-Stop-Business Center: House Bill 1284 (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a

and summary).
“As a former business owner, I know that for too long the processes and procedures for
starting and running a business were a barrier to entry for so many entrepreneurs across the
commonwealth,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “I’m proud that my PA Business One-Stop Shop has
42
successfully eased that burden on entrepreneurs. I applaud the legislature for recognizing that
success and cementing the one-stop shop into statute.” Click Here for more.
DEP Agricultural Advisory Board: Senate Bill 1171 (Brooks-R-Crawford) provides detailed
and summary).
Senate/House Agenda/Session Schedule/Gov’s Schedule/ Bills Introduced
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--
Bill Calendars
House (Nov. 13): House Bill 1401 (DiGirolamo-R-Bucks) which amends Title 58 to impose a
sliding scale natural gas severance tax, in addition to the Act 13 drilling impact fee, on natural
gas production (NO money for environmental programs) and includes provisions related to
minimum landowner oil and gas royalties; House Bill 1446 (Quinn-R- Bucks) encouraging
infrastructure for electric and natural gas fueled vehicles; House Bill 2105 (Fritz-R-
Susquehanna) abolishing certain “obsolete” boards and commissions; House Bill 2638
(Stephens-R-Montgomery) which would authorize new local authorities to cleanup former
military installations or land having water, sewer or stormwater pollution identified by the
Department of Environmental Protection or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency financed
by tax refunds by businesses and individuals working in the remediation area was amended to
eliminate its application to all properties with pollution to just those involving former military
installations (Senate Fiscal Note and summary) House Resolution 284 (Moul-R-Adams) urging
Congress to repeal the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s MS4 Stormwater Pollution
Prevention Program (sponsor summary); House Resolution 943 (Tallman-R-Adams) urging the
federal Food And Drug Administration to promptly consider candidates for Lyme disease
vaccinations; House Resolution 1112 (Barrar-R-Delaware) calling on federal government to
recognize the importance of durable, flood-resilient infrastructure (sponsor summary). <> Click
Here for full House Bill Calendar.
Senate (Nov. 14): Senate Bill 820 (Aument-R- Lancaster) providing liability protection for
owners and operators of on-farm agritourism activities (sponsor summary); Senate Bill 930
(Dinniman-D- Chester) sets notification requirements related to pipeline emergencies (sponsor
summary); Senate Bill 931 (Dinniman-D-Chester) requires the installation of automatic or
remote controlled safety values in natural gas pipelines in densely populated areas; Senate Bill
1199 (Rafferty-R- Montgomery) providing for a landowners’ bill of rights in cases of eminent
domain, including by private entities like pipeline companies (sponsor summary); Senate Bill
1270 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne), (Baker-R-Luzerne) requiring universal lead testing for children
(sponsor summary); Senate Resolution 214 (Greenleaf-R-Montgomery) urging Pennsylvania
natural gas producers to export gas to European countries in an effort to curtail the monopoly
that Russia has on supply to that region (sponsor summary); Senate Resolution 373
43
(Rafferty-R-Montgomery) is a concurrent Senate-House resolution to establish a Senate-House
legislative Commission to Study Pipeline Construction and Operations and to recommend
improvements for the safe transport of oil, natural gas and other hazardous liquids through
pipelines; House Bill 86 (Lawrence-R-Chester) eliminating tailpipe emissions testing for
1992-1995 vehicles in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas (House Fiscal Note and summary);
House Bill 2154 (Causer-R-Cameron) which would weaken environmental standards for
conventional (not Shale) oil and gas drilling (Senate Fiscal Note, House Fiscal Note and
summaries). <> Click Here for full Senate Bill Calendar.
Committee Meeting Agendas This Week
House: House Democratic Policy Committee holds a hearing with Rep. Mary Jo Daley
(D-Montgomery) on environmental education programs in Montgomery County <> Click
Here for full House Committee Schedule.
Senate: <> Click Here for full Senate Committee Schedule.
Bills Pending In Key Committees
Check the PA Environmental Council Bill Tracker for the status and updates on pending state
legislation and regulations that affect environmental and conservation efforts in Pennsylvania.
Bills Introduced
The following bills of interest were introduced last week--
SepticSmart Week: Senate Resolution 462 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) designating September 17-21

SepticSmart Week to increase awareness of proper maintenance and service of on-lot septic
systems (sponsor summary) was adopted by the Senate.
Session Schedule
Here is the latest voting session schedule for the Senate and House--
Senate (Recessed to the Call of the President Pro Tempore)

November 14 (leadership elections)
House (On A 12-Hour Call)

November 13 (Now Voting Day) (leadership elections)
Governor’s Schedule
Gov. Tom Wolf's work calendar will be posted each Friday and his public schedule for the day
will be posted each morning. Click Here to view Gov. Wolf’s Weekly Calendar and Public
Appearances.
44
News From The Capitol
Senate Committee Approves Bill Requiring Universal Lead Testing For Children
The Senate Health and Human Services

Committee Tuesday reported out Senate Bill 1270
(Yudichak-D-Luzerne), (Baker-R-Luzerne)
requiring universal lead testing for children
(sponsor summary).
Senators John Yudichak and Lisa Baker worked
together to introduce this bipartisan bill.
“By requiring lead testing for two of our most
vulnerable populations, we are taking proactive
preventative measures to combat the devastating
health impacts that can occur when children and
expectant mothers are exposed to lead,” said Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne). “Developing a
more comprehensive lead assessment and remediation strategy in Pennsylvania has been one of
my top legislative priorities, and it is my hope that we can continue to work on passing
legislative policies that address the risks of lead exposure.”
“Lead exposure should be on every list of serious health concerns. Yet, it tends to receive
attention only when there is an expose done or a notorious breakdown in preventive measures
surfaces. The key is finding the sources of lead across our communities, remediating these
situations, and determining who has been exposed. We must be prudent and purposeful to our
approach and the priority we put on solutions,” said Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne), the Majority
Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee.
The bill now goes to the full Senate for action.
Based on the Department of Health’s most recent Childhood Lead Surveillance Annual
Report, only 28 percent of Pennsylvania children under the age of two were screened for blood
lead levels in 2015.
However, testimony presented at a recent public hearing of the Senate Environmental
Resources and Energy Committee found all children may be at risk—based on exposure in their
homes or relatives’ homes, in care and educational facilities, or in playgrounds, among other
areas.
Recent discussions and research demonstrate that universal lead testing is a practical and
effective protective measure to reduce instances of lead poisoning.
Similar legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives as House Bill 666
(Cruz-D-Philadelphia).
Ten other states and Washington D.C. have already implemented similar laws, and it is
important that we act to do the same. We hope you will join us in co-sponsoring this measure.
Senate Lead Task Force
In June of 2017 the Senate passed Senate Resolution 33 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) creating a
bipartisan task force to investigate the scope of Pennsylvania’s lead exposure problem. The Task
Force report is due at the end of this year.
In October of 2017, the task force members were named and the Senate Environmental
45
Resources and Energy Committee held a hearing in Luzerne County on the issue.
Gov. Wolf has also called for the universal testing of blood-lead levels in children.
In February of this year, Senators Yudichak and Baker held a roundtable in Wilkes-Barre
on lead exposure and lead testing.
For more information on lead exposure, intervention and education, visit the Department
of Health’s Lead Poisoning webpage. For more information on lead in drinking water, visit
DEP’s Lead In Drinking Water webpage.
Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne) serves as Majority Chair of the Senate Health and Human
Services Committee, and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7428 or sending email to:
lbaker@pasen.gov. Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks) serves as Minority Chair and can be
contacted by calling 717-787-8925 or sending email to: SenatorSchwank@pasenate.com.
NewsClips:
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
The Feds
EPA, Federal Agencies Lay Out Agenda For Future Regulatory Changes
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal departments Wednesday released
their parts of the semiannual Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions and a Fall
Regulatory Plan. The plans are a roadmap of sorts of the kinds of changes they want to make.
“To date, under President Trump, EPA has finalized 28 major deregulatory actions saving
Americans over $1.6 billion and meeting the President’s two-for-one regulatory order,” said EPA
Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “We are providing the states and regulated community
the regulatory certainty they need to advance new technologies, improve environmental
protections, and enhance economic growth.”
Click Here for the full EPA announcements with links to the Regulatory and
Deregulatory Agenda. Click Here for EPA’s Fall Regulatory Plan.
Interior
The U.S. Department of the Interior reported that in Fiscal Year 2018 regulatory reform
actions have resulted in a savings of roughly $2.5 billion in net present value. Since January
2017, Interior has withdrawn more than 150 proposed rulemakings from the regulatory agenda
and finalized no less than 19 deregulatory actions in FY 2018.
Click Here for Interior’s Fall Regulatory Plan.
Other Agencies
Here are links to other selected agency regulatory plans-
-- Department of Agriculture
-- Department of Energy
All federal agency Fall Regulatory Plans are available at the OMB Office of Information
46
and Regulatory Affairs website.
NewsClip:
EPA Aims To Triple Pace Of Deregulation In Coming Year
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
News From Around The State
Applications Now Being Accepted For Federal Pre-Disaster Mitigation And Flood
Mitigation Assistance From Municipalities, Counties
The PA Emergency Management Agency this

week announced applications are now being
accepted for a new Federal Emergency
Management Agency program to provide FY
2018 Pre-Disaster Natural Hazard Mitigation and
Flood Mitigation Assistance to municipalities.
The deadline for applications is December
14.
The Non-Disaster Grant Program is
available to fund projects which--
-- Reduce or eliminate claims under the National
Flood Insurance Program ($145 million available
nationally with $70 priorities for community flood mitigation). Click Here for a FEMA fact
sheet; and
-- Reduce overall risk to population and structures from future hazard events and reliance on
federal funding for future disasters ($235.2 million nationally). Click Here for a FEMA fact
sheet.
To be eligible, a municipality or county must have adopted their county hazard mitigation
plan.
The State Hazard Mitigation Application Review Team will meet between December 19
and 31 to rank and prioritized projects in line with the state's Standard Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Grant applications are to be submitted through FEMA's eGrants system.
Click Here for detailed application instructions from the PA Emergency Management
Agency.
For more information on hazard mitigation planning and technical assistance, please
contact Tom Hughes, State Hazard Mitigation Officer, at 717-651-2726 or by using the Hazard
Mitigation email: RA-shazmitoff@pa.gov.
For general background on mitigation programs, visit PEMA’s Hazard Mitigation
webpage. Click Here to view the state’s 2018 State Hazard Mitigation Plan Update.
NewsClips:
AP: Disaster Relief Approved For Lancaster, York, Areas Affected By August Storm
SBA Loans Available To Help With Disaster Recovery After Yough Valley Flooding
Flooding Prompts Plan For Unity Stream Improvement
47
Monroeville Establishes Stormwater Pollution Reduction Fee
This Year Sure To Be One Of NE PA’s Wettest Ever
Related Stories:
Gov. Wolf: Federal Flood Disaster Aid Now Available To Lancaster, York, Neighboring
Counties
Gov. Wolf Criticizes FEMA Denial Of Western PA Disaster Declaration Request Appeal
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
Counties
Gov. Tom Wolf Friday announced the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approved his
request to declare a disaster in Lancaster and York Counties after significant flood damage to
homes and businesses was sustained due to severe storms on August 31.
Homeowners, renters and businesses impacted by the storms in Lancaster and York
Counties, as well as neighboring counties Adams, Berks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin and
Lebanon may be eligible for low-interest disaster loans through the SBA Disaster Loan
Programs.
“Residents throughout the commonwealth are still recovering from the record-shattering
storms that disrupted their lives this summer,” said Gov. Wolf. “Loan programs like these
provide a low-cost and accessible lifeline to individuals starting the rebuilding and recovery
process.”
Low-interest loans of up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace
damaged or destroyed real estate. SBA regulations permit loans up to $40,000 to repair or
replace personal property.
Businesses and nonprofits can borrow up to $2 million to restore damaged or destroyed
buildings, inventory, equipment and assets. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are
based on each applicant’s financial qualifications.
The SBA will establish Disaster Loan Outreach Centers (DLOC) to assist anyone who
wishes to apply for a loan. The DLOC’s will be open at the following locations and times:
-- York County Department of Emergency Services, Training Room, 120 Davies Dr. York
-- Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center, Conference Room, 101 Champ Blvd.
Manheim
-- Hours of Operation--
Opening: Monday, Oct. 22, 10 a.m.
Closed: Sunday, Oct. 28
Days: Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 27: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Closing: Monday, Oct. 29: 6p.m.
SBA customer service representatives will be on hand at the disaster loan outreach
centers to issue loan applications, answer questions about the disaster loan program, explain the
application process and help individuals to complete their applications.
Individuals and businesses unable to visit the centers in person may obtain information
and loan applications by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955
(1-800-877-8339 for the hearing impaired), or by emailing: disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
48
Loan applications are also available online. Applicants may apply online using the
Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via the SBA’s secure website.
Completed applications should be returned to the local DLOC or mailed to: U.S. Small
Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort
Worth, TX 76155.
The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is December 17,
2018. The deadline to return economic injury disaster loan applications is July 18, 2019.
NewsClips:
Related Stories:
Applications Now Being Accepted For Federal Pre-Disaster Mitigation And Flood Mitigation
Assistance From Municipalities, Counties
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
Gov. Tom Wolf Monday issued the following statement in response to the Federal Emergency
Management Agency’s denial of the July 2018 appeal for a major disaster declaration for
damages from western Pennsylvania’s February through April severe weather that included
flooding and landslides:
“The federal government chose to ignore geological experts’ information regarding the
cumulative damage from multiple western Pennsylvania storms and resultant landslides,” Gov.
Wolf said. “The Commonwealth provided extensive information on the likelihood that the
damage from these storms and landslides was related; it appears FEMA chose to ignore that
evidence and has denied the appeal submitted.
“This string of severe storms and series of landslides across much of western
Pennsylvania stretched our Commonwealth resources well beyond their limits, causing stress on
local budgets, too. I vowed to appeal after the initial request denial, which we did, only to be
faced with a second denial.
“Federal assistance exists to help after state and local resources are overextended and that
was most definitely the case for this continuous stretch of unprecedented weather and geologic
events that devastated much of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in winter and early spring
and early summer.
“FEMA chose to look at this string of severe landslides as separate incidents. And
therefore, none of the landslides individually would meet the threshold for a declaration. FEMA
ignored the fact, however, that these landslides were relentless. Damage and costs escalated with
each subsequent storm. Geological experts agreed the landslides were connected as ‘a historic
and unprecedented singular geological event’.”
49
The total costs associated with the request, which was sent in late June, was $22 million.
A major disaster declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency
provides federal funding to local, county and state governments, as well as certain eligible
non-profits in those counties through the Public Assistance program.
Applicants can be reimbursed up to 75 percent of the costs incurred on eligible expenses,
which can include but are not limited to: payroll, contracts, repairs to damaged or destroyed
infrastructure, equipment rentals and materials.
NewsClips:
Related Story:
Gov. Wolf Requests Federal Disaster Aid For Allegheny, Westmoreland Landslide Damage
Applications Now Being Accepted For Federal Pre-Disaster Mitigation And Flood Mitigation
Assistance From Municipalities, Counties
Counties
[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
DEP To Host Informational Meeting Nov. 7 On Swoyersville Culm Bank Removal Project
In Luzerne County
The Department of Environmental Protection

Friday announced it will host an informational
meeting on November 7 regarding Phase 1 of
the Swoyersville Culm Bank Removal Project
in Luzerne County.
The meeting will take place from 6:00-9:00
p.m. at Swoyersville Hose Company No. 2,
located at 299 Slocum Street. Representatives
from DEP will be on hand to discuss the
project and answer questions from residents.
“The start of this project is the first major step
in removing an enormous pile of coal waste that has sat in this part of the Wyoming Valley for
decades,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “DEP is committed to cleaning up old and
abandoned mine land like this and seeing that land be used for progressive development,
something the community can benefit from for years to come.”
The 5-year project involves removing more than 500,000 tons of coal waste and rock
material from 18.3 acres of the 55-acre site off Main Street. The material was generated from the
Harry E. Coal Breaker, which ceased operations in the 1970s and was dismantled in 1995.
50
Once the refuse is removed from this phase of the project, 7.5-acres will be re-vegetated
for development and then, by 2020, donated to Swoyersville Borough for use as a public
recreational area.
The work will also improve water quality in nearby Abraham’s Creek by reducing
flooding and decreasing the possibility of acid mine drainage.
The material removed from the site in this phase will be used by Keystone Reclamation
Fuel Management out of Northampton County as fuel for its cogeneration facility. An additional
3.5 million tons of material on the site will be removed at a later date.
This estimated cost is of this phase of the project is $8 million with $3 million of the cost
funded by the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Pilot Project, which was authorized by
Congress in 2017 and $5 million from Olympus Power, which will do the actual removal work
on site.
The partners for this project include: Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned
Mine Reclamation, Keystone Reclamation Fuel Management, Swoyersville Borough, Pagnotti
Enterprises, Foundation for PA Watersheds and the federal Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement.
For more information on mine reclamation, visit DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine
Reclamation webpage.
NewsClip:
Washington County Home Abandoned After Mine Subsidence Sinkhole Found
Related Story:
Gov. Wolf announces $25 Million In Funding For 12 Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation
Projects
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
York Master Watershed Stewards Plant Rain Gardens, Hold Youth Fishing &
Conservation Day
The Master Watershed Stewards of York County recently completed 2 rain gardens to help
control stormwater pollution and hold a youth fishing and conservation day in York City.
Rain Gardens
Before the colder temperatures arrived,
Master Watershed Stewards in York County
finished up planting two rain gardens in York
County. One in Stump Park in York Township and
one at Miller Park in Shrewsbury Township.
Rain gardens are bowl-shaped gardens built
to capture stormwater runoff so it infiltrates back
into the ground. They slow and reduce runoff from
roofs, driveways, parking lots, sidewalks and other
impervious surfaces that would otherwise run off
the land into streams, carrying pollutants with it.
Rain gardens are rather simple to build and can help beautify your landscape. They
provide the following benefits: reduce flooding, filter pollution, protect and replenish drinking
water supplies and provide pollinator and wildlife habitat.
51
Master Watershed Stewards collaborated with the municipalities, planned the layout of
the rain gardens, selected native plant plugs from native plant nurseries, enjoyed planting and are
working on education signage.
By working together, Master Watershed Stewards can help municipalities meet some of
their stormwater obligations.
Many communities in Pennsylvania are designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency as Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) based on their population density.
These urbanized areas must follow a number of regulations making sure stormwater runoff does
not degrade water quality in local streams.
The Master Watershed Steward Program was created to educate and connect citizens
from communities to water resource concerns in the area.
Meeting obligations of the MS4 Program can be challenging for municipalities who may
have staff with little or no training in this area. Partnering together can be an effective step using
the resources of trained citizens to help meet these EPA obligations.
Building rain gardens, developing educational materials and installing signage are a few
of the many ways Master Watershed Stewards can help municipalities.
For more information on rain gardens and stormwater, visit the Penn State Extension
website.
Youth Fishing & Conservation
After heavy rains two days prior, the
sun was shining the afternoon of September
29th as about eighty youth from the city of
York dangled fishing rods into the swollen,
muddy Codorus Creek in hopes of catching a
hungry fish.
The goal of the Youth and Family
Fishing and Conservation Day was to not only
introduce youth to fishing, but to also teach
them about conserving and protecting the
waterway meandering through the city.
Thanks to previous and continuous
conservation efforts and tougher regulations on big polluters, the Codorus Creek’s water quality
has drastically improved over the last 20 years.
The water quality can still improve, but it is once again home to quite a variety of wildlife
ranging from smallmouth bass and sunfish to great egrets, great blue herons and bald eagles.
The Master Watershed Stewards in York partnered with the Mid-Atlantic Youth Angler
and Outdoor Partners and the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association to offer this event at
downtown York’s Codorus Boat Basin in Foundry Park.
Program partners and volunteers introduced youth to fishing and stations were set up so
they could practice fly casting and spin casting.
Fish printing and face painting were a hit and participants learned all about watersheds,
aquatic invasive species and macroinvertebrates-- both important water quality indicators.
Throughout the evening, State Representatives Keith Gillespie and Kristin Phillips-Hill,
Mayor Michael Helfrich, the Fish and Boat Commission and the Penn State Nittany Lion
stopped by and could be found baiting a hook, measuring a fish or pausing for a photo.
52
It was a fantastic day and participants stayed throughout the evening, catching a variety
of species from the once heavily-polluted Codorus Creek.
By educating youth today, our hope is they will have a greater appreciation for the
waterway and will help protect it in the years to come!
Forming and maintaining partnerships is key to building a successful Master Watershed
Steward Program.
Many thanks to the Mid-Atlantic Youth and Outdoor Partners, the Lower Susquehanna
Riverkeeper Association and especially to the York County Community Foundation for grant
funding that helped make this event possible.
Go to the York County Master Watershed Steward Program webpage or contact Jodi
Sulpizio, Natural Resources Educator by sending email to: jrb143@psu.edu or call
717-840-7429.
There are Penn State Extension Master Watershed Stewards Programs in Allegheny,
Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery,
Northampton, Wyoming and York Counties.
Interested in becoming a Master Watershed Steward in your area? Visit Penn State
Extension’s Master Watershed Steward Program webpage. Questions should be directed to Erin
Frederick at 610-391-9840 or send email to: elf145@psu.edu.
Other Citizen Science Training Opportunities:
Penn State Extension: Master Well Owner Network
DCNR TreeVitalize Tree Tenders Training
Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Program
DCNR Citizen Science Events In State Parks, Forests
Related Stories:
Feature: CBF-PA's Rain Garden Maintenance Specialist Brings Environmental Justice To A
Harrisburg Neighborhood
Penn State Extension Develops Stormwater Education For Mount Holly Springs’ Festival Day In
Cumberland County
Advanced Watershed Educator Workshops For Non-Formal Educators Coming Up
PA Horticultural Society Hosts Green City Teachers Basic Training 5-Session Course Starting
Oct. 23
Project Wet 2.0 & Healthy Water, Healthy People Facilitator Workshop Nov. 3 In State College
PA Master Naturalist Program Expands In Western PA; Training To Be Offered In 2019
atershed Winds newsletter.)

(Reprinted from the Penn State Extension W
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Feature: CBF-PA's Rain Garden Maintenance Specialist Brings Environmental Justice To

A Harrisburg Neighborhood
By: B.J. Small, Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA
Garden mud, rain, and rocks were Rafiyqa

Muhammad's playground growing up in a
53
south-Harrisburg neighborhood.
Back then, she wanted to be a scientist. Her parents got her microscopes and tests tubes
and instructions that encouraged her to mix things up.
Today and in that same neighborhood, Rafiyqa is still playing in the dirt, loves mixing
things up, and enjoys learning about science.
Muhammad is the new rain garden maintenance specialist for the Pennsylvania office of
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), overseeing the Summit Terrace rain garden off North
13th Street in Harrisburg.
Funding for the rain garden at Summit Terrace and Rafiyqa's work is made possible by an
DEP Environmental Education Grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) and matched by CBF.
The garden is among environmental justice projects that, through the grant, will empower
and educate people in urban areas of Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York on how to improve and
protect the water quality in their communities and beautify the areas.
DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell defined environmental justice as "empowering
low-income minority communities with better environmental information so they can more fully
participate in the kinds of processes we at the department engage in every day; connecting
people with their environment and their government to get better outcomes."
"The community over there always feels like everybody forgets them," Muhammad says
of the Harrisburg neighborhoods around Summit Terrace. "We know they are there. But anything
that is happening is not happening in their areas. As long as I'm at a table I'm going to push in
those particular areas that we are not going to forget."
Capital Region Water (CRW) is a key partner in the Summit Terrace project as well as
the renovation of four newly-dedicated playgrounds in the city. Three of the playgrounds have
infrastructure like rain gardens, porous-paved basketball surfaces, and underground drainage to
manage stormwater and flooding.
CRW's "City Beautiful H2O" program to reduce combined stormwater and sewer
overflows in Harrisburg includes a green infrastructure plan developed with a significant amount
of community input.
"Green infrastructure has the power to reduce pollution and beautify neighborhoods,"
Andrew Bliss, CRW's Community Outreach Manager said. "But only if driven by the
neighborhood community itself."
Rafiyqa Muhammad is optimistic about the positive effects rain gardens can have on
stormwater and society.
"Two blocks from where the rain gardens are, you have drug dealing and prostitution in
the alleys," Muhammad said. "But the people are excited we are putting a garden in. They are
going to be the people that protect the garden. They aren't going to let anything happen to it."
She plans to have children from the nearby Boys & Girls Club help with the rain garden.
Muhammad is also helping the Camp Curtain Branch of YMCA install a rain garden and rain
barrels. CBF is donating the barrels.
Urban and suburban polluted runoff is a leading source of stream pollution in
Pennsylvania. Polluted runoff from impervious surfaces like roofs, streets, and parking lots finds
its way into the nearest river or stream, threatening drinking water.
Rain gardens planted in low areas collect runoff water, allowing it to slow and soak into
the ground and be absorbed by garden plants. Native plants lessen the need for water and
54
fertilizer. As collection areas linked to stormwater structure, rain gardens help to manage
stormwater and reduce flooding.
As a self-described "sponge" who learns by doing and experimenting, Muhammad is in
the right role. She started the family aquaponics business Sustainable Human Environment
(SHE) LLC, and a friend in Lancaster introduced her to permaculture. Permaculture is the
harmonious integration of land and people, providing their food, energy, shelter and other needs
in a sustainable way.
"I'm going to absorb everything and then process the information to see how I can get it
out into the community in a way they can understand and be able to go home and try to
implement it right away," Muhammad says. "Something woke up in me and was heavy on me
that I needed to teach people how to grow food."
Muhammad still enjoys getting her hands in the dirt. Including plots at the Boys & Girls
Club, William Penn school, YWCA, and her own backyard, she has worked between two and
three city acres in raised beds and gardens.
"People think you can dig a hole, put a seed in and it's gonna grow," Muhammad said.
"You need to look at the soil. Everybody calls soil ‘dirt.' I got people now saying ‘soil.' In dirt
there is no life. In soil there is life."
Muhammad wants to get the neighborhood to appreciate the rain garden and to "Let them
know that we're not going anywhere. We're still here, but this is your baby and take care of it,
right down to the playgrounds. Just keep in clean. Aren't we tired how our city looks?"
Muhammad is no stranger to Harrisburg's environmental and social challenges. She sits
on the city's Environmental Council. She was born on the same Harrisburg street where the CBF
office is located and attended Lincoln Elementary.
"Sometimes we have to look at things and turn it into a positive," Muhammad added. "It
hurts me to see the people in the condition they are in, but they have to make those changes," the
grandmother of 40 and great-grandmother of 5 said. "I'm tired of what I see. I'm tired of the
drugs. I'm tired of the killing. I'm just tired. This rain garden project to me is something
different."
For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation-PA webpage. Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left
column). Click Here to support their work.
(Reprinted from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Blog.)
NewsClips:
Modeling
Behind
Related Stories:
CBF-PA To Help Educate Communities On Causes, Cures For Polluted Stormwater Runoff
55
From County Streams
York Master Watershed Stewards Plant Rain Gardens, Hold Youth Fishing & Conservation Day
Cumberland County
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
Dr. Bern Sweeney: Oct. 25 Ecological Aspects Of Streams And Streamside Forest Buffers
Webinar
The Delaware RiverKeeper Network and

the Stroud Water Research Center are
hosting an October 25 Webinar on
Ecological Aspects Of Streams And
Streamside Forest Buffers featuring Dr.
Bernard W. Sweeney, Distinguished
Research Scientist and former Executive
Director of the Stroud Water Research
Center.
The vegetated lands fringing our streams
and rivers deliver a host of vital ecological services for humans and for the terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems they support.
In this webinar, Dr. Sweeney will tour this landscape of scientific research and
summarize the ways that riparian buffers, particularly forests, improve water quality and create
the essential foundations for healthy ecosystems.
Click Here to register or for more information. The webinar starts at 7:00 p.m.
NewsClips:
Altoona Students Help Mitigate Stormwater By Planting Trees In Mill Run
York Eyes Stormwater Authority To Aid Farmers
Williamsport Council: Stormwater Pollution Reduction Plan Not Insurmountable
Scranton Council Urges Mayor To Convene Public Forum On Stormwater Flooding
Stormwater Authority Gets Complaints About Decora Dumping Sludge In Drains
Op-Ed: 10 Million New Trees Can Help Stem Tide Of State’s Rushing Waters
Related Stories:
56
Study: Riparian Buffers Provide Over $10,000/Year/Acre In Benefits - Reducing Erosion,
Flooding, Increased Water Purification, Habitat, Property Values, More
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
The PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers and

the PA Environmental Council will hold 2 more in
their series of regional watershed workshops on
November 7 in Scranton, Lackawanna County and
November 14 in Cranberry, Butler County.
The workshops will provide opportunities for
community watershed groups to gather and learn about
resources and network with each other as well as
provide organizational capacity training and hope to
set a strong foundation for sustaining watershed conservation and restoration programs.
The gatherings will also help set the agenda for the next statewide conference of
watershed organizations to be held on February 24-25 in State College.
The workshops will be held--
-- November 7: Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, 213 Railroad Avenue, Scranton, 9:30 to
2:00. Click Here to register. For more information, please contact Janet Sweeney, Vice
President -PA Environmental Council at jsweeney@pecpa.org or 570-718-6507.
-- November 14: Cranberry Township Municipal Center, 2525 Rochester Road, Cranberry, 9:30
to 2:00. Click Here to register. For more information, please contact Marla Papernick, Program
Manager - PA Environmental Council at mpapernick@pecpa.org or 412-481-9400.
Previous workshops were held on in Danville, Montour County; Carlisle, Cumberland
County; and Doylestown, Bucks County.
For more information, visit POWR/PEC Regional Watershed Workshop Resources
webpage.
Visit the PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers website for information on
watershed restoration, the PA River of the Year and annual Sojourn programs.
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the PA
Environmental Council website, visit the PEC Blog, follow PEC on Twitter or Like PEC on
Facebook. Visit PEC’s Audio Room for the latest podcasts. Click Here to receive regular
updates from PEC.
Related Stories:
Schuylkill Action Network Celebrates 15 Years Of Action Nov. 9 In Reading
Deadline Extended: Call For Abstracts For Nov. 29 Academy Of Natural Sciences Delaware
Watershed Research Conference; Registration Open
57
Cumberland County
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
Penn State Extension Develops Stormwater Education For Mount Holly Springs’ Festival
Day In Cumberland County
Visitors to the Mount Holly Springs' Holly Festival

Day Celebration on September 15 in Cumberland
County had an opportunity to learn about how
stormwater can impact their local waterways.
Like many small towns in Pennsylvania, officials in
Mount Holly Springs are becoming increasingly
aware of the stormwater generated in their
community.
Nestled against the forested flanks of South
Mountain in Cumberland County, this picturesque
town is bisected east to west by Mountain Creek, a
popular destination for trout fisherman seeking both stocked and native fish.
Borough Council members understand how important clean water is for the town’s
future.
Under the leadership of council member Katie Daniels, the Council worked with Penn
State Extension to develop an interactive stormwater education booth for the 41st annual Holly
Festival Day, an annual community fair which attracts scores of vendors and hundreds of
visitors.
The exhibit manned by Water Resources Educator, Andy Yencha, featured a stormwater
quiz visitors could take to qualify for a free rain barrel drawing, a “make and take” miniature rain
garden for children to build, and hands-on demonstrations of Extension’s 4-H Rain-to-Drain
activity.
Council Member Daniels was thrilled with the community’s response to the event. Many
residents now have a better understanding of how stormwater is generated on their property and
the impacts that can occur as runoff drains into Mountain Creek.
For more information on stormwater management for communities visit the Penn state
Extension Stormwater Basics webpage.
Related Stories:

[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
58
The Schuylkill Action Network will hold its
annual meeting on November 9 at the Albright
College Campus Center, 1442 Bern Street in
Reading, Berks County. This year SAN is
celebrating its 15th year of action to restore the
Schuylkill River.
As part of the celebration, SAN will look back at
its successes and into the future for innovative
ideas, projects, and collaboration.
Participants will hear from local watershed stakeholders, such as a farmer, teacher, and
fisherman, about how SAN projects have impacted their work and community. You'll also learn
about new tools, resources, and creative funding programs in order to advance your work in the
Schuylkill River Watershed.
Click Here to register or for more information.
For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the
Schuylkill Action Network website.
Related Stories:
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Deadline Extended: Call For Abstracts For Nov. 29 Academy Of Natural Sciences
Delaware Watershed Research Conference; Registration Open
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

has extended the deadline for accepting abstracts for
presentations for the second annual Delaware Watershed
Research Conference to October 31.
Registration is also open for the Conference will be
held on November 29 in Philadelphia.
The Conference will feature oral presentations by
researchers whose work relates to conditions in the
Delaware River Watershed, and will include updates and
results from researchers funded under the Delaware Watershed Research Fund.
Any researcher working on topics involving the Delaware River Basin is invited to
submit abstracts for presentations or posters describing their work. This Conference can be an
opportunity to get feedback on work in progress, and to present recent scientific investigations
and management experiences.
Final themes and panel discussions will be determined from submitted abstracts. Last
year’s themes were: Management successes and considerations; Forests, headwaters and
predictive modeling; Social influence and implications; Biotic Communities, Wastewater,
Microbial Communities, with implications for management and public health; Floodplains,
59
Forests and Stormwater.
The Conference provides significant opportunities for networking, sharing ideas, and
identifying collaborators, as well as a chance to learn about cutting edge work being done to
better understand and manage the Delaware River Watershed.
The agenda will include presentations, keynote addresses and panel discussions.
Click Here for instructions on how to submit an abstract. Click Here to register for the
Conference.
For more information on Delaware River research, visit the Academy of Natural
Sciences’ Delaware River Watershed Initiative webpage.
Related Stories:
[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
Penn State Water Insights Seminars: Oct. 23: Dynamic Management Of Nutrient Pollution
In Aquatic Environments; Oct. 26: Are We Drinking Our Medicines?
The Penn State Environment and Natural Resources Institute will host 2 presentations in its
Water Insights Seminar Series next week--
-- October 23: Dynamic Management Of Nutrient Pollution In Aquatic Environments:
Does Chesapeake Bay Need A Time-Varying Policy? Aaron Cook, Phd Candidate in
Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics presents a paper he has developed for a
model that captures and solves the optimal time path of nutrient reductions across 2 polluting
sectors-- wastewater and agriculture specific to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Click Here for
more.
-- October 26: Are We Drinking Our Medicines? Fate and Transport of Emerging
Contaminants At Penn State's Living Filter. Jack Watson, Professor of Soils Physics and
Biogeochemistry Ecosystem Science and Management, presents the results of his work studying
the wastewater effluent system the campus uses to irrigate agricultural and forested land to help
reduce nutrients going to the Chesapeake Bay and contaminants of emerging concern. Click
Here for more.
Both Seminars will held from Noon to 1:00 in Room 312 of the Ag and Bio Engineering
Building on Penn State’s main campus in State College. Both Seminars are available via Zoom
online.
For more information, and archived copies of past Seminars, visit the Water Insights
Seminar Series webpage.
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Penn State Master Well Owner Network Trained 780 Volunteers, Reached Over 52,500
Well Owners
Nearly three million rural Pennsylvania residents rely

on a private well, spring or cistern for their drinking
water.
60
Penn State surveys have shown that approximately 40 percent of these water supplies fail
at least one health-based drinking water standard and most homeowners are unaware of best
management practices to improve their drinking water.
In 2004, Penn State Extension created the Master Well Owner Network (MWON). This
volunteer network is dedicated to providing unbiased, research-based education for private water
supply owners in Pennsylvania.
Funding for the Penn State MWON program is provided annually by the Department of
Environmental Protection and PA Ground Water Association.
In the past year, the MWON program trained 20 new volunteers joining a network of
nearly 200 active volunteers in 53 counties.
These volunteers dedicated over 2,000 hours of their time to educate 4,467 private water
supply owners through conversations, presentations, and displays at events.
Follow-up surveys have found that about 75 percent of homeowners who receive
education from a MWON volunteer take some action to improve their drinking water supply.
MWON volunteers and Extension coordinators also provided 24 Safe Drinking Water
Clinics in 17 counties for 736 private water supply owners. These two-hour programs provided
free, onsite water testing for 532 households.
An additional 888 participants viewed one of the recorded webinars on the MWON or
Extension websites related to private water system management.
In May 2018 MWON also partnered with numerous agencies to present the 2018 PA
Groundwater Symposium which provided professional development for over 250 groundwater
professionals from across the state.
Since the inception of MWON in 2004, 779 MWON volunteers have dedicated 16,813
hours of their time to directly educate 52,585 private water supply owners.
Additional indirect education through newsletters, newspapers and publications has been
provided to over 100,000 private water supply owners throughout the state.
Mercer County Water Clinic Draws A Crowd
On recent example of the MWON volunteers in action was at a Water Clinic in Mercer
County.
Forty-five attendees from Mercer and surrounding counties recently learned about how
local land uses can impact their water supply and the importance of installing a sanitary well cap
to keep surface water and insects from entering a well.
Common water quality issues and various water treatment options were also discussed at
the two-hour long workshop presented by Susan Boser and Bryan Swistock of the Water
Resources Extension team.
Participants were able to bring in a water sample from their private well or spring and
have it tested at the workshop for educational purposes and to learn more about their water
supply.
Tests were performed on site for pH, total dissolved solids and nitrates and samples were
incubated overnight for results of total coliform and E. coli bacteria.
At the end of the workshop, 85 percent of participants surveyed indicated that they
learned at least some new information and 63 percent planned to take action on their private
water supply.
Funding for these water testing workshops is made possible through the statewide Master
Well Owner Network Program through an education grant from the Department of
61
Environmental Protection.
For more information on managing private water supplies including articles and videos
visit the Penn State Extension Drinking and Residential Water webpage.
To learn more about this program, visit the Penn State Extension Master Well Owner
Network webpage. Click Here to review an online training program for MWON volunteers.
Penn State Extension: Master Watershed Steward Program
Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Program
Related Stories:
Oct. 23
Cumberland County

[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
A series of Advanced Watershed

Educator Workshops for Non-Formal
Educators will be held at three locations
in the next six months as part of the
NOAA Meaningful Watershed
Educational Experiences series.
Stakeholders across Pennsylvania are
working to support students to graduate
with the knowledge and skills to protect
and restore their local watershed through
the participation in Meaningful
Watershed Educational Experiences or
MWEEs.
MWEEs are learner-centered experiences that focus on investigations into local
environmental issues that lead to informed action and civic engagement. They depend on the
facilitation and support of both school and non-formal, field-based educators for the experiences
to be holistic and impactful.
These workshops will help prepare non-formal environmental education providers to
62
partner with K-12 classroom teachers on an MWEE.
This workshop series has been designed to provide a deep understanding of the MWEE
as a vehicle for advancing environmental literacy and stewardship while increasing
standards-based student achievement.
Workshops are free and include a catered lunch, snacks and refreshments and will be
held--
-- October 23-24: Sinnemahoning State Park, 4843 Park Road, Austin, Potter County. Click
Here to register.
-- February 12-13: Dauphin County Agriculture & Natural Resources Center, 1451 Peters
Mountain Road, Dauphin, Dauphin County. Click Here to register.
-- March 27-28: Jennings Environmental Education Center, 2951 Prospect Road, Slippery Rock,
Butler County. Click Here to register.
The workshops are produced by a partnership of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA,
Stroud Water Research Center, DCNR, Penn State Extension, Millersville University and NOAA
- Chesapeake Bay.
Questions should be directed to Steve Kerlin by sending email to:
skerlin@stroudcenter.org or call 610-268-2153 ext. 297.
(Thanks to the P A Association for Environmental Educators for highlighting these workshops.)
Related Story:
Stroud Water Research Center Helps Lead New Task Force To Boost Watershed Education,
Stewardship
Oct. 23
Cumberland County
Penn State Master Well Owner Network Trained 780 Volunteers, Reached Over 52,500 Well
Owners
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Project Wet 2.0 & Healthy Water, Healthy People Facilitator Workshop Nov. 3 In State
College
The Allegheny Land Trust and its partners will hold a

Project Wet 2.0 & Healthy Water, Healthy People
Facilitator Workshop on November 3 at Millbrook Marsh
Nature Center in State College from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The focus of the workshop will be on Healthy Water
Healthy People which is intended for formal, non-formal
and pre-service educators in grades six through 12 and is
63
designed to raise the awareness and understanding of water quality issues and their relationship
to personal, public and environmental health.
Upon completion of the homework, individuals will be certified to facilitator workshops
for other teachers in the Project WET family of curricula.
Participants will receive the new Project WET 2.0 Curriculum and Activity guide and
online support portal. Act 48 hours will be available.
This program is funded by the NOAA Funded PA Environmental Literacy & MWEE
Capacity Building Project and the Department of Environmental Protection.
Click Here to download a flyer about the workshop.
To register or for more information, visit the Project Wet 2.0 & Healthy Water, Healthy
People Facilitator Workshop webpage.
For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming programs, visit the
Allegheny Land Trust website.
Related Story:
Stroud Water Research Center Helps Lead New Task Force To Boost Watershed Education,
Stewardship
Oct. 23
Cumberland County
Owners
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
PA Horticultural Society Hosts Green City Teachers Basic Training 5-Session Course
Starting Oct. 23
The PA Horticultural Society will host a

5-session training course beginning October
23 for individuals interested in becoming
Green City Teachers.
Green City Teachers is a course that
uses experiential learning (yes, get your
hands dirty!) to help teachers, educators,
administrators and others gain the skills to
integrate horticultural and environmental
education into curricula, after-school
programs, and service-learning projects.
Topics include basic horticulture, STEM and greening in the classroom, food gardening,
64
indoor gardening, and habitat gardens. For educators of pre-school and K- 12.
Open to anyone working with kids. You do not need to be a teacher and you do not need
to work in Philadelphia to participate.
The sessions will be held October 23, 30 and November 6, 13 and 20.
To register or for more information, visit the PHS Green City Teachers webpage.
For more information on programs, initiatives and upcoming events, visit the PA
Horticultural Society website, Like PHS on Facebook, Join PHS on Instagram and Follow on
Twitter. Click Here to sign up for regular updates from PHS. Click Here to become a member.
Related Stories:
Cumberland County
Owners
[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
The Allegheny Land Trust Wednesday announced it is

hosting the Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Program for the
first time in Washington County and for a second round in
Allegheny County in 2019.
Applications for the program will be accepted through
January 15.
A Pennsylvania Master Naturalist is an individual with a
passion for the natural world who participates in an
intensive training program and uses his or her knowledge by
giving back to the community through volunteer service.
Founded in 2010, Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Program is a statewide partnership
initiative that aims to connect people with their local ecosystems through intensive natural
science training and local conservation service work.
It is a venture directed toward developing a local corps of master volunteers and service
providers to offer education, outreach and service dedicated to the understanding and
management of natural areas within their communities.
Pennsylvania is an ecologically diverse state that can be divided into distinct ecological
regions or ecoregions.
Pennsylvania Master Naturalist has divided the state into four ecoregion-based
curriculum modules (defined by EPA level II ecoregions): Appalachian Forests, Eastern
Temperate Forests, Atlantic Highlands and Southeastern and Coastal Plains.
This year-round program has three components to the 55-hour training: an initial
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volunteer training course, volunteer service hours, and advanced training classes.
“We’re very excited for this program to expand on our side of the state, and very proud to
be the nonprofit partner making it happen,” Vice President of Education Jessica Kester said. “It’s
a great opportunity for educators, volunteers, and nature lovers alike to earn a prestigious
ecological training while giving back to their communities.”
ALT facilitated the very first program on the western side of the state last year, which
took place in Allegheny County. The cohort of 25 was the largest to ever run, resulting in 2019’s
expansion of the program to another county.
Western PA Training Dates
The program training dates are--
-- Allegheny County: Mondays 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. on March 25, 28 (rain date) | April 1, 6*, 8,
15, 22, 27*, 29 | May 6, 13, 18*, 20, 30 (Thursday) | June 3, 8*, 10, 17, 24 (rain date)
-- Washington County: Wednesdays 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. on March 27, 28 (rain date) | April 3, 6*,
10, 17, 24, 27* | May 1, 8, 15, 18*, 22, 29 | June 5, 8*, 12, 19, 26 (rain date)
* indicates a day in the field.
Click Here to find instructions to apply online.
Other 2019 Training Areas
The PA Master Naturalist Training will also be offered in these areas in 2019--
-- Chester County (Northern)
-- Delaware County
-- Montgomery County
-- Montour County
Fall 2019 training courses are tentatively planned for these areas--
-- Berks County
-- Bucks County
-- Chester County
-- Westmoreland County
For more information on these training opportunities, contact the PA Naturalist Regional
Coordinator in the area near you-- Southeastern PA: Ellyn Nolt--
enolt@pamasternaturalist.org; Southwestern PA: Maeve Rafferty--
mrafferty@pamasternaturalist.org; or Northcentral PA: Michele Richards--
michele@pamasternaturalist.org.
More information on this program is available by visiting the Pennsylvania Master
Naturalist Program website.
Penn State Extension: Master Watershed Steward Program
Penn State Extension: Master Well Owner Network
Related Stories:
Oct. 23
66
Cumberland County
Owners
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
Wildlands Conservancy Highlights Educational Programs, Activities In November
The Lehigh Valley-based Wildlands Conservancy

Friday highlighted education programs and activities
coming up in November include--
-- November 16: Green Gala Celebration
-- November 3: Nature Treks: Hoody Hoot Hike
-- November 3: Geocaching
-- November 8: Pre-K Pathfinders: Fairy Tales
-- November 10: Boardwalks & Bogs At Thomas
Darling
-- November 17: Starry Sky: Leonids Meteor
Shower
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Wildlands
Conservancy website. Like on Facebook, Follow on Twitter and Join on Instagram. Click Here
to support the Conservancy.
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
Keep Philadelphia Beautiful Receives $5,000 Grant From UPS Foundation For Fruit Tree
Planting
The UPS Foundation and Keep America Beautiful

Thursday announced the award of a $5,000 grant
to Keep Philadelphia Beautiful as part of their
Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting
Program.
Keep Philadelphia Beautiful is partnering with the
Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP) to give away
fruit trees at no cost to community members
through a variety of orchard events in fall 2018
and spring 2019.
The tree giveaways will take place in different
neighborhoods across Philadelphia to increase the
number of city residents with the ability to plant a
fruit tree in their yard or community.
Fruit trees provide both beauty and bounty, and allow urban residents to produce healthy
food right in their own neighborhoods. In addition to increasing food access, city fruit trees
67
provide a wide array of environmental benefits.
“Strategic tree plantings can add to a community’s resilience while replenishing the trees
lost to natural disasters or blight. Keep Philadelphia Beautiful’s fruit tree giveaway will not only
provide healthy food for local residents, but will also clean the air, prevent soil erosion, reduce
runoff and provide habitat for local wildlife,” said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep
Pennsylvania Beautiful. “Tree plantings provide an opportunity for the community to come
together and engage in an activity that improves the quality of life for everyone. We are grateful
for the partnership of Keep America Beautiful and UPS for providing this opportunity to our
local Pennsylvania affiliates.”
Keep Philadelphia Beautiful’s grant is one of 19 grants totaling $100,000 distributed
throughout the country to Keep America Beautiful’s community-based affiliates.
It is estimated that the grant recipients’ projects will result in more than 1,200 trees being
planted in support of local tree-planting initiatives.
The collaboration with Keep America Beautiful is part of The UPS Foundation’s global
tree-planting initiative intended to help sequester levels of carbon dioxide through strategic
plantings; emphasize the importance of native tree planting; or produce fruit from fruit trees for
local consumption.
In addition, Keep America Beautiful helps connect UPS employees with local Keep
America Beautiful affiliates to provide volunteer support to plant the trees and to fulfill other
community improvement projects.
Since 2011, Keep America Beautiful and The UPS Foundation have worked together to
plant more than 11,200 trees throughout the country.
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Keep
Pennsylvania Beautiful website. Click Here to become a member. Click Here to sign up for
regular updates from KPB, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, Discover them on
Pinterest and visit their YouTube Channel.
Also visit the Illegal Dump Free PA website for more ideas on how to clean up
communities and keep them clean and KPB’s Electronics Waste website.
Related Story:
Reminder: PRC Hosts 3 Drug Take-Back Day Collection Events Oct. 27 In Allegheny County
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Reminder: PRC Hosts 3 Drug Take-Back Day Collection Events Oct. 27 In Allegheny
County
The PA Resources Council, PA American Water and

other partners will hold 3 Drug Take-Back Day
collection events for unwanted medications on
October 27 in Allegheny County as part of National
Drug Take-Back Day.
“This program provides a safe, convenient and
responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs,
while also educating the general public about the
potential for abuse of medications,” according to
PRC Regional Director Justin Stockdale. “People
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should not flush medications down the toilet or throw them in the trash since improper disposal
poses a very real threat to the environment.”
The events will be held at 3 locations in Allegheny County from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.--
-- Green Tree Borough Building, 10 W. Manila Ave.
-- Medical Rescue Team South, 315 Cypress Way, Mt. Lebanon
-- The Mall At Robinson (parking lot near Dick’s Sporting Goods), 100 Robinson Centre Dr.
“Building off of the success of past collections, PRC will again collaborate with the DEA
and local law enforcement to provide residents with a safe and convenient option, thanks to the
support of our many sponsors,” said Stockdale. “PRC is proud to collaborate with PA American
Water as well as the Borough of Green Tree, Municipality of Mt. Lebanon, Robinson Township,
The Mall at Robinson and the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy.”
This event will enable patients, caregivers and pet owners to properly dispose of
unwanted prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications at no cost.
To find more Drug Take-Back Day collection events across Pennsylvania, visit the DEA
Drug Take Back website.
About 447,975 pounds of unwanted prescription medications have been collected at
National Drug Take-Back Days events in Pennsylvania since it began in 2010.
For more information about these 3 collection events, visit PRC’s Pharmaceuticals
webpage or call 412-488-7452.
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the PA Resources
Council website. Click Here to sign up for regular updates, follow PRC on Twitter or Like them
on Facebook. Click Here for PRC’s Events Calendar. Click Here to support their work.
Related Story:
Keep Philadelphia Beautiful Receives $5,000 Grant From UPS Foundation For Fruit Tree
Planting
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
Trout Unlimited’s New Tool For Pipeline Siting Considerations In The Delaware River
Basin
Trout Unlimited, in consultation with a focus

group representing industry, state and federal
government agencies, and conservation
groups, has developed an interactive
web-based map to help identify overlapping
areas of ecological concern in the Delaware
River Basin and surrounding states.
Appalachian Basin natural gas continues to
be in the news, as production, supplies,
power generation conversion, and exports seem to increase monthly. Pipeline projects have also
increased as the need to keep up with this resource growth.
Eight major pipelines totaling 322 miles are proposed in the Delaware River Basin - if
constructed, these pipelines would require a perennial stream crossing every 2 miles and over 9
acres of land disturbance for every mile of pipeline.
But along with this resource growth has been a growing concern about environmental and
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ecological impacts.
Water quality degradation from erosion and sedimentation from pipeline construction can
occur, and cold-water fisheries may be affected by stream temperature changes from loss of
riparian vegetation.
Key factors were identified on the new interactive map as cold-water fisheries, water
quality, biodiversity, and intact landscapes. Using GIS datasets identifying wild trout streams,
public lands, and other important natural resource values, each region was scored as to its
relative impact in each category.
A final combined score then determined the cumulative ecological sensitivity of area for
mapping.
Two percent of the Delaware River watershed received the highest cumulative ecological
impact scores. Notable areas included Hickory Run State Park and the Lehigh Gorge in
northeastern Pennsylvania, Stokes State Forest in New Jersey, and the Upper Delaware River.
“This project highlighted special places worthy of protection amid the ongoing buildout
of natural gas pipelines in this region,” said David Kinney, TU’s Eastern Policy Director. “These
are areas where important ecological resources overlap, and our goal in bringing them to the
forefront is to ensure that they are accounted for when industry plans major pipeline routes, and
when regulators review them.”
TU is working to incorporate this new dataset into agency and industry planning
platforms.
Project funding was provided by the William Penn Foundation, as well as the Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, via a grant to
the Kittatinny Ridge and Appalachian Trail Conservation Project.
The web map can provide guidance in route selection for pipeline industry planners,
helping them understand the potential natural resource impacts that would need to be addressed,
and for agency regulators, helping them evaluate best practices for permitting and assessments.
Conservationists will find the map useful in supporting science-based conversations with
industry on pipeline siting.
Click Here to visit the interactive map of critical natural resources.
For more information on this project, visit the Trout Unlimited’s Pipeline Impacts In The
Delaware River Basin webpage.
Related Stories:
Penn State: Agricultural Production And Shale Gas Development Webinar Nov. 15
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Penn State: Agricultural Production And Shale Gas Development Webinar Nov. 15
Penn State Extension will host a webinar on

November 15 on Agricultural Production and Shale
Gas Development from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Join Ph.D. Candidate Gretchen Sneegas as she
70
discusses research on perceptions of the long-term agricultural impacts from shale development
in the Twin Tiers region of Pennsylvania and New York, two states that regulate unconventional
gas in different ways.
Among the issues to be discussed are--
-- Perceptions of shale gas development among farmers and extension professionals
-- How the New York state ban on hydraulic fracturing impacts farmers’ viewpoints
-- What variables influence farmers’ viewpoints on shale gas development
-- Potential applications of results to build consensus in the future
Click Here to register for this free webinar or for more information.
Related Story:
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
EPA: Philadelphia Sunoco Service Station Pays $22,080 For Underground Storage Tank
Violations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday announced the owner and operator of
the F-Street Sunoco service station, 3951 Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia have agreed to
pay a $22,080 penalty to settle alleged violations of underground storage tank regulations.
The settlement with service station owner, 3951 Roosevelt Blvd. Realty Corporation, and
operator Liberty Tradeplus, Inc., addresses compliance with environmental safeguards protecting
communities and the environment from exposure to petroleum or potentially harmful chemicals.
EPA cited the companies for violating safeguards designed to prevent, detect, and control
leaks from the underground tanks.
Based on a September 2017 inspection and follow-up investigations, EPA alleged that
two underground gasoline tanks failed to comply with leak detection and recordkeeping
requirements for a 27-month period in 2015 through 2017.
The penalty reflects the companies’ cooperation with EPA. As part of the settlement, the
companies did not admit liability, but have certified that the station is now in compliance.
With millions of gallons of petroleum products and hazardous substances stored in
underground storage tanks throughout the country, leaking tanks are a major source of soil and
groundwater contamination.
EPA and state regulations are designed to reduce the risk of underground leaks and to
promptly detect and properly address leaks thus minimizing environmental harm and avoiding
the costs of major cleanups.
Click Here for more information on EPA’s Underground Storage Tank Program.
Aboveground and underground storage tanks are regulated by the Department of
Environmental Protection. Visit DEP’s Storage Tanks webpage for more information.
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
DEP: Nov. 7 Hearing On Permits, Approvals For Slate Belt Heat Recovery Center
Biosolids Processing Facility, Northampton County
The Department of Environmental Protection is scheduled to hold a November 7 hearing on the

Air Quality, Stormwater and other approvals needed for the Slate Belt Heat Recovery Center
71
LLC biosolids processing facility at the Grand Central Landfill in Plainfield Township,
Northampton County. (O ct. 20 PA Bulletin, page 6671)
The company proposes to install a thermal oil heater that will use natural gas or excess
landfill gas as a fuel to dry biosolids. The facility will have a capacity of about 200 wet tons per
day with a throughput of 400 tons. The sewage sludge will then be pressed into a granular shape.
DEP will accept comments on these permits and applications at the hearing--
-- Slate Belt Air Quality Plan Approval Application: Slate Belt plans to recover waste heat
from existing turbines located at the Green Knight Energy Center, which is a landfill
gas-to-energy plant located at the Grand Central Landfill. The waste heat would be used for
drying and producing Class A biosolids. During normal operations, there may be a need for
supplemental heat in the process. A public comment period will begin on October 20, 2018, and
close on November 21, 2018.
-- Slate Belt Waste Management Permit Application: Slate Belt submitted a residual waste
general permit application to the DEP on March 23, 2018, to dry biosolids to create a Class A
product that can be used as a fertilizer blending agent, soil conditioner and/or renewable fuel
product. Comments on the permit will be accepted until November 21, 2018.
-- Grand Central Waste Management Permit Modification Application: Grand Central
Landfill is requesting a modification of its existing Waste Management Permit to allow the
proposed heat recovery center to be located within the Grand Central Landfill permit boundary.
The permit modification application was received by the DEP on March 21, 2018. The
application was determined to be administratively complete on March 26, 2018, and is currently
under review.
-- Slate Belt NPDES Permit Application: Slate Belt plans to discharge stormwater related to
industrial activities to nearby Waltz Creek and an unnamed tributary to Little Bushkill Creek.
DEP will accept comments at the public meeting/hearing and up until November 21, 2018. DEP
is coordinating its acceptance of public comment on these permits and the period for submitting
comments on all the permit applications will end on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, at 4:00
PM.
The hearing will be held at the Wind Gap Middle School, 1620 Teels Road in Pen Argyle
from 6:00 to 9:00.
Those wishing to pre-register to comment at the public hearing or those that wish to
submit written testimony can contact Colleen Connolly sending email to: coconnolly@pa.gov or
by calling the DEP Northeast Regional Office at 570-826-2035.
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
Nov. 28 DEP Hearing [If Needed] On Karns City Refining RACT II Air Quality Plan,
Butler County
The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the October 20 PA Bulletin of

a November 28 hearing on a proposed RACT II Air Quality Plan for the Karns City Refining
facility in Karns City, Butler County (p age 6715).
The hearing will be held at the DEP Northwest Regional Office, 230 Chestnut Street in
Meadville starting at 9:00 a.m.
To register to speak at the hearing, or to inquire if the hearing will be held, contact
Melanie Williams, Regional Community Relations Coordinator, by calling 814-332-6615 or send
72
email to: melanwilli@pa.gov. The last day to pre-register to speak at the hearing will be
November 21.
If the Department does not receive any pre-registered speakers by this date, the hearing
will be canceled.
ct. 20 PA Bulletin, page
Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for more information (O
6715).
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
DEP: Nov. 28 Hearing [If Needed] On Lord Corp RACT II Air Quality Plan, Crawford
County

a November 28 hearing on a proposed RACT II Air Quality Plan for the Lord Corporation
facility in Saegertown, Crawford County (p age 6716).
The hearing will be held at the DEP Northwest Regional Office, 230 Chestnut Street in
Meadville starting at 10:00 a.m.
To register to speak at the hearing, or to inquire if the hearing will be held, contact
Melanie Williams, Regional Community Relations Coordinator, by calling 814-332-6615 or send
email to: melanwilli@pa.gov. The last day to pre-register to speak at the hearing will be
November 21.
If the Department does not receive any pre-registered speakers by this date, the hearing
will be canceled.
Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for more information (O ct. 20 PA Bulletin, page
6716).
[Posted: Oct. 19, 2018]
KEEA 8th Annual PA Energy Efficiency Conference Oct. 25-26 In Harrisburg
The Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance will

holds its 8th Annual PA Energy Efficiency
Conference on October 25-26 at the
Harrisburg Hilton.
Pennsylvania energy markets are going
through changes from the municipal to the
state level, creating unique new opportunities
in the industry. Are you prepared to take full
advantage of them?
The PA Energy Efficiency Conference will
arm you with the tools to navigate new scenarios and grow in new directions. Come and sharpen
your skills, brainstorm with peers and industry thought leaders, and learn about how to take
action to create success.
To register or for more information, visit the KEEA PA Energy Efficiency Conference
webpage.
For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the
Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance website.
73
NewsClips:
How Pittsburgh Stays On The Cutting Edge Of Energy Conservation
Energy-Savings Firm Completes $3.95M In Projects In Luzerne County
Keystone Edge: Green Design, Getting Passive Aggressive On Energy Efficiency
Rep. Quinn Introduces Bill To Lift Cap On Utility Efficiency Investments
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
Seed Grant Funding Available For Energy, Environmental Research At Penn State
Penn State's Institutes of Energy and the Environment announced the availability of seed grant
funds focused on energy and the environment. Deadline to apply is November 7.
The strategic research themes of focus are (alphabetically)-- Climate and Ecosystem
Change; Future Energy Supply; Health and the Environment; Smart Energy Systems; and Water
and Biogeochemical Cycles.
This year the seed grant program will support each of these themes as they do each year.
In addition, this year they are interested in supporting three crosscutting topics:
Food-Energy-Water Systems, High-Performance Building Systems, and Energy and
Environmental Resilience.
IEE established a Seed Grant Program in 2013 to foster basic and applied research
focused on these strategic research themes. Over the previous rounds, IEE has awarded over $2
million to 96 interdisciplinary projects with investigators from fifteen Penn State colleges and
campuses.
For 2018-19, at least $500,000 of funding is available. To encourage establishment of
new collaborations and enhancement of networks, larger grants will require innovative
partnerships of investigators from multiple colleges and/or campus locations.
Funds up to $5,000 can be awarded for a single investigator project; up to $10,000 for
two or more faculty from the same college (University Park) or Commonwealth Campus; and up
to $50,000 for multi-college (across University Park) and multi campus (between campuses)
collaborative grants.
Learn more about how researchers can submit proposals that demonstrate
interdisciplinary innovations in all five of IEE’s research themes at the Seed Grant Program 2018
webpage.
[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
Next DEP Climate Change Advisory Committee Meeting Set For Dec. 4
The next meeting of DEP’s Climate Change Advisory Committee is scheduled for December 4.
The October 23 meeting is canceled. (formal notice)
The Committee has been discussing a series of presentations by ICS, the contractor DEP
hired to help with the 2018 Update to the PA Climate Change Action Plan, on topics ranging
from flood risk reduction, energy strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, agricultural and
recreation policy changes to mitigate climate change impacts.
The Committee is expected to continue those discussions at the December meeting.
DEP is required by Act 70 of 2008 to update Pennsylvania’s Climate Change Action Plan
every three years. The last update was published in 2015.
74
The meeting will be held in Room 105 of the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg
starting at 10:00.
For more information and available handouts, visit the DEP Climate Change Advisory
Committee webpage. Questions should be directed to Lindsay Byron by calling 717-772-8951
or send email to: lbyron@pa.gov.
NewsClips:
WITF Smart Talk: Climate Change
So What’s The Climate Change/Asthma Connection?
Column: PA Can’t Wait Until 2023 For A Pit Bull On Climate Change, But We Might Have To
Op-Ed: PA Farmer: Prioritize Climate-Change Action On Personal, State Levels
Letter: Carbon Fee And Dividend Legislation
Letter: Climate Change Causing Extreme Weather
Letter: Everyone Should Prioritize The Environment
Editorial: U.S. Leaders Fiddle While Planet Burns
Could This New Software Mean The End Of Snow Days At Penn State?
Schneck: Long, Hard Winter Lies Ahead: Wildlife Weather Folklore
Famed Almanacs Offer Dramatically Different Winter Outlooks For Lehigh Valley
NOAA: Odds Favor A Mild Winter, But Maybe Not Here
Heat And Drought Could Threaten World Beer Supply
Study Finds Tornado Activity Shifting East Away From TX, OK, Kansas
From Harvey To Michael: How America’s Year Of Major Hurricanes Unfolded
Justice Dept. Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Put Youths’ Climate Change Lawsuit On Hold
Trump EPA Draws Scorn For Touting Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Climate Change Will Get Worse. These Investors Are Betting On It
AP: Trump: Climate Change Not A Hoax, May Not Be Man-Made, Will Change Back
Trump: I Have A Natural Instinct For Science When It Comes To Climate Change
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
DCNR Blog: Can We Do Even More On Energy Efficiency, Renewables? The Answer Is…
We Can And Are!
The millions of acres of Pennsylvania’s state parks

and forests include a lot of buildings such as
visitor centers, cabins, and bathrooms. In fact, the
Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources oversees more than 4,500 buildings and
100 wastewater treatment facilities.
To support operations, DCNR has thousands of
vehicles in its fleet across the state, and spends
millions of dollars a year in electricity.
The department is focused on the responsible use
of agency resources while promoting sustainable
best practices. Toward that goal, the department is:
-- Employing energy efficiency measures
75
-- Building roads, bridges, trails, and culverts that can withstand flooding
-- Attracting outside and federal funding for best practices
-- Encouraging volunteers
In October, Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn and other DCNR staff spent some time in
western Pennsylvania highlighting several ways the department is going green.
More Improvement In Energy Efficiency
The heavily visited Ohiopyle State Park visitor center in Fayette County was the first stop
on the sustainability tour.
“We have upgraded our lighting and HVAC systems in a building that already is at the
highest efficiency standards,” said Dunn. “With these improvements to its LEED Gold visitor
center, DCNR signals a commitment to sustainability.
“Looking ahead to mid-2019, DCNR will begin infrastructure improvements benefitting
about 50 state parks and 12 forest districts.”
Working in cooperation with the Department of General Services, and using the
Guaranteed Energy Savings Act (GESA) program, DCNR contracted with Energy Systems
Group of Portersville, Pa., to provide infrastructure investments that will save $7.5 million over
20 years.
Saving Big With Solar Power
Using clean energy from the sun, DCNR is deploying small scale solar arrays to take
certain buildings and facilities to net-zero, saving money and reducing DCNR’s carbon footprint.
What is net-zero energy consumption? It means the total amount of energy used by the
building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on site –
in this case from the sun.
Also on the tour was a stop at Moraine State Park to help dedicate a solar power
installation installed by Spotts Brothers, Inc. of Schuylkill Haven.
While sewage treatment plants aren’t interesting to most, they are among the highest
users of energy in the DCNR system, so it makes sense to address them.
The 230kW solar array at Moraine will provide enough energy to operate the new sewage
treatment plant, taking the facility to net-zero energy consumption. The arrays will save the
Butler County park $25,000 annually.
Electric Car Charging Stations For Visitors
You might know that in Pennsylvania, there is a state park within 25 miles of every
resident. In addition to being great for those who enjoy nature and outdoor fun, parks and forests
can provide a good resource to assist the growing number of people driving electric cars.
DCNR has analyzed its entire fleet and is deploying electric vehicles and charging
stations in locations most suitable, including installing charging stations for public use.
On the final stop of the Sustainability Tour, Secretary Dunn joined Bureau of State Parks
officials in dedicating an electric car charging station at Prince Gallitzin State Park in Cambria
County.
Similar installations will be going in at more than 40 state parks and forests to help
reduce greenhouse gases, lessen smog, and improve air quality.
The stations can fully charge vehicles in 2.5 to 7 hours. Plug-in hybrid vehicles typically
drive for 10-50 miles using only electricity before they start using gasoline.
“We know thousands of state residents own electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles,” Dunn
said. “We also know many parks and forest destinations are in remote locations, and the ability
76
to travel to and from them in electric vehicles has been limited by charging availability.”
Another station is in place at Kinzua Bridge, McKean County, a focal point of the
Pennsylvania Wilds. Click Here for the full list of parks.
As the state’s leading conservation agency, DCNR strives to follow practices that
conserve and sustain natural resources. To learn more, read about DCNR’s Green and
Sustainable Initiative webpage.
Related Stories:
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
Western PA Conservancy Now Accepting Applications For Canoe, Kayak Access Projects
In Western PA
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

Tuesday announced it is seeking grant
applicants for its Canoe Access Development
Fund, which supports projects that will improve
canoe and kayak access to the region’s
waterways. The deadline for applications is
November 16.
WPC’s Canoe Access Development Fund seeks
to make the region’s rivers and streams more
accessible for outdoor recreation by providing
grants to watershed organizations or other community groups to develop access sites for canoers
and kayakers.
Currently, 56 CADF-supported projects are completed and open to the public.
“The Canoe Access Development Fund has been instrumental in our organization’s shift
from a project-based institution to an association of that supports recreation enthusiasts,” said
Annie Quinn, executive director of the Jacobs Creek Watershed Association in Scottdale,
Westmoreland County. “The two access ramps that we built using CADF funds have allowed us
to introduce Jacobs Creek to hundreds of individuals.”
New access sites proposed for grant funding should be located along a stream or river
featured in “Canoeing Guide to Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia,” a similar
guidebook or resource, or be recognized as a paddling waterway in Western Pennsylvania.
Projects in these counties would be eligible-- Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford,
Blair, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie,
Fayette, Forest, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer,
77
Potter, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
Qualified grant recipients will receive up to $4,000 per site for the construction and
enhancement of canoe and kayak access locations.
Grant funding could be used in multiple ways, including stabilizing access areas to rivers
or streams, adding nearby parking areas or purchasing riverside access. The CADF was founded
in 2008 by private WPC donors and outdoor enthusiasts Roy Weil and Mary Shaw.
Projects funded by this program can be found on an interactive map.
For more information and an online application, visit the WPC’s Canoe Access
Development Fund webpage. Grant recipients will be notified by December 15.
Questions should be directed to Eli Long at WPC’s Watershed Conservation office by
sending email to: elong@paconserve.org or calling 724-471-7202, ext. 5105.
More information is available on programs, initiatives and special events at the Western
PA Conservancy website. Click Here to sign up for regular updates from the Conservancy, Like
them on Facebook, Follow them on Twitter, add them to your Circle on Google+, join them on
Instagram, visit the Conservancy’s YouTube Channel or add them to your network on Linkedin.
Click Here to support their work.
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Reminder: South Mountain Partnership Trails Workshop: Building Strong Community

Connections Nov. 20 In Shippensburg
The South Mountain Partnership, Capital

Resource Conservation & Development Area
Council and other partners invite you to attend
the South Mountain Partnership Trail
Workshop: Building Strong Community
Connections on November 20 from 8:30 a.m. to
5 p.m. at Shippensburg University in
Cumberland County.
Are you interested in funding, designing, constructing, and/or maintaining walking,
hiking, or biking trails?
During this workshop you will learn how to effectively work with landowners,
municipalities, and others to build better bike and pedestrian trails that connect communities,
enhance economic development, and improve quality of life.
Workshop topics to include: Building Municipal and Community Support for Trails;
Designing Trails for Local Needs; Bike Friendly Communities Panel; How to Work with
PennDOT; and many more!
Fewer than 100 tickets are available for this workshop, so early registration is
encouraged.
Funding for this project comes from a grant via the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network,
Chesapeake Bay Trust, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, and the Chesapeake Bay Program.
Thanks also to Volvo Construction, the Center for Land Use and Sustainability at
Shippensburg University, and the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau for their sponsorship.
The cost is only $10, which includes breakfast, lunch, and reception. An optional mobile
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session on the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail is an extra $5, and spots are limited to 20 people.
Click Here to register or for more information.
For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the South
Mountain Partnership and Capital Resource Conservation & Development Area Council
websites.
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
DCNR Keystone Fund, Federal Land & Water Conservation Grants Support Local
Recreation, Parks Projects In 9 Counties

Resources this week announced grants from the
Keystone Fund to support local recreation
projects in Butler, Clearfield, Cumberland,
Dauphin, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Lycoming,
Susquehanna and York counties.
Butler County
A $180,500 grant from the Keystone Fund
will help pay for improvements to Preston Park in
Butler Township and develop a parcel located in
the center of the township, to link natural
resources to community revitalization and
improve well-being for residents by increasing recreation opportunities.
The work at the park will include an improved entrance, walkways, water source and
restroom, and stormwater controls.
“We are happy to assist Butler Township by investing in the development of Preston
Park, which contains an arboretum, butterfly habitat, and connects to the history of innovation
and research in the community,” said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn.
The 88-acre Preston Park was previously the laboratory, nature retreat, and residence of
Dr. Frank Preston and his wife Jane, both nature-oriented people.
Preston was born in England, and came to the U.S. in 1920 to work in the glass industry
as a scientist and researcher. He was a key figure in the founding of the Western Pennsylvania
Conservancy.
Clearfield County
An investment of $40,000 grant from the Keystone Fund will provide new playground
equipment and accessible walkways and parking spaces to help improve well-being for residents
in Graham Township by increasing recreation opportunities in Big Run Park in Morrisdale,
Clearfield County.
The new playground equipment will be made from recycled materials.
Graham Township surveyed park users and the community and determined this number
one priority was adding safe playground equipment at Big Run Park, located at 68 Park Avenue.
The park is bordered on one side by Big Run Creek, and also includes a pavilion and comfort
station.
Cumberland County
An investment of $192,000 will rehabilitate the 24-year-old wooden Fun Fort, to help
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improve well-being for residents by increasing recreation opportunities in Lower Allen
Community Park in Lower Allen Township, Cumberland County.
The Fun Fort was partially damaged by arson, and a portion of it was replaced in 2012.
Work supported by this grant will replace the remaining wooden elements with a new structure
made of wood composite material; a seven-foot high bridge, climbing wall, zipline, slides, and
swings; rubber surfacing for better accessibility; and more benches, trees, and fencing.
The renovation -- designed with public input -- seeks to have the same community spirit
and uniqueness as the older Fun Fort, and be easier to maintain.
Lower Allen Community Park is 110-acres of rolling land at 4075 Lisburn Road. It’s
used by the community and region as the location for meetings, family reunions, athletic games
and tournaments, wedding and many special events.
Dauphin County
A $160,500 Keystone Fund grant will help fund needed improvement to Wildwood Park
in Harrisburg, Dauphin County to link natural resources to community revitalization and
improve well-being for residents by increasing recreation opportunities.
Wildwood Park has seen a 40 percent increase in visitation in recent years attributed to
innovative programming. It contains a very popular 3-mile loop trail that is a part of the Capital
Area Greenbelt. The park welcomes 115,000 visitors annually.
The project will include a permanent accessible restroom with green infrastructure, two
hydration stations on the trail for people and pets, and trail improvements on a section of the path
that is failing.
Interpretive signs will tell the story of how Wildwood Lake functions; how it provides
critical habitat for wading birds; bird identification; and how to leave no trace when you enjoy
the outdoors.
Lackawanna County
Two grants from the Keystone Fund will help fund two conservation and recreation
projects in Lackawanna County.
A $294,000 grant to the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority will develop a new
1.07-mile section of the LRHT along the Lackawanna River in the City of Scranton on the
former lands owned by the Marvine Colliery to close a critical gap.
The Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, when completed, will connect to the Delaware and
Hudson Rail Trail to form a 70-mile trail, stretching from the New York border to Pittston, and
will connect to the 165-mile Delaware and Lehigh Trail.
The $99,000 to the Upper Valley YMCA will allow the grantee to begin work on a
3.5-acre currently undeveloped green space behind Nikki’s at the Ben-Mar Restaurant in
Carbondale.
Site improvements will include creating a safe access to the new Greater Carbondale
YMCA Community Park; a bridge over Racket Brook; picnic tables; a walking trail loop; and
new lawn areas. The site is located near senior and low-income housing, bus routes, and the
YMCA.
Lehigh County
DCNR announced a $230,000 Keystone Fund grant to help fund a mile-long section of
the Jordan Creek Trail in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County. (photo)
Jordan Creek Trail is a proposed 14-mile multi-use trail to connect Allentown’s Jordan
Heights Neighborhood to Trexler Nature Preserve along the Jordan Creek for the public to hike,
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bike, and experience nature. As of today, 3.5 miles are constructed and open to the public, with
an additional 4 miles planned for construction in the next few years.
Partners on this new .9-mile segment include Whitehall Township, the Wildlands
Conservancy, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which provided nearly $1.3
million in federal Transportation Alternatives Program funds.
Lehigh County
DCNR provided a grant of $1 million for a pool rehabilitation project in Bethlehem,
Lehigh County that will include reconstruction of the pool with zero-depth entry, water features,
and an upgraded bathhouse.
The more than 60-year-old pool is the city’s largest and most popular pool. Located in the
city’s largest park, it is accessible by all forms of transportation, as the site is connected to the
Monocacy trail system. The pool was closed for the 2018 season because of the needed
upgrades.
The investment is supported by the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund which
expired on September 30 and has not been reauthorized by Congress.
Lycoming County
A $300,000 Keystone Grant will help fund the expansion of the Loyalsock Community
Recreation Center in Loyalsock Township, Lycoming County.
An investment of $300,000 will build a 4,000-square foot addition to the existing center
to increase opportunities for after-school programming and for use by the Office of Aging,
expanding recreation for all ages in the township.
The existing center is located at 1607 Four Mile Drive in Williamsport. The addition will
allow the township recreation department to grow it’s After School Recreation Program, which is
currently restricted due to limited space.
In a partnership with the STEP Office of Aging, the expanded center also will become the
Loyalsock Center for Healthy Aging, and provide recreational and educational classes to seniors,
as well as lunch daily.
More than 40 percent of the of the township’s residents are over 60.
“We are happy to assist Loyalsock Township by investing in this expansion of the
Loyalsock Community Recreation Center, which is a great partnership in the community to
provide recreation programing for children after school, and for senior activities – tying
recreation opportunities to local health and wellness initiatives," said DCNR Secretary Cinty
Adams Dunn.
Susquehanna County
DCNR awarded a $450,000 Keystone Fund grant to construct a new trailhead with
parking along the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail in Harmony Township, Susquehanna County.
The project will include the construction of 0.9-miles of trail from Stevens Point to
Brandt. Additional site improvements will include ADA access, added parking, large landscape
boulders to define the trailhead area and match quarry stone across the road, native tree
plantings, and fencing to define the trail corridor.
The D&H Trail runs from the New York State border south for 38 miles, where it
connects with the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail. It is used by bikers, hikers, runners,
equestrians, and snowmobilers. The trail was formerly a railroad loading area and storage site for
quarry rock.
York County
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A $200,000 Keystone Fund grant help support improvements to Memorial Park in the
City of York, York County that includes stream bank stabilization and tree buffer plantings on
the west bank of Poorhouse Run adjacent to the Park.
The improvements will help with stormwater and flood mitigation. The park is in the
middle of a residential neighborhood that includes two school campuses.
Poorhouse Run is a tributary to the Codorus Creek, which flows into the Susquehanna
River. The stormwater portion of the project will help with the restoration of the 124-acre
Memorial Park, and showcase a future exercise trail.
The nearby York Catholic Middle/High School and Penn State York facilities both use
the park for education and leisure that is incorporated into their curriculums.
Keystone Fund
The Keystone Fund is currently celebrating 25 years of supporting thousands of
community improvements in Pennsylvania.
In Pennsylvania, outdoor recreation generates $29.1 billion in consumer spending, $1.9
billion in state and local tax revenue, $8.6 billion in wages and salaries, and sustains 251,000
direct Pennsylvania jobs.
DCNR Grant Workshops
To learn more about other available grant opportunities to support trail and recreation
projects, attend one of the upcoming workshops on DCNR’s Community Conservation Grant
Program. Click Here for more.
A new grant round is opening soon.
(Photo: Jordan Creek Trail in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County.)
NewsClips:
Lackawanna Heritage Authority Looks To Connect Trails To Rails In Scranton
Op-Ed: Prioritize Bicycle Safety In Pittsburgh To Boost Tourism
Pittsburgh Plans Townsend Parklet In Elliott Neighborhood
Here’s Why DCNR Gave Bethlehem $1 Million
Renton Park In Plum Will Be Upgraded With State Grant
Tyrone Installs All-Access Playground
Parket In Pittsburgh’s Elliott Neighborhood To See $650,000 Overhaul
Lackawanna River Heritage Trail In Scranton Receives State Grant
Funds Needed To Finish Indian Creek Valley Trail By Mountain Watershed Assn.
In Upper Bucks County Excitement Builds For Liberty Bell Trail
New Boardwalk On Schuylkill River Overlooks Water Works, Boathouse Row In Philly
The Vowed To Save The Valley In Delaware County, And They Did
Caledonia, Codorus, Cowans Gap State Parks To Get Electric Car Chargers
Oct. 19 Take Five Fridays Without Pam, PA Parks & Forests Foundation
1 Dead In Washington County ATV Crash
Related Story:
DCNR's Keystone Fund Supports Local Recreation Projects In Allegheny, Berks, Blair,
Bradford, Chester, Montour Counties
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Can And Are!
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
The Good For You, Good For All initiative by

the PA Recreation & Parks Society and DCNR
have started a new Good for PA Podcast series
about the benefits of local parks and recreation
throughout the Commonwealth.
The first episode-- Good for Learning--
explores environmental education.
Did you know that Pennsylvania has more than
300 native bee species? Did you know that
Pennsylvania has trees that have been growing
since before William Penn ever crossed the
Atlantic?
If you think these things are worth teaching our kids (and maybe even yourself), you’ll
love our conversation about nature-based education with Chris Kemmerer, Education and
Interpretation Section Chief at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and
Camila Rivera-Tinsley, Director of Education and Director of the Frick Environmental Center
for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.
Nature-based education is so much more than you thought it was. It unlocks powerful
intuitive and self-directed learning opportunities touching everything from science to art and
literature, for students from every background.
Visit a Pennsylvania park and you can find a prairie, mountains, rivers, forests, lakes,
beaches, and more—and many parks have educational staffers waiting for the phone call about
what you, your kids, or your students would like to learn, not to mention a great roster of public
events.
On GOOD AIR, Chris and Camila share an insider’s view about what’s next for nature
education in our state, and how you can join in.
Click Here to listen to this episode. Click Here to view all episodes of the Good For PA
Podcast.
To explore your local parks, visit the Good For You, Good For All website
For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and training
opportunities, visit the PA Recreation and Park Society website. Like them on Facebook,
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Follow them on Twitter, visit their YouTube Channel, and find them on Instagram. Click Here
to support their work.
NewsClips:
Grant Helps Erie School District Grow Gardening Program
Renowned Author Talks About Connecting Families To Nature At Wilkes U.
Da Vinci Unveils Master Plan For Easton Science Center
Editorial: Conner Donation Boosts Science At Asbury Woods Nature Center In Erie
Millersville U. Breaks Ground On Pre-K STEM Classroom
Related Stories:
Can And Are!
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
DCNR, Partners, Sponsors, Volunteers Build New Playground In Cranberry Twp, Butler
County

Resources joined volunteers from Cranberry Township
in Butler County and local sponsors to build a new
community playground at North Boundary Park earlier
in October.
The local sponsors included Highmark Blue Cross
Blue Shield and Allegheny Health Network, Columbia
Gas, FirstEnergy, and the Pennsylvania Municipal
League -- along with organizers from KaBOOM!
Designed with input from neighborhood children, the
new play space will include 11 different play
activities, and is expected to attract more than 1,000
visitors per month.
“Whether swinging on new playground equipment or hiking on a state park or forest trail,
active youngsters are healthy youngsters,” said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. “That’s
why this department embraces this type of project. One that involves so many partners and
volunteers, all drawn together to build a showplace recreation area for young people.”
The playground is the eighth built by the Pennsylvania Municipal League and
KaBOOM!, with DCNR supporting seven of the projects.
Through this partnership, more children can have a joyful experience on a beautifully
crafted playground.
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Related Stories:
Can And Are!
(Reprinted from the Oct. 17 DCNR Resource newsletter. C

lick Here to sign up for your own
copy.)
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
The October 17 issue of the Resource newsletter is now

available from the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources featuring stories on--
-- Can We Do Even More On Energy Efficiency, Renewables?
The Answer Is We Can And Are!
-- Nominations Now Being Accepted For 2019 River Of The
Year
-- Nominations Now Being Accepted For 2019 PA Trail Of
The Year
-- DCNR Supports Local Recreation, Parks In 7 Counties
-- DCNR Awards $646,891 To 132 Local Volunteer Fire
Companies Fighting Wildfires
-- DCNR Recognizes Boy Scout Peter Livengood With Conservation Award (photo)
-- Partners, Sponsors, Volunteers Build New Playground In Cranberry Twp, Butler County
-- DCNR/Allegheny National Forest Sign Master Agreement
-- Click Here to sign up for your own copy
DCNR’s website, Visit the Good Natured DCNR Blog, Click Here for upcoming events, Click
Here to hook up with DCNR on other social media-- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
Related Stories:
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Can And Are!
[Posted: Oct. 17, 2018]
Western PA Conservancy Protects 193 Acres In South Branch French Creek Conservation
Area, Erie County
The Western PA Conservancy Tuesday announced a

new 193-acre South Branch French Creek Conservation
Area is now open to the public in Union Township, Erie
County.
The Conservation Area offers 1.5 miles of frontage
along the South Branch of French Creek and provides
access to a stocked trout stream for fishing and outdoor
recreation.
One of the Conservancy’s goals with the purchase of
this property is to maintain a forested, riparian buffer
along French Creek.
French Creek is known as the most biologically diverse stream of its size in Pennsylvania
or any state in the northeastern United States, making its protection all the more important.
Forested buffers along creeks and streams help to regulate water temperature, improve aquatic
habitat and overall water quality.
In addition to important creek frontage, the South Branch French Creek Conservation
Area features a diverse mix of habitats including forest, creek frontage, wetlands, vernal pools
and former agricultural fields. The extensive forest features hard maple, soft maple, beech,
cherry and large, old-growth hemlocks.
Located just 2.5 miles from Union City, the property will be open to the public for
hunting, fishing, hiking, bird and wildlife watching and nature study. The Conservancy plans to
install signage and more convenient parking in the future.
“French Creek is a spectacular place renowned for its biodiversity. That’s why it
continues to be of great conservation importance to the Conservancy. We are thrilled to have the
opportunity to protect this property and open it to the public,” said Tom Saunders, president and
CEO of the Conservancy.
The Conservancy has protected more than 5,000 acres within the 1,250-square-mile
French Creek watershed, starting with the Wattsburg Fen Natural Area, in 1969.
The South Branch French Creek Conservation Area was acquired with funding from the
Richard King Mellon Foundation, as well as a family’s gift in memory of their son and brother,
Brad Barnes.
Barnes, who lived in the area, was dedicated to conservation and to protecting
endangered plants and animals. His family has conserved several ecologically significant
WPC-protected properties in French Creek in his memory. Funding was also provided through
the estate of Helen B. Katz.
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More information is available on programs, initiatives and special events at the Western
PA Conservancy website. Click Here to sign up for regular updates from the Conservancy, Like
them on Facebook, Follow them on Twitter, add them to your Circle on Google+, join them on
Instagram, visit the Conservancy’s YouTube Channel or add them to your network on Linkedin.
Click Here to support their work.
NewsClips:
Laurel: State, County Farmland Preservation Boards
Editorial: Keeping The Wild Spaces
Sisk: Federal Land & Water Conservation Fund Helped Pay For A Park Near You, Now In
Limbo
PEC: Bill In Congress To Reauthorize Land & Water Conservation Fund Has Bipartisan Support
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
Golden Opportunity To See A Golden Eagle, North America's Largest Bird Of Prey, Nov.
3 At Hawk Mountain
On November 3, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary visitors will

have a guaranteed opportunity to see North America's
largest predatory bird, the golden eagle, up close. The
one-day-only eagle programs will be presented by Carbon
County Environmental Education Center at Noon and 2:00
p.m. in the Sanctuary's Outdoor Amphitheater in Berks
County.
The program is free for Members or with purchased
trail pass.
Golden Eagle Day coincides with the peak of
golden eagle migration at Hawk Mountain. The golden
eagle is rare to see throughout the northeast, but during the
autumn, an average of 127 are spotted at the Sanctuary.
Early November is also the best time to catch both a golden and bald eagle migrating past
the Mountain in the same day.
"Golden and bald eagles may fly close to the lookouts, particularly on windy days," says
Dr. Laurie Goodrich, Director of Long-term Monitoring at Hawk Mountain. "Migration in
November is the best time to see the species as they pass over the colorful ridge."
Visitors in early November can also expect large numbers of red-tailed hawks, the
Sanctuary's third-most numerous migrant, and there is the possibility of sighting the rarer
northern goshawk.
The official Hawk Mountain raptor count will continue until December 15, and weekend
programs are held until November 4.
The air finally feels like fall, and hopefully the persistent rain will give the Mountain a
break as the season moves forward. It is the perfect time to plan a visit to Hawk Mountain for a
hike, program, and day of bird-watching.
For more information on programs, initiatives and upcoming events, visit the Hawk
Mountain Sanctuary website or call 610-756-6961. Click Here to sign up for regular updates
87
from the Sanctuary, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, visit them on Flickr, be part of
their Google+ Circle and visit their YouTube Channel. Click Here to support Hawk Mountain.
NewsClips:
Late Hummingbirds Were Visiting Feeders In Erie This Week
Schneck: Could PA See Major Flight Of Birds From The North This Year?
Life Of A Falconer In Philly: Buying Frozen Rats In Bulk
Game Commission To Charge Erie County Man Who Fatally Shot Bald Eagle
Related Story:
Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Day, Nov. 17; Eagle Watch Volunteer Training Dec. 1;
Eagle Watch Bus Tours
[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Day, Nov. 17; Eagle Watch Volunteer Training
Dec. 1; Eagle Watch Bus Tours
Hundreds of bald eagles migrate through the

Upper Delaware River every year as lakes and
rivers freeze over up north.
The Delaware Highlands Conservancy is again
organizing a series of events around bald eagles
that individuals of all ages will enjoy. The events
include--
-- November 17: Eagle Day: Join the
Conservancy and other local environmental
organizations for Eagle Day, a free afternoon of
fun for the whole family at the Wallenpaupack
Environmental Learning Center in Hawley, PA. Enjoy a “Live Birds of Prey” presentation with
Bill Streeter of the Delaware Valley Raptor Center and hands-on activities for all ages to learn
about eagles. Click Here for more.
-- December 1: Eagle Watch Volunteer Training Day: Join the Conservancy for an overview
of its volunteer Eagle Watch program followed by visits to actual monitoring sites. The winter
Eagle Watch program runs through January and February, weekends only. Volunteers cover
morning or afternoon shifts. Click Here for more.
-- Eagle Watch Bus Tours: Learn about eagles in the Upper Delaware region, how they
returned from the brink of extinction, and the habitat they need to thrive while you take a scenic
drive with an expert guide on a heated bus and look for eagles. The bus tours will be held--
-- January 12: 10:00 to 1:00, Click Here for more
-- January 26: Noon to 1:00. Click Here for more
-- February 2: 10:00 to 1:00. Click Here for more
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Delaware
Highlands Conservancy website or call 570-226-3164 or 845-583-1010. Click Here to sign up
for regular updates from the Conservancy, Like on Facebook and Follow on Twitter. Learn about
the Green Lodging Partnership initiative. Click Here to support their work.
NewsClips:
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Related Story:
Golden Opportunity To See A Golden Eagle, North America's Largest Bird Of Prey, Nov. 3 At
Hawk Mountain
[Posted: Oct. 15, 2018]
Westmoreland Land Trust Adds New Members To Board Of Directors
William Danchuk and William Mihalco have been appointed to the board of directors of the
Westmoreland Land Trust and Kodie Rearick has joined the land-conservation organization as an
AmeriCorps Service Member.
Danchuk, an attorney who lives in New Florence, has had a varied career that included
working directly for corporations including USX as well as founding his own companies related
to safety, health, and the environment.
He is a woodworker who makes cherry and walnut classical furniture and a volunteer
board member of the Loyalhanna Watershed Association.
Mihalco of Harrison City is an environmental engineer who spent most of his career with
Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. His volunteer involvement includes service as an associate
director of the Westmoreland Conservation District, a board member and secretary of the Turtle
Creek Watershed Association, and vice chairman of the Penn Township Zoning Hearing Board.
Because of the nature of the land trust board’s staggered terms, Danchuk and Mihalco
will begin their service with an initial abbreviated term that concludes on December 31, 2018.
They will then be eligible to be reappointed for a full, three-year term beginning in January 2019.
Rearick graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor of science in wildlife and
fisheries science. She joins the Westmoreland Land Trust with experience as a team
leader/biological technician for Sanders Environmental Inc., a hunting control manager at a
refuge in Maryland, and as a field data collection technician with Crawford Consulting Services
in Pittsburgh.
AmeriCorps is a federal program in which members spend up to a year volunteering with
a nonprofit, school, or community organization. They can receive a student loan deferment,
limited health benefits, and a monetary award for education in addition to receiving on-the-job
training in their field of interest.
For more information on programs, initiatives and upcoming events, visit the
Westmoreland Land Trust website.
NewsClips:
Limbo
[Posted: Oct. 16, 2018]
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Help Wanted: Berks Conservation District Insect Control & Outreach Assistant, Jobs In
Other Districts
The Berks County Conservation District is seeking individuals to fill the position of Insect
Control and Outreach Assistant to work in mosquito-borne disease and spotted lanternfly control,
environmental education and outreach and on forested riparian buffer surveys.
The deadline for applications is November 2.
Interested individuals should submit their resume to Tammy Bartsch by email to:
tammy.bartsch@berkscd.com or mail to Berks County Conservation District, Attention Tammy
Bartsch, 1238 County Welfare Road, Suite 200, Leesport, PA 19533.
Other District Jobs
Click Here to find listings of job openings in other county conservation districts by the
PA Association of Conservation Districts.
[Posted: Oct. 18, 2018]
Environmental NewsClips - All Topics
Here are NewsClips from around the state on all environmental topics, including General
Environment, Budget, Marcellus Shale, Watershed Protection and much more.
The latest environmental NewsClips and news is available at the PA Environment Digest Daily
Blog, Twitter Feed and add PaEnviroDigest Google+ to your Circle.
Politics
Frazier: Democratic Socialists Coming To Capitol, What Does It Mean For Environmental
Policies?
Air
Hopey: Clairton Coke Works Fined Another $620,000 For Air Emissions
Allegheny County Health Fines U.S. Steel, Citing Coke Plant Emissions
EPA To Unveil Plans To Weaken Rule Limiting Toxic Mercury Pollution
Alternative Fuels
Electric Car Drivers Get Charge Out Of Visiting PA Parks, Forests
SEPTA Is Eyeing A Big Conversion To Green Energy
Op-Ed: Should SEPTA Adopt Electric Buses To Help Philly Be Better City?
Editorial: Tree Maintenance, Taller Altoona Transit CNG Buses
Awards & Recognition
Crable: Website Sprouts Lancaster’s Largest, Oldest, Historical and Special Trees
Biodiversity/Invasive Species
Midstate Growers, Researchers Work to Stop Spotted Lanternfly
Lower Macungie Residents Complain About Lanternflies, Mosquitoes
Schneck: Spotted Lanternfly Can Ride On Your Christmas Tree, Infest Your House
How You Can Identify, Combat Spotted Lanternfly - Video
Hyperalarming Study Shows Massive Insect Loss
Letter: Bethlehem Running Bamboo Law Must Be Strengthened
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Budget
Limbo
Chesapeake Bay
Bay Journal: Donna Morelli: Lancaster County Releases Preview Of Plan To Reduce Water
Pollution
Modeling
Behind
Climate
WITF Smart Talk: Climate Change
So What’s The Climate Change/Asthma Connection?
Column: PA Can’t Wait Until 2023 For A Pit Bull On Climate Change, But We Might Have To
Op-Ed: PA Farmer: Prioritize Climate-Change Action On Personal, State Levels
Letter: Carbon Fee And Dividend Legislation
Letter: Climate Change Causing Extreme Weather
Letter: Everyone Should Prioritize The Environment
Editorial: U.S. Leaders Fiddle While Planet Burns
Could This New Software Mean The End Of Snow Days At Penn State?
Heat And Drought Could Threaten World Beer Supply
Study Finds Tornado Activity Shifting East Away From TX, OK, Kansas
Justice Dept. Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Put Youths’ Climate Change Lawsuit On Hold
Trump EPA Draws Scorn For Touting Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Climate Change Will Get Worse. These Investors Are Betting On It
AP: Trump: Climate Change Not A Hoax, May Not Be Man-Made, Will Change Back
Trump: I Have A Natural Instinct For Science When It Comes To Climate Change
Coal Mining
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Report: DOE Coal, Nuclear Bailout On Hold At White House
Compliance Action
Hopey: Clairton Coke Works Fined Another $620,000 For Air Emissions
Allegheny County Health Fines U.S. Steel, Citing Coke Plant Emissions
Delaware River
Delaware RiverKeeper Oct. 19 RiverWatch Video Report
Drinking Water
Economic Development
Silberline Expanding In Lehigh Valley To Produce Pigments For Eco-Friendly Coatings
Editorial: Developing A Skilled Workforce A Key To Regional Vitality
Education
Renowned Author Talks About Connecting Families To Nature At Wilkes U.
Da Vinci Unveils Master Plan For Easton Science Center
Editorial: Conner Donation Boosts Science At Asbury Woods Nature Center In Erie
Millersville U. Breaks Ground On Pre-K STEM Classroom
Emergency Management
Wolf Says FEMA Chose To Ignore Evidence In Denying Appeal For Disaster Aid
Energy
Tree Fall Cuts Power To 2,200 Customers In Lancaster County
Natural Gas Service Coming To Tunkhannock
Op-Ed: Natural Gas Is The Present And Future Of American Energy
Microsoft To Add 90 MW Of New Wind In Pennsylvania
Firm Plans Hydroelectric Plant Below Highland Park Bridge On Allegheny River
Transource Power Line May Cost More Than Planned In Franklin, York Counties
U.S. EIA: Winter Fuels Outlook
U.S. EIA: Natural Gas Storage Likely To Enter Winter At Lowest Levels Since 2005
Op-Ed: 2 Federal Courts Show State Roadmap For Saving Nuclear Power
Spotlight: 6 Key Issues Driving The Utility Sector Today
92
EIA: PJM Power Grid Relying More On Natural Gas-Fired Plants
U.S. EIA: Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants Being Added, Used More In PJM
Energy Conservation
How Pittsburgh Stays On The Cutting Edge Of Energy Conservation
Energy-Savings Firm Completes $3.95M In Projects In Luzerne County
Keystone Edge: Green Design, Getting Passive Aggressive On Energy Efficiency
Rep. Quinn Introduces Bill To Lift Cap On Utility Efficiency Investments
Farming
Modern Farmer Highlights Lancaster’s Culton Organics As One Of America’s Most Fascinating
Farmers
Montco Borough Passes Ordinance Regulating Beekeeping
State, Federal Aid For Struggling Dairy Farms Won’t Cover Losses
Federal Policy
EPA Aims To Triple Pace Of Deregulation In Coming Year
Flooding
Flooding - Hurricanes
AP: Some Florida Residents Return Home To Nothing
Unable To Stay In Hospital Or Hurricane-Damaged Home, FL Couple Take Newborn To
Walmart Parking Lot
Rescuers In Florida Panhandle Search For Missing People, Bodies After Hurricane
Habitat For Humanity Houses Intact After Michael Were Saved By Low-Cost Reinforcements
Hurricane Michael’s Fury Will Have Longstanding Environmental Impacts
Flood Carries Piece Of Mountain Valley Pipeline In Virginia Into Hands Of Opposing
Landowner
AP: 4 Days After Storm, Large Swath Of Florida Panhandle Suffering
Op-Ed: Hurricanes Like Michael Show Why We Can’t Ignore Climate Change
Remembering Thousands Of Hurricane Maria Victims, Marching For Accountability
Forests
Midstate Growers, Researchers Work to Stop Spotted Lanternfly
Schneck: Spotted Lanternfly Can Ride On Your Christmas Tree, Infest Your House
Lower Macungie Residents Complain About Lanternflies, Mosquitoes
How You Can Identify, Combat Spotted Lanternfly - Video
Tree Pittsburgh Opens New $2.6 Million Campus In Lawrenceville
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Crable: Website Sprouts Lancaster’s Largest, Oldest, Historical and Special Trees
Forests - Wildfires
Blackouts Criticized As Utilities’ Self-Protection When California Fire Risk Is High
Green Infrastructure
Hazardous Sites Cleanup
Bagenstose: House Passes Rep. Stephens PFAS Funding Bill
Land Conservation
Limbo
Land Use
Mapping Philly’s Most Walkable Neighborhoods
Littering/Illegal Dumping
EPCAMR Will Host Litter Cleanup Effort At Centralia Site Oct. 20
Mine Subsidence
Washington County Home Abandoned After Mine Subsidence Sinkhole Found
Oil & Gas
Editorial: House Whiffs On Fair Natural Gas Royalties
Editorial: Report On Shale Industry Spending Clarion Call For Campaign Finance Reform
Editorial: Developing A Skilled Workforce A Key To Regional Vitality
Op-Ed: I Interrupted 2014 Governor Debate To Talk About Fracking, Little Has Changed
Natural Gas Service Coming To Tunkhannock
Worley & Obetz Trustee: $2B Fraud Overlooked By Negligent Management
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Trustee: Worley & Obetz Insiders Built Own Real-Estate Portfolios With Company Aid
U.S. EIA: Winter Fuels Outlook
U.S. EIA: Natural Gas Storage Likely To Enter Winter At Lowest Levels Since 2005
EIA: PJM Power Grid Relying More On Natural Gas-Fired Plants
U.S. EIA: Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants Being Added, Used More In PJM
Pipelines
Radiation Protection
Berwick Nuclear Power Plant In Luzerne To Conduct Drill Tuesday
Feds Allow Emergency Planning Reduction Near Closing Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant
Op-Ed: 2 Federal Courts Show State Roadmap For Saving Nuclear Power
Recreation
Lackawanna Heritage Authority Looks To Connect Trails To Rails In Scranton
Op-Ed: Prioritize Bicycle Safety In Pittsburgh To Boost Tourism
Pittsburgh Plans Townsend Parklet In Elliott Neighborhood
Here’s Why DCNR Gave Bethlehem $1 Million
Renton Park In Plum Will Be Upgraded With State Grant
Tyrone Installs All-Access Playground
Parket In Pittsburgh’s Elliott Neighborhood To See $650,000 Overhaul
Lackawanna River Heritage Trail In Scranton Receives State Grant
Funds Needed To Finish Indian Creek Valley Trail By Mountain Watershed Assn.
In Upper Bucks County Excitement Builds For Liberty Bell Trail
New Boardwalk On Schuylkill River Overlooks Water Works, Boathouse Row In Philly
Oct. 19 Take Five Fridays Without Pam, PA Parks & Forests Foundation
1 Dead In Washington County ATV Crash
Fall Hiking Guide In Central PA
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Frye: Fit, Function Key When Choosing A First Mountain Bike
Frye: Is Mandatory Boat Registration Coming To PA?
Flight 93 Park Ranger Will Present Program On Creation Of Memorials
Limbo
Recycling/Waste
NE Communities Receive Millions In Recycling, Leaf Litter Collection Grants
Hollidaysburg Targets Recycling Scofflaws
Millcreek Twp Awarded $325,000 DEP Recycling Grant
Editorial: Allegheny County Recycling Program Leverages Truck Downtown
Market Forces Put America’s Recycling Industry In The Dumps
Where To Drop Your Unused Meds On Oct. 27 National Prescription Drug Take Back Day
Crable: Proposed Trash Transfer Station In Northern Lancaster County Would Reduce Truck
Traffic
Philadelphia So Dirty City Wants Residents, Businesses To Help Collect Trash
Illegally Dumped Garbage Plaguing Private Properties In Allegheny County
Renewable Energy
Microsoft To Add 90 MW Of New Wind In Pennsylvania
Stormwater
Pollution
Superfund - Federal
EPA: Lehigh Valley Superfund Sites: 1 Site Deleted, Another Improving
Sustainability
Silberline Expanding In Lehigh Valley To Produce Pigments For Eco-Friendly Coatings
Mapping Philly’s Most Walkable Neighborhoods
Wastewater Facilities
Westmoreland Authority Purchases Sewickley Twp Sewer System
Watershed Protection
Pollution
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Modeling
Behind
Click Here to subscribe to the Chesapeake Bay Journal
Wildlife
Hayes: Tim Schaeffer Tapped To Head Fish & Boat Commission
Fish & Boat Commission Lures New Anglers With Pilot Program
TU: PA Formally Designates 108 More Wild Trout Streams
Recap Of Fish & Boat Commission Board Of Commissioners Meeting
Possibly Rabid Gray Fox Bites Blakely Man
Crable: Township In Lancaster Cancels Special Deer Hunt After Warning From DA
Frye: Squirrel Hunting Remains Fun Despite Changes
Frye: Is Mandatory Boat Registration Coming To PA?
White Nose Syndrome In Bats Moving West
West Nile/Zika Virus
2nd Lancaster County Death Attributed To West Nile Virus, Statewide Death Toll Rises To 5
Click Here For This Week's Allegheny Front Radio Program
Public Participation Opportunities/Calendar Of Events
This section lists House and Senate Committee meetings, DEP and other public hearings and
meetings and other interesting environmental events.
NEW means new from last week. Go to the online Calendar webpage for updates.
October 20-- DCNR State Forest District Management Plan Meetings - Delaware State Forest
District, District Office, 2174A Route 611 Swiftwater, Monroe County. 1:00 to 3:30.
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October 20-- Eastern PA Coalition For Abandoned Mine Reclamation. Fall Cleanup In
Centralia, Columbia County.
October 20-- Penn State Extension Spotted Lanternfly Public Meeting. Lebanon Community
Library, 125 North 7th Street, Lebanon, Lebanon County. 10:00 to 11:00
October 21-- Brodhead Watershed Association. Get Outdoors Poconos Chestnut Mountain Hike.
Monroe County. 10:00.
October 21-- Pocono Heritage Land Trust Walk-N-Talk Wetland Trail Hike - Tannersville
Cranberry Bog Preserve. Monroe County.
October 22-- Professional Recyclers of PA Recycling Certification Courses. Enola, Cumberland

County.
October 23-- CANCELED. DEP Climate Change Advisory Committee meeting. Next scheduled
meeting is December 4. DEP Contact: Lindsay Byron, 717-772-8951, lbyron@pa.gov. (formal
notice)
October 23-- PA Lake Erie Environmental Forum. Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Erie.
1:00 to 4:00.
October 23-- PRPS, DCNR Community Conservation Grants Workshop. Montgomery County
Fire Academy, 1175 Conshohocken Road, Conshohocken. 9:00 to Noon. Click Here for more.
October 23-- Penn State Extension Webinar On Addressing Orphan & Abandoned Wells From
DEP, Industry Perspectives. 1:00.
October 23-- Manada Conservancy. Climate Change And Penn’s Woods: What Does The
Future Hold? Hershey Gardens Conservatory, 170 Hotel Road, Hershey, Dauphin County. 7:00.
October 23-- NEW. Penn State Environment & Natural Resources Institute. Water Insights
Seminar - Dynamic Management Of Nutrient Pollution In Aquatic Environments. Noon to 1:00.
(Online access available.)
October 23-24-- NEW. Advanced Watershed Educator Workshops For Non-Formal Educators.
Sinnemahoning State Park, 4843 Park Road, Austin, Potter County. Click Here to register.
October 24-- House Democratic Policy Committee holds a hearing with Rep. Mary Jo Daley
(D-Montgomery) on environmental education programs. Riverbend Environmental Education
Center, 1950 Spring Mill Road, Gladwyne, Montgomery County. 2:00.
October 24-- CANCELED. PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Planning Steering Committee
meeting. The next scheduled meeting is November 20.
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October 24-- DEP Small Business Compliance Advisory Committee meeting. 12th Floor
Conference Room, Rachel Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Nancy Herb, 717-783-9269,
nherb@pa.gov.
October 24-- DEP Mining and Reclamation Advisory Board Regulation, Legislation and
Technical Committee conference call. 10:00. DEP Contact: Daniel Snowden 717-783-8846 or
send email to: dsnowden@pa.gov. (f ormal notice)
October 24-- CANCELED. DCNR Public Meeting On Forest District Plans: Clear Creek State
Forest District. Scheduled for October 30.
October 24-- Game Commission Webinar On Lead Toxicity In Bald Eagles In Pennsylvania.
Noon to 1:00.
October 24-- Academy Of Natural Sciences Of Drexel University Hosts Voting For The
Environment Program. Academy, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. 6:30 to 8:00.
October 24-- CEOs for Sustainability. Sustainability Speaker Series: Partnering With Suppliers
For A Competitive Edge Workshop. Pittsburgh. 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.
October 24-25-- Penn State Extension: Biochar & Torrefied Biomass Short Course. Penn State
University Agricultural Engineering Building, Shortlidge Road, University Park.
October 25-- DEP Mining and Reclamation Advisory Board meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson
Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Daniel Snowden 717-783-8846 or send email to:
dsnowden@pa.gov.
October 25-- DEP Webinar On Electric and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Charging Projects Grant
Program. 10:30.
October 25-- NEW. Delaware RiverKeeper. Stroud Water Research Center. Ecological Aspects
Of Streams And Streamside Forest Buffers Webinar Featuring Dr. Bern Sweeney. 7:00.
October 25-- PRPS, DCNR Community Conservation Grants Workshop. Luzerne County
Community College, Educational Conference Center (Building #10), 1333 South Prospect Street,
Nanticoke. 9:00 to Noon. Click Here for more.
October 25-- Brandywine Conservancy, PA Equine Council. Trail Stewardship Workshop.
Private property at 6 Castlebar Lane, Malvern. Chester County. 8:30 - 4:30.
October 25-26-- NEW. Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance. 8th Annual PA Energy Efficiency
Conference. Harrisburg Hilton.
October 26- Brandywine Conservancy, PA Equine Council. Trail Stewardship Workshop.
Natural Lands’ ChesLen Preserve, 1199 Cannery Road, Coatesville, Chester County.. 8:30–4:30.
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October 26-- NEW. Penn State Environment & Natural Resources Institute. Water Insights
Seminar - Are We Drinking Our Medicines? Noon to 1:00. (Online access available.)
October 27-- PA Resources Council, PA American Water. Drug Take-Back Event - 3 Locations
in Allegheny County. 10:00 to 2:00--
-- Green Tree Borough Building, 10 W. Manila Ave.
-- Medical Rescue Team South, 315 Cypress Way, Mt. Lebanon
-- The Mall At Robinson (parking lot near Dick’s Sporting Goods), 100 Robinson Centre Dr.
October 27-- Brodhead Watershed Association. Water Wiser Kids: Stars At Skywood Park
Hike. Monroe County. 7:30 to 9:00.
October 30-- DEP Meeting With Potential Contractors On Proposed Mine Drainage Treatment
Site Maintenance Projects In Bedford, Cambria, Indiana, Somerset Counties. DEP’s Cambria
District Mine Office, 286 Industrial Park, Ebensburg, Cambria County. 10:00
October 30-- DCNR Public Meeting On Forest District Plans: Clear Creek State Forest District.
District Office, 158 South Second Ave., Clarion, Clarion County. 6:30 to 8:00. Click Here for
more.
October 30-- PA Chamber Fall Regional Environmental Conference In King of Prussia.
October 30-31-- Northeast Recycling Council Fall Conference. Sheraton Hartford South Hotel,
Rocky Hill, Connecticut.
October 31-- DEP State Board for Certification of Sewage Enforcement Officers meeting.
Conference Room 11B, Rachel Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Kristen Szwajkowski,
717-772-2186, kszwajkows@pa.gov.
November 1-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission hearing on proposed water withdrawal
permits and other actions (Click Here for agenda). Room 8E-B East Wing, Capitol Building,
Harrisburg. 2:30. SRBC Contact: Ava Stoops, 717-238-0423. (f ormal notice) C
lick Here for
more.
November 1-- DCNR State Forest District Management Plan Meetings - Loyalsock State Forest
District, Resource Management Center,, 6735 Route 220, Dushore, Sullivan County. 6:00
to 8:00.
November 1-- U.S. Green Building Council Central PA Chapter Forever Green Awards
Ceremony. Civic Club of Harrisburg.
November 1-- PRPS, DCNR Community Conservation Grants Workshop. Giant Food Store
Community Room, 3301 Trindle Road, Camp Hill, Cumberland County. 9:00 to Noon. Click
Here for more.
100
November 1-- Pike County Conservation District Celebrates Natural Resources Annual Dinner.
The Waterfront Room at Silver Birches Resort, Lake Wallenpaupack. 6:00 to 8:00.
November 1-2-- PA Water And Wastewater Technology Summit. Penn Stater Conference
Center Hotel, State College.
November 3-- PA Resources Council. Vermicomposting Workshop. Construction Junction,

Point Breeze, Allegheny County. 11:00 to 12:30.
November 3-- Tree Pittsburgh. Free Tree Give Away In Allegheny County. North Park Ice
Rink, 1200 Pearce Mill Road, Wexford. 10:00 to 2:00. Click Here to register.
November 3-- NEW. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Golden Eagle, North America’s Largest Bird
Of Prey Program. Sanctuary's Outdoor Amphitheater, Berks County. Noon and 2:00.
November 3-- NEW. Allegheny Land Trust. Project Wet 2.0 Healthy Water, Healthy People
Facilitator Workshop. Millbrook Marsh Nature Center in State College, Centre County. 8:00 to
4:00.
November 5-- DEP Solid Waste Advisory Committee/ Recycling Fund Advisory Committee
Act 101 Workgroup meets. Room 105 Rachel Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Laura
Henry, 717-772-5713 or send email to: lahenry@pa.gov. (formal notice)
-- Finalizing recommendations on Act 101
November 5-- Penn State Extension Protect Your Springs, Wells, Septic Systems & Cisterns
Workshops (2). Terre Hill Community Center, 131 West Main Street, Terre Hill, Lancaster
County . 2:00 to 4:00 and 6:00 to 8:00
November 6-- PA Resources Council. Vermicomposting Workshop. North Park Rose Barn,
Allegheny County. 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
November 6-- PA Association of Environmental Professionals, Capital Chapter Society of

Women Environmental Professionals. Workshop On Ways Projects Can Avoid Endangered
Indiana Bats. Radisson Hotel, 1150 Camp Hill Bypass, Camp Hill (across the river from
Harrisburg). 11:30 to 1:30.
November 7-- DEP Aggregate Advisory Board meeting. 10th Floor Conference Room, Rachel
Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Daniel Snowden 717-783-8846 or send email to:
dsnowden@pa.gov.
November 7-- CANCELED. DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board meeting. Next
scheduled meeting is March 21. DEP Contact: Todd Wallace, 717-783-9438, twallace@pa.gov.
(formal notice)
101
November 7-- DEP Hearing (If Needed) on RACT II Air Quality Plan for a Tennessee Gas
Pipeline Compressor Station In Howe Township, Forest County. DEP Northwest Regional
Office, 230 Chestnut Street in Meadville, Crawford County. 9:00
November 7-- DEP Meeting/Hearing On Proposed NPDES Stormwater Permit For Slate Belt
Heat Recovery Center LLC Biosolids Processing Facility At The Grand Central Landfill In
Plainfield Township, Northampton County. Wind Gap Middle School, 1620 Teels Road, Pen
Argyle. 6:00 to 9:30. (S ept. 29 PA Bulletin, page 6335)
November 7-- NEW. DEP Hearing On Air Quality Permit For Slate Belt Heat Recovery Center
LLC Biosolids Processing Facility At The Grand Central Landfill In Plainfield Township,
Northampton County. Wind Gap Middle School, 1620 Teels Road, Pen Argyle, Northampton
County. 6:00 to 9:00. (Oct. 20 PA Bulletin, page 6671)
November 7-- NEW. DEP Informational Meeting On Swoyersville Culm Bank Removal Project
In Luzerne County. Swoyersville Hose Company No. 2, 299 Slocum Street, Swoyersville. 6:00
to 9:00.
November 7-- PRPS, DCNR Community Conservation Grants Workshop. Unitarian

Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, 780 Waupelani Drive Ext., State College, Centre
County. 9:00 to Noon. Click Here for more.
November 8-- DCNR Public Meeting On Forest District Plans: Rothrock State Forest District,
Shaver’s Creek CFD Community Building, 8707 Firemans Park Ln, Petersburg, Huntingdon
County. 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Click Here for more.
November 8-- DCNR Public Meeting On Forest District Plans: Weiser State Forest District,
District Office, 16 Weiser Lane, Aristes, Columbia County. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Click Here for
more.
November 9-- DEP Small Water Systems Technical Assistance Center Board meeting. Room
105 Rachel Carson Building. 9:00. DEP Contact: Dawn Hissner 717-787-9633 or send email to
dhissner@pa.gov. (formal notice)
November 9-- NEW. Schuylkill Action Network Celebrates 15 Years Of Action. Albright
College Campus Center, 1442 Bern Street, Reading, Berks County.
November 13-- Environmental Quality Board meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson Building.
9:00. DEP Contact: Laura Edinger, 717-772-3277, ledinger@pa.gov.
November 13-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson Building.
10:00. Contact: Keith Saladar, Executive Director, ksalador@pa.gov or call 717-787-8171.
[Note: The last meeting of 2018]
November 13-- DCNR Public Meeting On Forest District Plans: Pinchot State Forest District.
102
District Office, 1841 Abington Road, North Abington Township, Lackawanna County. 6:00 to
8:00. Click Here for more.
November 13-- PRPS, DCNR Community Conservation Grants Workshop. Trinity Point
Church of God, 180 W. Trinity Drive, Clarion, Clarion County. 9:00 to Noon. Click Here for
more.
November 14-- CANCELED. DEP Water Resources Advisory Committee meeting.

Rescheduled to November 29. DEP Contact: Diane Wilson, 717-787-3730, diawilson@pa.gov.
(formal notice)
November 14-- PA Resources Council. Vermicomposting Workshop. South Park Buffalo Inn,
Allegheny County. 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
November 14-- PRPS, DCNR Community Conservation Grants Workshop. Collier township
Community Center, 5 Lobaugh Street, Oakdale, Allegheny County . 9:00 to Noon. Click Here
for more.
November 15-- DEP Radiation Protection Advisory Committee meeting. Room 105 Rachel
Carson. 9:00. DEP Contact: Joseph Melnic 717-783-9730 or send email to: jmelnic@pa.gov.
(formal notice)
November 15-- NEW. Penn State Extension Agricultural Production & Shale Gas Development
Webinar. 1:00 to 2:00.
November 15-16-- PA Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Penn State. Northeast Cover
Crops Council Conference. Ramada Hotel and Conference Center, State College.
November 16-- PA State Assn. Of township Supervisors. PA Stormwater Conference [Eastern].
Montgomery County.
November 17-- NEW. Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Day. Wallenpaupack

Environmental Learning Center, Hawley, Wayne County.
November 20-- PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Planning Steering Committee meeting. Room
105 of the Rachel Carson Building. 9:00 a.m. to Noon. Click Here to pre-register to join the
meeting by webcast. Participants will also need to call in 1-650-479-3208, PASSCODE 643 952
548.
November 20-- South Mountain Partnership Trails Workshop - Building Strong Community
Connections. Shippensburg University, Cumberland County. 8:30 to 5:00.
November 28-- NEW. DEP Hearing [If Needed] On Karns City Refining RACT II Air Quality
Plan, Butler County. DEP Northwest Regional Office, 230 Chestnut Street in Meadville,
Crawford County. 9:00
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November 28-- NEW. DEP Hearing [If Needed] On Lord Corporation RACT II Air Quality
Plan, Crawford County. DEP Northwest Regional Office, 230 Chestnut Street in Meadville,
Crawford County. 10:00
November 29-- DEP Water Resources Advisory Committee meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson
Building. 9:30. DEP Contact: Diane Wilson, 717-787-3730, diawilson@pa.gov. (f ormal notice)
November 29-- Stroud Water Research Center Water’s Edge Gala - Freshwater Excellence
Award Celebration. Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Winterthur, Delaware.
November 29-- Academy Of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Delaware Watershed

Research Conference. Academy Offices in Philadelphia.
November 30-- NEW. Gov. Wolf’s PFAS Action Team Public Meeting. LTBA.
December 1-- NEW. Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Watch Volunteer Training Day.
Inn At Lackawaxen, 188 Scenic Drive, Lackawaxen, Wayne County. 9:00 to 1:00.
December 4-- DEP Climate Change Advisory Committee meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson
Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Lindsay Byron, 717-772-8951, lbyron@pa.gov. (formal notice)
December 4-- DEP Board Of Coal Mine Safety meeting. DEP Ebensburg Office, 286 Industrial
Park Road, Ebensburg. 10:00. DEP Contact: Margaret Scheloske, 724-404-3143,
mscheloske@pa.gov.
December 5-- DEP Storage Tank Advisory Committee meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson
Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Kris Shiffer 717-772-5809 or send email to: kshiffer@pa.gov.
(formal notice)
December 5-- DEP Laboratory Accreditation Advisory Committee meeting. DEP Laboratory
Building, 2575 Interstate Dr. Harrisburg. 9:00. DEP Contact: Aaren Alger, 717-346-8212 or
send email to: aaalger@pa.gov. (f ormal notice)
December 6-- DEP Cleanup Standards Scientific Advisory Board meeting. Room 105 Rachel
Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Michael Maddigan, 717-772-3609, mmaddigan@pa.gov.
December 6-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission business meeting on proposed water
withdrawal permits and other actions (Click Here for agenda). Location To Be Announced..
SRBC Contact: Ava Stoops, 717-238-0423. (f ormal notice) C lick Here for more.
December 6-- 10,000 Friends Of Pennsylvania Commonwealth Awards Dinner. ArtsQuest,

Bethlehem.
December 7-- Penn State Extension Understanding Dairy Business For Conservation
104
Professionals Workshop. Lancaster Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road, Lancaster.
10:00 to 2:00
December 12-- DEP State Board for Certification of Water and Wastewater Systems Operators
meeting. 10th Floor Conference Room, Rachel Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Edgar
Chescattie, 717-772-2814, eshescattie@pa.gov.
December 12-- DEP Solid Waste Advisory Committee & Recycling Fund Advisory Committee
meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Laura Henry, 717-772-5713,
lahenry@pa.gov.
December 12-- DCNR State Forest District Management Plan Meetings - Bald Eagle State
Forest, District Office, 18865 Old Turnpike Road, Millmont, Union County. 6:00 to 8:00.
December 13-- DEP Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Room 105 Rachel
Carson Building. 9:15. DEP Contact: Kirit Dalal, 717-772-3436 or send email to:
kdalal@pa.gov. (f ormal notice)
-- Draft regulations setting methane emission limits for oil and gas operations
December 17-- PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Planning Steering Committee meeting. Room
105 Rachel Carson Building. 1:00. Click Here to register to join the meeting by webinar.
Participants also need to call in 1-650-479-3208, PASSCODE 644 895 237.
December 18-- Environmental Quality Board meeting. Room 105 Rachel Carson Building.
9:00. DEP Contact: Laura Edinger, 717-772-3277, ledinger@pa.gov.
January 12-- NEW. Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Watch Bus Tour. 10:00 to 1:00,
January 26-- NEW. Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Watch Bus Tour. Noon to 1:00.
January 27-30-- Partnership For The Delaware Estuary. 2019 Delaware Estuary Science &
Environmental Summit. Cape May, NJ.
February 2-- NEW. Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Watch Bus Tour. 10:00 to 1:00.
February 12-13-- NEW. Advanced Watershed Educator Workshops For Non-Formal Educators.
Dauphin County Agriculture & Natural Resources Center, 1451 Peters Mountain Road, Dauphin,
Dauphin County. Click Here to register.
March 2-- PA Wilds. Retailers, Producers, Public 3rd Annual PA Wilds Buyer’s Market.
Gemmell Student Complex Multi-Purpose Room, Clarion University.
105
March 9-- 2019 Watershed Congress Along The Schuylkill River. Montgomery County
Community College campus in Pottstown.
March 21-- NEW. DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board meeting. Room 105 Rachel
Carson Building. 10:00. DEP Contact: Todd Wallace, 717-783-9438, twallace@pa.gov.
(formal notice)
March 27-28-- NEW. Advanced Watershed Educator Workshops For Non-Formal Educators.
Jennings Environmental Education Center, 2951 Prospect Road, Slippery Rock, Butler County.
Click Here to register.
April 29 to May 2-- Center for Watershed Protection. 2019 National Watershed and Stormwater
Conference. South Carolina.
May 8-10-- PA Assn. Of Environmental Professionals. 2019 Annual Conference - Growth
Through Collaboration. State College.
Related Tools ----------------
Visit DEP’s Public Participation Center for public participation opportunities.
Click Here for links to DEP’s Advisory Committee webpages.
Visit DEP Connects for opportunities to interact with DEP staff at field offices.
Click Here to sign up for DEP News a biweekly newsletter from the Department.
DEP Facebook Page DEP Twitter Feed DEP YouTube Channel
DEP Calendar of Events DCNR Calendar of Events
Senate Committee Schedule House Committee Schedule
You can watch the Senate Floor Session and House Floor Session live online.
Grants & Awards
This section gives you a heads up on upcoming deadlines for awards and grants and other
recognition programs. NEW means new from last week.
October 31-- PA Resources Council Gene Capaldi Lens On Litter Photo Contest
October 31-- Axalta, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro Teachers Program
October 31-- Dept. of Agriculture Spotted Lanternfly Student Calendar Contest
November 9-- Chesapeake Bay Land And Water Initiative Grants
November 9-- NEW. POWR/DCNR 2019 River Of The Year
106
November 15-- Delaware River Basin Commission Fall Photo Contest
November 16-- NEW. WPC Western PA Canoe, Kayak Access Project Grants
November 16-- NEW. DCNR 2019 PA Trail Of The Year
November 16-- PA Housing Finance Agency RFP For Housing Proposals
November 20-- PA Visitors Bureau Scenic Beauty Photo Contest In 5 Counties
December 1-- USDA Rural Community Water Infrastructure Funding (Rolling Deadline)
December 1-- Western PA Trail Volunteer Fund Grants
December 14-- DEP Alternative Fuel Vehicle Rebates (First-Come)
December 14-- DEP Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants
December 14-- NEW. FEMA/PEMA Pre-Disaster & Flood Mitigation Grants
December 15-- Coldwater Heritage Partnership Grants
December 17-- NEW. Governor’s Awards For Environmental Excellence
December 21-- ORSANCO Ohio River Sweep Student Poster Contest
December 31-- DEP County Act 101 Waste Planning, HHW, Education Grants
January 11-- PennDOT Green Light-Go Program, LED Light Upgrades
January 25-- DEP Grants/Rebates Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
March 31-- DEP Level 2 Electric Charging Station Rebates (First-Come)
July 15-- DEP Grants/Rebates Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
December 16-- DEP Grants/Rebates Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
March 1-- Western PA Trail Volunteer Fund Grants
June 1-- Western PA Trail Volunteer Fund Grants
September 1-- Western PA Trail Volunteer Fund Grants
December 1-- Western PA Trail Volunteer Fund Grants
-- Visit the DEP Grant, Loan and Rebate Programs webpage for more ideas on how to get
financial assistance for environmental projects.
-- Visit the DCNR Apply for Grants webpage for a listing of financial assistance available from
DCNR.
Regulations, Technical Guidance & Permits
Here are highlights of actions taken by agencies on environmental regulations, technical

guidance and permits.
Regulations -----------------------
No new regulations were published this week. Pennsylvania Bulletin - October 20, 2018
Technical Guidance -------------------
No new technical guidance was published this week.
Permits ------------
107
Note: The Department of Environmental Protection published 61 pages of public notices related
to proposed and final permit and approval/ disapproval actions in the October 20 PA Bulletin -
pages 6658 to 6719.

revisions to the registered air emission reduction credits registry and registered transactions (Oct.
20 PA Bulletin, page 6711) .
DEP published notice in the October 20 PA Bulletin of changes to the list of businesses certified
to perform radon-related activities in Pennsylvania (Oct. 20 PA Bulletin, page 6718) .
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission published several notices in the October 20 PA
Bulletin-- List of Water Withdrawal Projects Approved In July, List Of Water Withdrawal
Projects Approved In August, Projects Approved With Minor Modifications in July, and Projects
Rescinded in July.
Related Tools ----------------------
Sign Up For DEP’s eNotice: Did you know DEP can send you email notices of permit
applications submitted in your community? Notice of new technical guidance documents and
regulations? All through its eNotice system. Click Here to sign up.
Visit DEP’s Public Participation Center for public participation opportunities.
DEP Proposals Out For Public Review

Other Proposals Open For Public Comment - DEP webpage
Submit Comments on Proposals Through DEP’s eComment System
Recently Closed Comment Periods For Other Proposals - DEP webpage
Other Proposals Recently Finalized - DEP webpage
DEP Regulations In Process

Proposed Regulations Open For Comment - DEP webpage
Proposed Regulations With Closed Comment Periods - DEP webpage
Recently Finalized Regulations - DEP webpage
DEP Regulatory Update - DEP webpage
August 4, 2018 DEP Regulatory Agenda - PA Bulletin, Page 4733
DEP Technical Guidance In Process

Draft Technical Guidance Documents - DEP webpage
Technical Guidance Comment Deadlines - DEP webpage
Recently Closed Comment Periods For Technical Guidance - DEP webpage
Technical Guidance Recently Finalized - DEP webpage
108
Copies of Final Technical Guidance - DEP webpage
DEP Non-Regulatory/Technical Guidance Documents Agenda (July 2018)- DEP webpage
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Pa Environment Digest Oct. 22, 2018

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Issue #747 Harrisburg, PA Oct.

PA Environment Digest Blog​​ ​Twitter Feed​​ ​PaEnviroDigest Google+

Late Wednesday night the Senate and House held

DEP: 61 Watershed Restoration, Stormwater Projects Totaling $12.6 Million Funded By

The Department of Environmental Protection

The ​Del Chesco United for Pipeline Safety

The Department of Environmental Protection Wednesday announced it is now accepting

By Karl Blankenship, ​Chesapeake Bay Journal

​ hesapeake Bay Journal

As the Chesapeake Bay region enters what was

By Karl Blankenship, ​Chesapeake Bay Journal

​ hesapeake Bay Journal​ 4-part special report, ​The Bay's Pollution

The state-federal Chesapeake Bay Program

Bay Journal: Part 3 - Success Of Chesapeake Bay Restoration Tied To Pennsylvania,

By Karl Blankenship, ​Chesapeake Bay Journal

​ hesapeake Bay Journal​ 4-part special report, ​The Bay's Pollution

Across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, controlling runoff

By Karl Blankenship, ​Chesapeake Bay Journal

​ hesapeake Bay Journal​ 4-part special report, ​The Bay's Pollution

This December will mark the 35th anniversary of the

Nominations Now Being Accepted For 2019 River Of The Year

The ​PA Organization For Watersheds and Rivers​ and

Nominations Now Being Accepted For 2019 PA Trail Of The Year

Op-Ed: Americans Support Parks And Prefer Candidates Who Do Too

By: Tim Herd, ​PA Recreation and Park Society

So much of what constitutes the appeal and

LancasterOnline.com: Now 5 Deaths Statewide From West Nile Virus

Heather Stauffer, LancasterOnline.com, Tuesday

Fish & Boat Commission Names Tim Schaeffer Executive Director

During a special meeting Thursday, the ​Fish and Boat

The Department of Conservation and Natural

Senate/House Bills Moving Last Week

One-Stop-Business Center:​​ ​House Bill 1284​ (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a

Uniform Construction Code:​​ ​House Bill 1469​ (Heffley-R-Carbon) relating to third-party

Conventional Drilling:​​ ​House Bill 2154​ (Causer-R-Cameron) which would weaken

Lead Testing: ​Senate Bill 1270​ (Yudichak-D-Luzerne), (Baker-R-Luzerne) requiring universal

SepticSmart Week:​​ ​Senate Resolution 462​ (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) designating September 17-21

Bills On Governor's Desk

One-Stop-Business Center:​​ ​House Bill 1284​ (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a

Senate/House Agenda/Session Schedule/Gov’s Schedule/ Bills Introduced

Committee Meeting Agendas This Week

Senate:​​ <> ​Click Here​ for full Senate Committee Schedule.

Bills Pending In Key Committees

The following bills of interest were introduced last week--

SepticSmart Week:​​ ​Senate Resolution 462​ (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) designating September 17-21

Senate ​(Recessed to the Call of the President Pro Tempore)

House​​ ​(On A 12-Hour Call)

The ​Senate Health and Human Services

News From Around The State

The ​PA Emergency Management Agency​ this

The Department of Environmental Protection

​ atershed Winds​ newsletter.)

Feature: CBF-PA's Rain Garden Maintenance Specialist Brings Environmental Justice To

By: B.J. Small, ​Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA

Garden mud, rain, and rocks were Rafiyqa

The ​Delaware RiverKeeper Network​ and

POWR, PEC To Hold Regional Watershed Workshops In Butler, Lackawanna Counties

The ​PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers​ and

Visitors to the Mount Holly Springs' Holly Festival

​ atershed Winds​ newsletter.)

Schuylkill Action Network Celebrates 15 Years Of Action Nov. 9 In Reading

The ​Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

Nearly three million rural Pennsylvania residents rely

​ atershed Winds​ newsletter.)

PA Environment Digest Blog Twitter Feed PaEnviroDigest Google+

The Del Chesco United for Pipeline Safety

By Karl Blankenship, Chesapeake Bay Journal

hesapeake Bay Journal

By Karl Blankenship, Chesapeake Bay Journal

hesapeake Bay Journal 4-part special report, The Bay's Pollution

By Karl Blankenship, Chesapeake Bay Journal

hesapeake Bay Journal 4-part special report, The Bay's Pollution

By Karl Blankenship, Chesapeake Bay Journal

hesapeake Bay Journal 4-part special report, The Bay's Pollution

The PA Organization For Watersheds and Rivers and

By: Tim Herd, PA Recreation and Park Society

During a special meeting Thursday, the Fish and Boat

One-Stop-Business Center: House Bill 1284 (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a

Uniform Construction Code: House Bill 1469 (Heffley-R-Carbon) relating to third-party

Conventional Drilling: House Bill 2154 (Causer-R-Cameron) which would weaken

Lead Testing: Senate Bill 1270 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne), (Baker-R-Luzerne) requiring universal

SepticSmart Week: Senate Resolution 462 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) designating September 17-21

One-Stop-Business Center: House Bill 1284 (Peifer-R-Pike) directs DCED to develop a

Senate: <> Click Here for full Senate Committee Schedule.

SepticSmart Week: Senate Resolution 462 (Yudichak-D-Luzerne) designating September 17-21

Senate (Recessed to the Call of the President Pro Tempore)

House (On A 12-Hour Call)

The Senate Health and Human Services

The PA Emergency Management Agency this

atershed Winds newsletter.)

By: B.J. Small, Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA

The Delaware RiverKeeper Network and

The PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers and

atershed Winds newsletter.)

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

atershed Winds newsletter.)

A series of Advanced Watershed

The Allegheny Land Trust and its partners will hold a

The PA Horticultural Society will host a

The Allegheny Land Trust Wednesday announced it is

The Lehigh Valley-based Wildlands Conservancy

The UPS Foundation and Keep America Beautiful

The PA Resources Council, PA American Water and

Trout Unlimited, in consultation with a focus

Penn State Extension will host a webinar on

The Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance will

The millions of acres of Pennsylvania’s state parks

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

The South Mountain Partnership, Capital

The Good For You, Good For All initiative by

(Reprinted from the Oct. 17 DCNR Resource newsletter. C

The October 17 issue of the Resource newsletter is now

The Western PA Conservancy Tuesday announced a

On November 3, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary visitors will

October 22-- Professional Recyclers of PA Recycling Certification Courses. Enola, Cumberland

November 3-- PA Resources Council. Vermicomposting Workshop. Construction Junction,

November 6-- PA Association of Environmental Professionals, Capital Chapter Society of

November 7-- PRPS, DCNR Community Conservation Grants Workshop. Unitarian

November 14-- CANCELED. DEP Water Resources Advisory Committee meeting.

November 17-- NEW. Delaware Highlands Conservancy Eagle Day. Wallenpaupack

November 29-- Academy Of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Delaware Watershed

December 6-- 10,000 Friends Of Pennsylvania Commonwealth Awards Dinner. ArtsQuest,

Visit DEP’s Public Participation Center for public participation opportunities.

Click Here for links to DEP’s Advisory Committee webpages.

DEP Facebook Page DEP Twitter Feed DEP YouTube Channel

DEP Calendar of Events DCNR Calendar of Events

Senate Committee Schedule House Committee Schedule

Visit DEP’s Public Participation Center for public participation opportunities.

PA Environment Digest is a publication of PA Environment News LLC and is edited by

PA Environment Digest weekly was the winner of the PA Association of Environmental

Note: Content is gladly shared. For permission, send email to: