LWV DelCo Environmental Clearinghouse
Delaware County Environmental Clearinghouse
On August 16, 2026, former state Sen. Franklin L. Kury, author of the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution, passed away at the age of 89. The amendment guarantees the people of Pennsylvania the right to clean air, pure water and preservation of natural, scenic and historic sites.
A commercial real estate developer is looking at a 24-acre site at the Congoleum plant in Trainer and Lower Chichester for a possible data center, the first time a proposed center has come up in Delaware County since data centers became controversial due to environmental and electric grid concerns.
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order that makes his voluntary guardrails for data centers mandatory. The new order distances the governor from project developers after months of mounting pressure to take action. “Starting today, (artificial intelligence) data center developers who want to do business in our commonwealth must respect our communities and abide by these stringent requirements,” Shapiro said. “And if they can’t agree to do that, well, they should stop considering Pennsylvania a home for their project.”
Rockwell Development Group owner Greg Lingo told the Upper Darby Township Council and a group of about 140 residents Wednesday night that he would be willing to sell the 15-acre woodland to the township and conservationists for “in the ballpark of $8 million.”
The Radnor Township Environmental Council is focusing this year on promoting native plants and encouraging residents to plant milkweed to nurture monarch butterflies, a very endangered species, as well as on various energy projects.
About 60 Upper Darby residents turned out to a public forum Aug. 3 to demand that the township council reject a mixed- use zoning ordinance that would permit the development of 143 housing units on the last undeveloped, forested area in Upper Darby.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Delaware County Planning Department representatives reported that air particulate matter pollution was fairly low along the I-95 industrial corridor from January to May of this year.
The former Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Dauphin County is meeting milestones in its relicensing process and on track to begin producing electricity again by the middle of next year, federal regulators said. But many residents raised questions during a recent public meeting about emergency preparedness and environmental reviews,
The 30-second ads, which feature B-roll of a family cooking together, a nurse and a business owner, are a near-carbon copy of ads playing across TV and social media in at least six other states. They all attempt to counter common critiques of data centers, including their enormous demand for water, energy, land and relatively low levels of job creation compared to the tax breaks they receive.
