LWV DelCo Environmental Clearinghouse
Delaware County Environmental Clearinghouse
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) has filed a legal challenge in the
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey of the decision by Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to extend, for a second time, its approval for the construction of the proposed Gibbstown LNG Export Terminal project on the Delaware River in Gloucester County,
New Jersey.
The state budget Governor Shapiro announced today represents a devastating, self-inflicted setback in addressing affordability, clean energy and pollution by walking away from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative without establishing an alternative approach, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania said reacting to the new state budget deal.
For those who take a seat on one of four benches that the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners of Delaware County have installed at Smedley Park, they’d likely never suspect that they’re sitting on thousands of pounds of recycled plastic bags, bubble wrap and stretchy plastic film.
A liquid natural gas export terminal would not be welcome anywhere in southeast Pennsylvania, community and expert speakers told the PA House Environment and Natural Resources Protection Committee Nov. 5. Committee Chair Greg Vitali said he called the hearing because of the fear that the LNG project is advancing out of sight of public scrutiny.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission will amend the Fiscal year 2025 Transportation Improvement Program for the region to include a $2 million plan to add electric vehicle charging stations to 18 Delaware County parks, libraries and county offices. The public can comment on the plan until noon on the day before the DVRPC’s next meeting, Oct. 23.
A bill introduced in Philadelphia City Council Sept. 18 would prohibit the city from contracting with companies that incinerate its trash and recyclables. Currently about one-third of Philadelphia’s waste is sent to the Reworld (formerly Covanta) incinerator in Chester. Most of Delaware County’s municipal waste is also burned in the incinerator.
The Delaware County Council has accepted the county Sustainability Commission’s zero waste plan that promises to work towards an 82% reduction in solid waste, increase the efficiency of the county’s waste disposal practices and reduce costs.
The EPA released a draft rule Sept. 12 to end its long-standing greenhouse gas reporting program for 8,000 emitters, such as power plants and iron and steel manufacturers, and to suspend reporting for the fossil fuel industry until 2034. These are the chief sources of information about methane and CO2 emissions, major contributors to global warming.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is involved in a process to allow electric grid operator PJM to charge its ratepayers across 13 states an estimated $70 million a year to keep the Eddystone oil-and-gas power plant operating. The DOE ordered the plant, on the brink of retirement, to keep running for two three-month periods this summer and fall and it is unclear whether the order will be made permanent. The Trump Administration plans to order Forty coal plants across the country to keep operating as well.
As environmentalists prepare for Sun Day, Sept. 21 (see article below), famed environmental guru and Sun Day founder Bill McKibben has an idea for doomsday preppers: instead of storing oil and gas, which goes bad or runs out after a couple of years, think about solar. Solar panels last for far longer and the energy can be delivered right to your roof, no drilling or refining necessary.
