LWV DelCo Environmental Clearinghouse
Delaware County Environmental Clearinghouse
The referendum to protect Delaware County water, land and wildlife was a huge winner in the midterm election, getting 171,131 unofficial yes votes (75.6% of the vote) to 55,249 (24.4%) unofficial no votes. The referendum spectacularly outperformed its pre-campaign polling that had suggested in might win by a 60% to 40% yes vote.
The state Capitol rotunda echoed with dissent Tuesday, Oct. 6, as dozens called on Gov. Josh Shapiro and lawmakers to enact a statewide moratorium on data center development. At least 100 data center projects are proposed around the commonwealth, according to Shapiro’s office.
Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL) is asking Delaware County residents to call or email Philadelphia City Council to NOT approve a new contract with Reworld/Covanta incinerator to burn a portion of its trash and to pass the “Stop Trashing Our Air Act.” City Council previously failed to enact the bill to stop doing business with Reworld.
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.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Energy Programs Office (EPO) is launching an eight-month pilot program, Technical Assistance for Community Energy and Resilience (TACER), to help nonprofits and community-based organizations (CBOs) develop energy affordability, energy efficiency, and community resilience projects.
Data center developers would be required to pledge transparency in Pennsylvania communities where they want to build in order to get a sales tax break on computer equipment, under legislation aiming to prevent secrecy around the massive computing hubs.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Green Amendments For the Generations have filed a petition to intervene in a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has brought against the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The DHS brought the suit after DEP notified ICE that it could not operate two large warehouse facilities in Berks and Schuylkill Counties as immigrant detention centers without making needed modifications and securing multiple state and local approvals to address concerns about drinking water, wastewater, environmental, health, safety, and fire suppression.
The state House has passed two bills intended to help the state and local governments grapple with the impacts of data centers, as communities across the commonwealth continue to deal with the proliferation of the sprawling computer farms.
A new report card gives Pennsylvania an F grade for how it governs rooftop solar permitting. The scorecard looked at state policies covering areas such as whether building codes are uniform across the state, whether homeowners associations are allowed to restrict solar adoption, permit fees, and what criteria is used to judge systems.
The “Stop Trashing Our Air Act” (Bill 250768) is scheduled to be voted on by Philadelphia City Council next Thursday, April 9 at 10 a.m. This bill would ban Philly from burning their trash in Chester City at Reworld/Covanta, the largest trash incinerator in the U.S. and one of the biggest polluters in our region. CRCQL plans a rally and a “die-in” in Philadelphia ahead of the vote. The current waste contract expires on June 30.
