LWV DelCo Environmental Clearinghouse
Delaware County Environmental Clearinghouse
$90 billion in investments could reshape the energy landscape in Pennsylvania, but community voices and renewable alternatives are missing from the plan. Data center projects are being aligned with fossil fuel energy sources, dramatically increasing greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating climate change and driving up energy costs for consumers.
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.
HB 441, a bill to protect more than 100 species of native insects, including many pollinators, passed the Pennsylvania House by a party-line vote of 102-101. It now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate. Write or email your state senators and ask them to support it.
Haverford Climate Action is calling on Delco residents to take inaction! Leave your leaves! Did you know that if you leave some or all of the leaves in your yard they will break down naturally over time and enrich your soil? They also provide habitat for pollinators and small creatures. Read more for a link to see what you can do to help wildlife survive and thrive in your leaves at a time when insects are experiencing mass extinction.
Since taking office, Gov. Josh Shapiro has taken no meaningful action to promote clean energy or mitigate climate change. Physicians for Social Reponsibility is asking Gov. Shapiro not to give away the store to the fossil fuel industry and big tech data centers in the name of “energy reliability.”
Fracking promised to reduce electric and natural gas prices for Pennsylvania’s residents, but prices have increased instead. Read this report by Inside Climate News reporters Kiley Bense and Dan Gearino to find out why.
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.
