LWV DelCo Environmental Clearinghouse
Delaware County Environmental Clearinghouse
More than 20 states, including North Carolina, New York, California and Pennsylvania, as well as several cities, are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its repeal of most greenhouse gas emissions standards for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. The agency’s proposal would also thwart future administrations from reinstating the rule.
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,
Data center developers in Pennsylvania plan to rely on at least seven new natural gas-fired power plants that would emit climate-warming gases equal to adding 14 million cars on the road every year, according to a new report.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued an emergency order directing grid operator PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM), and Constellation Energy Corporation, owner of the Eddystone Generating Station, to ensure Units 3 and 4 of the plant remain in operation through May 24. The units were originally slated to shut down on May 31, 2025.
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.
The U.S. Department of Energy has ordered another power plant, this time an oil and gas plant in Delaware County, to keep its turbines running through the hottest summer months as a precaution against electric shortfalls in the 13-state mid-Atlantic grid.
Pennsylvania is the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer, yet the commonwealth does not provide sufficient resources to its Department of Environmental Protection to properly regulate this industry.
Gas wells are routinely abandoned, many drillers fail to report their drilling activity as required by law and drilling wastewater is illegally dumped on roadways. In the upcoming state budget, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania’s General Assembly must provide additional staffing for the DEP’s Oil and Gas Program to address these problems.
