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Jon Hurdle

Jon is an experienced journalist who has covered a wide range of general and business-news stories for national and local media in the U.S. and his native U.K. As a former Reuters reporter, he spent several years covering the early stages of Pennsylvania’s natural gas fracking boom and was one of the first national reporters to write about the effects of gas development on rural communities. Jon trained as a general news reporter with a British newspaper chain and later worked for several business-news organizations including Bloomberg News and Market News International, covering topics including economics, bonds, currencies and monetary policy. Since 2011, he has been a freelance writer, contributing Philadelphia-area news to The New York Times; covering economics for Market News, and writing stories on the environment and other subjects for a number of local outlets including StateImpact. He has written two travel guidebooks to the European Alps; lived in Australia, Switzerland, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and visited many countries including Ethiopia, Peru, Taiwan, and New Zealand. Outside of work hours, Jon can be found running, birding, cooking, and, when weather permits, gardening in the back yard of a Philadelphia row home where he lives with his partner, Kate.

Latest by Jon Hurdle


Planned treatment plant called a new threat to Dimock’s water

A state court on Tuesday denied an application to temporarily block a permit for construction of a wastewater plant in the town of Dimock,

By Jon Hurdle

As Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates push more gas production, report collects studies that show fracking harms

Anti-fracking groups say some aspects of the industry can’t be effectively regulated.

By Jon Hurdle

U. of Pennsylvania energy-prize winner says natural gas not compatible with long-term climate goals

Lord Nicholas Stern said fossil fuels must be phased out. “So the question is how you slow down and where you slow down.”

By Jon Hurdle

In Pennsylvania, Ukraine invasion and urgent climate report drive new interest in renewables, efficiency

With natural gas prices rising and amid another report stressing the urgency of cutting carbon emissions, it’s a ‘reasonable reaction’ that people would look to renewables and efficiency measures, one analyst said.

By Jon Hurdle

Pa. GOP measures to boost natural gas output unlikely to succeed, analysts say

Among other things, lawmakers want to end drilling ban on state lands, and urge New York and New Jersey to allow new pipelines for Pennsylvania natural gas.

By Jon Hurdle

PennEast halts plan to seek NJ public lands for pipeline

An agreement with the New Jersey Attorney General’s office means PennEast won’t take the lands to build the pipeline, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it could use eminent domain to acquire the state land for the project.

By Jon Hurdle

Updated: 2021-07-27 10:21:37

DEP to propose limits on PFAS-family chemicals that it says balance cost and public health

One environmental group has consistently advocated for stricter limits than what the agency is recommending.

By Jon Hurdle

Hearing on ME2 reroute plan shows public rifts persist over pipeline project

The troubled and long-delayed project pumps natural gas liquids more than 300 miles across 17 southern Pennsylvania counties to a Delaware County terminal, where most of the fuel is exported for plastics manufacturing.

By Jon Hurdle

Delaware County sues PFAS makers for contamination at fire-fighting sites

Delaware County’s district attorney said contamination could have been prevented if companies that made the chemicals “had been honest with consumers.”

By Jon Hurdle

DEP finds PFAS in one-third of public water systems; none exceeded EPA limit

A proposed state regulation is expected this year that would set health limits for some of the chemicals, which have been linked to serious illnesses.

By Jon Hurdle
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