For years, both anglers and scientists have witnessed death and disease in the Suquehanna River’s smallmouth bass population. The issue has gained national attention, yet two state agencies have clashed over how to handle the problem. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission disagreed over whether a 100-mile stretch of [...]
In a move that could redefine the fracking debate, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically reduced its estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production. Natural gas is cleaner burning than coal, but its production can release methane — a potent greenhouse gas— into the atmosphere. Natural gas critics worried this could negate its climate change benefits. The [...]
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new fuel and car standards that would reduce the amount of sulfur levels in gasoline by 60 percent by 2017. According to The Washington Post, the oil industry and its allies in Congress have criticized the proposal, arguing it could cause gas prices to rise between 2 and 9 cents per gallon. [...]
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board has named members of the independent panel tasked with reviewing the agency’s draft fracking study. The federal study won’t be released until 2014, but the agency recently published a progress report. The EPA is examining five stages of hydraulic fracturing, and assessing each step’s risk of contaminating drinking [...]
President Obama announced new appointments this week to head the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy and advocates in Pennsylvania are praising the moves. Gina McCarthy, a clean air regulator with the EPA is the president’s pick to lead the agency, while MIT physicist and natural gas advocate Ernest Moniz was chosen to head the [...]
Natural gas drilling will no doubt play a major role in the life of whoever President Obama nominates to succeed Lisa Jackson as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. Jackson announced last week that she’ll step down in January. Among other things, the EPA is currently conducting a major study into the risks hydraulic fracturing poses to [...]
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson says she’ll step down early next year, after President Obama’s State of the Union address. As the New York Times reports, Jackson leaves at a time where the Obama Administration’s environmental policy is at a crossroads: After his re-election, and a campaign in which global warming was barely mentioned by either [...]
A major Environmental Protection Agency report on natural gas drilling will include a lot of information from Pennsylvania. The federal study won’t be released until 2014, but the agency recently published a progress report. The EPA is examining five stages of hydraulic fracturing, and assessing each step’s risk of contaminating drinking water. That includes everything [...]
The Environmental Protection Agency has released new information about its ongoing review of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the impact on drinking water. Today’s report does not include any conclusions, but outlines the research process and timeline. The EPA study examines the entire drilling process, not just fracking. The Agency has broken up the process [...]
Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, have agreed to answer questions from residents on a proposed deep injection well near the Tamarack Swamp, in Warren County. The wells would take drilling waste, and dispose of it deep within the earth. The DEP announced the public meeting for next [...]
StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives.
Learn More »