The Pennsylvania state capitol building and Soldier's Grove in Harrisburg on May 13, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
Pa. legislators passed a lot of new laws with the budget. Here’s what’s happening with environmental policy.
-
Rachel McDevitt
The Pennsylvania state capitol building and Soldier's Grove in Harrisburg on May 13, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)
Environmental advocates say the new $47.6 billion state budget is a bipartisan agreement that takes some positive steps for the environment.
“It moves Pennsylvania closer to a cleaner, more affordable economy for all, with, obviously, still more work to be done,” said Robert Routh with Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Department of Environmental Protection is getting a 14% raise, bringing its annual budget to $232 million in state funds. The Pennsylvania Environmental Council said this is “hopefully the beginning of more sufficiently supporting the agency.”
Green groups praised funding that’s meant to help schools install solar panels, and for the state to clean up waterways and plug abandoned oil and gas wells.
Related Stories
Oil and gas industry groups were pleased with measures aimed at speeding up permitting and setting the stage for a clean hydrogen industry that relies on carbon capture and storage.
Here’s a round-up of environmental items that passed in the last month as lawmakers negotiated the state budget.
Rachel McDevitt / StateImpact Pennsylvania
The Doc Fritchey Chapter of Trout Unlimited narrowed this stretch of Snitz Creek in North Cornwall Township and planted trees along the banks for its first restoration project on the creek, seen in this photo from Oct. 19, 2021.
Clean Streams
The budget gives $50 million to the Clean Streams Fund, which was set up in 2022 with $220 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The initial investment was split up among programs for farmland conservation, stormwater management, and acid mine drainage.
More than half of the first wave of funds went to create the Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program to help farmers reduce runoff to keep nutrients out of waterways, where they can cause harm, and in soil, where they can help crops grow.
Pennsylvania’s efforts contributed to the best overall health of the Chesapeake Bay in more than two decades, according to a recent analysis from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. The Susquehanna River is the bay’s largest source of freshwater.
But cleanup is not happening fast enough to meet goals set for 2025.
This year, lawmakers approved sending $50 million from the General Fund to the Clean Streams Fund.
More than 70% will go to the Department of Agriculture’s State Conservation Commission. The rest will be split between the Agriculture Department’s Nutrient Management Fund, PennVEST, DEP’s Stormwater Management Grants and abandoned mine drainage reclamation program and to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ urban tree planting efforts.
Waste coal incentive
Lawmakers expanded a tax credit for waste coal power plants this fiscal year.
Companies can now claim a credit of $8 per ton of waste coal used to generate electricity. The legislature also raised the limit on credits for the industry from $20 million to $55 million per year.
Waste coal is made up of mining leftovers that weren’t considered good enough to produce power or help make steel. The toxic remains still sit in huge piles near the original mining sites, where they can leach pollution into waterways. To incentivize cleaning up the piles, the state has designated power plants that use waste coal as beneficial for the environment.
But environmental groups say lawmakers should also consider the pollution impact of burning waste coal, which produces a lot of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
”It’s an unfortunate thing that we’re continuing to subsidize one of our most polluting forms of energy,” said Adam Nagel of PennFuture.
Anne Danahy / WPSU
The University Area Joint Authority in Centre County had a solar array installed on its property, in large part to save money.
Solar for Schools
Schools that want to install solar panels can soon apply for help under a new state program.
The law creating the Solar for Schools program directs the Department of Community and Economic Development to set up a grant program using federal climate money.
Once the agency opens the application process, schools can ask for grants to cover up to half the cost of installing solar panels.
Lawmakers also approved $25 million in state funds that could be used on top of the federally-funded grants.
Solar advocates say Solar for Schools can help speed an energy transition away from fossil fuels, but they’re hoping the legislature will do more.
Sponsors of the measure said it would help schools save money. Midd-West School District in Middleburg reduced its annual $420,000 electric bill by about $145,000 after it installed 5,130 solar panels on 10 acres of property in 2020.
Abandoned well plugging
Pennsylvania has legions of old oil and gas wells that were drilled before modern regulations and are no longer productive for companies. But they still leak the powerful greenhouse gas methane and pose a threat to the environment.
During the Shapiro Administration, the state has plugged over 200 wells of the estimated 200,000 in the state. That’s a record pace, made possible by federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act.
Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania
An abandoned well in McKean County.
Lawmakers approved $11 million in state funds to continue finding and capping abandoned wells. The state’s buy-in can help Shapiro fulfill his promise of drawing down as much federal funding as possible.
The Department of Environmental Protection has said the cost to plug wells ranges from $10,000 to $800,000, depending on complications, location, depth, and the number of wells per contract.
Shapiro has budgeted $105 million in federal funds for well-plugging this fiscal year. That amount could plug around 1,400 wells.
Electric vehicle fee
Under a new law, EV owners will have to pay an extra $200 fee when they register their vehicle in 2025. The fee jumps to $250 in 2026, then will be tied to inflation after that. Owners will have the option to pay in installments.
Owners of plug-in hybrid EVs will owe 25% of the fee for fully electric vehicles.
The fee passed the legislature with bipartisan support.
Lawmakers say it makes EV owners pay their fair share for road maintenance, since they are avoiding taxes at the gas pump.
But EV advocates are disappointed with the law and say the legislature should be making it easier to buy and own an EV, not harder.
Carbon capture primacy
Gas industry groups are applauding passage of the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act, while environmental advocates are divided.
Trapping emissions rather than releasing them into the atmosphere is a proposed solution for cleaning up some industries that are hard to electrify, such as steel-making and cement production.
Carbon capture and storage is a pillar of Pennsylvania’s plan to establish a clean hydrogen hub near Pittsburgh. The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub wants to use a process that combines methane gas with heat and steam to make hydrogen. Resulting carbon gases would need to be captured for the hydrogen to be considered clean.
Right now, companies can apply for federal permits to drill Class VI wells, which are used to deposit carbon dioxide and trap it in rock formations.
The new state law starts a process of transferring that permit authority to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which could take two to three years.
John Walliser with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council said his group supported the legislation after it was amended to offer more protections, including a specific provision for environmental justice areas.
The law lets DEP require additional analysis and greater public participation before a permit is issued.
Walliser said he sees carbon capture and storage as part of the decarbonization puzzle, but it’s not the only answer to addressing climate change.
Other environmental groups objected to the law, saying carbon capture wells are unproven and dangerous.
Blocking tax credits for cryptocurrency
In 2021, lawmakers made equipment used for data centers exempt from sales and use tax, in an effort to encourage data centers to locate in Pennsylvania. Data centers are buildings that house computers that store information and allow software to run.
This year, legislators excluded certain cryptocurrency mining operations from the tax exemption.
Companies buying data center equipment for “proof of work crypto-asset mining” cannot claim the exemption. Legislation to exclude cryptomining from the exemption was sponsored by Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), who wrote in a co-sponsorship memo that the “high level of energy usage increases demand for fossil fuels, placing more stress on the environment and accelerating the climate crisis.”
Cryptomining done with the proof of work method is energy intensive. Some cryptocurrencies use a faster, less resource-intensive method known as proof of stake.
Some cryptomining companies have taken over waste coal power plants to fuel their operations.
Environmental groups have asked lawmakers to put restrictions on cryptominers to limit pollution in the state.
Jeremy Long / WITF
The Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg, where the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection offices are.
Permit reform
The need for permit reform has been a common refrain from lawmakers for the past several years – most often Republicans who complained the Department of Environmental Protection was stifling business by moving too slowly. Environmentally-minded Democrats argue DEP has been chronically understaffed.
A measure passed by the Senate earlier this year would have allowed outside parties to review applications, rather than state agencies.
Critics said the move would have violated federal and state laws.
In this year’s fiscal code, which must be passed to enact a budget, lawmakers approved the Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program. The Shapiro Administration says $10.5 million will go to speed up permitting processes at DEP and clear permit backlogs.
“There were a lot more severe ideas that were put on the table that would more severely restrict and potentially undermine the constitutional obligations and responsibilities of our state agency to do its job,” said Robert Routh with Natural Resources Defense Council.
Under SPEED, DEP will work with the Department of General Services to create a roster of qualified experts to evaluate some permit applications. DEP will have final say on whether permits are issued.
Routh said he’ll be watching closely to see how the program plays out in practice.
Whole-Home Repairs
Shapiro had proposed $50 million for the popular program, which was meant to help low-income homeowners afford upgrades to make their homes safer and more efficient. Home energy efficiency reduces heating and electric bills while lowering climate-warming emissions.
But the funding was zeroed out of the final budget.
The program started in 2022 with $125 million from federal COVD relief funds. Money was allocated for the program in 2023, but was not included in necessary fiscal code bills, and so was not released.
The Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance said 17,000 eligible households across the state are on waiting lists for whole-home funds.
“Pennsylvania has some of the oldest homes in the country – many in long-neglected and deteriorated condition. With aging housing stock impacting every legislative district, Whole-Home Repairs should be a bipartisan matter. The fight for Whole-Home Repairs isn’t over until every home is fixed,” the group said in a statement.
Agriculture innovation
The budget gives $10 million to create the Agricultural Innovation Grant Program.
Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Executive Director Molly Parzen said the program “will help strengthen Pennsylvania’s farms while encouraging the adoption of cutting-edge practices that improve energy efficiency and water quality.”
In addition to reimbursing farmers for efforts to improve energy efficiency, water quality or to address waste issues, the grants could also be used for technology to turn barnyard waste into energy and technologies that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide generated at the farm.
Editor's Picks
PARTNERS
FUNDERS
Climate Solutions partners
