PENNSYLVANIA (June 21,2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today, June 21, the availability of $850 million in funding for projects led by agencies, tribes, states, communities, and industry that will monitor and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Potentially-funded projects can help small operators monitor methane emissions so that leaks can be better quantified and repaired in a timely manner. The funding will also aim to create collaborative monitoring efforts between frontline communities and equipment providers, so that impacted residents will have better access to empirical data and a role to play in the air monitoring process. Overall, this funding will help states and tribes reduce methane emissions to comply with the waste emissions charge and the U.S. EPA methane rule published this past spring.
This announcement is part of EPA’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP), which was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. MERP provides financial and technical assistance as well as new regulations that will reduce pollution – including greenhouse gases such as methane, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous air pollutants – from the oil and gas sector. The funding made available today will build on the $350 million awarded to states last December, of which Pennsylvania received nearly $44.5 million for the plugging and monitoring low-producing conventional wells.
Matt Walker, Clean Air Council Advocacy Director issued the following statement:
“President Biden has already taken serious policy actions that will guide Pennsylvania and other states to significantly cut methane pollution from the oil and gas industry to help meet our climate goals. Today’s funding announcement builds on those solid policies with major investments for cutting edge methane-reducing technologies, and air monitoring that will provide accurate data to frontline communities. These efforts will better protect the health of Pennsylvania residents and help curb climate change.”
Clean Air Council, Tiny WPA, and Amber Arts and Design are gathering community inspiration, creativity and imagination to re-envision four Cobbs Creek Park entrances between Spruce St and Florence Ave. The goal of this project is to encourage community members to explore the park and trail at safe crossings, offer new play and learning spaces for children, and connect residents to park programming and activities.
This project follows years of community advocacy surrounding dangerous driving behavior and an absence of pedestrian infrastructure along Cobbs Creek Parkway. Cobbs Creek Park residents reported feeling unsafe walking, biking, and driving near the Parkway, creating a barrier to access the park and trail. Community demands for safer roadway conditions were finally answered in 2021 by the Streets Department and PennDOT’s Highway Safety Improvement Project, which installed life saving road safety measures including new guard rails, traffic signals, speed cushions, and other traffic calming measures.
With new road improvements installed along the Parkway and additional safety improvements planned for the future, neighbors can more safely connect to Cobbs Creek Park. The Cobbs Creek Play Art Project aims to strengthen these connections by creating an overt welcome to the park and trail and inviting residents to have their fun. These sorts of inviting infrastructure, signage, and safe spaces follow recommendations from the Equity of Access to Trails Study, which was informed by Cobbs Creek residents.
The Play Art Project will incorporate asphalt art murals painted on the paved trail, and play structures immediately adjacent in the park next to the trail. The murals will highlight safe entrances with bright colors and community inspired images, themes, and words. Play structures next to the trail will further connect residents to and from the park, and offer features that children can climb, jump, and interact with to create lasting links between neighbors and the benefits and resources of the park and trail. Both features will offer learning opportunities that build children’s literacy related to the nature found in the park.
Three community workshops were held in the Spring of 2024 to identify locations, ideas, and themes for the project’s design inspiration. Workshop activities included Lego building, image voting, theme identification, collective poetry, location selection, and group mural drawings in order to identify community themes and subject matter for the designers to draw inspiration from.
Over the Spring of 2024 the project team sorted through resident input and feedback collected through the workshops and landed on final project locations and themes. Several themes emerged from workshops and survey’s with three guiding focuses for the design including active play, nature, and seating. The design will include child age appropriate connections to nature that highlight native plants, animals, creek/stream and trails that can be found within the park. The project will also include active play and rest areas that have elements of climbing and various forms of balancing. Four locations were identified for the project including Cedar Ave, 61st, Thomas Ave, and Florence Ave along Cobbs Creek Parkway/63rd St. The Play Art Project will begin design, permitting and fabrication in Summer of 2024 with installation due in Fall of 2024.
The Cobbs Creek Park Play Art Survey is open through June 1st, 2024 for Cobbs Creek Park area neighbors to inform the project. To learn more about the Cobbs Creek Play Art Project contact Will Fraser at wfraser@cleanair.org. Many thanks to KABOOM! And William Penn Foundation’s Play Everywhere Philly Challenge Grant funding for making this project possible.
WYALUSING, Pa. — Late Friday, in response to data requests from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Delaware River Partners and Bradford County Real Estate Partners confirmed that they do not intend to cancel their Wyalusing liquefaction facility and Gibbstown export facility, despite the U.S. Department of Transportation decision last September to suspend authorization to transport LNG by rail car. The Wyalusing and Gibbstown facilities are part of a logistically and financially connected LNG export project contemplated by New Fortress Energy.
If constructed, the Fortress LNG export project will transport explosive LNG by truck, including through the densely-populated, environmental justice communities in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey between Wyalusing, PA and Gibbstown, NJ for export overseas. The Wyalusing liquefaction facility will emit more than a million tons of climate-polluting greenhouse gases and hundreds of tons of toxic air pollutants each year.
The Sierra Club, Clean Air Council, and PennFuture successfully sued to halt construction on the Wyalusing facility in March 2022. Later that year, the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council filed a petition for a declaratory order urging FERC to exercise oversight over the Fortress LNG export project.
In response, the Sierra Club, Clean Air Council, and PennFuture issued the following statements:
“By continuing to pursue this dangerous LNG export project, Delaware River Partners, Bradford County Real Estate Partners, and New Fortress Energy are putting the lives of millions of Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyans at risk,” said Patrick Grenter, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign director. “The last thing we need is even more dangerous methane gas extracted from Pennsylvania, shipped through our communities by truck, and exported overseas — all while residents face worsening illnesses, higher healthcare costs, and increased energy bills caused by gas exports. This decision is unnecessary and reckless, and the Sierra Club is prepared to continue fighting this project until it is officially canceled.”
“The proposed scheme to make liquified natural gas in Northern Pennsylvania, ship it through our communities for hundreds of miles, and then export it to overseas markets from a facility on the shore of the Delaware River is absurd at best and deadly at worst,” adds Abigail M. Jones, Vice President of Legal and Policy at PennFuture. “Despite continued losses that prove just how unworkable this scheme is, these companies are now doubling down on a plan to deliver highly explosive LNG through some of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable communities via trucks. Pennsylvanians will not benefit from this plan. We do not need more fossil fuel development; we need to focus our economic development priorities on the future: clean, renewable energy and green, sustainable industries.”
“The Wyalusing and Gibbstown LNG facilities promise to lock us into dirty air and millions of tons of climate-heating pollution for decades while raising energy prices at home,” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council Executive Director. “This ill-conceived proposal has no place in our Pennsylvania and New Jersey communities. We will never stop fighting these dirty and dangerous LNG facilities.”
PENNSYLVANIA (February 27, 2024) – On Saturday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published the final guidance on using underground boring technology (“trenchless” technology) such as horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to build gas pipelines and other underground utilities. The guidance lays out a roadmap to less-risky pipeline construction practices. The guidance stems from a legal appeal of Mariner East II pipeline permits by Clean Air Council, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and Mountain Watershed Association.
Also announced last week, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) released a final rulemaking intended to improve safety in the construction and operation of pipelines, such as the Mariner East lines, transporting hazardous liquids through Pennsylvania. Hazardous liquids pipelines will now be subject to Pennsylvania-specific regulations as well as federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) regulations. These new regulations come after an in-depth review of pipeline safety measures in Pennsylvania, prompted in part by a lawsuit filed by residents before the PUC. The “Safety 7” lawsuit alleged that the safety risks associated with the Mariner East pipelines violated residents’ rights. Clean Air Council filed as an intervenor in safety-related cases before the PUC, and supported residents in their advocacy efforts to gain greater public safety protections. The new regulatory framework corrects some of the prior loopholes and lessens the risks to residents of the Commonwealth.
“DEP’s trenchless technology guidance and the PUC’s hazardous liquids safety rule are some of the strongest and most protective in the country when it comes to safeguarding the public and the environment,” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council Legal Director. “Our commonwealth is overdue for these protections as fracking runs rampant and the industry clamors for more pipelines for transport. The Council will continue to watchdog the gas industry and ensure that these rules are followed and the public is protected.”
“Because Mariner East largely does not transport gas for energy production but “natural gas liquids,” which are used mostly for plastic production, it fell outside of many of the rules governing gas lines,” said Melissa Marshall, Mountain Watershed Association Community Advocate. “This lack of oversight caused countless harms and we hope this guidance will prevent such catastrophic damage in the future.”
Delaware County resident Rosemary Fuller, who was involved in the Safety 7 case, stated that, “hazardous liquid pipelines put residents at risk, especially when they run through densely populated areas, next to schools and hospitals, or through areas where residents source their drinking water from private wells, which are impacted by HDD drilling. The DEP and PUC rulemaking is long overdue, and these new regulations must be strictly enforced.”
The latest spill on the Mariner East pipeline system was reported this week in Marsh Creek State Park in Chester County where drilling fluid used during construction of the pipeline once again rose up in a wetland and flowed into a tributary to Marsh Creek Lake.
“This is just one example of how the damage to the environment doesn’t end when the drilling ends,” said Chester County resident Christina DiGiulio, “these corporations need to be held fully responsible for their crimes.”
Environmental Protection Agency sides with Environmental Integrity Project, PennFuture, Clean Air Council and objects to U.S Steel Edgar Thomson’s Title V permit as it was not in compliance with the Clean Air Act
PITTSBURGH, PA, Feb. 12, 2024 – In another step to help protect Mon Valley residents from harmful air pollutants, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has again sided with environmental groups by issuing an order objecting to an air quality permit issued by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to U.S. Steel on the basis that it was not in compliance with the Clean Air Act. This time, the EPA objected to the permit issued to U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson facility by ACHD in August 2023.
In September 2023, environmental groups submitted a petition to EPA requesting it object to the Title V air quality permit issued to U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson by ACHD. In the petition, environmental groups argued that the Title V permit did not include monitoring and testing requirements sufficient to assure compliance with multiple air quality emissions limitations for multiple emissions sources, and improperly eliminated certain emissions limitations.
On February 7, 2024, EPA issued an order granting all of the petitioners’ claims and objecting to the Edgar Thomson Title V permit on those grounds. In its order, EPA requires ACHD to revise the permit and/or permit record in accordance with its decision.
This marks the second occasion in recent months that environmental groups have successfully petitioned EPA to object to deficient Title V permits issued by ACHD to U.S. Steel facilities in the Mon Valley. In October, EPA issued a similar order granting the majority of petitioners’ claims relating to insufficient monitoring and testing requirements and objecting to the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works’ Title V permit issued by ACHD.
The U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Plant is an iron and steel making facility with a history of noncompliance with air pollution regulations and a major source of air pollution in Allegheny County. Pollutants of concern emitted by the facility include particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous air pollutants, among others.
“We are thrilled EPA ordered the Health Department to make all 10 changes we requested so that this massive polluter no longer has a permit full of loopholes,” said Lisa Hallowell, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. “The permit now must be revised to require monitoring to assure compliance with permit limits, which will benefit public health and the environment throughout the Mon Valley.”
“Ensuring that industry polluters comply with permit limits is necessary to protect Allegheny County residents from harmful air pollution,” said Angela Kilbert, Senior Attorney for PennFuture. “EPA’s order directs ACHD to ensure that this Title V permit has air quality monitoring and testing requirements sufficient to assure U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson operates in compliance with its emissions limits.”
“Mon Valley residents shouldn’t have to put up with some of the worst air in the country,” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council Legal Director. “Through air quality monitoring and testing requirements, EPA’s orders will help to ensure that the facility operates within the law, which is key to protecting residents from harmful pollution.”
PHILADELPHIA, PA (February 7, 2024) – Responding to overwhelming scientific evidence, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acted to protect public health by lowering the annual standard for ambient air concentrations of fine particulate matter, commonly known as soot or PM2.5. These tiny particles, with diameters 30 times smaller than a human hair, can be absorbed through the lungs directly into the bloodstream, leading to respiratory and cardiovascular injuries and premature death. Growing evidence also links exposure to increased risk of dementia. EPA last reduced the standard to 12 from 15 µg/m³ over a decade ago, leading to considerable health improvements and corresponding economic benefits.
Matt Walker, Clean Air Council Advocacy Director, issued the following statement:
“Today’s announcement from the EPA is a significant win for public health and will allow millions of Americans to breathe easier. By reducing the annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) by 25 percent, EPA will be saving tens of thousands of lives per year, protecting children, the elderly, and people in overburdened communities from lasting health harms. This standard will also save billions of dollars from associated health care costs and lost work days. In Pennsylvania, we anticipate substantial air quality improvements in the seven counties that are not in attainment of the new standard.
However, since there is no safe level of PM2.5 exposure, we call on EPA to soon further reduce the annual standard. Reducing the standard to the World Health Organization’s suggested 5 µg/m³ limit would save an additional 40,000 lives and billions more dollars. EPA should also reduce the 24-hour standard, which would mean less severe daily spikes in soot exposure. The U.S. can lead the way in further improving our air quality, resulting in thriving, healthy communities.”
Philadelphia, PA (January 4, 2024) – Feet First Philly (FFP) is Philadelphia’s only pedestrian advocacy group dedicated to protecting the rights of pedestrians and is a project of the Clean Air Council. In partnership with Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, FFP supports projects that will improve Philadelphia’s public spaces with mini-grants of up to $2,000, making them safer and more accessible to pedestrians. The Public Space Enhancement Mini-grant program is now in its fourth year and will fund 21 projects in 2024, the largest set of projects the group has awarded since 2020 when the program was launched.
“This is the first year we are able to fund almost half of the applications we received, and this has a lot to do with the commitment of our partners from the Health Department and everyone that donated to our fundraisers,” said Titania Markland Transportation Outreach Coordinator at Clean Air Council. “We are excited to see these projects installed because they will make great improvements to these public spaces, and improve safety and accessibility for all pedestrians.”
“We at the Health Department are so pleased to be able to support Philadelphians’ visions for safer, cleaner, greener, more connected and more walkable communities,” said Dr. Kinnari Chandriani, Director of the Health Department’s Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention. “The Surgeon General has identified a nationwide epidemic of loneliness and isolation. These community-led public space enhancements address that problem head-on, bringing neighbors together to improve and enjoy our outdoor environments.”
Projects for this year’s Public Space Enhancement Mini-grant program fall into five categories. Below are a few examples of these projects, and a full list can be found below.
- Greening projects – projects that make improvements to community green spaces and gardens. Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team RCO (NTIT) project will transform overgrown, abandoned lots into sacred art parks with monthly clean ups, tree planting, and programming to activate these community green spaces in North Philadelphia.
- Infrastructure and Cleaning – projects that improve mobility by making the walking space more accessible and more appealing. Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Committee’s project will support block ambassadors by providing tools and equipment to conduct regular block clean ups in the Hunting Park Neighborhood.
- Programming and Public Art – activating a space and including programs and activities. Original American Foundation’s project will use a community garden space in Southwest Philadelphia to teach gardening skills to kids and young adults.
- Lighting and Security – Installation of lights to make spaces more visible and safer at nights. Friends of Campbell Square will install cafe style lighting along the southern part of Campbell Square to improve visibility in that area.
The complete list of organizations that will be receiving funding are:
- Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha
- Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team RCO
- Mantua Civic Association
- Frankford Community Development Corporation
- Tacony Community Development Corporation
- Germantown Residents for Economic Alternative Together
- Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Committee
- Klean Kensington
- Hunting Park Green
- 58th Street Neighbors
- Susquehanna Clean Up/Pick Up Inc
- Friends of Campbell Square
- Original American Foundation
- Greater Philadelphia Asian Social Service Center
- Belmont Alliance Civic Association CDC
- Exhibit A Art Design
- Do Moore Good
- Wynnefield Heights Community Association
- Community Alliance for Development
- Disney-Nichols AME Church
- Friends of Carrol Park
All of the funded organizations and their projects are located in communities that have experienced active disinvestment in their public spaces. Mini-grant recipients were selected because of their innovative and inspiring community-led proposals that address the challenges of increasing pedestrian access, reducing violence, and improving safety in their respective neighborhoods.
“With this grant, we will finally be able to begin our community garden project for the community,” said David Ly from Greater Philadelphia Asian Social Services Center. “This Garden will help revitalize the area, make use of vacant land, stimulate community engagement, and become a source of joy for many.”
“We welcome the opportunity to work with Feet First Philly to promote health and safe travels for pedestrians,” said Judith Robinson from Susquehanna Clean Up/Pick Up Inc. “We look forward to a project that can be of value citywide. This grant will allow our community to use a neighbor/ peer approach to problem solving.”
Clean Air Council has been monitoring the proposed KeyState to Zero project since it was announced in 2022. The idea of Pennsylvania-based businessman and KeyState CEO, Benjamin “Perry” Babb, the project garnered attention as the first facility proposed in Pennsylvania that would combine fracked gas drilling with onsite carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The facility will also manufacture ammonia and other chemicals that have a variety of uses, such as fertilizer.
The November 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included $8 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy to provide funding to establish six-to-ten regional hydrogen hubs, among which there must be at least one dedicated to fossil-based production of hydrogen coupled with CCS technology. Babb has long campaigned for KeyState to Zero to be used to attract federal funding to the area. On October 13, 2023, the Department of Energy announced the selection of seven regional hydrogen hubs to enter negotiations to finalize project details and the potential to be awarded funding. KeyState to Zero is listed as a project under the Appalachian Hydrogen HUB (ARCH2) that would span Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.
The Council has created a fact sheet, to share as a tool to provide information about the project. We also continue to monitor developments now that the hydrogen hubs have been announced.
For more information about this proposed facility, contact Susan Sunhee Volz, Advocacy Coordinator, at svolz@cleanair.org
PHILADELPHIA, PA (November 3, 2023) – The Philadelphia LNG Export Task Force approved a report on Wednesday that did not address concerns raised by potentially affected residents, stressed economic benefits of building an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export terminal that are not aligned with LNG market predictions, and called for changes in state and federal law to support the LNG industry. The report also failed to address multiple obstacles discussed by Representative Joseph C. Hohenstein, which could render any LNG export terminal in Southeast Pennsylvania legally, technically, and economically infeasible, including the surge in the supply of LNG for export and the anticipated decline in European demand.
In Fall 2022, the Pennsylvania General Assembly voted to form the Philadelphia LNG Export Task Force to address the “existing obstacles, economic feasibility, economic impact and the security necessities” associated with turning the Port of Philadelphia into an LNG export terminal. At the time, the Council, joined by several community and environmental groups, asked that the Task Force include local community members instead of only governmental and industry representatives. The Task Force did not listen to this request. Although a 2016 Penn America report analyzed building an LNG project on the Chester waterfront and the company had engaged in related clandestine discussions with elected officials in Chester and Harrisburg, even some Task Force members were at first unaware they would be primarily evaluating the Chester location rather than focusing solely on Philadelphia.
Chester residents, who have long fought for environmental justice, as their families are sickened by a concentration of polluting industries, have opposed any potential new industrial facility and the overall lack of transparency. Several community leaders were denied the opportunity to speak at the Task Force’s April meeting focused on security concerns. In August, residents showed up in force to a public hearing in Chester to unequivocally state that LNG and other harmful industries were not welcome. They stated that they are unwilling to pay the health cost from increased pollution, endure the risk of catastrophic explosions seen at other facilities, or accept the destruction of over 800 homes and community institutions to build a buffer around the site.
Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Clean Air Council Executive Director and Chief Counsel, released the following statement:
“Cramming a dangerous LNG export terminal into our Southeastern Pennsylvania riverfront risks the health and safety of many surrounding neighborhoods, and the financial stability of our region.The terminal would lock the region into dirty and outdated fossil fuels for decades, further fueling the climate crisis when we know we need to be cutting climate pollution as much as possible. Simply put, the LNG Task Force Report is gas industry marketing propaganda that is out of touch with the community’s priorities and economic realities. The Council lauds Representative Hohenstein for consistently seeking transparency from the Task Force and championing public input in the conversation.”
Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest energy related emissions in the country with coal and gas-fired power plants being the largest individual industrial climate polluters in the state. Producing electricity accounts for more than a fourth of Pennsylvania’s greenhouse gas emissions. For many years, Clean Air Council has been a major player in forcing power plants to reduce their emissions and suing to prevent the building of new fossil fuel plants. Not an easy thing to do in a state like Pennsylvania which has strong political support for coal and fracked gas.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed new national carbon emission standards for coal and gas-fired power plants. This new proposed rule would eliminate 617 million metric tons of total carbon dioxide (CO2) through 2042, equivalent to reducing the annual emissions of nearly half of all passenger vehicles in the United States. It is estimated it would prevent about 1,300 premature deaths, prevent more than 300,000 cases of asthma attacks, and prevent more than 800 hospital and emergency room visits each year.
The proposed new rule is a historic step in limiting the carbon emissions that fuel climate change as well as reducing other harmful chemicals emitted along with carbon dioxide. However, in order to achieve the greenhouse gas reductions needed to meet our climate goals and avoid the most catastrophic effects of the climate crisis, EPA must strengthen the proposed rule.
The rule’s suggested limits for gas-fired plants is based on the low emissions produced by using hydrogen or carbon capture and sequestration. There are many ways to produce hydrogen, including using natural gas which is very energy intensive. EPA needs to specify that only hydrogen produced with 100% renewable energy, known as green hydrogen, should be used. Hydrogen produced using natural gas will create more greenhouse gas pollution when we need to be reducing it.
EPA also needs to create strict rules around the transport and storage of captured CO2 to ensure these emissions do not leak into the atmosphere. Safe, secure, and permanent underground carbon storage has yet to be proven at commercial scale, so EPA must require that companies that generate carbon share the responsibility for ensuring these sequestered emissions don’t end up leaking into the atmosphere, and the long-term liability for any harms from future leakage.
While the rule rightly requires strong pollution standards at power plants that operate at a high amount of their full capacity, it should also include power plants that operate at less than full capacity, commonly referred to as “peaker plants.” These plants only operate during periods of high electricity demand, use highly polluting fuels like oil, and many are sited in Environmental Justice (EJ) areas that already struggle with air quality and environmental injustice.
The proposed rule has huge implications for Pennsylvania’s energy emissions. Comments are open until August 8th. The Council sent an action alert to encourage members to comment on the rule that provides talking points and we encourage you to use our digital platform to submit your comments and share the link with your friends. As part of the comment period, the Council also testified at an EPA public hearing about the rules.This is why we need you to submit a comment to the EPA about the proposed rule.
To learn more about EPA’s proposed rule, contact Advocacy Coordinator Susan Volz at svolz@cleanair.org
