PA can support workers, protect the environment by funding public transit
News Article • • by Cyril Mychalejko at Courier Times
Lawmakers in Harrisburg are on the clock to pass legislation that will continue support for working class and communities of color, boost the state’s economy and improve air quality, as funding for public transit is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2022.
Act 89, bipartisan legislation signed by former Governor Tom Corbett in 2013, provided the largest investment in public transportation in decades. But we can’t afford to let the state’s highly partisan politics derail necessary, commonsense legislation to address this looming issue.
Philadelphia needs the federal jobs plan to fight massive threats of climate change
News Article • • by Thoai Nguyen and Josh McNeil at The Philadelphia Inquirer
You don’t have to look far to see the devastating effects of climate change. Severe storms that cause dangerous, costly flooding, and power outages are becoming more and more common. Temperatures are climbing, worsening childhood asthma. These impacts are felt even more acutely in cities like Philadelphia that lack trees in many neighborhoods and suffer from the “heat island” effect.
Congress, legislature key to saving SEPTA, fighting climate change
News Article • • by Josh McNeil at Delco Daily Times
President Biden’s plan to fight climate change by investing in critical infrastructure is the shot in the arm our economy needs.
It promises to put millions of people to work in good-paying union jobs replacing lead pipes that threaten our children’s development, building new charging stations for growing numbers of electric vehicles and installing solar panels and wind turbines to expand access to clean, renewable energy.
Josh McNeil: The American Jobs Plan will build a better future for us all
News Article • • by Josh McNeil at Trib Live
We are at a critical moment in our nation’s future. In Pittsburgh last week, President Biden laid out a plan to meet the scale of the twin climate change and jobs crises with his American Jobs Plan.
We need to get people back to work and build back our economy by investing trillions of dollars in the industries of the future — clean energy technologies and green infrastructure that create millions of new union jobs while curbing the pollution that threatens our air, land, and water. We don’t need to choose between responding to climate change and rebuilding our economy — and in fact, the work goes hand in hand.
‘Not just climate change’: An activist explains how Biden’s infrastructure plan improves the environment
News Article • • by John L. Micek at Pennsylvania Capital-Star
The $2 trillion infrastructure plan that President Joe Biden rolled out during a stop in Pittsburgh last week does more than just rebuild the nation’s crumbling network of roads and bridges, it also fast-tracks the nation’s pivot away from fossil fuels; builds up electric vehicle infrastructure, and provide tax breaks to encourage new, climate-friendly technology.
This down payment on environmental spending also calls for calls for $10 billion for a Civilian Climate Corps, $16 billion for capping abandoned wells and cleaning up abandoned mines, and a general commitment to “protect and, where necessary, restore nature-based infrastructure.” And if you’re guessing that it’s already drawing comparisons to the New Deal, you’d be correct.
As you might expect, environmental activists are welcoming this emphasis from the White House, where former Secretary of State John Kerry has been tapped to be a new climate czar. One of those advocates, Josh McNeil, the executive director of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, took a few minutes to talk about Biden’s sweeping plan and its implications for Pennsylvania. The bottom line: Jobs, jobs, and more jobs.
In Pennsylvania visit, Biden proposes $16 billion for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells
News Article • • by Christen Smith at Daily American
President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure spending plan earmarks $16 billion to plug abandoned oil and gas wells across the country.
It’s a potential solution for an expensive and overwhelming problem for Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection. During House budget hearings last month, DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell told lawmakers the department spends an average of $17,000 plugging one abandoned well.
Pa. environmentalists hope for Trump-rule rollbacks under Biden
News Article • • by Chris Ullery at Bucks Courier Times
Pennsylvania environmental groups are optimistic of rolling back former President Donald Trump policy changes in the new Biden administration.
Organizations like PennEnvironment, PennFuture and Conservation Voters of PA praised executive orders by President Joe Biden last week while pointing to more policy changes they want to see sooner rather than later.
Can Biden’s climate plan spark cooperation in Pa.? Some see possible common ground in jobs, infrastructure
News Article • • by Rachel McDevitt at StateImpact
Climate change is one of the four major crises President-elect Joe Biden hopes to tackle after he’s sworn into office in January.
His goal is for the U.S. to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
In Pennsylvania, a high-polluting state with a history of coal and natural gas production, it’s fair to expect pushback on Biden’s plan from the Republican-controlled legislature and industry groups.
Opinion: Legislators should keep hands off conservation funds
News Article • • by Shannon Gority, PA executive director of the Chesapeake Bay at Gant Daily
As Pennsylvania legislators begin looking under the Commonwealth’s cushions for enough spare change to plug a state budget gap that could be higher than $4 billion, they should keep hands off of funds already dedicated to conservation and environmental programs.
Climate activists are turning out Pa. voters to flip the state House — and boost Biden
News Article • • by Justine McDaniel at Philadelphia Inquirer
Edna Patterson can list the reasons she spends 15 to 20 hours a week calling Pennsylvania voters to talk about climate change:
She’s a former high school science teacher. Before that, she worked for a federal climate assessment program as a meteorologist. And she has kids and grandkids.
“Time’s running out,” said Patterson.
Patterson, 68, of West Chester, volunteers for Conservation Voters of PA as it works to reach more than two million voters before Tuesday. And she’s one of many advocates pushing the issue during an election year that has seen Americans roiled by natural disasters extreme enough to capture public attention, even amid the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic.