Friday PA Environment & Energy NewsClips - 4.19.24

“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

-- Article I, Section 27 Pennsylvania Constitution  [It’s Not A Suggestion]

House next voting day April 29, 30, May 1, 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 22, June 3, 4, 5

-- Committee Schedule

Senate next voting day April 29, 30, May 1, 6, 7, 8, June 3, 4, 5

-- Committee Schedule

TODAY’s Calendar Of Events 

April 25--  Agenda Posted. DCED PA Grade Crude [Oil] Development Advisory Council meeting. Penn State Technology Center Room 243 200 Innovation Blvd, State College.  10:00 a.m.  Click Here for options to attend remotely.  Contact: Adam Walters adwalters@pa.gov  or 717-214-6548.  Read more here on the agenda.

-- April 25 Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Advisory Council Meeting Features Discussion Of Dumping Wastewater On Public Roads; Well Plugging Grant Programs; Regs. Limiting Methane Pollution From Wells  [PaEN] 

-- PA Capital-Star: Democratic State Senators Want To End Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater

-- Environmental Health Project: Gov. Shapiro’s Record On Shale Gas And Health - A Look At The Grand Jury Recommendations One Year In 

-- PA Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition Doubles-Down On Support For Exporting PA Natural Gas To China, Our Economic, Military Competitor  [PaEN] 

-- Guest Essay: Claims That Only Thermal Energy Resources Can Ensure Electric Grid Reliability Don’t Pass The Laugh Test - By John Quigley, Kleinman Center For Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania  [PaEN] 

-- PPL Utilities: 2023 Sustainability Report Highlights PPL’s Utility Of The Future Strategy

 

-- City & State PA: ‘We Can Move The Needle’: Leaders Converge In Harrisburg For PA Energy Summit 

-- Encina Announces Chemical Plastics Recycling Plant Will Not Be Built In Northumberland County  [PaEN]  

-- WNEP: Plans For Chemical Plastics Recycling Plant In Northumberland Put Off

-- PennLive: Company Scraps Plans For $1.1 Billion Chemical Plastics Recycling Plant

 

-- ​​PA Resources Council Launches 2024 Household Chemical Collections May 4 At Allegheny County Event; First Of 8 In Western PA  [PaEN] 

-- PittsburghUnionProgress.com: Millvale Pickoff Saturday Marks Start Of 4th Litter League Competition 

-- DCNR Highlights Conservation Job Opportunities In PA Outdoor Corps As 2024 Season Begins  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Acts On 879 Permits, 94% Within Permit Decision Guarantee Deadlines; Conducts 1,779 Inspections; Responds To 10 Environmental Emergencies During Week Ending April 14 

-- DEP Publishes Formal Notice It Will Accept Growing Greener Plus Grant Applications Starting April 22

-- DEP To Begin Accepting EPA Section 319 Watershed Restoration Grants April 22

-- Original Student 'Hellbender Defenders' Celebrate 5-Year Anniversary Of PA's Official State Amphibian And Clean Water Ambassador  [PaEN]

-- Registration Open! Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium, May 23 In Harrisburg  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Extension: Can You Tell If A Stream Is Healthy? Meet The Stream Doctors With Science U  [PaEN]

-- Delaware RiverKeeper April 19 RiverWatch Report

-- Wilkes-Barre Times: DEP Investigates Water Surfacing Above Abandoned Mine Subsidence In Luzerne County 

-- PaHomePage.com: Rust-Colored Water Flowing Into Creek In Edwardsville, Luzerne County Downstream From Mine Subsidence

-- Post-Gazette Editorial: PFAS ‘Forever Chemical’ Regulations Are Welcome, But Still More To Do

-- PennLive: Opponents Of Susquehanna River Hydroelectric Project Flood Oversight Commission With Comments

-- WTAE: Beaver County Homeowners Facing Landslide In Their Backyard

-- WTAE: Once Again, Pitcairn Emergency Crews, DEP Respond To Pungent Smell In Allegheny County 

-- April 20 Pennsylvania Bulletin Now Available

-- DCNR State Parks April Environmental Education Newsletter Celebrates Earth Month  [PaEN] 

-- Asbury Woods Environmental Center Takes On Greater Erie City Nature Challenge April 26-29; Six Other PA Areas Participating  [PaEN] 

-- PUC Recognizes National Utility Line Worker Appreciation Day

-- New Craft Beer In Williamsport Celebrates National I Love My State Parks Week By Supporting State Parks  [PaEN] 

-- Audubon Society Of Western Pennsylvania & Bird Town PA Partner To Create Sustainable Environment for Birds, Wildlife, People  [PaEN]

-- TribLive: North Park Expansion: Hampton Poised To Help Allegheny Land Trust With Acquisitions 

-- WeConservePA: NRCS Hosts April 25 Webinar On Funding Opportunities For Conservation Easements

-- Penn State Extension What’s The Buzz?  Outstanding Pollinator Habitats; Protecting Pollinators; Update From Center For Pollinator Research

-- Lehigh Valley’s Wildlands Conservancy Highlights Upcoming Programs, Activities

-- Northcentral PA: Study Suggests Hunters May Have Contracted Fatal Brain Disease From Regularly Consuming Venison With Chronic Wasting Disease 

6th Oil/Natural Gas Spike: True Energy Independence Means Renewables

[There Is No Limit To What Oil/Natural Gas Industry Can Make You Pay]

-- KDKA: PA Gasoline Prices On The Rise As Stations Switch To Summer Fuel Blend

-- Bloomberg: Europe’s Demand For LNG Gas Set To Peak In 2024 As Crisis Fades

Other States/National/International

-- The Guardian: Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Leak Exposes Carbon Capture Safety Gaps In Louisiana April 3

-- AP: Biden Administration Moves To Make Conservation An Equal To Industry On Public Lands

PA Politics - Everything Is Connected

-- AP: PA House Democrats Propose New Expulsion Rules After Remote Voting By Lawmaker Facing An Arrest Warrant

-- Post-Gazette - Ford Turner: Political Drama Surround Rep. Kevin Boyle, Subject Of Arrest Warrant

-- Spotlight PA: Vast Majority Of PA Legislative Races Will Be Decided During The Primary

-- Spotlight PA: Missing Voting Machine Documents Raise Concern About Northampton County’s Testing Process

-- AP: Shapiro Says PA Will  Move All School Standardized Testing Online In 2026

-- Post-Gazette: PHEAA Extends PA Student Grant Submission Deadline Amid FAFSA Delays

-- AP: PA School District Cancels Actor’s Speech Over His Activism And ‘Lifestyle’

-- AP: Sheetz Convenience Store Chain Hit With Discrimination Lawsuit

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[Posted: April 19, 2024]  PA Environment Digest

Guest Essay: Claims That Only Thermal Energy Resources Can Ensure Electric Grid Reliability Don’t Pass The Laugh Test

By John Quigley, Kleinman Center For Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania

The challenge of decarbonizing the electricity grid while ensuring its reliability is acute in Pennsylvania.

So is the level of misdirection in the policy debate.

The Commonwealth is the nation’s third-largest electricity producer, and exports more of it than any other state. Currently, 59% of its electricity generation is fueled by natural gas, which has almost entirely displaced coal in the state’s energy mix. 

Only about 4% of in-state generation comes from renewable energy.

The natural gas industry and its advocates would like to keep it that way. They’ve met proposals to grow zero-carbon energy with exaggerated concerns about grid reliability—and claim that only burning more stuff can fix it.

Really? Let’s first take a quick look at some background.

PJM expects electricity demand to grow 2.3% per year over the next ten years. Data centers are seen as major drivers of that increase, but there are rapid advances in chip design that will reduce energy consumption. 

And there’s much more juice to be squeezed out of energy efficiency across the economy. Panic about growing demand is premature.

On the supply side, as much as 30% of the current “thermal resource” capacity in PJM “could” retire by 2030. Time will tell.

 PJM’s interconnection queue—proposed new generation projects—stands at 1.6 times the installed capacity of the region’s power plant fleet. 

And 97% of that queue is comprised of renewables and storage. Typically, less than 15% of those projects will actually get built, and it will take several years for those that do to come online. 

But the composition of the queue shows where the market is headed.

Now, to the assertion that burning more stuff is the only way to ensure reliability.

Put aside for a moment the fact that, according to PJM, solar plus battery plants can have higher reliability values than gas plants. 

The reality is that the dominance of natural gas in Pennsylvania’s power sector actually presents serious risks to reliability.

The Union of Concerned Scientists has found that natural gas-fired power plants are “particularly susceptible” to failure during extreme weather events—which are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate disruption.

UCS looked at five winter storms over the past decade that threatened grid reliability and found that, in each case, gas plant failures were the primary cause of energy system disruptions. 

More recently, gas power plants comprised over half the forced outages in PJM during Winter Storm Gerri in January, 2024.

UCS also found that high summer temperatures and droughts can reduce the output of gas plants or cause them to shut down. 

They recommend that state regulators not approve any new gas plants “except in the extremely limited cases when there are no viable clean energy solutions for grid reliability,” and that no new gas plants should be approved in environmental justice communities.

Similarly, this policy brief says that state regulators should be skeptical of building new gas-fired power plants and should instead prioritize energy efficiency and clean energy with storage. 

Indeed, a new study finds that solar and wind availability is often elevated during weather extremes, enabling those resources to meet the higher energy demands during those events and actually improve reliability.

Finally, this essential Kleinman Center white paper argues that the biggest threat to grid reliability isn’t the rise of renewables but the way the grid is governed—by multiple agencies and entities, with little coordination, and less public oversight.

It results in policies that favor building new fossil fuel resources or financially propping up existing ones. 

It impedes clean energy development, sound transmission planning, and deployment of grid-enhancing technologies, reconductoring, and other advanced grid solutions.

Gaslighting about gas harms Pennsylvania and the planet. 

Increasing zero-carbon energy requirements and demanding grid governance reforms are the energy and reliability policies Pennsylvania urgently needs.

John Quigley is a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center and previously served on the Center’s Advisory Board. He served as Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection and of the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

(Reprinted from the Kleinman Center website.)

Related Articles This Week:

-- Senate Hearing: The Case For An Immediate, Total Ban On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Penn State Expert: ‘No More Research That Needs To Be Done’ To Justify A Ban On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater  [PaEN] 

-- Senate Hearing: First-Hand Account Of Health, Environmental Impacts From Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater - ‘Inhaling Oil & Gas Wastewater 24-Hours A Day’  [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: 3.5 Million Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Dumped On PA Public Roads Since DEP’s ‘Moratorium’ On Dumping Started 6 Years Ago  [PaEN] 

-- Senate Hearing: DEP Still Evaluating The Data On Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater; Asks Public To Report Road Dumping  [PaEN]

-- April 25 Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Advisory Council Meeting Features Discussion Of Dumping Wastewater On Public Roads; Well Plugging Grant Programs; Regs. Limiting Methane Pollution From Wells  [PaEN]

-- PA Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition Doubles-Down On Support For Exporting PA Natural Gas To China, Our Economic, Military Competitor  [PaEN] 

[Posted: April 18, 2024]  PA Environment Digest