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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This story is produced in partnership with StateImpact Pennsylvania, a collaboration among WESA, The Allegheny Front, WITF and WHYY.
