The Latest Breaking News from DEP

Pennsylvania lifts ban on gas production in polluted village

One of Pennsylvania’s largest drillers will be allowed to extract natural gas from underneath a rural Pennsylvania community where it has been banned for a dozen years because of accusations it polluted the water supply

The Independent UK · Dec 12, 2022

Not ‘enough money to save them all.’ Fla. county grapples with double hurricane whammy

WILBUR-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. — Kate Rose stays awake at night thinking about her family’s oceanfront home perched perilously on the edge of the eroded shoreline.

Orlando Sentinel · Dec 12, 2022

Inside the 14-Year Battle to Secure a Water Line for Fracking’s ‘Ground Zero’

Long-suffering residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania, feel cautiously hopeful after Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro announces plea deal with natural gas company.

Capital & Main · Dec 6, 2022

Can environmental violations define oil and gas companies as bad actors? A judgment awaits

PITTSBURGH — On the evening of July 19, when Allegheny County Council met to override Rich Fitzgerald’s veto of a fracking ban in county parks, council members were shown a black-and-white video of natural gas rushing from a well in Boyce Park.

Tribune News Service · Aug 3, 2022

New Jersey's dismal climate plan

New Jersey has been hit by powerful storms that climate scientists predict will only increase in severity

Salon · Jul 23, 2022

Wong seeks to stabilise China relationship

Penny Wong won't make concessions on areas of national interest during talks with her Chinese counterpart, the first between the two nations in three years.

AAP · Jul 7, 2022

NJ’s tough new environmental justice law rule says half the state lives in ‘overburdened’ neighborhoods — some surprising

New Jersey proposed a new environmental justice rule Monday that officials believe will be the toughest in the nation by carving out nearly half the state’s population as living in “overburdened communities” and limiting the types of polluting businesses that can be built there.

The Philadelphia Inquirer · Jun 6, 2022

More states want power to approve wetlands development

In 2020, Florida became just the third state — and the first in decades — to take over management of a key federal Clean Water Act program. Now, state rather than federal officials decide whether companies can dredge and fill wetlands and waterways for projects ranging from mining to housing…

Tribune News Service · May 13, 2022

Pennsylvania is poised for a summer of ticks and the diseases they carry

Ticks have a thing for Mary Ritter, but the sentiment is unrequited.

Tribune News Service · May 4, 2022

Alarming mountains of fertilizer waste

The U.S. houses hundreds of millions of tons of phosphogypsum in open-air stacks, but regulation is inconsistent

Salon · Apr 20, 2022