This past spring saw record numbers of people getting out and about to enjoy parks, forests, trails and rivers across Pennsylvania. While shutdowns and stay-at-home orders offered more free time but left fewer activity options, fresh air and sunshine offered a respite from current events and bei...

As the Pennsylvania General Assembly rushes to complete a state budget for the remainder of the 2020-2021 fiscal year, lawmakers are once again considering ideas that are fundamentally counterproductive -- like diverting revenues from special funds like the Keystone Fund and the Environmental St...

Winners of the 2020 Northeast Environmental Partnership Awards and 2020 Western Pennsylvania Environmental Awards, in their own words. Pennsylvania Environmental Council · Recognizing Excellence Links: 2020 Western Pennsylvania Environmental Awards virtual program 2020 Northeast Envir...

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council invites you to join us at the 2020 Western Pennsylvania Environmental Awards dinner -- now being offered in virtual format. This regionally acclaimed awards program recognizes and honors outstanding achievements in a wide range of environmental initiatives t...

As we enter the 9th month of the COVID-19 restrictions, PEC’s water team staff continues to participate in programs across the Commonwealth, keeping our focus on initiatives which promote clean and healthy watersheds. During this time, many Pennsylvanians have discovered the recreation and sce...

The 10th Annual PEC Environment ride took place over the weekend of October 2-4, 2020. The following photographs were captured over the course of the ride. The accompanying reflection was written by Kyle Conner, who has participated in the Environment Ride every year since 2011. Click here for more ...

After decades of struggle, Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood is poised for an economic comeback. The long-awaited redevelopment of Hazelwood's industrial riverfront has rekindled hopes for a brighter future -- but the neighborhood's resident historian says there's also much to celebrate about, and...

This past September, under many days of sunny skies and mild temperatures, cyclists from throughout the Commonwealth took to gravel roads as part of this year’s edition of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Public Lands Ride. What began as a contingency plan in a year of cancelled ...

We're entering the home stretch of the Tookany Creek Trail feasibility study! Over the past year or so, our team—consisting of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC), the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF), and Campbell Thomas & Co. (CTC)—has collected roughly ...

Celebrating ten years of the PEC Environment Ride in conversation with members of the 2020 team. Pennsylvania Environmental Council · Reasons to Ride Links: PEC Environment Ride Donations Ambler Environmental Advisory Council GEI Consultants ...

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pennsylvania has seen a sustained increase in trail traffic across the state -- a trend that will likely continue into the fall, underscoring the importance of maintaining safe and accessible trails. The past few weeks have been especially eventful, both...

For the better part of a century, the Hazelwood neighborhood was one of Pittsburgh's most important industrial centers. That all changed with the 1997 closure of the LTV steel plant on the site now known as Hazelwood Green. Now, as a decades-long redevelopment effort gathers momentum, the neighborho...

In celebration of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council's 50th anniversary, we are pleased to share the following photo essay, prepared especially for the occasion, portraying the special places and landscapes at the heart of PEC's work. Find more stories, sounds, and images colle...

PEC works across Pennsylvania to develop trail networks that connect communities to nature. It’s our mission that all Pennsylvanians have access to environmental and recreational resources. We are aware, however, that just building trails is not enough to make everyone in the State feel comfor...

Yesterday the Environmental Quality Board voted to advance a proposed rulemaking for Pennsylvania to link with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to public comment. After initial review by the state Attorney General, the public will be afforded the opportunity – through public heari...

PEC was pleased to participate in a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing today on the growth of outdoor recreation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Frank Maguire, Director of Trails and Recreation, highlighted both PEC's report on the surge in trail usage as well as the importance of the recreati...

When LTV shuttered its Hazelwood Works plant in 1997, the site was one among dozens of brownfields targeted for redevelopment by the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and local foundations. 23 years later, the property now known as Hazelwood Green is one of the last such efforts that have not ye...

A reckoning over RGGI, outdoor recreation and COVID, bipartisan love for community solar, and clearing a path for E-bikes: Legal & Government Affairs VP John Walliser reviews the PEC policy agenda heading into what promises to be an eventful fall in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania Environmental Council ...