FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 9, 2019 CONTACT: Janet Sweeney, Pennsylvania Environmental Council PHONE: 570-718-6507 EMAIL: jsweeney@pecpa.org   Voting to Begin for Pennsylvania’s 2020 River of the Year   Harrisburg, PA – The public is invited to again vote online for the 2...

Back in January, PEC published a list of legislative and regulatory recommendations for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from Pennsylvania's electricity sector. Since then, the governor and legislative leaders have embraced one of the report's key ideas: putting a price on carbon and investing the p...

Notice anything different about the PEC website? No? Scroll to the top of this page and have a look at the header. Go ahead, we’ll wait. See it now? That’s the new logo we’ll be sporting through 2020 in celebration of PEC’s fiftieth anniversary. You may already have seen it in print on so...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 16, 2019   Contact: Marla Meyer Papernick, Pennsylvania Environmental Council Phone: 412-389-0178 Email: mpapernick@pecpa.org   Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape Mini-Grant Program Applications Open   Pittsburgh— The Pennsylvania...

As Upstream Suburban Philadelphia (USP) coordinator for the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI), one of PEC's responsibilities is to organize watershed tours. These outings are a chance for USP partners to showcase their stormwater management work to William Penn Foundation staff, learn f...

Trails beautify neighborhoods and make communities more livable -- but that's only the beginning. A 2019 report from the East Coast Greenway Alliance shows how every dollar spent developing the ECG corridor through the Delaware River Watershed comes back almost twofold in benefits to public health, ...

Saturday, October 26th was a glorious fall day for tree planting, as PEC -- with project partners -- brought to fruition the final phase of the Cornwells Elementary School Basin and Constructed Wetland project in Bensalem Township. This project helps resolve historic flooding, improves th...

In a state that's nearly 60 percent tree-covered, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry has a lot of ground to cover. But thanks to Penn State's Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship training program, DCNR has boots on the ground in every county, connecting Pennsylvanians...

The onetime railroad town of Corry, Pennsylvania celebrates the latest stage of its transformation into an Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition trail town. ...

Like many Philadelphians, I'm used to thinking of Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County and Southwest Philadelphia’s Cobbs Creek neighborhood as two entirely different places. Cobbs Creek is in the city, while Cheltenham is suburban. Cobbs Creek’s population is largely low-income, while Che...

NEW MILFORD, Pa. -- Normally, these dozens of National Honor Society students from Blue Ridge High School would be in the classroom on a school day, working toward helping to make the world a better place in the future. But on this day, they were outside trying to make a difference now. "We h...

John Walliser, PEC Senior VP for Legal & Government Affairs, gave the following testimony at a state House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee hearing on October 28, 2019. To download the testimony as a PDF, click here. Introduction Good morning Chairman Metcalfe, Chairman Vi...

This year's GAP Relay -- a 150-mile team footrace along the Great Allegheny Passage -- was the first carbon neutral trail relay in the nation. Troy Schooley of race organizer p3r talks about the movement toward sustainability in endurance sports, and Allegheny Trail Alliance director Bryan Perry exp...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 22, 2019 CONTACT: Janet Sweeney, Pennsylvania Environmental Council PHONE: 570-718-6507 EMAIL: jsweeney@pecpa.org   2020 “River of the Year” Nominations Open   The nomination period is open through November 15, 2019 and then selected nominations...

Every year, a small group of passionate cyclists sets out on a two-day journey along the trails, streets, and backroads of Greater Philadelphia. Sponsorship pledges collected by riders support PEC's Trails and Outdoor Recreation program, which works with the Circuit Trails Coalition and other region...

The speed of bicycle travel allows us to see the world through a different set of eyes. We are immersed in it, feeling the elements, smelling the smells, seeing snippets of places we would miss if we were flying by in a car on the interstate. To arrive at a destination covered in sweat and dust,...

An executive order signed by Governor Tom Wolf last week initiates the rulemaking process whereby Pennsylvania will join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state effort to cut carbon emissions using market-based mechanisms. Policy expert Franz Litz, one of RGGI's original arch...

Every spring, PEC is proud to co-host the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence dinner along with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Today, DEP announced it will begin accepting nominations for the 2020 awards later this month: “These awards bring much-deser...

Governor Wolf’s proposal to bring Pennsylvania into the Regional Greenhouse Initiative (RGGI), announced today, is the first concrete and meaningful step that the Commonwealth has taken to directly address its role in exacerbating climate change. For that, the Governor is to be congratulated. A...

To help the Philadelphia Water Department meet their MS4 permit requirement, PEC provides public education and outreach to residents, businesses, and schools. Our boots-on-the-ground in this effort is Community Engagement Specialist Kadafi El-Kardah, who shared this account of his summer activities....

You've heard of the Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition (IHTC) and its vision for 1,500 miles of interconnected trails across the Rust Belt. But did you know that more than half of those miles are already open, and packed with things to see and do? The recently updated and expanded Trail Trips col...

Republican and Democratic lawmakers join environmentalists, faith leaders, and community organizations in pushing Governor Tom Wolf to advance meaningful regulations on methane emissions from Pennsylvania's oil and gas industry. ...

Allegheny College's "Creek Connections" program gets students out of the classroom and into local waterways for a hands-on learning experience. Watershed educator Laura Branby explains how Creek Connections is sparking kids' interest in the sciences and building their relationship with the natural w...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 10, 2019 CONTACT: Kelsey Emch, P3R 412-586-7785 or Kelsey.Emch@P3R.org Josh Raulerson, PEC 412-481-9400 or jraulerson@pecpa.org   2019 GAP Relay Presented by UPMC Health Plan Aims to be First Carbon Neutral Trail Relay in U.S. P3R and the Allegheny Trai...

Did you know that September is Trails Month in PA? For 2019, PEC has partnered with DCNR to promote events that encourage people to get out and explore. Trails not only take us from point A to B, they open us to new experiences and help to reaffirm our sense of place in the world.  If you c...