It's an Obama-era regulation with a simple name and seemingly straight-forward purpose. But since its authoring, the Clean Water Rule has been embroiled in controversy.
The new Congress didn't waste any time rolling back an Obama administration regulation making it harder for mining companies to dump mining waste into streams.
How the state ended up with such a lousy record enforcing federal safe drinking water standards is hardly a mystery. A former DEP secretary says the solutions aren't complicated either.
Shell is building a brand new ethane cracker in Beaver County, but it wants to use the less-stringent water pollution permit that was issued to the site's previous owner. Will the state play along?
For years, regional agreements have been used to improve watersheds in places like the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes. Some advocates argue the Ohio River needs one too.
Just how bad is it? A former state environmental regulator says deep cuts to budgets and staffing mean the Pennsylvania DEP is now "dangerously close" to not being able to fulfill its mission.
Pittsburgh is investing big in green infrastructure in 2017 as part of a major plan to overhaul its sewer and stormwater system. But how well these projects will work is still unknown.
Fracking has been banned in New York since 2015. But a proposal to store natural gas in underground caverns in the state's scenic Finger Lakes region is bringing the issue back to the forefront.
