Your Environment Update Archives

An ethane cracker in western Pa. will soon start up. We answered your questions about it

Reid Frazier·October 6, 2022

You asked us questions about Shell's ethane cracker in Beaver County. We got answers about jobs, taxes, royalties, and of course, air pollution.

Economy Energy Health Pollution The Coming Chemical Boom Your Environment Update

A new film connects the plight of hellbenders with concerns over gas development

Kara Holsopple·September 29, 2022

"Hellbent" tells the story of a small, rural town trying to keep a frack waste injection well out of their community to preserve their drinking water and save a rare salamander.

Conservation Energy Pollution Water Wild Pennsylvania Wildlife Your Environment Update

How the fungi beneath our feet help decide the trees overhead

Julie Grant·September 27, 2022

A lawsuit over a plan to regenerate oaks in the Wayne National Forest cites mycorrhizal fungi as evidence that the plan won't work. We find out why.

Conservation Wild Pennsylvania Your Environment Update

Purple Martins Get a Helping Hand from Humans

Jack Austin·September 1, 2022

A conservation group is working to save the bird that relies on human-made colonies, as it faces a loss of habitat, invasive species and climate change.

Conservation Wild Pennsylvania Wildlife Your Environment Update

Outdoor recreation in Pennsylvania just got a new champion

Kara Holsopple·August 4, 2022

Nathan Reigner is Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources first-ever director of outdoor recreation. "I'm recreation first."

Recreation Wild Pennsylvania Your Environment Update

Gone for a century, American Martens might be brought back to Pennsylvania

Benjamin Winslow·July 29, 2022

The Game Commission's wildlife biologist talks about reintroducing American martens to Pennsylvania. The final approval comes next July.

Conservation Wild Pennsylvania Wildlife Your Environment Update

An industry campaign re-brands natural gas as climate-friendly to people of color

Kara Holsopple·July 22, 2022

The $10 million dollar campaign is to improve the opinion of natural gas to make sure it doesn't go the way of coal.

Climate Change Energy Environmental Justice Your Environment Update

Homer City power plant in Indiana County, Pennsylvania generated enough electricity in 2014 to power a million homes. Photo: Reid Frazier

The Supreme Court’s EPA ruling: A loss of authority or a lesson in ‘be careful what you wish for’?

Marianne Lavelle·July 6, 2022

The decision in West Virginia v. EPA could result in more expensive and restrictive carbon regulation or the erosion of agencies’ ability to address society’s most pressing needs.

Climate Change Energy Politics Your Environment Update

New novel imagines a future where all we’re left with is our plastic pollution

Kara Holsopple·July 1, 2022

Alison Stine’s "Trashlands" depicts a dystopian Appalachia, exploited for its last valuable resource, but also full of ingenuity and resilience.

Culture Pollution Your Environment Update

The peak of a 150-foot tall coal waste pile

Coal powered the industrial revolution. It left behind an ‘absolutely massive’ environmental catastrophe

James Bruggers·June 24, 2022

Scenes from the end of coal: A blasted mountaintop in Kentucky, an underground inferno in Pennsylvania, slowly dying maples in New Hampshire and a toxic pile of waste in Florida.

Conservation Energy Water Your Environment Update

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Trump on Earth

Despite court order, black lung screening program still not fully functional

Pa. clean energy businesses call on McCormick, Fetterman to preserve tax credits

Pa. Republican congressmen applaud EPA plan to roll back Biden-era climate rules

Your Environment Update