skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

UAW strike continues: Officials say EPA standards must catch up; Mississippians urged to register to vote ahead of the Nov. 7 general election; NYers worry about impacts of government shutdown.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Senate leaders advance a plan to avoid a government shutdown, an elections official argues AI could be a threat to democracy and voting rights advocates look to states like Arizona to rally young Latino voters.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

A small fire department in rural Indiana is determined not to fail new moms and babies, the growing election denial movement has caused voting districts to change procedures and autumn promises spectacular scenery along America's rural byways.

DEP Holds Hearings on Joining Climate Program

play audio
Play

Monday, December 7, 2020   

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The public has a chance to weigh in on Pennsylvania's participation in a program that could reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and air pollution, and grow clean-energy jobs.

Starting Tuesday, the Department of Environmental Protection will hold virtual public hearings on a draft rule to have Pennsylvania join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Since 2008, the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states in RGGI have cut carbon emissions from power plants by more than 40%.

Patrice Tomcik, project manager of state campaigns for the group Moms Clean Air Force, said it also cuts emissions of other pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, soot and heavy metals.

"There would be a reduction in premature deaths from respiratory illnesses, fewer hospital visits, preterm births, childhood autism and asthma attacks," Tomcik predicted.

RGGI establishes a regional cap on carbon emissions that diminishes over time and sells emission allowances to the power industry through quarterly auctions.

There will be ten online hearings between Dec. 8 and 14.

Barbara Jarmoska, treasurer for the Responsible Drilling Alliance, said joining RGGI would be an important step toward slowing climate change that is already affecting Pennsylvania. She lives near a creek on 20 acres of land her family has owned since 1933.

"That creek never flooded the home once until 2011, and we had what was then called a thousand-year flood," Jarmoska recalled. "And in 2016, just five years later, we had a second one."

She added cutting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling and infrastructure will also be vital to reducing the floods, fires and extreme weather brought on by climate change.

Tomcik pointed out Pennsylvania is the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the nation.

"We have a responsibility, an obligation to step up and do our part in regard to curbing or cutting our carbon dioxide pollution," Tomcik contended.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Conservative legal groups are calling for a constitutional convention as early as 2025. (Kasia Biel/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Progressive groups are speaking out against the idea of a constitutional convention, warning it could be used to impose conservative policies on …


Health and Wellness

play sound

Today is National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and Nevada is one of the 10 states with the highest HIV infection rates. In 2021, more than 11,00…

Environment

play sound

The current Farm Bill expires Sept. 30 and with a looming government shutdown, reauthorization does not appear imminent. Wisconsin farm groups say …


More than thirty states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized low-level cannabis possession offenses, according to The Marijuana Policy Project. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Kentuckians continue to be charged, jailed and fined for cannabis-related offenses at high rates, despite dramatic shifts in public opinion, …

Environment

play sound

Three conservation groups have sued to stop a large logging project near Yellowstone National Park they say threatens endangered species in Montana…

play sound

New polling data showed most Ohio Republican voters say small-town factory jobs are not coming back, and want their elected representatives to …

Social Issues

play sound

A California group formed after the firestorm that leveled the town of Paradise is stepping up to help Maui recover from its own disaster last month…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021