July 29, 2010

Letting The Delaware River Run, Balancing Competing Needs Of People, Wildlife. This new video by The Nature Conservancy in PA discusses the importance of migratory fish, active floodplains and sufficient flow levels in the Delaware River and how biologists are working to determine how best to balance the river's needs with those of the people who live along its banks.

York Students Featured In Chesapeake Bay Local Action Video Showcase. York students were one of 15 groups featured in the first-ever Local Action Video Showcase in the Chesapekae Bay Program.
York High students worked with Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna and York Audubon volunteers to improve the Willis Run Living Classroom in downtown York, PA.
This stretch of stream just above the Kiwanis Lake Important Bird Area provides additional habitat and feeding opportunities for the Night Herons and Great Egrets, while creating an educational area for students and the citizens of York.
The groups’ projects were showcased at the Chesapeake Executive Council meeting on June 3 in Baltimore.

July 13, 2010

PEC Releases Marcellus Shale Recommendations. Don Welsh, President of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council today released a report calling for swift action on new regulations and greater oversight of drilling and extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation, a major gas field that lies deep beneath much of Pennsylvania.
Called “Developing the Marcellus Shale,” the report challenges state government and the natural gas industry to adopt more stringent standards for drilling and extraction to prevent the kind of environmental impacts that have occurred throughout Pennsylvania’s industrial past.
Related Video
John Walliser, PEC Vice President, reviews report recommendations.

July 8, 2010

Mine Drainage Generates Electric. The Loyalhanna Watershed Association in Westmoreland County recently hosted a “Turning on of Lights Ceremony”. Besides the unique name of the event, what makes this really special is that the electricity used to power the lights was generated from Abandoned Mine Drainage.
Since 2005, Loyalhanna Watershed Association has been working on the Saxman Run Mine Drainage Treatment and Hydroelectric Project. They faced all of the trials and tribulations persistent with any other AMD project but faced the additional hurtle of being a pioneer in this type of electricity generation.
Recently, they were finally able to host a dedication for this one-of-a-kind project. The celebration culminated with the turning on a string of lights using electricity generated by the flow of the AMD.
This video was published on the Abandoned Mine Posts webpage by the Western PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and was written by Anne Daymut, Watershed Coordinator.