The debate on a bill that would require energy companies to purchase alternative energy credits from renewable energy sources — including nuclear power — is poised to be a fiery one next week as the House Consumer Affairs Committee holds their first hearing on the bill sponsored by Rep. Tom Mehaffie (R-Dauphin) that could save Pennsylvania’s nuclear power industry.
 
Mehaffie’s bill creates a third tier in the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, which requires energy distribution companies to purchase certain percentages of power from alternative sources. Opponents of the bill believe it would result in ratepayers subsidizing nuclear power companies, but Mehaffie maintains that the bill is necessary to keep energy rates low in Pennsylvania. 

House lawmakers are considering a bill that aims to cut down on the impact of natural gas drilling by allowing for longer horizontal drilling laterals across multiple units.
 
Sponsored by Rep. Donna Oberlander (R-Clarion), HB 247 would allow for cross unit drilling, given that drill operators secure valid leases for the land on which they drill. Supporters of the bill say it would create a less disruptive environment, limiting the amount of drills, well pads, access roads and pipelines necessary for the drilling of natural gas.

Once the stuff of science fiction fantasy, more Pennsylvanians than ever are opting for electric vehicles. But the commonwealth still trails its regional neighbors in adoption of the technology and state officials are working to ensure that infrastructure is growing to support the burgeoning industry.

As part as of this push, the Department of Environmental Protection rolled out the Electric Vehicle Roadmap earlier this year, which attempts to survey the current electric vehicle landscape and chart out future barriers to its proliferation.

Many lawmakers and conservationists breathed a sigh of relief when the Department of Environmental Protection announced last week it would halt permit review on the controversial Mariner East pipeline.

But not Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-Chester).

“On the heels of that announcement, I’m watching bulldozers roll into my neighborhood right now,” Friel Otten said. “As I drive through my community, they are ramping up to get started on construction throughout Chester County again.”

State lawmakers and politicos are preparing for an early session fight over the future of Pennsylvania’s nuclear power industry, the second biggest in all fifty states.

“It’s the worst kind of legislative challenge,” Sen. Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster), co-chair of the state’s bipartisan Nuclear Caucus said. “It’s complicated, costly, urgent and irreversible.”

Allies of the industry have coalesced around a report, issued by the Nuclear Energy Caucus, which projects significant environmental and economic problems if the state’s nuclear plants falter in the coming years.