Lawmakers advanced legislation this week to refund Pennsylvanians in the Delaware River watershed who lose out on fracking royalties as part of a general pushback on the river’s federal governance.

Since the 1960s, the Delaware River Basin Commission — an interstate compact between Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — has managed the water quality and use of the winding river system that stretches from the Catskill Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.

For a farmer hoping to add a wind farm or a factory looking to preserve water, a new program could help kick start investment.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed SB 234 into law earlier this week, which lets commercial and industrial property owners spread out the cost of a loan for a green infrastructure investment over a longer period of time without any taxpayer funding.

Fewer regulations would be on the menu for parts of Pennsylvania's oil and gas industry under a bill that passed the House Tuesday.

HB 2154, sponsored by Rep. Martin Causer (R-McKean), would follow up on 2012’s Act 13 by  reforming rules for conventional oil and gas wells, which are smaller and shallower compared to unconventional fracking wells.

A bill that expands criminal trespass into a felony when on pipelines, chemical plants, refineries and other similar industrial or transportation related infrastructure passed the Senate Tuesday.

Introduced by Sen. Mike Regan (R-Cumberland), SB 652 adds four new crimes to state law, three of which are first degree felonies that can come with a minimum fine of $5,000 to $10,000 depending on the charge.

After dismissing the political wherewithal for nuclear subsides a month ago, Sen. Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster) brought the idea back on the table Wednesday morning.

“I think we know need to begin having a conversation in this building in terms of a state solution and as a short term bridge,” Aument said following the meeting of the Nuclear Energy Caucus.