Our blogs are written by the staff of the Center for Coalfield Justice, with an occasional guest post. The most recent post appears on top, and others show up below in order of publishing date. You can receive the blogs in your inbox by signing up for our mailing list. Once per month we publish a newsletter, which contains most of the blog posts.
To get Senator Manchin’s vote on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Democratic leadership had to make a deal. There is an alleged agreement that for Manchin’s vote on the IRA, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would attach a bill that would amend the current laws and regulations on environmental permitting requirements by the end of […]
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In the fall of 2021, several of the lawmakers who voted to pass Act 77, the law which allows mail-in voting, argued that this legislation should have instead been done by an amendment to our state’s constitution. In January of this year, a Commonwealth Court judge agreed that the bill was unconstitutional. The Wolf administration […]
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As you have probably heard by now, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has been signed into law by President Biden. It is the biggest climate investment in United States history and is estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 40% within the next eight years. While there are some beneficial provisions, the $370 billion investment […]
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“This is a crisis. We cannot afford any fossil fuel expansion,” said Veronica Coptis, Executive Director of the Center for Coalfield Justice. “Unfortunately, this law is the product of a backroom deal that could weaken environmental protection laws through permitting reform. Doubling down on natural gas drilling is a recipe for disaster, and the IRA sells out our allies in the Gulf South to more offshore drilling that exacerbates damage to the climate and the extreme weather events like flooding and hurricanes that impact us all.”
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On July 27, the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee approved H.R.2021, the Environmental Justice (EJ) for All Act. The bill is currently sitting before the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote. This landmark piece of legislation would enshrine important protections for minority and low-income communities disproportionately affected by pollution and environmental degradation. It has […]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lisa DePaoli, lisa@centerforcoalfieldjustice.org, 724-229-3550, ext. 5 WASHINGTON, PA — On July 19, 2022, after a years-long fight, the Allegheny County Council overrode a veto by County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and banned fracking within and under county parks. Later that evening, Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw issued a legislative memo in response […]
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On July 7, 2022, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a bill that has been touted as a way to give consumers more access to affordable electricity, but in reality represented an effort to restrict local governments’ ability to set policies that address the climate crisis. Senate Bill (“SB”) 275, introduced by Gene Yaw, would make […]
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The last few years have seen an exciting influx of federal investments in important community infrastructure projects. Water, broadband, energy efficiency, and transportation are all priorities in recent federal funding packages. The question for rural communities like ours, which have lost out on government funding in the past, is this: How do we make sure […]
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Last year in April, Senate Bill (“SB”) 573, also known as the Poll Watcher Empowerment Act, was introduced by Senator Doug Mastriano. The State Senate passed this bill after sitting on it for over a year. The House, however, didn’t waste any time on this bill. On June 29th, they voted to send this legislation […]
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This is the 23rd installment in our What’s on your mind? blog series and was written by CCJ Organizing Fellow Saint McClendon. Have something on your mind? Write about it! Please read this blog for more information. Humans have ingested substances since the beginning of time, but currently we can observe from our backyards the traumatic effects caused […]
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