Wolf’s environmental protection secretary to depart agency

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A cabinet secretary who helped shepherd Pennsylvania’s entry into a regional carbon pricing program to combat climate change is leaving the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. The governor said Monday that Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell will be replaced in July by Ramez Ziadeh. McDonnell was deeply involved in the state’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The program imposes a cost for emitting planet-warming carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-fired power plants. McDonnell started at the agency in 1998 and has been secretary since 2016. Ziadeh has been a deputy secretary at the agency after starting there in