(File Photo)

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, the U.S. Department of Interior announced that nearly $725 million in funding has been made available to states to reclaim abandoned mine lands (AML), allocated as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17) announced that Pennsylvania is eligible to receive up to $244 million in the first funding phase announced.  Lamb supported this program’s inclusion in the infrastructure package.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated a total of $11.3 billion in AML funding over 15 years, which will help communities eliminate dangerous environmental conditions and pollution caused by past coal mining.  For much of the twentieth century mining companies could use our natural resources and leave their sites without restoration.  Congress changed that in the 1970s, taking steps to increase funding for remediating these sites, but hundreds of thousands of acres of Pennsylvania remain impacted.  This historic funding accelerates that process and is expected to address the vast majority of inventoried abandoned mine lands in this country.  This is especially important for Pennsylvania, as the Department of the Interior estimates the state accounts for approximately 46 percent of the United States’ remaining reclamation costs.

“America relied on coal from Pennsylvania for hundreds of years, now we must restore the land and prepare it for the opportunities presented by the new economy.  This federal funding will reclaim our lands and create good-paying jobs across our state, and passed with strong bipartisan support in Congress,” said Lamb.

AML reclamation projects also enable economic revitalization by reclaiming hazardous land for recreational facilities and other economic redevelopment uses, such as advanced manufacturing and renewable energy deployment.  Lamb’s legislation, the Advancing Energy Manufacturing in Coal Communities Act (H.R. 5367), was also included and will help manufacturers near or in coal communities modernize their facilities to produce energy technologies.

As required by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this funding will prioritize projects that employ dislocated coal industry workers.  AML funding will enable Pennsylvania to remediate abandoned mines that are leaking methane – a key contributor to climate change.  Furthermore, this funding marks an unprecedented investment in coal, oil and gas and power plant communities, including through the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities which coordinated federal investment to support economic revitalization in energy communities.

Click here for more details on how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will deliver for Pennsylvania.

Keystone State News Connection

February 8, 2022

Emily Scott

Gov. Tom Wolf delivers his final budget proposal today, and transportation leaders are hopeful he’ll discuss funds for infrastructure, after last month’s bridge collapse in Pittsburgh.

On average, many Pennsylvania bridges are more than half a century old. Combined with a $9 billion annual state funding gap, Larry Shifflet, deputy secretary for planning at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said that means repair or preservation needs go unmet.

He said the $5.6 billion federal dollars the state will receive over the next five years to improve bridges and roads is welcome, but it isn’t a long-term solution.

“That average age of both the bridges and the roadways,” said Shifflet, “you just look at the interstate system, when that was built in the ’50s and the ’60s, it’s time for most of that interstate network in Pennsylvania to be reconstructed, which is significantly costly.”

Gov. Wolf established the Transportation Revenue Options Commission last March to address funding challenges. The commission submitted a final report in July, which noted the state’s gas-tax revenue – which makes up about 75% of PennDOT’s highway and bridge funding – has continued to shrink.

Gas-tax revenue has been on the decline, between fuel-economy improvements and the transition to electric vehicles.

Shifflet said the commission’s report includes recommendations for ways to phase out of the gas tax, including a $1.1 fee for taxis and rideshare companies operating in Pennsylvania.

“One of the bigger ones, which would be something that would take many years to get in place,” said Shifflet, “is a Milage-Based User Fee for all vehicles. And then, that would help to eliminate the current fee at the pump – so, the gas tax. And that was the one I’d say is the biggest bang for the buck.”

The commission proposes a fee of just over $.08 per mile on all miles traveled in Pennsylvania.

Ten people were injured in the Pittsburgh bridge collapse, which is still under investigation. The state announced Friday it will spend $25 million in federal funds to construct a new bridge at the site.

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) invites the public to a virtual public meeting on the Route 18 Frankfort Road Bridge Replacement Project on Wednesday, February 9, 2022.

The Route 18-B61 Frankfort Road Bridge project consists of the replacement of the existing truss bridge carrying Frankfort Road over Raccoon Creek just north of the Route 3019 (Raccoon Creek Road) intersection located in Potter Township, Beaver County.  The new bridge will be on new alignment downstream of the existing bridge.  The project scope of work also includes approach roadway realignment, geometry improvements, drainage, guiderail, signing, and pavement markings updates.  Traffic will be maintained on the existing bridge and a reduced duration detour will be necessary to complete the roadway tie-ins.  Construction for this project is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2023 and extend into 2025.

The virtual public meeting will include a short presentation giving an overview of the project and its impacts as well as provide an opportunity for the public to ask the Project Team questions.

The meeting will be held:

Time: 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Date: Wednesday, February 9

Location: Online only, link available online

To join the meeting go online to www.PennDOT.gov/District11 click on Public Meetings/Studies under the District Links header, choose the Beaver County tile and then select Route 18 Frankfort Road Bridge Replacement

Along with the link to the Live Virtual Meeting the page also includes information on the project, contact information, and an online comment form.

Initial report doesn’t ID cause of Pittsburgh bridge failure
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board initial review doesn’t identify the cause of a recent bridge collapse in Pittsburgh. But the preliminary report issued Monday concluded it began at the structure’s west end. The report says investigators found no primary fractures in sections of welded steel girders they examined that were considered “fracture critical.” The Forbes Avenue bridge gave way early Jan. 28 and sent a city bus and four cars to the bottom of a ravine. Ten vehicle occupants were injured. There were no fatalities. The NTSB says it’s extracting bridge components for closer study. A final report could take more than a year.

Harrisburg, PA – As Governor Tom Wolf prepares to deliver his eighth and final budget address on Tuesday, today he released a video reflecting on his experiences as the 47th Governor of Pennsylvania. He shares his continued commitment to move Pennsylvania forward, which is possible thanks to wise investments and
focused priorities throughout his administration.
In his final year in office, the governor plans to continue his ongoing efforts to help Pennsylvanians by furthering investments that would support families, learners, and our workforce. Governor Wolf points to multiple key accomplishments during his administration, most notably sound investments that have resulted in a multi-billion-dollar revenue surplus and nearly $3 billion in the Rainy Day Fund. Through his leadership, the governor also invested $1.9 billion in schools, successfully expanded
affordable health insurance, supported our diverse workforce, enacted pension reform and criminal justice reform, took actions to ensure free and fair elections, lead by example through government reform measures, addressed climate change through environmental protection efforts, and created the PA GI Bill and the PA Farm Bill, both the first of their kind in the nation.

By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court will consider a new map of congressional districts being recommended by a lower court judge who picked a proposal favored by top Republican lawmakers, but opposed by Democrats. The map recommended Monday by Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough, a Republican, came from a pool of more than a dozen submitted to the court. The map passed the Republican-controlled Legislature without support from a single Democratic lawmaker and was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. It sides with Republicans on the most prominent areas of disagreement between partisans. The state Supreme Court — with a 5-2 Democratic majority — will make the ultimate decision.

Keystone State News Connection

February 7, 2022

Emily Scott

A corporate tax break in Pennsylvania funding scholarship programs for K-12 private and religious schools lacks sufficient data to determine its success, according to a new report.

The program, worth about $280 million annually, includes the Educational Improvement Tax Credit and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit.

Supporters contended the programs help low-income students in underperforming public schools.

Rich Askey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said the report from the state’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) paints a troubling picture of lack of accountability for the programs. He is concerned some lawmakers want to increase the tax credits.

“The bottom line is this: From that report, we do not know if it’s working for students,” Askey asserted. “That brings us to the question of why would we dramatically expand these programs to the point they want to expand them, when we’re not sure if they’re even working?”

Companies donating to a scholarship organization can receive a 75% to 90% credit on their taxes. A bill which cleared the Senate Education Committee last month would automatically increase the annual number of tax credits available by 25%.

The IFO report recommends obtaining data on student outcomes after switching to private schools and tracking scholarship awards by family income, among other metrics, but state law prohibits the collection of such data.

Susan Spicka, executive director of the group Education Voters of Pennsylvania, argued it is time for the law to change.

“It is really extraordinary that there are lawmakers in Harrisburg who claim to be fiscal conservatives, and who claim to be looking out for taxpayers, who support a program that has zero accountability for how over a billion dollars in tax money has been spent over the years on these scholarships,” Spicka remarked.

Legislative leaders and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Funds from the tax credits also go to pre-K and educational improvement programs.

PORT CLINTON, Ohio (AP) — Coast Guard authorities say 18 people were rescued from an ice floe that broke away in Lake Erie over the weekend. Officials said a helicopter from Air Station Detroit noticed a group of people on the floe near Ohio’s Catawba Island at about 1 p.m. Sunday with several all-terrain vehicles seeking a route back to land. The helicopter lifted seven people from the floe. An airboat dispatched from the nearby Marblehead station rescued four others. Officials said the other seven people were picked up and taken to shore by a good Samaritan who also had an airboat at the scene.