Latest news with #PennEnvironment
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Reading church powered by solar panels
Creation care is one of the basic tenets of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County In Reading. To that end, the congregation moved forward on a plan to install solar panels on the roof of the church property at 416 Franklin St. to reduce its carbon footprint and completed the first phase of its plan last April, according to Frank Wilder, ministry and operations board member. The church installed a 40-panel, 19.4 kilowatt solar voltaic system on the rear roof, resulting in the generation of 19.5 megawatts of electricity over the past year, reducing the carbon footprint of the church by 14 tons and meeting 100% of its electricity needs, Wilder said. More than 20 people last week took part in a project tour sponsored by PennEnvironment, a statewide environmental advocacy group. 'By going solar, many congregations are living their values as stewards of the Earth by doing their part to care for creation,' said Hanna Felber, organizer for PennEnvironment. Felber noted that over 1,250 houses of worship nationwide have installed solar panels. Hanna Felber, organizer for PennEnvironment, speaks on Thursday, April 10, 2025, during a tour of the solar installation at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County, 416 Franklin St., Reading. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE) Bethany Ayers Fisher, sustainability manager for the city of Reading, lauded the church's efforts to upgrade the 1891 building as well as the congregation's participation in the Reading for 100 resolution passed in 2019 by City Council to replace fossil fuels energy sources to 100% renewables by 2050. 'Over the many years and generations, this congregation has striven to be good stewards of this building and of the city of Reading,' Ayers said. State Sen. Judy Schwank pointed to the extreme weather events that have been experienced locally as a result of climate change. 'We've seen record-breaking flash flooding here in Berks County and throughout Pennsylvania,' she said. Solar energy can be a big part of the climate solution, Schwank said. 'We have a long way to go in order to reach our clean energy goals, but I think every accomplishment along the way is worth celebrating,' she said. The Unitarian Universalist Church is hoping to build on the success of this initial installation. The church has planned an addition of a battery storage system for its second phase of the project with the ultimate goal of replacing its aging gas-fired furnaces with efficient electric heat pumps powered by 96 solar panels, Wilder said. 'These steps reflect our deeply held values and our responsibility to care for the world we share,' he said.
CBS News
27-03-2025
- General
- CBS News
Report highlights how wildlife corridors protect wildlife and more are needed in Pennsylvania
An environmental group is calling on state leaders to protect Pennsylvania's native species by supporting the creation of more wildlife corridors and crossings. Pennsylvania is among the top five states for vehicle collisions with animals every year, and it's not just a deer issue. PA is home to elk, bobcats, black bears, and a variety of turtles, too, and many birds like the Songbird migrate through the state. "We have incredible wildlife. But each year, more and more, our state's wildlife habitat is crisscrossed by roads, by energy infrastructure, by sprawl. That's called fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation has a real impact. That combined with habitat loss is the number one threat to wildlife in the Commonwealth," said Stephanie Wein, Clean Water & Conservation Advocate of the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center. A new PennEnvironment report highlighted ten wildlife corridors in the state that are successfully connecting habitats, helping wildlife move and migrate, and decreasing vehicle-wildlife collisions and the amount of roadkill. "If they're not crossing roads, they face a different problem, which is the population being split apart and then you have inbreeding and less healthy populations," Wein said. Corridors can look like many different things, including engineered crossings, culverts, stepping stones, barriers, and dam removals. Wein said it just depends on what species you're trying to keep moving. The report's successful examples include the woodland dam removal on the Little Sewickley Creek in Allegheny County that helps fish swim upstream, and some of the 35 wildlife crossings that PennDOT has constructed, like underpasses under I-99 in Centre County that families of bears and deer love to use, and culverts and fencing on State Route 381 in Fayette County that accommodates threatened species of turtles and amphibians. "We want to keep them off the roadways for us, but we also want to make sure that they have safe ways to cross the roadways so they can continue to function as a healthy and intact population," Wein said. Wein said there's a lot of work being done by state agencies and conservation groups to reconnect habitats, but to take these efforts a step further, PennEnvironment is calling on Governor Josh Shapiro and the executive branch to form an interagency working group to protect more critters. "What we can learn from other states is that by having an interagency working group partnered with conservation experts, we can come up with a plan with priority areas we need to conserve, and we need to reconnect in Pennsylvania. So we need a statewide wildlife corridor plan for the Commonwealth," Wein said. She said they're also suggesting some steps the legislature can take. "Like making sure that we track where animal vehicle collisions are happening. So, we can best cite those crossings, making sure we're getting that then also raising the spending limit that the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which is a self-funding commission, has the money, but they're only allowed to spend $400 per acre to acquire land for conservation. The legislature could raise that cap to make sure that we are getting the most critical parcels for conservation, both for the wildlife but also for our sportsmen," Wein said. The full PennEnvironment report can be found here .
CBS News
29-01-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Here's why you got a letter about lead water pipes in your Philadelphia home — and what you should do next
Scott O'Hara was confused when he first opened a letter from the Philadelphia Water Department stating he may have lead water service lines coming into his South Philly home. "What are our options?" he said. "There's not a whole lot of information." O'Hara and his partner Carly Agre say they worry about the potential health risk for their young son. They have a filter installed on their kitchen sink until they're able to learn more about the material of their service line. "Mostly just because we have a toddler," Agre said. "Just knowing how dangerous lead exposure could be, we just wanted to take the extra precaution." The letter was one of half a million recently mailed out in Philadelphia alone. So why did you receive one and what should you do about it? Under new federal requirements, water utilities must now notify residents about the possibility of lead in their water service line — the pipe that connects your home to the water main. It's the latest move in an effort to eliminate lead from drinking water in response to the Flint, Michigan, water crisis in 2014, said Stephanie Wein, a clean water advocate with the environmental group PennEnvironment. "We do know a century ago, and before, lead was the standard, so it's reasonable to expect a lot of homes would still be served by lead service lines," Wein said. "Lead is a potent neurotoxin and poses a huge developmental risk, especially to babies and young children." Municipalities must also find, dig up and replace all lead pipes within the next decade in order to be compliant with these federal regulations, known as the Lead and Copper Rule. In Philadelphia, the city says it has never used lead for its water mains but the service lines that bring water from the main to customers' properties may contain lead. "This is part of an extensive, nationwide effort," said Brian Rademaekers, the Philadelphia Water Department's spokesperson. "The big challenge for us here in Philadelphia and across the country is that piece of pipe, that piece of plumbing, is owned by the customer." If you do have a lead line, the city maintains its corrosive control treatments help protect your water as they've been shown to keep lead levels below federal standards in 90% or more of the city's homes. Residents in Philadelphia can see if their property is connected through a lead service line by searching their address in this interactive map the city released last fall. There's just one problem: The material of most of the city's service lines remains a mystery. "The reason that so many are unknown is because we need to be able to see inside the house, under the sidewalk and under the street, so three different sections of that pipe need to be examined," Rademaekers said. Rademaekers estimates roughly one in every 20 properties — that's 5% — might have a lead service line. The Philadelphia Water Department can test your water for free to determine if you have lead pipes. He said the city is compiling its inventory through historical records, meter upgrades and resident reporting. The cost to replace a lead service line can be upward of $10,000, according to Robert Ballenger, an attorney specializing in utilities at Community Legal Services. The federal government has allocated more than $25 billion for lead pipe replacement, but the EPA estimates the cost nationally could eclipse $45 billion. Ballenger says more federal and state support is needed. "It's in the thousands of dollars to replace a lead service line," Ballenger said. "The question is how does a city pay for that? And my concern is that like many of the projects the city is doing that relate to our water infrastructure, that this is going to fall on the backs of rate payers." Rademaekers says Philadelphia is working to secure more grants and bonds but admits rate increases are possible. "Even the cost of creating this inventory and putting that map out there and mailing out those letters, that's an expensive proposition and it is something that is paid for through rates," he said. "It's one of many different obligations that we're juggling right now." For now, it falls on the property owner to cover the cost to replace a lead service line, unless it's connected to a water main that's already being replaced or repaired. The city offers interest-free loans to property owners for lead service line replacement. In the meantime, the city and health advocates urge those living at one of the hundreds of thousands of "unknown" addresses to take precautions, like using a National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) certified filter, only using cold water for cooking and drinking, and flushing pipes regularly. "Before you have that first glass of water or fill up your coffee pot in the morning, first run that tap," Wein said. "That way any of that stagnant water that sat overnight, that's all flushed out, and that's the best way to ensure in case there is lead in the system that you're moving that out."
