pennsylvania
Pennsylvania governor signs controversial carbon storage bill into law, paving the way for hydrogen hubs
The bill was opposed by 45 environmental groups.
PITTSBURGH — On July 17, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law a carbon capture and storage bill that creates a legal framework for climate-warming carbon emissions captured from burning fossil fuels to be injected underground and stored indefinitely to prevent them from escaping into the atmosphere.
The bill is controversial because carbon capture and storage technology is still new and scientific researchers have unanswered questions about whether it’s a viable climate solution and whether it will pose health and safety risks to communities.
A handful of environmental advocacy groups supported the bill, including the Clean Air Task Force, which said in a statement that carbon capture and storage technologies will “play a role in decarbonizing the industrial and power sectors of the commonwealth’s energy economy.”
However, around 45 environmental advocacy groups wrote letters urging the Pennsylvania state legislature and Gov. Shapiro not to pass the bill. Those groups have spoken out against the new law, saying in a statement that it guarantees “Pennsylvania will not be part of any climate solution.”
“Governor Shapiro should be ashamed of signing a bill that threatens the public and our environment with the dangers of carbon capture and storage, all for the benefit of special interests, namely the fracking industry,” Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said in a statement. “This is a terrible day for the Commonwealth and we’ll experience the harms far into our future.”
The groups also expressed concern about the unusual way the bill moved through the legislature. In the state House, the bill was never referred to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, but instead went through the Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee and was advanced without discussion.
As a result, “there were no hearings or discussions,” said Karen Feridun, co-founder of the Better Path Coalition, a Pennsylvania-based environmental advocacy group. “In the end, an unproven, failed technology was deemed to be in the public interest.”
The new law will pave the way for two proposed, federally-funded hydrogen hubs in Pennsylvania that will rely on carbon capture and storage.
30 environmental advocacy groups ask PA governor to veto carbon capture bill
“Putting resources toward carbon capture and storage instead of renewable energy is wasting time we don’t have.”
PITTSBURGH — A group of more than 30 environmental and health advocacy groups have asked Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to veto a bill that would pave the way for carbon storage in the state.
The bill, SB831, which was passed by the state legislature on Friday, creates a legal framework for climate-warming carbon emissions captured from burning fossil fuels to be injected underground and stored indefinitely to prevent them from escaping into the atmosphere. Some environmental advocacy groups support the bill, while others oppose it.
Carbon capture and storage infrastructure is being advanced across the country thanks to federal funding and tax credits through the federal Inflation Reduction Act, but the technology remains controversial.
Proponents say it can reduce carbon emissions while protecting the power grid, while opponents say the technology is unproven and will divert resources from the rapid clean energy transition needed to slow climate change. The debate over the Pennsylvania bill has mirrored the national and global debates about carbon capture and storage.
“Inviting this technology into the state is just setting us up for more fossil fuel extraction, which is what it’s actually all about,” Karen Feridun, co-founder of the Better Path Coalition, a Pennsylvania-based environmental advocacy group, told EHN. “Putting resources toward carbon capture and storage instead of renewable energy is wasting time we don’t have.”
On July 16, the Better Path Coalition submitted a letter on behalf of more than 30 environmental advocacy groups calling on Governor Shapiro to veto the bill.
“Inviting this technology into the state is just setting us up for more fossil fuel extraction, which is what it’s actually all about." - Karen Feridun, Better Path Coalition
“The bill strips Pennsylvania landowners of their subsurface property rights, shifts liability to the state, and exposes everyone to a new and very dangerous generation of fossil fuel Infrastructure,” the letter reads. “SB 831 should not be enacted for the sake of the Commonwealth and the people who depend on you to make the courageous choice to protect them.”
The letter also references a previous letter the group sent to lawmakers prior to the vote on the bill that outlined scientific concerns about the shortcomings of carbon capture and storage technology.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions about how to do carbon storage safely and effectively in general, and even more about doing it in Pennsylvania where we have unique geology and hundreds of thousands of abandoned [oil and gas] wells, many of which are in unknown locations,” Feridun said. “It’s premature at best to pass a bill allowing this and saying it’s in the public interest when this process has never been done successfully.”
Several lawmakers, including state Senator Katie Muth and state Representative Greg Vitali, made remarks opposing the bill prior to its passage.
“This bill is deeply flawed and does not provide the necessary safeguards for communities or our environment nor does it provide an actual solution for combatting the climate crisis,” Muth said.
The bill received support from business and labor organizations including the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council, the AFL-CIO, and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.
“Carbon capture technology has the potential to create a significant number of good paying jobs in the construction industry while simultaneously creating family-sustaining permanent jobs for the citizens of our commonwealth,” said Robert Bair, president of the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council, in a statement.
A handful of other environmental advocacy groups, including the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Environmental Defense Fund, the Clean Air Task Force, and the Nature Conservancy, worked with lawmakers in the House to amend the bill and ultimately supported its passage.
“Carbon capture technology has the potential to create a significant number of good paying jobs in the construction industry while simultaneously creating family-sustaining permanent jobs for the citizens of our commonwealth.” - Robert Bair, Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council
The amendments included public land protections, special provisions for environmental justice communities, community engagement requirements, improved landowner rights, preventative requirements for induced seismic activity, extending the default post-injection site care period, and enabling the Department of Environmental Protection to promulgate and enforce additional regulations as needed to protect the people and environment of the Commonwealth.
“The future of [carbon capture and storage] in Pennsylvania remains to be seen, but we cannot forgo the opportunity to adopt necessary performance standards,” the Pennsylvania Environmental Commission said in a statement. “Now we have the basis to make that happen.”
Feridun said of the amendments, “They’re like putting on cologne when you have really bad body odor… the bill is still fundamentally a bad bill.”
Carbon capture and storage are necessary to pave the way for Pennsylvania to be part of two proposed, federally funded hydrogen hubs — the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub and the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub — which would rely on the technology. Both projects have the potential to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to industry partners, which include numerous fossil fuel companies.
Nippon Steel shareholders demand environmental accountability in light of pending U.S. Steel acquisition
“It’s a little ironic that they’re coming to the U.S. and buying a company facing all the same problems they’re facing in Japan.”
During a shareholders meeting in Tokyo last Friday, a group of investors in Nippon Steel asked the company to improve its decarbonization strategy and reduce harmful emissions in light of its pending acquisition of U.S. Steel.
Nippon Steel, the largest steel producer in Japan and the fourth-largest in the world, is set to purchase U.S. Steel pending regulatory approval by the US government. The sale is controversial because the United Steelworkers Union strongly opposes it, and has sparked an international political debate over whether U.S. Steel should remain “American owned.”
Meanwhile, experts say both Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel have fallen behind competitors when it comes to green steelmaking, and communities living near U.S. Steel’s polluting, coal-based manufacturing sites in places like western Pennsylvania say their concerns about health harms have been ignored in the debate about the sale.
A group of concerned investors say that Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel, which still relies heavily on coal-based steel production at its 11 blast furnaces in the Pittsburgh region, is part of a pattern indicating the company has a “coal addiction.” Nippon Steel has also been buying up coal mines in other parts of the world, and recently started construction on two new blast furnaces in India.
“Steel does not have a climate problem, it has a coal problem,” Brynn O’Brien, executive director of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, one of the investment groups calling for changes at Nippon Steel, told EHN. “Shareholders should note neither U.S. Steel nor Nippon Steel have Paris-aligned targets, and the potential addition of U.S. Steel’s 11 blast furnaces to Nippon Steel’s operations will place more pressure on the company to demonstrate to shareholders it has a credible decarbonization strategy.”
O’Brien’s organization, along with the investment groups Corporate Action Japan and Legal & General Investment Management, filed three shareholder proposals ahead of last Friday’s meeting. The proposals asked Nippon Steel to set and disclose short and medium-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement, requested that executive profits be linked to the company’s emissions reduction targets (something other steel companies have already done) and asked for increased disclosure of climate-related lobbying activities.
When the proposals were presented at last Friday’s shareholder meeting, they were met with applause from other shareholders, according to people who were present.
“I think that’s a sign of the times that there’s increasing awareness that Nippon Steel has a climate problem it needs to get serious about, and that’s the message these investors sent,” Roger Smith, Asia lead for SteelWatch, an industry watchdog and climate advocacy group, told EHN.
The filing of the proposals came after a group of institutional investors collectively representing nearly $5 trillion of assets informally asked Nippon Steel for more environmental accountability last year, according to the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The formal proposals were also supported by the large institutional investment firms Amundi, Nordea Asset Management and Storebrand Asset Management.
“Steel does not have a climate problem, it has a coal problem." — Brynn O’Brien, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility
The proposals didn’t garner enough votes to be adopted at last Friday’s shareholder meeting, but about 21% of shareholders voted in support of the proposal to align emission goals with the Paris Agreement, 23% of shareholders voted in support of the proposal requesting that shareholder profits be linked to the company’s emission reduction targets and 28% of shareholders voted in favor of the proposal on improved disclosure of climate-related lobbying.
In Japan, climate-related shareholder proposals require a majority of two-thirds of the votes of the shareholders present in order to be adopted, according to O’Brien.
“Not meeting this threshold does not mean a company can or will disregard significant support for a proposal,” he said. “Given the significant shareholder support for all three proposals, we expect Nippon Steel to respond to this strong investor feedback… Good corporate governance requires, at a minimum, the company to analyze the reasons for the vote and consider how its strategy needs to evolve in line with investor expectations.”
Nippon Steel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shareholder proposals or its decarbonization strategy.
A competitive disadvantage
While the shareholders who filed the proposals raised climate and public health concerns, their primary concern was financial.
The support for the climate-related proposals at the shareholders meeting “is evidence that investors see a strong link between a credible decarbonization strategy and securing corporate value,” O’Brien said. “Continuing coal investment risks stranded assets, regulatory penalties and competitive disadvantages as global markets shift towards green steel production.”
The Paris Agreement has shifted the steel market dramatically, Smith said.
“It’s now the expectation of governments and steel buyers that low-emission steel will soon be available, and ultimately that will either be requested or required,” Smith said. “Some of Nippon Steel’s biggest rivals have plans to produce green steel in the next few years, but Nippon Steel has nothing to compete with that. They have no low-emissions primary steel, nor do they have any plans to produce it in the near future.”
O’Brien noted that while U.S. Steel’s Pennsylvania plants are problematic, Nippon Steel’s decarbonization strategy would benefit from acquiring the company’s electric arc furnace facilities in Alabama, which have a significantly lower carbon footprint and are necessary for the production of green steel.
“That doesn’t resolve shareholder concerns about making continued investments in coal-based facilities,” Smith said. “Investors need to know, is this just a dead end? Are you just going to run the blast furnaces into the ground and then walk away?”
The steel industry’s critical role in meeting global climate targets
“I don’t think they’re going to care about us," Natalie Morris, a resident of Braddock who lives near U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Mill, told EHN during a protest last month over the sale to Nippon Steel.
Credit: Kristina Marusic for EHNSteel production is responsible for an estimated 7% of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions, and is the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the manufacturing sector. The steel industry’s carbon footprint impacts other major industries, including construction, transportation and energy production, so shrinking the industry’s emissions could also “substantially cut emissions for all those industries dependent on steel,” according to the World Economic Forum.
Both U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel have set goals of being carbon neutral by 2050, but both companies have been criticized for lacking concrete plans to reach that goal, for their continued reliance on coal when cleaner technologies are available and for that timeline being too slow to achieve the 1.5°C global warming limit established by the Paris Climate Agreement.
The MSCI Global Sustainability Index rates Nippon Steel’s projected emissions as being aligned with more than 3.2°C of global warming, indicating that the company’s “contribution to catastrophic climate change is higher than most.”
“It wouldn’t be a livable planet if every company did that,” Smith told EHN.
U.S. Steel doesn’t have an MSCI rating, but has been ranked “high risk” for investors concerned about sustainability by the investment research firm Morningstar.
“It’s a little ironic that Nippon Steel is coming to the U.S. and buying a company that’s facing all the same problems they’re facing in Japan,” Smith said.
The shareholders plan to continue applying pressure.
“There are further escalation tools available to shareholders, including voting on directors, if insufficient progress is made,” O’Brien said. “Investors want confidence that Nippon Steel is going to remain competitive into the future, and there is strong commitment to ensuring corporate value is secured.”
Coal workers feel abandoned as coal plants close in Pennsylvania
Residents of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, are expressing frustration over the loss of jobs and support as the coal industry declines.
In short:
- The Biden administration promises support for communities transitioning away from fossil fuels, but residents feel neglected.
- Many locals, skeptical of the administration's efforts, support Trump, hoping he will revive the coal industry.
- The closure of the Homer City Generating Station has economically impacted the area, prompting discussions on future redevelopment.
Key quote:
“I come from a coal family and an energy community, and part of what has happened is people feel left behind. They feel forgotten.”
— Brian Anderson, the executive director of President Biden's Interagency Working Group
Why this matters:
The push for cleaner energy sources is driving the decline of coal, as the world grapples with the urgent need to address climate change. This shift is undeniably beneficial for the planet, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. However, for the residents of Indiana County, the benefits are abstract and distant, while the costs are immediate and personal.
Legislators in Pennsylvania push controversial carbon capture bill
Pennsylvania legislators are backing a contentious bill to establish a carbon capture industry, raising environmental and public health concerns.
In short:
- Senate Bill 831 allows for carbon dioxide injection with minimal landowner consent and exempts operators from seismic monitoring in certain conditions.
- Environmental groups warn of potential leaks, health hazards, and insufficient landowner involvement in decision-making.
- The bill's supporters argue it is essential for the state's energy future and to secure federal funding for climate initiatives.
Key quote:
“This idea that they’re going to go all in on carbon capture and try to inject this stuff in the same places where it’s like Swiss cheese … is just plain stupid.”
— Karen Feridun, co-founder of the Better Path Coalition
Why this matters:
The bill proposes the development of infrastructure to capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources and store them underground. This technology is seen by supporters as a vital tool to curb emissions from sectors that are hard to decarbonize, like manufacturing and energy production.
But critics warn that the environmental and health implications could be significant. Concerns range from the potential for groundwater contamination to the risk of carbon dioxide leaks, which could pose serious hazards to nearby communities. There are also fears that focusing on CCS might divert attention and resources away from renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, which are essential for a sustainable future.
Lithium found in Pennsylvania fracking wastewater sparks debate
A recent study reveals that wastewater from Pennsylvania's fracking industry contains enough lithium to meet up to 40% of the United States' domestic needs, raising concerns about potential increased fracking.
In short:
- Pennsylvania's fracking wastewater could yield about 1,160 metric tons of lithium annually, potentially covering 38-40% of U.S. demand.
- Experts express concerns over the environmental and health impacts of extracting lithium from fracking wastewater.
- Skeptics warn that this finding might be used to justify more fracking, potentially exacerbating environmental damage.
Key quote:
“I think having more domestic sources of lithium is definitely a positive thing, especially if you don’t have to create a mine to exploit the resource.”
— Justin Mackey, research geochemist at the National Energy Technology Laboratory
Why this matters:
Lithium is crucial for clean energy technologies, but extracting it from fracking wastewater poses significant environmental and health risks. This finding may lead to increased fracking, counteracting efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependence.
Environmental justice advocates find hope, healing and community in Pittsburgh
Advocates and researchers gathered to not only discuss ongoing fights but victories, self-care and cautious optimism about the path ahead.
PITTSBURGH — Environmental justice advocates gathered last week to celebrate progress and chart a path to the future while focusing on healing, self care and mental health.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the Environmental Justice Summit highlighted the need for self-care and connection among researchers and advocates working to advance justice. Exposure to pollution and anxiety about climate change can negatively impact mental health and people who work to right injustices face the risk of compassion fatigue and burnout.
The summit was conceived and organized by Tina Ndoh, associate professor of environmental and occupational health at Pitt's School of Public Health, and Dani Wilson, executive director of the Cancer & Environment Network of southwestern Pennsylvania.
“Advancing justice is emotionally difficult work,” Wilson told EHN. “Taking care of ourselves and each other is critical to fostering moments of joy and connection that help us stay in the movement.”
Over three days, attendees strategized about how to advance environmental justice in the greater Pittsburgh region and how to foster resilience with tools like meditation, storytelling, community-building, yoga, crafting and cooking. The event also highlighted the importance of humor, connection and optimism.
“This is a social movement,” said Jamil Bey, founder of the nonprofit think tank UrbanKind Institute and newly-appointed director of the Department of City Planning for Pittsburgh. “That means that as part of this work, we’ve gotta have fun with our friends. We’ve gotta stay connected and be able to laugh.”
On Friday, Dr. Sacoby Wilson, an environmental health scientist, professor and director of the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health at the University of Maryland, set the tone for the day by declaring himself a “hardcore Steelers fan” and waving a Terrible Towel above his head while shouting “Go Steelers!”
Dr. Sacoby Wilson, an environmental health scientist, professor and director of the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health at the University of Maryland, waves a terrible towel at the EJ Summit Pittsburgh.
Credit: John Altdorfer, courtesy of the Cancer and Environment Network of SWPA
Wilson peppered an otherwise serious talk about the ravages of environmental racism and his work developing tools to combat it with football jokes, referencing recent quarterback drama (“two quarterbacks are better than one!”), emphasizing the importance of both offense and defense for communities burdened by pollution and quipping that if we want to score a touchdown, the community needs to work as a team.
“Where you live can kill you,” Wilson said, noting that poor, Black and Brown neighborhoods in most places, including southwestern Pennsylvania, face higher levels of exposure to pollution that result in worse health outcomes and lowered life expectancy. These places are also more likely to experience the impacts of climate change and other disproportionate harms.
“We need a holistic framework for environmental justice that also acknowledges the need for housing justice, economic justice, social justice, educational justice, reproductive justice and racial justice,” he said, “because these things are all connected. And you can’t get equity without justice… And on a separate note, we’re going to the Super Bowl this year, right?”
Environmental justice victories
EJ Summit attendees show off their artwork.
Credit: Stephanie Ciranni, Cancer Bridges
Other speakers shared recent victories and progress.
Professor Tiffany Gary-Webb, the associate dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, shared the results of her work with the Black Environmental Collective and the Black Equity Coalition. The group formed in April 2020 to ensure an equitable response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Pittsburgh and has evolved to continue advancing racial equity in western Pennsylvania.
“We used data to try and understand where there were higher rates of COVID and sent those to the county and state health departments. We talked to elected officials and put out our own dashboard with the numbers for Black populations, and through those efforts we were able to get critical resources to our communities and see that data change,” Gary-Webb said, pointing to a study that summarized the group’s effectiveness. “Now we’re continuing that work with a focus on other issues in our communities.”
Ash Chan, a farmer and steward at Oasis Farm and Fishery, shared their experience working at a Black-owned garden and market in Pittsburgh’s predominantly Black, working-class Homewood neighborhood, which has a long history of disinvestment and has been without a grocery store since 1994. The organization uses vacant land to grow food and offers classes in urban farming and healthy cooking.
“We see food as a driver of social and economic capital, as well as a way that connects people to their cultural roots and their natural environment,” Chan said. “We’re growing what folks want. For example, last year we noticed that elders in the community would line up for okra before we even opened our farmer’s market …so this year we’re growing six different kinds of okra based on that demand.”
Bearing witness to injustice
Kayien Conner (left) and Melanie Meade (right) at the EJ Summit.
Credit: John Altdorfer, Cancer and Environment Network of SWPA
While the Summit highlighted progress and promoted resilience, it also emphasized “bearing witness” — a process described by event organizers as actively listening, not looking away, and most importantly, responding — to “the slow violence of environmental degradation on our land.”
Participants were invited to attend a “bearing witness ceremony” in Clairton, a small town about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh that regularly sees some of the most polluted air in the country due to emissions from a coal-based U.S. Steel plant.
“The injustices are very thick and very brutal in Clairton,” said Melanie Meade, a clean air activist and resident of Clairton. Meade shared the heartbreak she has experienced learning that Clairton’s rate of childhood asthma is more than double the national rate, watching many loved ones die of cancer and witnessing the impacts of poverty and violence. “The people are tired and they are sick and they are in great need, and we need to stand in the way for them.”
Later in the day, Kayien Conner, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work, told Melanie she’d been moved by her words and asked if she could connect her with an organization she’s involved with that offers mental health resources for Black communities to get additional resources to Clairton.
“Yes, please, thank you!” Melanie said.
“See? We’re here making connections, collaborating, getting this work done already!” Wilson shouted to applause and laughter.
Political optimism
Bearing witness ceremony in Clairton, Pennsylvania.
Credit: Dani Wilson
Speakers at the symposium also noted that western Pennsylvania is on the precipice of major political changes that offer many reasons for optimism for environmental advocates, pointing to the election of progressive politicians like Summer Lee and Lindsay Powell and county executive Sara Innamorato, all of whom have pledged to prioritize environmental justice.
“We’re really shaking things up politically right now,” said Bey. “If we don’t do this now, then that’s on us. Now is the time. Let’s keep lifting each other up, let’s do our work and let’s get this done.”