News Release | PennEnvironment

"Fossil Fools" rally highlights Rep. Murphy’s foolish voting record on public health

Activists rallied in front of Congressman Tim Murphy’s office in Mount Lebanon today calling on him to better protect public health and end his foolish ties to the dirty coal industry. He has repeatedly voted against policies that would limit harmful air pollution from sources like coal plants, although his district suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the nation. Both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties have failing or near failing air quality, exceeding safe levels of soot and smog that can cause lung disease, heart attacks and severe asthma attacks. In fact, right outside his office, a full twelve percent of students in the Mount Lebanon school district suffer from asthma.

News Release | PennEnvironment

100 day anniversary of Superstorm Sandy marked with day of action on climate change

As communities throughout the East Coast are still struggling to rebuild 100 days after Superstorm Sandy slammed the Mid-Atlantic, PennEnvironment urged state and federal officials to redouble their efforts to tackle climate change. Scientists have warned that climate change is helping to fuel the recent increase in extreme weather, and will make events like Superstorm Sandy, and last summer’s record drought, more severe and more frequent unless more is done to limit the carbon pollution fueling climate change.

Report | PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center

Wind Power for a Cleaner America

The pending expiration of the production tax credit threatens the future expansion of wind power. To protect the environment, federal and state governments should continue and expand policies that support wind energy.

News Release | PennEnvironment

PennEnvironment calls for wind tax credits to be renewed

As Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath prompt more Pennsylvanians to call for action to tackle global warming and the rise in extreme weather, PennEnvironment released a new report today that shows that Pennsylvania’s current power generation from wind energy displaces as much global warming pollution as taking 218,000 cars off the road per year.

News Release | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

Obama Administration Finalizes Historic Clean Cars Standards

Today the Obama administration finalized new clean car standards that will double the fuel efficiency of today’s vehicles by 2025, drastically reducing emissions of carbon pollution and cutting oil use in Pennsylvania and nationwide.  A recent joint analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Union of Concerned Scientists projects that by 2030 in Pennsylvania alone, the standards will cut carbon pollution from vehicles by 8.4 million metric tons—the equivalent of the annual pollution of 1,285, of today’s vehicles—and save 720 million gallons of fuel. 

Report | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

When It Rains, It Pours

Global warming is happening now and its effects are being felt in the United States and around the world. Among the expected consequences of global warming is an increase in the heaviest rain and snow storms, fueled by increased evaporation and the ability of a warmer atmosphere to hold more moisture.

News Release | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

New Report: Extreme Downpours and Snowstorms Up 52% Percent in Pennsylvania

Ten months after Tropical Storm Lee led to record flooding that devastated the Susquehanna Valley, a new PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center report confirms that extreme rainstorms and snowstorms are happening 52 percent more frequently in Pennsylvania since 1948. Based on an analysis of state data from the National Climatic Data Center, the new report found that heavy downpours or snowstorms that used to happen once every 12 months on average in the state now happen every 7.9 months on average.  Moreover, the biggest storms are getting bigger.  The largest annual storms in Pennsylvania now produce 23 percent more precipitation, on average, than they did 65 years ago.

Report | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

Charging Forward: The Emergence of Electric Vehicles and Their Role in Reducing Oil Consumption

America’s reliance on gasoline-powered vehicles has long contributed to air pollution, including global warming emissions, and our nation’s dependence on oil. In the past decade, however, the automobile market has begun to change, integrating new technologies that are dramatically less dependent on gasoline.  Now, fully electric vehicles, with zero direct emissions, are emerging as a market-viable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles.

News Release | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

New Report Shows Electric Vehicles Ready to Roll in Pennsylvania

With the right policies in place, plug-in vehicles can reduce oil dependence in Pennsylvania by 3,729,012 gallons per year, according to a new report released today by PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center.

Report | PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center

Summer on the Road: Going Further on a Gallon of Gas

As summer approaches, the dangers of our continued dependence on oil are apparent everywhere we look. Our oil dependence risks our environment to disasters like oil spills, endangers our climate with the nearly 2 billion metric tons of global warming pollution from oil consumption each year, and threatens our families’ health.  If our cars and trucks today met the proposed 54.5 mpg standard, Pennsylvanians would cut gasoline consumption by 603 million gallons over the course of this summer, slashing global warming pollution by more than 5.3 million metric tons and saving consumers over $2.3 billion at the gas pump. 

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