Mark Szybist, NRDC, 5/6/19

Last week, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf joined the U.S. Climate Alliance and his Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) unveiled a new Climate Action Plan. These are welcome and exciting developments, but they also highlight how much work the Commonwealth has to do – especially in the power sector – to cut economy-wide emissions 80 percent by 2050, the goal set by Wolf’s recent Executive Order on climate.

Pennsylvania’s Climate Change Act

Pennsylvania’s Climate Change Act of 2008 requires the DEP to assess the “potential impact of climate change” on the state’s people, economy and natural resources, and to create a Climate Action Plan that recommends strategies to mitigate the impacts. The DEP must evaluate the costs, benefits, and economic opportunities of mitigation policies, and the plan must be updated every three years.

This year’s Climate Action Plan, the DEP’s fourth since 2009, is the first to detail strategies for adapting to climate change impacts, as well as strategies for cutting pollution. That’s because the impacts of climate change are not just “potential” in Pennsylvania; they’re occurring, mostly in the form of extreme weather, and Pennsylvanians are paying for it. One striking statistic from the Plan is that since 2006, the state Department of Transportation has spent over $190 million to recover from more and more flood-related disasters….

read more and see many links at NRDC