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Wolf’s unexpected move re: single-use plastic

  • Emily Previti/PA Post
Philadelphia Energy Solutions workers leave the South Philly plant in June 2019, after a devastating fire at the plant, which  employed about 1,000 people.

 Ximena Conde / WHYY

Philadelphia Energy Solutions workers leave the South Philly plant in June 2019, after a devastating fire at the plant, which employed about 1,000 people.

While we’ve been reporting on Pa.’s voting machine replacement, I’ve been checking out related podcasts. This episode of Breach is very much worth a listen.
-Emily Previti, Newsletter Producer/Reporter

On the environment

Ximena Conde / WHYY

Philadelphia Energy Solutions workers leave the South Philly plant Wednesday. The plant, scheduled to close next month, employs about 1,000 people.

  • Former Philadelphia Energy Solutions workers are suing the company because they didn’t get the requisite 60 days notice before the facility shut down in the wake of an explosion and fire on site June 21, StateImpact’s Susan Phillips reports. Meanwhile, the independent federal agency investigating the explosion has closed off the PES sitebecause it’s structurally unsound. Susan also talked about the incident and ensuing closure and investigation on Smart Talk, which you can find here.

  • When Gov. Tom Wolf signed the fiscal-code bill last week as one of the final steps in hashing out the state budget, he allowed a ban on new single-use plastic regulation or taxes to stand. It was a surprise move, given Wolf’s past veto of a similar standalone measure. Marie Cusick has the full story for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

  • Allegheny County and U.S. Steel have reached a tentative agreement stemming from the company’s pollution violations at its Clairton Coke Works site in Western Pa. The company would pay $2.7 million in fines, in addition to spending $200 million on upgrades to address the issue. StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Reid Frazier has all the details here.

Best of the rest

Designs by Jonathan / via Google Maps

The Wood-Mode Inc. factory is seen in this photo taken September 18, 2018.

  • The owners of the Snyder County cabinetry factory that closed abruptly, costing nearly 1,000 people their jobs, say they have a buyer, according to this update on Wood-Mode Inc. from John Beague.

  • Pennsylvania would start allowing hunting three Sundays per year, as determined by the state Game Commission, under a bill that cleared the state Senate last week, The Associated Press reports.

  • More than three months after Osaze Osagie was shot and killed by State College police, Osagie’s friends and borough residents are pushing for mental health reforms. Evan Beebe covered the related discussion at a recent vigil for WPSU.


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