Gov. Wolf takes executive action on climate

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signs an executive order for his administration to start working on regulations to bring Pennsylvania into a nine-state consortium that sets a price and limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019 in Harrisburg, Pa. The move is part of Wolf's effort to fight climate change in the nation's fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Pa. House GOP insists governor needs legislature’s OK

(AP Photo/Marc Levy)

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signs an executive order for his administration to start working on regulations to bring Pennsylvania into a nine-state consortium that sets a price and limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019 in Harrisburg, Pa. The move is part of Wolf’s effort to fight climate change in the nation’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. (AP Photo / Marc Levy)

• Gov. Tom Wolf took executive action Thursday to add Pennsylvania to a multi-state program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change.

• Wolf ordered the state Department of Environmental Protection to start the process of joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which sets a price and limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, Marc Levy reports for The Associated Press.

• Pennsylvania, Levy reports, ranks fourth among states for carbon dioxide emissions.

• Pa. House Republican leadership criticized the move, Susan Phillips reports for StateImpact PA. Her piece notes that Democrats from coal producing parts of the state are likely to join Republicans in opposing Wolf’s move.

• Phillips also gathered reactions from environmental groups. A senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council praised the move. But Mitch Jones, the Climate & Energy Program Director for Food and Water Watch, criticized the cap-and-trade program as “flawed and ineffective,” saying it excludes methane emissions.

• The Republican chairman of the PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, Daryl Metcalfe of Butler County, said Wolf can’t order the state to join the initiative without approval from the legislature. “Gov. Wolf clearly does not have the authority to take this reckless action, which will cost average Pennsylvanians more of their hard-earned money through their energy bills, without legislative approval,” Metcalfe said.

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Andrew Harnik / AP Photo

FILE PHOTO: Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo)

• NPR’s Claudia Grisales spent time with U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, a Lehigh Valley Democrat who recently came out in support of an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Despite that support, Wild says she and other lawmakers aren’t “living, breathing and foaming at the mouth for impeachment.” Instead, she emphasized her focus on education and labor issues.

• A couple of other stories about Wild, including from The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Morning Call.

• The state House plans to resume its tradition of inviting guest chaplains to offer a prayer, House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said Thursday. The announcement comes after a federal court ruled that the GOP majority could continue barring atheists from being invited to deliver the prayer.

• LNP’s Jeff Hawkes looks at a bill that would authorize the sale of recreational marijuana at state wine and liquor stores. The bill was introduced by state Rep. David Delloso, a Democrat from Delaware County, and has the backing of state Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster City.

• Sturla may support legal recreational marijuana, but his hometown paper doesn’t. The LNP ran an editorial Wednesday headlined, “No to legalization.” Over in Allentown, Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick criticized the study Lt. Gov. John Fetterman released last week that purported to show lots of public support for legalization.

• State Sen. Daylin Leach, a Montgomery County Democrat, sued The Philadelphia Inquirer and reporter Angela Couloumbis, alleging defamation. At issue is the news organization’s coverage of sexual misconduct allegations against Leach. The Inquirer stands by its reporting, editor and vice president Gabriel Escobar said in a statement.

• During a live “Ask Gov. Wolf” radio program, Wolf said he won’t veto a controversial bill related to immigration, WHYY’s Laura Benshoff reports. House Bill 1170 would require immigration status checks for construction workers.