
PennEnvironment’s 2025-2026 Legislative Priorities
PennEnvironment outlines our legislative priorities for the 2025-2026 legislative session, as we work to preserve Pennsylvania’s natural heritage, protect our rivers and streams, reduce plastic pollution, promote renewable energy, cut climate pollution, and more.
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Promoting renewable energy and energy conservation
While states across the country are taking advantage of the booming renewable energy economy in order to reduce air and climate pollution and jumpstart their local economies, Pennsylvania has lagged near the bottom nationally for growth in renewable energy. To help Pennsylvania tap into a clean energy economy that prioritizes renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, and energy efficiency and conservation, PennEnvironment supports:
Promoting more renewable energy in PA: Pennsylvania ranks 48th in the nation for growth in renewable energy over the past decade, partially due to the flatlining of the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS) in 2021. In order to make Pennsylvania a renewable energy leader, the legislature should implement the proposed PRESS legislation (last session’s HB2277 and SB1190), which will renew and expand Pennsylvania’s AEPS by requiring 35% of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources like wind and solar power by 2035. Pennsylvania is one of only 12 states without a state agency to review and approve siting proposals for renewable energy projects. The General Assembly should pass legislation to create a statewide process to speed up permitting, reduce red tape, and support renewable energy projects in the state.
Promoting energy and water efficiency: Adopting energy efficiency and water conservation standards for commonly-used appliances would save Pennsylvania ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars on their utility bills, cut air and climate pollution, conserve billions of gallons of water annually, and help reduce the current strain on our electricity grid. The General Assembly should enact appliance energy efficiency and water conservation standards by passing last session’s HB 1615, SB 755, or similar legislation. The legislature should also update and expand the state’s cornerstone energy efficiency law, known as Act 129, to increase energy efficiency requirements for the state’s electricity companies. This will help the state’s residents and businesses cut down on their energy use and save money.
Helping communities invest in solar: To assist the transition to solar energy, Pennsylvania must increase access to solar energy for all residents. “Community Solar” legislation allows multiple people, homeowners, or businesses to share energy from a single solar project, providing options for those who cannot put solar on their roofs because of physical or financial barriers. The General Assembly should enact Community Solar legislation, like last session’s HB 1842 which passed the State House with bipartisan support.
Promoting offshore wind energy: Pennsylvania could make significant headway to bring offshore wind energy to Pennsylvania by allowing for the environmental testing, development and construction of wind projects off the shores of Lake Erie. It is expected that this effort could produce enough clean electricity to power hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania homes and create thousands of important clean energy jobs in the Keystone State. We are calling on legislators to support last session’s HB 254 or similar legislation.
Making Pennsylvania “Solar Strong”: Helping our first responders like fire companies and police convert to solar power helps ensure a reliable power source in times of emergency preparedness, and cuts climate and air pollution. It can also help Pennsylvania’s first responders save money on their utility bills that can instead go towards other pressing financial needs. The legislature should create a new statewide solar grant program to help our first responders tap into the benefits of solar power.

Photo by Staff | TPIN
Tackling climate change
It’s clearer than ever: we must take concrete, far-reaching steps to avoid the worst effects of climate change. That means halting our emissions of greenhouse gasses by 2050. Unfortunately, for far too long Pennsylvania has been part of the climate change problem, currently emitting the fourth highest emissions of global warming pollution in the nation. It’s time to make Pennsylvania part of the climate solution. PennEnvironment supports:
Defending the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI): Pennsylvania finalized its regulation to join the multi-state climate program RGGI in 2022 in order to reduce the state’s carbon footprint. Legislators should support Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI and oppose attacks on this and other climate programs. As an alternative, the General Assembly could also implement the PACER legislation, which creates a state-level alternative to Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI. Either way, the General Assembly must work to ensure that revenue raised is directed to clean energy and energy efficiency projects to significantly reduce air and climate pollution.
Support electric vehicles: Electric vehicles (EVs) mean less air and climate pollution in our communities and no money spent at the gas tank. Sadly, Pennsylvania’s programs for incentivizing this cleaner mode of transportation are woefully inadequate. The legislature should increase funding by $10 million for DEP to expand its current EV rebate program. At the same time, the general assembly should implement legislation to promote the construction of EV charging stations and infrastructure across the state (HB 1240 in the last session).
Support Electric School Buses for PA: Electric school buses reduce harmful air pollutants and climate pollution found in the diesel gas that fuels traditional school buses. They can also save school districts money in fuel and maintenance costs. With significant grants being offered by the federal government, there has never been a better time to invest in electric buses. Given this, last session’s HB 1542 was introduced to help Pennsylvania school districts have the resources they need to switch to electric school buses. The legislature should pass this proposal, or similar legislation.
Expand local funding options for public transportation: Pennsylvania’s 67 public transit agencies are facing a funding crisis, which threatens their ability to run effectively. Good public transit is a critical part of a successful 21st Century transportation system. With fewer people in polluting vehicles, we can achieve cleaner air, less climate pollution, and less congestion on our roads. Last session’s HB 902 and HB 1307 would have expanded local funding sources for public transportation in certain counties, to ensure the viability of these systems for the Pennsylvania residents and businesses that rely on them.
Support incentives for clean electric lawn care equipment: Gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn equipment are a significant source of air, climate, and noise pollution. It’s estimated that gas-powered lawn equipment in Pennsylvania emits as much harmful air pollution as 10.3 million cars each year. Thankfully, electric lawn equipment is a cleaner, quieter, and readily available option for consumers and lawn care businesses. We encourage the legislature to move swiftly to pass legislation that incentivizes the sale of electric lawn equipment.
Reducing our reliance on dirty, dangerous energy sources: To protect our environment and public health, we must end our reliance on dirty and dangerous forms of energy. The General Assembly should oppose efforts to subsidize fossil fuels and other dirty energy sources, such as the massive petrochemical tax breaks passed in previous legislative sessions or proposals to subsidize or give tax breaks to promote plastics incineration under the guise of “advanced” or “chemical” recycling.

Photo by TPIN Staff | TPIN
Preserving Pennsylvania’s natural heritage
From the Delaware Water Gap to Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania is defined by its incredible natural heritage. These outdoor places are a destination for millions of visitors to hike, boat, fish, and camp. Preserving Pennsylvania’s great outdoors must be a top priority for the General Assembly. PennEnvironment supports:
Creating wildlife corridors: To help protect Pennsylvania’s threatened species and habitat, the legislature should enact the recommendations from the 2024 Status of Conservation Corridors in Pennsylvania Report. This includes requiring greater reporting of animal-vehicle collisions to aid in siting of needed wildlife crossings across the state, greater coordination of habitat protection across agencies, and raising the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s current per-acre dollar amount for land acquisition.
Protecting Pennsylvania’s threatened pollinators and insects: Pennsylvania is home to more than 75 threatened species of butterflies, bees, and insects. Yet no state agency in Pennsylvania has authority to help protect imperiled and endangered insect species like our beloved bees and butterflies. This loophole leaves many insect and pollinator species in Pennsylvania vulnerable as they face declining numbers and habitat loss. The legislature should address this by giving DCNR conservation authority over native insects and pollinators.
Funding DEP and environmental programs: The PA-DEP has a lot on its plate to ensure clean air and clean water for the state’s residents, especially with more sites to inspect in the wake of the fracking boom, permit reauthorizations, and compliance with federal and state environmental laws. To ensure that PA-DEP can meet these challenges in 2025 and beyond, the legislature should increase funding for this critical agency, and defend cornerstone environmental programs from budget cuts like Growing Greener, the Keystone Fund, and the Hazardous Site Cleanup Fund (HSCA).

Photo by Mike Ralph | Unsplash.com
Protecting our rivers, streams and drinking water
Pennsylvania is blessed to have incredible water resources, from Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers to the Delaware River to the streams that crisscross the Commonwealth. They provide incredible recreational opportunities and supply drinking water for nearby communities. It’s critical we protect Pennsylvania’s water resources from stream to tap. PennEnvironment supports:
Getting the lead out of drinking water: After the Flint, Michigan catastrophe, it’s clear that we must take greater steps to protect public health from the threat of lead in our drinking water. The General Assembly should support bipartisan legislation to provide funding and require that all schools in Pennsylvania replace antiquated drinking water fountains with lead-filtering hydration stations in order to fully remove the threat of lead in school drinking water. This proposal was SB 986 and HB 2011 in the last session.
Protecting stream buffer zones: More and more of Pennsylvania’s streams are threatened by pollution and encroaching development. Studies have shown that preserving the forested stream front buffers keeps pollution out of our streams and helps protect communities against flooding. The General Assembly should support legislation to preserve remaining 100-foot stream buffer zones in Pennsylvania, and improve the Exceptional Value (EV) and High Quality (HQ) protection programs for our waterways (HB 1275 in the 2023-2024 session).
Phasing out toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”: Often referred to as “forever chemicals”, PFAS are linked to cancers, reproductive issues, thyroid disease and a suite of other harmful health impacts. Legislation to phase out toxic PFAS from consumer products (HB 2238) as well as firefighting foam (SB144) were introduced and gained momentum last session. The legislature should move quickly to reintroduce and pass similar legislation in the 2025-2026 session.

Photo by Cavan Image | Adobe Stock
Zero waste for PA
Every day, Pennsylvanians throw away millions of plastic cups, containers, and other single-use plastic items. Except there is no “away”. This waste clogs our landfills, ends up in incinerators, pollutes our environment, and litters our communities. To tackle this problem, PennEnvironment supports:
Updating Pennsylvania’s electronic waste recycling law: Electronic waste is the fastest growing segment of our waste stream. Yet Pennsylvania’s current laws haven’t effectively addressed the state’s growing e-waste problems. Legislators should support policies to expand and improve electronic waste recycling in Pennsylvania, and ensure we keep this waste out of our landfills, incinerators and stop illegal dumping (previously HB 1607 and SB 734).
Giving consumers the Right to Repair: Consumers and small businesses should have access to the parts, tools, and service information needed to repair products, so we can keep things in use and reduce waste. Yet barriers created by manufacturers exist on everyday products like smartphones, tractors, and life-saving devices like ventilators. The legislature should adopt “right to repair” reforms (previously HB 2535 and SB 744) to allow consumers, small businesses, and more to fix their electronic devices, reduce waste and save money.
Increasing support for Pennsylvania’s recycling programs: The $2 fee on trash paid by waste haulers that helps fund Pennsylvania’s local recycling programs hasn’t changed for nearly 40 years. This has led to inadequate funding for recycling programs as the costs of maintaining recycling programs have gone up. In fact, $2 today would only be worth $0.76 in 1988, a fraction of what was originally enacted. Legislation is needed to increase the fee in order to ensure the success of recycling in the Commonwealth (HB 223 last session).
Giving counties authority to fund recycling: Recycling is a critical tool for addressing our waste issues. But as recycling has become more and more expensive, counties across the Commonwealth are struggling to maintain their programs. Only 10 out of 67 counties offer curbside collection of recyclables. Allowing counties to implement and collect their own recycling fee (HB 597 last session) would expand and improve recycling programs across Pennsylvania, and help preserve and maintain these vital programs.
Eliminating polystyrene waste: The General Assembly should put a statewide ban on one of the most egregious single-use plastics: takeout food containers and cups made of polystyrene. These products are virtually unrecyclable, and often create litter and pollution that plagues our neighborhoods and environment. Previously HB 470, the legislature should support this policy in the 2025-2026 session.
Reducing plastic bag waste: Plastic bags are usually used just once and then they’re thrown away, clogging landfills, creating litter, and polluting our environment. Studies have shown that bans on plastic bags have been incredibly effective across the nation for reducing litter and waste. Legislators should support proposals to ban single-use plastic bags statewide and oppose efforts to preempt municipalities from passing local policies to address plastic pollution and waste.
Implementing a statewide Bottle Bill: Bottle Bill laws establish a refundable deposit on beverage containers, and are the most successful and cost-effective system to incentivize consumers, retailers and distributors to recycle. They improve recycling rates, reduce litter, help to tackle climate change, create jobs and provide an additional revenue stream for states that implement it. The legislature should pass a statewide Bottle Bill, as well as other “producer responsibility” policies that shift the burden of dealing with waste from consumers to the companies that make the waste in the first place.

Faran Savitz collecting water samples for microplastics at Aquetong CreekPhoto by Faran Savitz | Used by permission
Fighting fracking
From cradle to grave, fracking poses far-reaching threats to our health, environment and communities. PennEnvironment supports:
Stop dangerous underground injection of toxic waste: Fracking companies are taking wastewater that’s potentially contaminated with toxic chemicals and radioactive material and pumping it into wells and old mining tunnels under communities across Pennsylvania. This jeopardizes public drinking water supplies and puts public health at grave risk. Ohio suspended similar wells in 2023 after finding evidence of fracking fluid traveling more than a mile from the well. It’s time to end the dangerous practice of injecting hazardous, radioactive fracking waste under our communities (HB 1656 last session).
Enact the 2020 grand jury recommendations on fracking: In 2020, a Pennsylvania grand jury released a scathing study about the health and environmental risks posed by fracking. The report offered a series of commonsense recommendations to reduce these threats, including increasing setbacks from oil and gas drilling from homes, schools, hospitals and businesses (HB 170 last session); requiring oil and gas companies to report the chemicals they use in the fracking process (HB 477 last session); strengthening air pollution protections at fracking sites; and studying fracking’s effects on public health (HB 175 last session). The legislature should pass these much-needed health protections as quickly as possible.
Keeping radioactive fracking waste out of drinking water: Radioactive wastewater from fracking is being dumped at landfills and sent into public water supplies. This waste includes dangerous forms of radiation that are unregulated, untreatable by municipal water systems, and often not even tested for. Lawmakers must close loopholes that are allowing this dangerous risk to our drinking water (SB 26 and SB 92 last session) and should ensure municipal water authorities aren’t receiving waste they aren’t equipped to treat (HB 1732 last session).
Protect PA’s great outdoor places from fracking: Pennsylvania is blessed with incredible places that define our commonwealth’s natural heritage. Unfortunately, oil and gas companies are pushing to exploit these great places and important public lands for drilling and fracking. Legislators should oppose any proposals to open up our state parks and forests to fracking (HB 55 last session) and attempts to allow fracking in the Delaware River region.
Ban fracking: The only way to fully protect Pennsylvanians from the toxic scourge of fracking is to ban the process entirely.

Harrisburg Lobby Day Event, advocating for a clean energy futurePhoto by staff | TPIN