The bill also unified lawmakers typically at odds with one another — progressives such as state Sen. Katie Muth (D., Montgomery) and oil and gas backers such as state Sen. Cris Dush (R., Jefferson) voted against the bill citing reasons such as infringement on property rights and lack of safety assurances.
Muth added that her caucus leadership told her that the bill was dead in the weeks leading up to the election, and it wasn’t until hours before the vote that she was aware the bill would run.
“After this whole week, leadership has told me to my face that the bill was dead. Minutes after the budget vote, suddenly it’s back on the table,” Muth told Spotlight PA.
The embrace of carbon capture concerns some environmental advocates, for more reasons than just the new regulatory framework.
Karen Feridun, co-founder of the Better Path Coalition, a grassroots environmental advocacy group, is worried that embracing carbon capture will just prolong reliance on natural gas. She noted that the technology is still not broadly used and carries risks, like carbon dioxide leaking from transportation pipelines or storage wells and resulting in explosions, or seeping into groundwater.
Many lawmakers, she said, seem to be treating hydrogen production and carbon capture as unavoidable — a stance she said is reinforced by the federal money flowing to the projects.
“You’re in that ‘better-than-nothing’ mindset, which is how [lawmakers] seem to be regarding some of these things,” Feridun said.
Not all environmental advocates are as concerned, though. Three of the most prominent groups on this issue in the commonwealth — Conservation Voters of PA, PennFuture, and the state chapter of the Sierra Club — were neutral on the new carbon capture framework.
Environmental and labor advocates told Spotlight PA they think this new camaraderie between clean energy proponents, fossil fuel interests, and organized labor creates new opportunities for environmentalists to have a voice in state energy policy.
Katie Blume, the legislative director for Conservation Voters of PA, is skeptical of carbon capture, but she was encouraged by environmental protections included in the law. The bill was amended to limit what lands could be used for carbon storage. Those dedicated to the purposes of conservation or wildlife diversity, for instance, are off-limits.
“If carbon capture is coming to Pennsylvania with federal investments, we need to make sure we regulate this new-to-Pennsylvania technology in appropriate ways that protect our communities,” Blume said.
The impact of federal cash
Much of the recent action is related to the billions of federal dollars Pennsylvania stands to receive from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for energy projects.
The new $25 million Solar for Schools grant program is built around the assumption that projects will qualify for some of this federal money, and that between the state and federal support, the equipment, permitting fees, and other related costs the projects entail will be affordable or free for schools.
A spokesperson for state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D., Philadelphia), the bill’s prime sponsor, said that available federal funding was a major reason the program won rare bipartisan support. It ultimately passed the GOP-controlled state Senate by an overwhelming majority.
Rob Bair, the president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council, said the federal tax credits and grants gave lawmakers and advocates an opportunity to come together on energy issues where there had been gridlock for years.
Bair worked with Fiedler on the Solar for Schools legislation and said he was surprised and encouraged by the amount of common ground between himself and Fiedler. He said he sees their collaboration as a model for creating “good-paying middle-class jobs” in the new energy sector going forward.
“It’s no secret, I have my industry partners. You guys know the building trades are all about jobs,” Bair said at an April news conference. “There has to be compromise. There has to be a path forward. We do have to protect the climate. We have to protect jobs.”
The new fee on electric vehicles is also related to federal tax credits, though in a different way.
The federal government is trying to incentivize people to buy more electric vehicles using tax credits, which allow drivers to recoup up to $7,500 if they purchase plug-in or fuel-cell cars. However, Pennsylvania lawmakers have long argued electric vehicles don’t pay their fair share for road maintenance, as they avoid the gas tax that pays for some of it. Republicans have generally led that crusade, but the issue is bipartisan.
The bill lawmakers passed eliminated the existing alternative fuel tax on electric vehicles, which had electric vehicle users self-report monthly mileage and pay a corresponding tax for their electricity usage. Instead, the bill establishes an annual flat fee for all electric vehicle users that the Department of Transportation sets.
According to a fiscal note on the bill, the new fee is expected to bring in nearly $30 million annually by 2030. The old fuel tax brought in $18 million last fiscal year. The revenue will go toward road maintenance.
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania.
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