By Tim Lambert | Editor-in-chief
“What’s usually a routine maintenance season is now an emergency. It’s all reflective of the tightening of supply on the PJM grid.” — Jon Gordon, senior director at renewable energy industry group Advanced Energy United, after electricity grid operator PJM warned the system could be pushed close to its limits.
A good Wednesday morning to you. We’ve almost reached the halfway point of October and today’s high in the Harrisburg area will be around 80. What does a guy have to do around here for a little fall weather?
A happy birthday to the founder of our great commonwealth, William Penn. He was born on this day in 1644 in London. A little less than 38 years later, he would make his first visit to Penn’s Woods.
Thanks for starting your day with us. As always, we deeply appreciate you reading, sharing and supporting our work. -- Tim
PJM Interconnection alerted power plant owners and electric utilities Monday of the need to take steps to avoid rolling blackouts as the demand for power approaches the grid’s current maximum capacity. (Photo by Peter Hall/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
By Peter Hall
The electricity grid operator for a broad swath of the mid-Atlantic and Midwest warned this week that warm weather and maintenance outages could push the system close to its limits.
PJM Interconnection alerted power plant owners and electric utilities Monday of the need to take steps to avoid rolling blackouts as the demand for power approaches the grid’s current maximum capacity. It called on them to suspend maintenance and keep generators online where possible to ensure the grid remains stable through Wednesday.
Also on Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an emergency order at PJM’s request allowing it to order power plants to operate as needed, including exceeding limits on air pollution. Additionally, it allows PJM to direct data centers and other large users to switch to on-site back up generators before it is forced to institute rolling blackouts and curtail electricity exports outside of the PJM coverage area.
A hydrogen hub is a a cluster of assets that produce and process hydrogen fuel as an alternative to fossil fuels. (Photo Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy)
By Rebecca McCarthy of Inside Climate News
Three years ago, hydrogen seemed poised for a long-awaited breakthrough. The Biden administration announced $7 billion in federal funding for seven hubs to produce the fuel across the country, and Pennsylvania was set to be a major player in the emerging industry.
Hydrogen has long been heralded as a potential skeleton key to emission reductions: able to power commuter vehicles and mass transportation, as well as hard-to-decarbonize industries like shipping and steel production.
MACH2 promised to bring over 20,000 jobs to the Delaware Valley region alone and lead the way in green hydrogen, produced entirely from clean energy, with a $750 million award from the Department of Energy. ARCH2 would receive $925 million to manufacture blue hydrogen, produced via fossil fuels, with emissions sequestered by carbon capture technology. ARCH2 would be centered on Western Pennsylvania’s steel industry.
Today, that momentum has all but disappeared, one of many clean energy investments facing an uncertain future under the Trump administration.
A convenience store in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, advertises skill games on March 12, 2026, (Photo by Jessica Kourkounis/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
By Hayley O’Brien of WITF
Businesses and nonprofits that house skill games are adjusting to a new reality after Pennsylvania lawmakers failed to reach a deal ahead of the state Supreme Court’s Oct. 13 deadline to regulate them.
The June 15th ruling gave the state 120 days to create a regulatory system before the machines would be legally considered slot machines.
Last week, the court denied requests to extend the deadline Tuesday to remove skill games. That means the machines are officially illegal as of today, but some businesses had already started getting rid of them.
Tory Kiefner is club manager at the VFW in Dillsburg, where they had their five skill games machines removed last week.
“We were going to wait until the very last minute to pull the machines,” she said. “But since we heard about the fines and how strict they were going to be, we got them out as soon as possible.”
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A recent court decision on voter rolls marks the latest rebuke of the Trump administration during more than a year of legal confrontations with dozens of states and voting rights groups. (Photo by Will Steinfeld/New Hampshire Bulletin)
By Jonathan Sherman of States Newsroom
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge.
The blistering court decision comes after the Department of Justice pressured or sued states for their voters’ information and then, according to court records and federal documents, turned over the data it obtained to Homeland Security Investigations — a sub-agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The decision, issued late last week, marks the latest rebuke of the Trump administration during more than a year of legal confrontations with dozens of states and voting rights groups over President Donald Trump’s efforts to assert authority over voting ahead of the midterm elections.
TODAY IN THE CAPITAL-STAR
Trump immigration policies could turn away foreign doctors: The U.S. has long welcomed foreign-educated physicians as a way to ameliorate its doctor shortage. Already, an estimated 102 million Americans live in communities that don’t have enough primary care providers, according to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
Researchers point to several factors in historic homicide decline: As candidates debate public safety ahead of the midterm elections, a new assessment of the nation’s historic homicide decline suggests there is no single explanation for the drop — and that some widely discussed enforcement strategies may have played little role.
ICYMI
Franklin County coroner announces measles-associated death: A 39-year old woman has reportedly died in Franklin County after being diagnosed with measles, according to the county coroner’s office. If confirmed, it would mark the sixth measles-associated death in Pennsylvania this year.
As black lung surges, feds halt rollout of new coal mine dust rules: A new study shows rates for black lung disease in Appalachia are surging. At the same time, the Trump administration is putting regulations that could reduce miners’ exposure to the dust associated with the disease on hold. The disease that afflicts miners is concentrated in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
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