The Department of Environmental Protection is now accepting applications for its Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) program, which will provide an estimated $8 million in grants for the purchase or conversion of alternative fuel vehicles.

The House voted today to override a proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule limiting carbon emissions from future coal-fired electricity plants.

The House and Senate remain in recess for Appropriations hearings until March 10, but despite a minor setback due to inclement weather, the Committees have been systematically meeting with the heads of each state agency to discuss the projected needs and impacts from Governor Corbett’s budget plan.

Conservation and environmental groups were joined by Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), Minority Chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, to release a letter signed by 35 groups urging legislators to oppose the proposed leasing of the subsurface rights in state parks and forest lands in the governor’s proposed FY 2014-2015 budget.

Free Flow Power, a Boston Company, has targeted Western Pennsylvania’s rivers as an ‘untapped resource’, and is currently seeking approval to build 10 hydroelectric power stations on the Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela rivers.

President Obama highlighted natural gas and other “fuels of the future” in his State of the Union address last week, and pledged to set new efficiency standards for trucks and “cut red tape” to help businesses build factories that use natural gas.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate approved the conference report for the 2014 Farm Bill by a vote of 67 to 32, following swift passage of the bill from the House in late January. President Obama is scheduled to sign the bill Friday during a ceremony at Michigan State University. The final pen stroke will end the nearly three-year process to enact a new five-year Farm Bill.

Gov. Tom Corbett presented his $29.419 billion 2014-15 General Fund budget proposal on Tuesday, which reflects a $926 million increase over the current fiscal year. The Governor said his budget would “drive the values of strategic investment and prudent fiscal management to address the commonwealth’s core funding needs.”

With passage by the US House of Representatives this morning, the Farm Bill and its energy provisions are a giant step closer to final passage.  The Farm Bill Conference report was approved by the full House in a 251 to 166 vote, over opposition from liberals, who said that food stamp cuts go too far, and conservatives concerned that the legislation failed to further curtail government spending.  The US Senate is expected to follow suit by the end of the week. (The Senate version of the Farm Bill passed last year is close to the final conference report.) 

On Tuesday, Governor Corbett announced the details of his “Energy = Jobs” plan, which he said would help market the state’s energy sectors to investors and businesses.