Free Republic

A catastrophic leak from a natural gas storage field in Cambria County likely released over one billion cubic feet of the potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The incident demonstrates the importance of tracking — and punishing — methane emissions, a priority recently moved forward by both Congress and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It also shows the urgency of implementing state-level regulations to control methane emissions from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry. Methane is the primary component of natural gas, and is fifty times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. While CO2 grabs the headlines, CH4...

A man has been charged after police allegedly found explosives at his residence, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Police are also accusing him of detonating two explosive devices on Thursday on Maple Street bridge in South Fork Borough. No injuries were reported as a result of these incidents. “Troopers believe that… [he] detonated these devices as a matter of personal enjoyment and did not have any specific intent to cause injury to any persons or damage to any property; however, damage was observed on the Maple Street bridge,” state police said. Police say 57-year-old Mark Stephen Yatsky is facing charges...

NICKTOWN — When she wakes from restless sleep in the middle of the night, Susan Miller thinks about the man who put her family out of their rural Blacklick Township farm. The Amish mother would like to talk to Cambria County Judge Norman Krumenacker, who ordered the house, barns and outbuildings padlocked because she and her husband John violated building codes and sewage regulations at their 49.5-acre homestead. "I sat up in bed the other night, and I was thinking that I feel bad he has to do this to us. I wanted to write him a letter to tell...