Lewisburg and Shamokin are two of a handful of municipalities across Pennsylvania utilizing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Local Climate Action Program (LCAP) to embark on a path to curb carbon emissions. Their resulting plans of action outline ambitious goals and outcomes that can be modeled by communities across the commonwealth looking to positively impact climate change, promote economic vibrancy, and reduce energy costs.
According to the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), temperatures in Pennsylvania increased 1.8°F in the last century; Pennsylvania is expected to warm another 5.9°F by 2050, and we’ll see many more days above 90°F by mid-century, compared to 2000. The commonwealth’s plan addresses climate change with ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals—26 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050 (from 2005 levels).
How do we get there?
Heidi Kunka, a former energy specialist in the DEP’s Energy Programs office, created the Local Climate Action Program in 2019 to assist local governments in developing climate action plans and implementing projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air co-pollutants that contribute to climate change, and to lower energy usage. The program pairs university faculty and student teams with local government personnel. In 2020, the first year of the program, Kunka worked with 20 local governments and universities to inventory greenhouse gas emissions, identify climate vulnerabilities, and develop local climate action plans.
According to Chris Nafe, an energy specialist who worked with Kunka, in its first four years, LCAP trained 64 cities, townships, boroughs, counties, and regional organizations, representing approximately 440 municipalities across the commonwealth. In 2023, the fifth year of the program, an additional eight communities took part.
“We try to meet all local governments who participate where they are,” said Nafe. “Some residents are concerned that adoption of these types of plans was going to result in some sort of mandate. These are just programs to try to help local communities with the efforts they want to voluntarily engage in to try to increase resiliency against climate change impacts, reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and try to increase their efficiency and save money. For example, the energy manager we contracted with for the first two years of the program identified over $400,000 worth of savings annually among the five
communities that participated.”
Early work
In 2020, Shaunna Barnhart, director of Bucknell University’s Place Studies Program and coordinator for Bucknell’s Coal Region Field Station, informed Shamokin personnel about the commonwealth’s LCAP, and urged them to apply. The same year, Shamokin was selected to be part of the program.
“[Bucknell’s Place Studies Program] partners with local organizations on research and projects that pertain to their goals about what does it take to move towards thriving communities, which is really relevant for our area where we have this long history of industrial decline,” explained Barnhart. “Which means the future isn’t going to look the same as the past.”
Through LCAP, Shamokin city personnel were paired with Bucknell University intern Maggie Barton, a senior majoring in environmental studies, and Barnhart, to learn how to measure local greenhouse gas emissions, assess local climate-related vulnerabilities, and a task force was formed to create a plan to address carbon emissions. Task force participants included SEDA-COG’s Betsy Kramer; Shamokin City Councilperson Doris Annis; Sandy Eric, a Shamokin representative; and then-Mayor John Brown, among others.
Barton’s inventory of Shamokin’s carbon emissions indicated the transportation sector was the biggest contributor, with 41.8 percent, followed by the residential sector at 23.82 percent. The resulting Energy Resiliency Plan created by the task force built on efforts in 2019, supported by a $300,000 Keystone Community Grant, to address economic vibrancy in Shamokin. The grant also has allowed Kramer to serve as Shamokin’s downtown revitalization coordinator for the past four years.
“We wanted to make sure they were attainable goals, and nothing that would impede development,” said Kramer of the plan. “We wanted to make sure [city] council was on board, and we wanted to make our recommendations palatable to the people of Shamokin.”
When the plan was adopted in 2021, Kramer saw public education and involvement as an important component. She secured a $5,000 grant to host workshops on how consumers can achieve energy savings in their homes, such as how to create doorway draft stoppers.
Next steps
One of the plan’s emissions reduction strategies for the transportation sector focuses on reducing vehicle miles travelled by creating a more walkable, bikeable and economically viable downtown. This effort was hampered by a recently enacted law allowing ATVs on portions of city streets, the result of the popularity of nearby Coal Township’s Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area, the number one driver of Shamokin’s economy, according to Kramer.
“We have people on bikes, ATVs, and cars,” said Kramer. “There is a newly built 3.1-mile connection from the ATV park through the woods and into the city of Shamokin. It actually brings business in. And restaurants have opened as a result of that.”
A $200,000 Safe Streets grant will address walkability by adding crosswalks, more room for bicycles, and the proper integration of ATVs on Independent Street, a major thoroughfare in downtown Shamokin.
Restoring and improving pedestrian infrastructure, Shamokin’s Energy Efficiency Plan notes, can also improve human health by fostering more walking while reducing car miles traveled.
One of the biggest challenges, says Kramer, is keeping people involved. The energy workshops helped, as did Barton’s newspaper articles on the plan’s progress, and a Facebook page she created. A big part of the public education effort was centered on cultivating optimism.
“Former Mayor John Brown said [residents of Shamokin] felt nothing good could happen to them. And you felt it; you felt the depression,” recalls Kramer. “People are seeing things happen. They’re seeing new businesses move in.”
An overview
Much has changed since the plan was enacted, according to Kramer, and results include reductions in carbon emissions, reduced energy costs, and downtown revitalization. And some efforts achieve successes across multiple platforms. Among the measures undertaken was the razing of two dilapidated buildings downtown to make way for a pocket park. Beyond the beautification aspect, expanding or restoring green space can reduce flood potential by reducing impervious surfaces and keeping stormwater in place.
The task force that created the plan is still active and continues to meet on a monthly basis. Down the road, Kramer envisions grant funding will allow for retrofitting buildings with solar panels and green roofs, and installing rain gardens, bioswales, pervious pavers, and other green infrastructure. Last November, a $500,000 EPA environmental grant was secured by the Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance to establish a brick-and-mortar presence in Shamokin staffed by a full-time coordinator. Along with its partners, the alliance will address environmental issues such as acid mine drainage, blight,
pollution, brownfield development, and sustainable job creation. An immediate focus is the restoration of Shamokin Creek.
“I think going forward, and having so much grant funding come in, proves to [residents] that we’re worth fighting for,” says Kramer.
One of the takeaways from the process, according to Kramer, is the unexpected synergy between energy efficiency and economic vibrancy.
“What I’ve learned through this process, working with Shaunna… to see the marriage of sustainability and environmental issues into economic development has been incredibly educational for me,” Kramer added. “Going forward we want to replicate this for other communities to help with their sustainability, and how that impacts economic development.”
And, in Lewisburg
In 2021, Barnhart met with Taylor Lightman, the newly hired program director for the Lewisburg Neighborhoods Corp., to identify ways the two might collaborate. Lewisburg Neighborhoods, a 501(c) 3, is focused on neighborhood revitalization in the borough of Lewisburg. Barnhart encouraged Lightman to think about a Local Climate Action Plan for Lewisburg.
“It was kind of a synergy of conversation,” said Barnhart.
Lightman, with a background in political organizing and a M.S. degree in Disaster Risk Management in Climate Change Adaptation, was eager to build on the borough’s successes, including flood mitigation efforts on the Bull Run Greenway, improved recreation access, the installation of a Nature Playground, and the redevelopment of Huffnagle Park. A Local Climate Action Plan could fortify Lewisburg’s existing
efforts.
“My predecessor, Samantha Pearson, was a very strong advocate for sustainable transportation, advocating for more connected networks so people can safely get where they need to go without using a vehicle if they so desire,” said Lightman. “And we have an extremely active shade tree commission that is fastidious about making sure we’re growing a large tree canopy that both helps mitigate climate change and adapts to our changing climate. So we’re building this long legacy of people in the Lewisburg community really doing the right thing to make our community a healthier, more livable place. All of that is essentially climate action.”
Where do we start?
A 19-member task force, consisting of community members, Bucknell University representatives, local and county government, elected officials, environment and community nonprofit representatives, and landscape architects, was convened. Lewisburg was paired with Barnhart and recent Bucknell graduate Maggie McConnell, who accomplished the Lewisburg greenhouse gas emissions inventory, and
synergistic goals were developed. Community input was gathered using surveys designed to identify public perceptions of existing borough climate action efforts and to gather feedback on the proposed objectives.
The ultimate goal of the Local Climate Action Plan is to allow the borough of Lewisburg to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To realize that objective, the plan outlines 13 strategic objectives with 53 measurable action items in six main categories: transportation, energy and buildings, waste, flooding, sequestration, and disaster risk reduction.
Transportation poses the most significant source of greenhouse gases in Lewisburg, representing 58.7 percent of all emissions in the borough. Lewisburg’s per capita transportation emissions measured in metric ton CO 2 equivalent are higher (6.07 percent) than national (5.71 percent) and state (4.66 percent) levels.
The new initiatives outlined in the plan to address carbon emissions encourage more efficient vehicles and resilient transportation systems; a 50 percent reduction in vehicle miles traveled by 2050; creation of a culture of alternative transportation; improved energy resilience and efficiency for existing and new buildings; reduction in solid waste; improved resilience to flooding by restoring, protecting, and conserving community water resources; and the growth and maintenance of a healthy tree canopy and diverse ecosystems.
“Part of the plan seeks to make walking and biking a safe and viable option for people,” said Lightman.
“If we’re going to grow as a community, we want to make more dense towns and villages, not turn our agricultural land into subdivisions. This makes everything closer and easier to get from point A to point B with walking and biking. Something the task force recommended was legalizing accessory dwelling units. They basically allow you to convert your garage into a new apartment. I think this will help us densify as a community in sort of a more gentle way.”
Although Lewisburg’s LCAP was adopted less than a year ago, already it is changing thought patterns.
“The most important part of a plan is the planning process,” said Lightman. “It sets you on a path where we will do climate action. It really adds to discussions when people are weighing, should we get the more expensive electric mower or should we get the cheaper diesel one, and we end up purchasing the electric mower. That’s the pathway we’ve chosen as a community.”
“I would add to that the safe transportation options as well—things that have happened within recent months over on St. Mary Street with the sharrows – bicycle and arrows that are painted on the street to let drivers know this is a shared road, which is new,” said Barnhart.
Paying it forward
Any effort to address climate change must involve educating the next generation. Toward that effort, Lightman and Barnhart co-teach a Bucknell course entitled Rural Climate Resilience, an integrative perspectives course designed to be taught by two people of different backgrounds to allow students to learn different approaches to the same issue.
“This class gives us an opportunity to talk about the work that’s been happening here locally with the Climate Action Plan in Lewisburg and the Environmental Resiliency Plan in Shamokin, as well as getting students to think more critically about how does climate and environmental action in rural communities look different than what might happen in a more dense or populated area,” said Barnhart.
As part of their coursework, students address real-life priorities identified by Lewisburg and Shamokin communities: one group of students is reviewing a project in New Berlin to further energy efficiency goals for residents, and how that model might be used in Shamokin; another is working with the Lower Anthracite Transportation Service to propose amenities that could increase ridership of public bus service; a third group is looking at the feasibility of an advertising campaign to promote the Lewisburg
area on-demand paratransit service, Rabbit Transportation; and the fourth group is looking at ways to improve the Bison Bikes program that provides free bike rentals to students on campus.
Is the plan enough?
“Any one plan in and of itself is just a starting point, and is not the end all be all of what needs to happen in order to obtain an overall objective,” said Barnhart.
“One of the goals of the climate movement,” added Lightman, “is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is an attainable goal, but it takes all of us working very hard for the next seven years to hit that goal.”
And Lightman has some suggestions for communities looking to address carbon emissions.
“The kinds of changes that reduce our carbon emissions are the things we all want to make our communities healthier and more livable—planting trees, making more mixed-use paths, enhancing our streams and waterways to accommodate more stormwater,” said Lightman. “These things are extremely beneficial for reducing climate emissions; they also make our towns more enjoyable. For Lewisburg, that means growing a healthy tree canopy, doing flood mitigation, and working hard to make sure that biking and walking is safe and available to more people. But each community needs to have a
community driven process. Climate action doesn’t have to be scary.”
