HARRISBURG — At the end of 2022, Pennsylvania released its plan to bring “robust high-speed broadband infrastructure” to unserved and overlooked parts of the commonwealth.
Powered by $400 million from various federal pots of cash, the public learned in 2023 that the state will receive close to $2 billion for those efforts through 2028. During the year, the state has issued more plans — while officials and industry leaders have noted problems and successes.
Most of the funds will come via the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, along with the Capital Projects Fund to boost the build-out.
WHAT WENT RIGHT“The biggest highlight is the CBF fund, that $200 million fund, came together really well,” said Todd Eachus, president of the Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania. The Broadband Development Authority “received a really solid number of applications from providers who are looking to fill in those donut holes of unserved areas.”
The authority, he said, was transparent in the rules and what was required of providers for the funds. Grant awards are expected to be announced in early 2024.
BEAD: A BIGGER PROBLEMNot everything was smooth sailing, however. The $1.6 billion BEAD program, Eachus said, had “some bumps in the road.”
BEAD is an acronym for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
The biggest challenge, he noted, was job classifications within the state’s prevailing wage rules. Communications association members hoped to see some reclassifications for fiber splicing and telecom linemen in line with other states. Those changes would set a lower wage than what current rules require. Instead, Pennsylvania providers will have to classify those workers as electric linemen, which has a $90 per hour wage.
With a limited amount of dollars to build out the infrastructure, Pennsylvania may build less than neighboring states.
“That’s really going to stress CBF and BEAD dollars, and challenges our ability to get to every unserved and underserved Pennsylvanian,” Eachus said. “That’s a big concern.”
PERMITTING HURDLESOther problems include regulatory issues that could slow down the process of getting a project started – and finished.
Brandon Carson, executive director of the development authority, has warned of permitting “bottlenecks” that could threaten projects and make would-be partners decline to help expand broadband, even with the available money.
“The key to this is going to be speed to market and a smooth approach,” Eachus said. Getting local and state officials on the same page, with a go-to point of contact to fix broadband issues, matters greatly.
Otherwise, he said, the broadband program could become a jobs program.
LABOR SHORTAGESPennsylvania has more than 300,000 unserved and underserved locations in the state. But connecting them to broadband is partially a question of finding enough workers to do the job.
Experts estimate up to 7,000 skilled workers are needed, but with all states building infrastructure at the same time, an effective program might hinge on getting enough young people trained.
Without enough laborers, the new buildout could deteriorate into what the Northern Tier has seen: a state investigation into poor phone and internet service with a pending $100 million settlement to address systemic failures.
FEDERAL bureaucracyAs the federal government sends out $43 billion nationally for broadband expansion, the help is a mixed blessing. State officials have called the BEAD program “the most burdensome federal program.”
In Pennsylvania, Eachus warned that a push from the FCC to reclassify broadband from a Title I to Title II service could “chill investment,” which threatens future maintenance of the new infrastructure.
Pennsylvania has had a significant year for energy development, with hundreds of millions of federal dollars coming into the commonwealth.
Though the status of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the first mandatory market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the United States, remains mired in a legal fight, hydrogen hubs and natural gas have kept legislators and the public busy.
HYDROGENIn October, the federal government announced $750 million for the MACH2 hub in southeastern Pennsylvania and $925 million for the ARCH2 hub based in West Virginia that extends into Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Senate Republicans alike praised the announcement, celebrating the potential for more jobs and growth in the commonwealth.
Environmentalists and fiscal watchdogs, though, are less excited about the hubs. They say the hubs haven’t proven to be economically viable, threaten the environment, and could waste massive amounts of taxpayer dollars.
A proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal, too, has sparked similar issues. A legislative task force has heard from developers and labor leaders of the potential economic opportunity it presents, while residents near the planned location say it could directly harm their health.
The liquefied natural gas fight is reflective of a common dynamic concerning energy policy in Pennsylvania: a health versus wealth tradeoff.
NATURAL GASThough energy production has grown in places like Texas and Louisiana, Pennsylvania has lagged behind. The Independent Fiscal Office predicted 2023 will have the fewest wells drilled in the last decade.
That decline is a result of significantly lower prices and pipeline constraints. Many pipes have hit capacity to carry out natural gas.
Critics of the industry say pipeline improvements won’t fix the problem in the long run – instead, they warn of production hitting a plateau in the Marcellus Shale.
Following a drop in prices, the IFO warned in the summer that impact fee revenues could dramatically fall after a record 2022. By December, their prediction came true: revenues fell by $105 million. Along with low prices, fewer new wells meant that aging wells returned less money to local and state governments.
ORPHAN WELL PLUGGINGAs the state government spends more money, aided by federal largesse, to plug orphan oil and gas wells (those that lack an identifiable owner), a lurking taxpayer cost underpins the environmental process.
The Shapiro administration has touted its efforts to plug 100 wells within 10 months — more than the past six years — but it’s hardly a dent in the 30,000 orphan wells in the Department of Environmental Protection’s database.
Those 30,000 are only a fraction of the estimated 200,000-500,000 undocumented orphan wells scattered across the state. Some nonprofit groups have plugged them, too, but warn that a federal project to boost well-plugging efforts may not prioritize the most harmful wells.
