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Lycoming College is pleased to welcome attorney Bob Bucknam ’81 and Pennsylvania State Senator Dave Argall ’80 for a lecture titled, “Pennsylvania’s Energy Transition: Regulating the Commonwealth’s Future Energy Portfolio,” on Nov. 6 at 6 p.m., in the Mary Lindsay Welch Honors Hall on the Lycoming College Campus. The lecture is part of the Center for Energy and the Future (CEF) Speaker Series, and is free and open to the public.
Pennsylvania has long been at the forefront of energy transitions, with coal mining since the late 1700s and the first oil well drilled in Titusville in 1859. The world’s first full-scale atomic powered plant for the generation of electricity was built in Shippingport, Pa., and horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing have been used to produce natural gas in Pennsylvania since 2004. With this in mind, Bucknam and Argall will focus their discussion on the future of energy in Pennsylvania through the lens of policy and regulation. They will explore topics such as how Pennsylvania’s policy and regulatory framework can shape the energy choices made by its citizens, and how these policies should evolve as the legacy of Pennsylvania’s energy transition continues.
Bucknam is an attorney and board member for Archer Attorneys at Law. He is the chair of the firm’s Land Use, Environmental Permitting and Regulatory Compliance Group and co-chair of the firm’s Energy and Utilities Group. Bucknam’s legal practice specializes in the area of land use planning, zoning, environmental law and permitting, energy law, utilities law, redevelopment law, administrative agency permitting and regulatory compliance at all governmental levels, real estate transactions and financing, and related litigation. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Lycoming College, Bucknam received his Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law.
Argall represents the 29th District, including 94 municipalities in both Schuylkill and Berks Counties. As the Majority Policy Chairman, he is the Senate Republican leader responsible for exploring new ideas statewide. Argall’s top legislative priorities center around promoting job growth, eliminating the local school property tax, and revitalizing the downtown area along with older industrial neighborhoods. He is also a leader in conservation, farmland preservation, and abandoned mine reclamation initiatives. Argall received his bachelor’s degree from Lycoming, and went on to earn his doctoral degree in public administration from Penn State.
The CEF speaker series is sponsored, in part, by the Atlantic Sunrise Community Grant program, established by Williams, a natural gas transmissions pipeline company committed to being a good community neighbor and environmental steward.