The PA Environmental Council Wednesday sent a letter to each member of the House urging them to eliminate language in the Fiscal Code bill-- House Bill 278 (Baker-R-Tioga)-- that would set different operational and environmental standards for regulating Pennsylvania’s hundreds of thousands of conventional oil and gas wells.
The language was included in the bill by the Senate which used the Fiscal Code bill to end run the legislative process to benefit the conventional well drilling industry. Bills in the Senate and House with the same language have not been passed by either chamber on their own.
The House is scheduled to consider the bill today.
The text of the letter follows—
“Yesterday the House Rules Committee amended House Bill 278 (now P.N. 3930) to remove several provisions from the legislation.
“We urge you to also remove language in House Bill 278 relating to conventional oil and gas well regulation – in P.N. 3930, from page 53, line 4 through page 54, line 9.
“Our reason for this request is simple: inclusion of language affecting natural gas well regulation is entirely separate from fiscal or budgeting matters, and goes against transparent public policy and the General Assembly’s own procedural rules.
“This language is drawn from companion legislation (House Bill 2350 and Senate Bill 1378, respectively) that has already been introduced, but not passed, in either chamber. This language and legislation should be required to stand on their own merits with full consideration and opportunity for public input.
“To end run the General Assembly’s own rules to pass language wholly unrelated to the budget goes against the public interest. We urge you to strike this language before final consideration of the Fiscal Code bill.”
John Walliser
Vice President, Legal & Government Affairs
Pennsylvania Environmental Council
The Pennsylvania Environmental Council Friday asked Sen. Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) and Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron) to respond to several significant concerns about Senate Bill 1378 and House Bill 2350 that would regulate conventional oil and gas wells differently than unconventional (Marcellus Shale) wells.
PEC said it was concerned about statements made by both members at the Senate and House Environmental Committees this week that the bills were meant to take conventional wells out of the basic law-- Act 13-- regulating oil and gas well activities leaving open the question of what kinds of environmental standards would apply to conventional wells.
There was no response to PEC's letters.
There was no response to PEC's letters.
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