Harry Campbell, Pennsylvania Director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, issued the following statement in response to the General Assembly’s passage of House Bill 1565 (Hahn-R-Northampton) Wednesday.
“CBF is calling on Gov. Corbett to veto House Bill 1565, which now goes to his desk after passing both the House and Senate. We are disappointed in the passage of this bill, which removes protections for Pennsylvania’s most pristine streams and allows developers to cut down streamside trees. The bill is a huge step backward for the Commonwealth’s clean water efforts.
“Pennsylvania has a commitment to clean water, and streamside forested buffers are one of the most cost-effective, common-sense solutions to reducing pollution, managing floods, and maintaining iconic and economically important fish, like the brook trout. It simply does not make sense to allow developers to cut down existing trees, or to not require they be planted, on land development larger than one acre.
“The science is clear—planting and preserving trees along streams has innumerable benefits and has been widely adopted as a standard pollution prevention practice. Thousands of farmers and hundreds of developers, local governments, and businesses throughout the state have already planted and preserved buffers. These investments have all been made with the goal of managing polluted runoff, reducing flooding, and enhancing property values in the Keystone State.”