The Senate Wednesday put House Bill 1565 (Hahn-R-Northampton), that environmental groups say weakens DEP requirements for stream buffers in Special Protection Watersheds, in position for a final vote next week when the Senate and House return Tuesday and Wednesday for the last scheduled voting session days of this year.
An amendment offered Monday by Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, changed the provisions of the bill to give applicants the option to install practices other than a stream buffer, but only if they can prove other practices are “substantively equivalent to” a stream buffer.
The amendment also changes the provision allowing the installation of a buffer in other areas, but “as close as feasible to the area of disturbance” to limit the replacement buffer to areas within the same watershed. Click Here for the amendment language. Click Here for a summary.
If the bill is passed by the Senate in its current form, it must return to the House for a concurrence vote before the General Assembly adjourns.