PEC Oct. 13 Environmental Policy Conference Features Key Decision Makers

The PA Environmental Council Environmental Policy Conference on October 13 in Harrisburg will feature key decision makers on Pennsylvania’s foremost policy challenges in 2015 and beyond.

John Walliser, PEC Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs, provided this update on the Conference agenda on PEC’s Blog Wednesday.

There are no shortage of environmental challenges facing Pennsylvania, and PEC’s second annual Policy Conference will be covering issues of both national and statewide importance.

We’re fortunate this year to not only have John Quigley, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, start the conference with a keynote.

We again will have at least a majority of the Chairs of the state Senate and House Environmental Resources Committees discussing what they see as their priorities for the current legislative session.

Confirmed so far are Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming), Majority Chair, Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee, Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair, of the Committee and Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), Minority Chair, House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee.

The White House’s recent announcement of an implementation framework for the Clean Power Plan – which will drive a broad set of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Pennsylvania and across the country – will have significant implications for our state’s energy portfolio for decades to come.

We will have representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania DEP, and power generation sector discussing how Pennsylvania can advance meaningful emissions reductions.

Watershed improvement also looms large for Pennsylvania, with the Susquehanna River watershed – which comprises a majority of both Pennsylvania and the broader Chesapeake Bay watershed – being the most challenging from a policy and budgetary standpoint. Pennsylvania is already deemed deficient on a number of mandatory benchmarks for water quality improvement, and has until 2017 to meet considerable goals.

The conference will include representatives from state and federal regulatory agencies, as well as key stakeholders like agriculture and local government, to discuss needs and opportunities for accomplishing this considerable task.

And we’ll stay with water for our final panel, which will discuss how Pennsylvania communities can address the challenges of stormwater management – particularly in light of ongoing state requirements. The panel will feature Rep. Kate Harper as well as local stakeholders who are on the front line of meeting this challenge.

While the topics are as challenging as they are imperative, we hope you will join us for a full day of substantive discussion with the very people tasked with ensuring Pennsylvania’s ongoing environmental improvement.

The Conference will be held at the Harrisburg Hilton from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Click Here to register for the Conference.  Click Here for more information on the agenda.  Contact PEC at 412-481-9400 if you have any Conference questions.

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