On August 5, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell was joined by Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, and local officials to highlight the benefits of the Restore Pennsylvania Infrastructure Plan in remediating and redeveloping blighted properties across Pennsylvania.
“This project is a unique example of how Restore Pennsylvania can eliminate the hazards associated with blighted properties while creating recreational opportunities in the community,” McDonnell said.
Restore Pennsylvania, announced in January by Gov. Wolf, is an aggressive plan to address the Commonwealth’s vital infrastructure needs, including vacant and deteriorating properties/buildings, which often contaminate soil and groundwater.
The officials visited a 10.5-acre vacant tract of land in the city of Nanticoke, contaminated by past activities, where a recreational complex is planned. The land once housed a junkyard and was later utilized by the city to store heavy equipment.
The long-term plan for the site-- known as the Lower Broadway Recreation Complex-- is to remediate contamination to protective levels and provide for an array of recreation opportunities, including athletic fields, biking/walking paths, a playground, skateboard park, and a nature area.
Without Restore Pennsylvania funding, there will be insufficient revenue to sustain the investigations, cleanups, and monitoring of contaminated sites across the Commonwealth at current levels, like the Lower Broadway Recreation Site.
“Restore Pennsylvania is a bold, bipartisan proposal that will help our cities and communities tackle significant projects that improve public safety and set the stage for greater economic growth,” said Sen. Yudichak. “Projects, like the Lower Broadway Recreation Complex, cannot be completed with local resources alone. Restore Pennsylvania will make the Commonwealth a full partner with counties and communities looking to invest in local infrastructure projects that improve the lives of their taxpayers.”
On June 5, the $4.5 billion Restore Pennsylvania Infrastructure Plan legislation was introduced with strong bipartisan support as Senate Bill 725, sponsored by Sen. Yudichak and Sen. Tom Killion (R-Delaware) with 25 cosponsors (22 Democrats, 3 Republicans) and House Bill 1585, sponsored by Rep. Jake Wheatley (D-Allegheny) and Rep. Thomas Murt (R-Montgomery), with 99 cosponsors [83 Democrats, 16 Republicans].
There are nearly enough co-sponsors to pass the bill in the House and Senate. It takes 102 votes for a bill to pass the House and 26 in the Senate, if Republican leadership in the Senate and House allow a vote.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) said in June the Senate may address it in the Fall, “at the earliest.”
“It’s not been vetted yet, and we’re certainly not going to create a revenue source that could be a WAM [walking around money] platform, without knowing how this money is going to be spent,” Sen. Corman said.
Alternatives
One option several Republican Senators are ready to introduce is authorizing more natural gas drilling on DCNR’s State Forest lands, however, that proposal is an empty promise. It was introduced June 5 as Senate Bill 716 (Bartolotta-R-Washington).
In a public statement headlined “Gov. Wolf’s Restore PA Plan Would More Likely Destroy PA,” House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) called the plan “a $4.5 billion, debt-financed slush fund to be allocated at the whim of a new government board and paid for by yet another job-killing tax on the natural gas production industry.”
Speaker Turzai said a better solution is to adopt the “Energize PA” package of taxpayer funded natural gas use subsidies and create a new political commission to take over DEP’s job of setting environmental standards and making individual permit decisions.
For an overview of the proposed infrastructure plan, visit read the Restore Pennsylvania Infrastructure Plan article.
(Photo: Sen. Yudichak, Secretary McDonnell.)
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