Tuesday, February 4, 2020

TODAY After Session: House Environmental Committee Meets On Concurrent Resolution Dealing With DEP Regulation

TODAY at the end of House session, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee has scheduled a meeting on a concurrent resolution on a regulation not named in the meeting announcement.
The text of the concurrent resolution was not made available to Committee members before the meeting, but will be available at the meeting, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), Majority Chair of the Committee, said in his announcement of the meeting made only on the Floor of the House this afternoon.
A good guess would say the concurrent resolution proposes to disapprove the final EQB Triennial Water Quality Standards and Stream Redesignation Regulation approved on Friday by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission by a 4 to 1 vote.
The House Committee still has an opportunity to block the regulation by reporting out a concurrent House-Senate resolution disapproving of the regulation.  The House and Senate then have 30 calendar days or ten legislative days, whichever is longer, to adopt the resolution and present it to the Governor for his action.
Since the House and Senate will be going on break for budget hearings until March 16, the ten legislative days is longer and the resolution could be considered when they return.
Background
DEP is required to review, revise and update, as needed, at least once every three years, water quality criteria and standards to reflect the latest scientific information and new federal guidelines for criteria development, and other implementation guidance.
The EQB adopted the Triennial regulation for comment in April of 2017 and held four public hearings on the proposal.  It was adopted as a final rule in November, 2019.
Among other issues, the regulation deals with setting standards for ammonia and bacteria, makes changes to stream designations for a variety of streams and providing for exceptions for fishable and swimmable waters.
On January 22, Republicans on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted to send a letter to the IRRC recommending they disapprove the regulation.  Click Here for more.
The recommendation was based on comments presented to the Committee by the American Forest and Paper Association and the Monroe County Clean Streams Coalition, a group of business landowners who have been challenging stream redesignations in the Pocono Region. Click Here for more.
The IRRC received comments from four parties on the regulation, the two business groups, the House Committee and PennFuture, who supported the regulation.
A copy of the regulation, supporting documents and DEP’s presentation to the EQB can be found on the Environmental Quality Board 2019 meetings webpage for November.
The Committee meeting will be held at the end of House session today in Room 205 of the Ryan Building.  Click Here to see if live video of the meeting is available.
Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-783-1707 or sending email to: dmetcalf@pahousegop.com. Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7647 or sending email to: gvitali@pahouse.net
Related Article:
[Posted: February 4, 2020]  PA Environment Digest

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