Senate Republicans Pass Bill Changing Membership Of DEP Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee To Favor The Senate, House

On October 5, Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out Senate Bill 1173 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) changing appointments on DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee from the Governor to appointments made by the House, Senate and the Governor.

The bill was then passed by the Senate by a partisan vote of 29 to 21, Republicans supporting.

In May, the Air Quality Advisory Committee had a tie vote on whether to recommend DEP move ahead with its proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction regulation covering power plants that is consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, when two other DEP advisory committees voted to not recommend it move ahead to the Environmental Quality Board for consideration.  Read more here.

As a result, Sen. Gene Yaw, who serves as Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and an opponent of the Carbon Pollution Reduction regulations, introduced the bill to ensure the Senate and House have more control over the membership of the Committee.

Ultimately the Environmental Quality Board voted 13 to 6 to approve the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Program for comment on September 15.  Read more here.

Sen. Pat Browne (R-Lehigh) serves as Majority Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and can be contacted at 717-787-1349 or send email to: pbrowne@pasen.gov.  Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted at 717-787-7112 or send email to: vincent.hughes@pasenate.com. 

[Posted: October 5, 2020]  PA Environment Digest