Only two minor environmental bills even made it to the Governor’s desk-- House Bill 110 (Causer-R-Cameron) changing the members of the Hardwoods Development Council and House Resolution 148 (White-R-Philadelphia) urging EPA to protect Pennsylvania refineries under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard.
Of course that can be good news too, because it also means the many bad environmental and energy bills moved by the folks who now run the Senate and House didn’t make it either.
Here is a quick rundown of both good environmental bills-- many of them bipartisan-- and a list of bad energy and environmental bills and actions that shouldn’t see the light of day.
Think of this as a Naughty and Nice list.
All these bills will continue into 2022-- so you’d better watch out!
Remember to check the PA Environmental Council Bill Tracker for the status and updates on pending state legislation and regulations that affect environmental and conservation efforts in Pennsylvania.
Lost Opportunities -------------------------------------
-- $500 Million For Local Conservation Projects: Senators John Gordner (R-Columbia), Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery), Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester) and others have introduced bipartisan legislation proposing to allocate $500 million from the federal American Rescue Plan to fund Growing Greener watershed, farm conservation, mine reclamation and recreation projects in Senate Bill 525.
The bill was announced in March, introduced in June and is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee awaiting action. Read more here.
-- Permanent Funding For Watershed Restoration Projects: House Bill 20 (Sturla-D- Lancaster) and Senate Bill 868 (Muth-D-Chester) would charge extraordinary water users a nominal per-gallon fee for removing water from Pennsylvania waterways raising $350 million a year. They now use this taxpayer-owned asset for free. Read more here.
Neither bill has moved out of its original Committee.
-- Limiting Polluted Runoffs From Farms/Turf:
Senate Bill 465 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) establishes a new program to pay for on-farm conservation measures administered by the State Conservation Commission. No funding is provided for this program. Read more here.
This bill is in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Senate Bill 251 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) which sets standards for the application of fertilizer to turf, provides for the certification of professional fertilizer applicators and for labeling and an education program has been pending in the General Assembly for 11 years.
This bill was Tabled in the House Read more here.
House Bill 1226 (Sturla-D- Lancaster) requires farms given preferential tax abatement under the state’s Clean and Green Program to have a conservation plan.
This bill has not moved out of Committee
-- Flood Insurance: House Bill 70 (Warren-D-Bucks) establishing a Flood Insurance Premium Assistance Task Force to make recommendations on making flood insurance more affordable for landowners (sponsor summary) was Tabled in the House.
-- RGGI Funds Investment Program: Senate Bill 15 (Comitta-D-Chester) and House Bill 1565 (Herrin-D-Chester) establishing a program to invest the proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon pollution limits on power plants to reinvest in communities and workers impacted by the transition to clean energy, environmental justice areas, clean energy and energy efficiency. Read more here.
Neither bill has moved out of Committee.
-- Pipeline Safety: Senate Bill 494 (Comitta-D-Chester) establishing a Pipeline Safety and Communication Board to improve communications on public safety issues related to constructing and operating pipelines (sponsor summary).
A similar bill introduced in the House-- House Bill 1408 (Quinn-R-Delaware)-- is still in the House Consumer Affairs Committee.
Senate Bill 518 (Comitta-D-Chester) would prohibit petroleum product pipelines from being located within 100 meters of a dwelling and other limitations (sponsor summary).
Neither of the Senate Bills has moved out of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.
House Bill 1400 (Quinn-R-Delaware) establishing a pipeline impact fee is still in the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
-- Power Plant Community Impact Fee: House Bill 1740 (Mullins-D-Lackawanna) providing for a power plant community impact fee (sponsor summary).
This bill is in the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
-- Increase Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Renewable Energy Goals:
House Bill 100 and Senate Bill 872 would require Pennsylvania to reach 100 percent renewable energy generation by 2050. Read more here.
Senate Bill 300 (Santarsiero-D-Bucks) increases the renewable energy mandate under Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards from 8 percent to 30 percent by 2030 (sponsor summary).
Senate Bill 501 (Laughlin-R-Erie, Haywood-D-Montgomery) and House Bill 1080 (Quinn-R-Delaware, Herrin-D-Chester) to raise the mandate for solar energy from 0.5 percent to 5.5 percent by 2026 under the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards. Read more here.
None of these bills have moved out of their original Committees.
-- Community Solar Programs: Senate Bill 472 (Scavello-R-Monroe) and House Bill 1555 (Kaufer-R-Luzerne) authorizing community solar projects which allows neighbors, businesses, farms, and other community members to directly participate in and receive the benefits from a solar project connected to their local electric distribution company’s grid. Read more here.
Senate Bill 919 (Laughlin-R-Erie and Costa-D-Allegheny) authorizes electric utilities to establish solar energy subscriber programs (sponsor summary).
None of these bills moved out of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee or the House Consumer Affairs Committee.
-- Clean Vehicle Infrastructure: Senate Bill 435 (Mensch-R-Montgomery) encouraging the development of clean transportation infrastructure to support electric, natural gas and hydrogen vehicles. Read more here.
This bill was Tabled in the Senate.
-- Expanding C-PACE Program: Senate Bill 635 (Yudichak-I-Luzerne) which expands the Property-Assessed Clean Energy Program-- C-PACE-- to include multifamily buildings, indoor air improvements and resiliency measures. Read more here.
This bill is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
House Bill 1760 (Heffley-R-Carbon) expanding the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program- C-PACE-- to multifamily commercial buildings, indoor air improvements and resiliency improvements (sponsor summary).
This bill is in the House Commerce Committee.
-- Requiring Community Impact Reports: House Bill 2043 (Bullock-D-Philadelphia) would require applicants of electric generating, waste disposal, processing and recycling, sewage treatment plant or a major source of air pollution to prepare an environmental impact report on facilities located in census tracts ranked in the bottom 33 percent for median annual household income. The report would be subject to a public hearing and comment period (sponsor summary).
This bill is in the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
-- Right To Community Self-Protection: House Bill 1716 (Friel Otten-D-Chester, Herrin-D-Chester) proposes to amend the state constitution to allow communities to protect the inherent constitutional rights of their residents to health, safety, a clean environment, private property, and protect their economic interests (sponsor summary).
This bill is in the House Local Government Committee.
-- Universal Testing Of Children For Lead: Senate Bill 522 (Baker-R-Luzerne, Yudichak-I-Luzerne) requiring the testing of children and pregnant women for lead levels (sponsor summary).
This bill has not moved out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
-- Open Space Maintenance: House Bill 221 (Rader-R-Monroe) would authorize communities to use a portion of revenue from a local open space tax for property maintenance.
This bill is in the Senate Local Government Committee.
-- Wildlife Conservation Corridors: House Resolution 74 (Daley-D-Montgomery) and Senate Resolution 70 (Muth-D-Berks) directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study of conservation corridors in Pennsylvania. A conservation corridor is defined as habitat linkage that joins two or more areas of wildlife habitat, allowing for fish passage or the movement of plant or animal wildlife from one area to another (sponsor summary).
House Resolution 74 is now in the House Transportation Committee and Senate Resolution 70 is in the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
-- Voter-Initiated Referendums: Senate Bill 538 (Boscola-D-Lehigh) that would authorize voters to directly propose and vote on amendments to the state constitution, establish new laws or repeal existing laws, without action by the General Assembly. Read more here.
This bill has not moved from the Senate State Government Committee.
Want to suggest a bill for the good list? Send them to: PaEnviroDigest@gmail.com.
Naughty List ---------------------------------------------------
-- These are just some of the bad environmental and energy bills pending--
-- Allow General Assembly To Unilaterally Invalidate Regulations Without Review: House and Senate Republicans have introduced legislation that would allow the Senate and House to unilaterally invalidate regulations and Executive Orders issued by the Executive without any possibility of review of their actions.
-- Regulations: House Bill 2069 (Cutler-R-Lancaster) Amend Article III, Section 9, to exempt the disapproval of a regulation by the General Assembly from the presentment requirement for the governor’s approval or disapproval.
-- Executive Orders: House Bill 2070 (Cutler-R-Lancaster) Amend Article IV, to add a new section providing that any executive order or proclamation issued by the governor, which purports to have the force of law, may not be in effect for more than 21 days, unless extended by concurrent resolution of the General Assembly.
The bills were just introduced, but will be considered by the House State Government Committee on November 16. Read more here.
-- Allow The General Assembly To Kill Regulations By Doing Nothing:
-- Senate Bill 520 (DiSanto-R-Dauphin) contains the single provision authorizing the General Assembly to kill economically significant regulations by doing nothing is now in the House State Government Committee. Read more here from last session’s bill
-- House Bill 72 (Keefer-R-York) which allows the General Assembly to kill regulations by doing nothing is in the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee. Read more here.
-- Changing the Fundamental Definition Of Water Pollution/Let Companies Decide When To Report Spills: Senate Bill 545 which allows companies to decide when to report spills that pollute receiving streams and harm public health. Read more here.
This bill is in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
House Bill 1842 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) is a companion bill in the House that was Tabled after being reported out of Committee.
-- Shielding Violators: Senate Bill 29 (Phillips-Hill-R-York) requires all state agencies to establish a new bureaucracy in the form of a Regulatory Compliance Officer with no oversight of any kind giving him the ability to issue an opinion on what any person’s obligations are under the laws administered by that state agency (within 20 business days) which can be used as a “complete defense” against any enforcement proceeding. Read more here.
This bill is in the Senate Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.
A companion bill introduced in the House-- House Bill 288 (O’Neal-R-Washington)-- is also in the Senate Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.
-- Limiting The Grounds For Citizen Appeals Of DEP Permit Decisions: Senate Bill 717 (Bartolotta-R- Washington) which would create a new standard for the review for appeals of DEP permit actions before the Environmental Hearing Board by limiting parties appealing permit decisions-- a company or a citizens group-- to issues raised in and information contained in a record of decision of a permit prepared by DEP. Read more here.
Senate Bill 718 (Bartolotta-R- Washington) would shorten the term of a judge on the Environmental Hearing Board from six to five years.
These bills were Tabled after being reported out of Committee.
-- Don’t Tell The Public Why A Regulation Is Being Proposed: Senate Bill 426 (Gordner-R- Columbia) prohibits agencies from publishing statements with regulations explaining the purpose of the regulation, why the regulation changes are being made and what those changes are. Read more here.
This bill is in the House State Government Committee.
-- Stop Public Participation/Rulemaking During Emergencies: Senate Bill 533 (Yaw-R- Lycoming) would prohibit any public participation in state agency rulemaking and policy making processes during a declared state emergency and prohibits agencies from adopting regulations unrelated to the emergency. Read more here.
This bill was reported out of Committee and Tabled in the House.
--Redistributing State Environmental Funding To Pay For Other Programs:
House Bill 1755 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) would take away all Department of Environmental Protection permit application fees collected by the agency and deposit them into the General Fund rather than into the accounts now set up in law to pay for specific environmental protection programs. Read more here.
This bill is in the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
House Bill 255 (Grove-R-York) would transfer 46 dedicated funds-- including 13 dedicated environmental and conservation funds-- into the General Fund as restricted accounts so they can be drawn upon to pay the state’s bills when the General Fund balance is low so the State Treasurer does not have to borrow money. Read more here.
The dedicate environmental funds include the-- Conservation District Fund, Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund, Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund, Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Fund, Environmental Education Fund, Recycling Fund, Unconventional Gas Well Fund (supports Oil and Gas Drilling regulation), Marcellus Legacy Fund (distributes Act 13 drilling impact fees to communities state agencies for conservation purposes), Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Fund and others.
The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.
-- Create Another Bureaucracy To Privately Review Permit Applications:
-- Senate Bill 28 (Phillips-Hill-R-York) that requires all state agencies to establish a new bureaucracy to require the review of permit applications by private contractors for applications that have been “delayed,” eliminating agency review of permit applications on behalf of the public and adding more state bureaucracy and cost on taxpayers is in the House Environmental Committee. Read more here.
-- House Bill 139 (Rothman-R-Cumberland) that requires all state agencies to establish a program to require the review of permit applications by private contractors for applications that have been “delayed,” eliminating agency review of permit applications on behalf of the public and adding more state bureaucracy and cost on taxpayers is in the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee. Read more here.
-- Senate Bill 535 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would add more bureaucracy to the DEP permit review process by requiring third-party permit reviews is in the Senate Environmental Committee.
-- House Bill 604 (Fritz-R-Susquehanna) adding more bureaucracy to the DEP permit review process, declaring in law the applicant for an environmental permit is always right and eliminates public comment periods was reported out of Committee and Tabled in the House. Read more here.
-- Steps To Stifle Renewable Energy Development: Senate Bill 284 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would load up renewable energy projects, energy efficiency products and high-efficiency locomotives with bonds to prevent their development [Read more here] is now on the Senate Calendar for action.
-- Senate Bill 530 (Dush-R- Jefferson) and House Bill 266 (James-R-Venango) would require the recycling of solar panels through the broken state electronic waste recycling program to drive up solar energy costs. Read more here from last session.
-- Prohibit The Ability Of Communities To Promote Clean Energy: Senate Bill 275 (Yaw-R- Lycoming) which would limit the ability of communities to offer new and clean energy sources and energy efficiency programs by locking in the status quo, in particular natural gas was passed by the Senate and now goes to the House for action. Read more here.
The bill is now in the House Local Government Committee.
A companion bill in the House-- House Bill 1947 (O’Neal-R- Washington)-- reported out of the House Local Government Committee and was Tabled.
-- Senate Republican Caucus Filed Lawsuit Against The Delaware River Basin Commission Over Moratorium On Fracking Oil & Gas Wells: On January 11, the PA Senate Republican Caucus filed a lawsuit in the federal Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania alleging the Delaware River Basin Commission's moratorium on shale gas drilling is a taking of private property without compensation and exceeds the authority given the Commission in its compact. Read more here.
-- Kill Carbon Pollution Reduction Program Covering Power Plants: Senate Bill 119 (Pittman-R-Indiana) would kill the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Program covering power plants consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
The bill is now in the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
A companion bill in the House-- House Bill 637 (Struzzi-R-Indiana)-- was reported from the House Rules Committee and Tabled.
Senate Concurrent Resolution #1 disapproving of the final regulation limiting carbon emissions from power plants consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative passed the Senate and is now being considered by the House. Read more here.
-- Senate Republicans Advised Gov. Wolf They Will Reject Any Nominees To The Public Utility Commission Until He Withdraws His Executive Order To Develop A Carbon Pollution Reduction Program covering power plants consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Read more here.
-- Roll Back Environmental Protection Standards For Conventional Oil & Gas Wells: House Bill 1144 (Causer-R- Cameron) rolls back environmental protection standards for conventional oil and gas wells and legalizes road dumping of drilling wastewater. Read more here.
This bill is now in the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
A companion bill in the Senate-- Senate Bill 534 (Hutchinson-R-Venango) that is also in the Senate Environmental Committee.
-- Authorize Off-Highway Motorcycles In State Forests: House Bill 478 (Owlett-R-Tioga) authorizes the use of off-highway motorcycles on State Forest and other public lands is in the House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee. Read more here on last session’s bill.
Check the PA Environmental Council Bill Tracker for the status and updates on pending state legislation and regulations that affect environmental and conservation efforts in Pennsylvania.
[Posted: November 12, 2021] PA Environment Digest
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