Republicans On Senate Environmental Committee OK Bill To Change Membership On DEP’s Air Quality Advisory Committee

On November 10, the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted along party lines-- Republicans supporting-- to report out three bills--

-- Air Quality Advisory Committee: Senate Bill 301 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) eliminating appointment of DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee members by the Governor and changing it to appointments made by the House, Senate and the Governor.  [Note: The bill was originally introduced last session because Sen. Yaw was unhappy the Committee did not outright oppose DEP’s proposed regulation to reduce carbon pollution from power plants consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.  In May of this year, the Committee voted to approve the final regulation for consideration by the Environmental Quality Board. ]

-- Garage Floor Drains:  Senate Bill 776 (Laughlin-R-Erie) to amend Act 537 to allow garage floor drains to be discharged to an on-lot sewage system; and

-- Prescriptive Easements: House Bill 598 (Oberlander-R-Clarion) would limit actions to create prescriptive easements to public entities like state agencies and local governments, not private entities.

The bills now go to the full Senate for consideration.

Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) serves as Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-787-3280 or sending email to: gyaw@pasen.gov.   Sen. Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-5709 or sending email to: senatorcomitta@pasenate.com.

[Posted: November 10, 2021]  PA Environment Digest