PA Environment Digest Blog: PA Bipartisan Climate Initiative Hosts Oct. 1 Briefing On State Of Climate Efforts In Pennsylvania At College Of Physicians Of Philadelphia

The Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative announces a briefing Tuesday, October 1 at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 S. 22 Street in Philadelphia from Noon to 2:00 p.m.

Pennsylvania has the strongest Environmental Bill of Rights of any state in the union, and yet, until recently, few knew about this unique superpower.

The Initiative is marking its first year of educating citizens—about their constitutional rights to a livable environment under Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA)—and public officials, who have a constitutional obligation to act as trustees for the environment.

The Initiative is bringing together diverse groups and individuals working to protect our climate.

“The Environmental Bill of Rights was born in 1971, in the spirit of bipartisanship,” said the Initiative’s Executive Director, Michael Sklaroff. “It passed unanimously in both houses of the Legislature. And then was approved by voters across the Commonwealth by a vote of four to one.”

The Initiative will also be celebrating the Honorable Ron Castille, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. A Republican, he wrote the 2013 opinion that brought the ERA back to life.

Ratified overwhelmingly by voters in 1971, the Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment is a unique and powerful tool that has never been fully implemented. It contains four features that no other state constitution has in full measure:

-- The ERA gives every Pennsylvanian, including future generations, a right to a livable environment.

-- The ERA makes every public o>icial, elected and appointed, a trustee for the environment.

-- The ERA is self-executing: it needs no further act of the Legislature to be effective.

-- The ERA is contained in Article I of the Constitution—the Pennsylvania Bill of Rights— alongside religious freedom, the right to vote, the right to own property, and freedom of the press.

Speakers include:

-- Rabbi Julie Greenberg, Climate Director, Power Interfaith;

-- Emily Schapira, President & CEO, Philadelphia Energy Authority;

-- Robert McKinstry, environmental lawyer and consultant;

-- Joseph Khan, environmental lawyer;

-- Peter Meier, environmental economist and member, New Hope Borough Council;

-- Ashlei Tracy, Deputy Director, Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative; and

-- Michael Sklaro, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative.

Click Here to R.S.V.P.. Questions should be directed to Executive Director Michael Sklaroff at (215) 206-0266 or msklaroff@paclimateinitiative.org.

The Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative educates people across the state about their constitutional rights to a livable environment under Pennsylvania’s powerful Environmental Rights Amendment, and public o>icials of their constitutional obligations as trustees for the environment.

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - September 21 to 27 - Gas Storage Areas Wells Leaking; Failure To Comply With Orders, Failure To Report Fracking Chemicals; Bubbling Conventional Pipeline Leak [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Violations To 3 Shale Gas Drillers For Failing To Report Fracking Chemicals, Including At EQT’s Lumber Well Pad In Greene County [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - September 28 [PaEN]

-- DEP: Comments Due Oct. 21 On New 16-Inch Natural Gas Pipeline Being Built In Springfield, Troy, West Burlington & Granville Townships, Bradford County [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 73 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In September 28 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

20 Years Of Shale Gas

-- Observer-Reporter: Local Officials Have Had To Grapple With Fracking Since It’s Arrival - Cecil Township, Washington County [Part II] [PDF of Article]

-- Observer-Reporter: ‘Shale Revolution:’ A Look Back At 20 Years Of Gas Drilling In Southwest PA [Part I] [PDF of Article]