The joint public hearing on the issue of state threatened and endangered species will be held by the Senate Game & Fisheries Committee and the Senate Majority (Republican) Policy Committee. Senator Richard Alloway, R- Franklin, chairs the Game & Fisheries Committee, while Senator Edwin Erickson, R-Delaware, chairs the Majority Policy Committee. All Republican senators are members of the Majority Policy Committee.
The hearing will be held on Friday, January 10, at 10 a.m. at the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Testimony at the hearing will be provided by Carl Roe, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission; John Arway, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission; Shawn Good, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry; and Sarah Miller, Pennsylvania Builders Association.
The crucial decisions to list a wildlife species as state threatened or state endangered, or to designate a wild trout stream, are now made by scientists and wildlife experts at the Game Commission and the Fish & Boat Commission on the basis of the best scientific data available. House Bill 1576 and Senate Bill 1047 would inject politics and subject these decisions to a cumbersome and lengthy regulatory review process involving persons with no particular expertise in science or wildlife conservation.
The bills would also open up substantial opportunities for political intervention and interference by the natural gas, coal, oil and other industries that are behind this bill.
Would you want a trained medical professional to determine whether your child was sick and in need of assistance? Would you want a trained scientist or wildlife professional to determine whether an otter or osprey was threatened or endangered and in need of assistance, or would you want that decision made by a natural gas corporation or big developer?
House Bill 1576 was approved by the House Game & Fisheries Committee on November 13, but tabled upon reaching the House floor. The extractive industries and other development interests in support of the bill are making a full-court press for a House floor vote in early 2014.
Senator Alloway, chair of the Senate Game & Fisheries Committee, will have a lot to say about the fate of HB 1576 should it be approved by the House.
Steve Stroman is state policy director for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg.
Steve Stroman is state policy director for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg.
