Next week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives returns to Harrisburg for three of days of voting session. Will the focus be on public education, the state's high unemployment rate or looming public pension crisis? No, the House is poised to spend most of the week considering a bill that would undermine the ability of our wildlife management agencies to protect the wildlife of Pennsylvania.
Yes, March madness is here a week before Selection Sunday for the NCAA basketball tournament. But this madness is not about office pools, hoopla and busted brackets. It is a deadly serious and irresponsible threat to the mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians of Pennsylvania and the natural inheritance we leave for the future generations of Penn's Woods.
House Bill 1576, written and pushed by the Marcellus shale, coal, oil and other industries, would make it much more difficult for the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission to protect state threatened and endangered species in Pennsylvania. The bill would also make it much more difficult for the Fish & Boat Commission to designate wild trout streams, a designation which affords stronger protections for our best headwater streams and wetlands. You can read more about the bill here.
HB 1576 is now slated for second consideration and amendment votes starting on Monday, and a final passage vote on Tuesday or Wednesday. House Democrats have filed nearly 90 amendments to the bill.
The Pennsylvania conservation and sportsmen's communities are united and passionate in their opposition to the bill. Seventeen conservation, environmental and recreation organizations signed one letter to the House urging opposition to HB 1576, and seven hunting and angling organizations signed another. Many organizations are marshaling their members to take action. You can help by responding to action alerts from PennFuture and other organizations, making phone calls and sending e-mails, and urging everyone you know to do the same.
We're hearing complaints from Republican House members from southeastern Pennsylvania that their leadership is walking them into an election year buzz saw, yet another gift to the Marcellus shale industry that has lavished many in the General Assembly with substantial campaign contributions.
Do you want scientists and wildlife management experts to decide whether wildlife species deserve special protection based on scientific data, numbers and the health of a population? Or do you want these decisions subject to political interference by the natural gas industry, the coal industry, the oil industry, big box builders or other developers?
The question is, or should be, absurd. Welcome to March madness, Harrisburg style.
You can help stop the insanity. Please stand up for wildlife and urge your state legislators to reject this attack on our wildlife professionals.
Steve Stroman is state policy director for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg.
