Our preview of the stretch run of the fall legislative session discussed the need for the General Assembly to defeat two bad environmental bills along with the opportunity to pass two excellent bills. Unfortunately, by passing both bad bills and failing to pass either good bill, the General Assembly went 0 for 4 and wore the collar as fans of clean water, acting responsibly on climate, protecting public health, and reducing energy use were left to ponder what might have been in the face of these strikeouts.
Let's look at the legislative box score, which is chock full of errors.
The passage of House Bill 1565 will undermine the current requirements for riparian buffers that protect High Quality and Exceptional Value streams, Pennsylvania's best waters. Riparian buffers reduce flooding and stormwater runoff, improve water quality, decrease pollution, protect drinking water and improve habitat for fish and other wildlife.
HB 1565 rolled into the Senate with considerable momentum from its lopsided passage in the House. A hard push by environmental, conservation and angling organizations made the Senate vote close, but unfortunately the bill was approved 27-22 and has just been signed into law by Governor Corbett as Act 162 of 2014.
The passage of House Bill 2354 will delay and harm Pennsylvania's ability to develop an effective plan to comply with the proposed U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Power Plan. The EPA plan would deliver significant carbon pollution reductions from power plants, help fight global warming, and improve public health, and represents an extraordinary opportunity to boost renewable energy and energy efficiency efforts in Pennsylvania and across America. HB 2354 now risks a federal takeover of Pennsylvania's carbon compliance efforts.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 14-12 to approve a compromise amendment offered by Senator John Rafferty, R-Montgomery, that would have given the General Assembly significant input into the crafting of the Pennsylvania compliance plan but without jeopardizing the ability of the Department of Environmental Protection to submit a state plan to the EPA in a timely manner as required by law.
PennFuture supported the Rafferty amendment and commends the eight Democrats and six Republicans who voted in favor. Unfortunately, the full Senate voted 29-20 to return to the previous version of the of the legislation and thus nullify the Rafferty amendment. Governor Corbett has now signed HB 2354 into law as Act 175 of 2014.
House Bill 343, sponsored by Rep. Ron Miller, R-York, would have provided important and long overdue standards for private well water construction that will protect human health and water resources. Over three million Pennsylvania residents rely on one million private water wells for their drinking water supply, with approximately 20,000 wells drilled annually. Only Michigan has a larger population served by private water supplies. Despite these facts, Pennsylvania remains one of two states lacking statewide regulations for private well construction.
The House passed HB 343 by a wide margin on June 27, but the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee whiffed on the bill and did not give it further consideration. Rep. Miller is retiring at the end of the session so hopefully other legislators will step up to the plate on this important issue.
House Bill 34, sponsored by Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, would have required high-performance green building standards in most state-owned building construction projects. Passage of the bill would be a win for both the environment and Pennsylvania taxpayers as there would be substantial reduction in operating costs and energy and water use over the life of the buildings.
The House passed HB 34 by a wide margin in early 2013, but the bill stalled in the Senate. In the waning days of the session, the bill started to move in the Senate but an apparent deal with the House to pair Senate action on HB 34 in return for House action on a Senate building codes bill fell through.
PennFuture thanks the members of the General Assembly who opposed HB 1565 and HB 2354, and worked to pass HB 343 and 34. We can only hope that next year's legislative lineup will be stronger when it comes to conserving Penn's Woods and protecting its citizens.
Steve Stroman is state policy director for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. He tweets @SteveStroman1.
