Ask your state representative to sponsor HR 500 on the Loyalsock

Please ask your state representative to co-sponsor House Resolution 500 that urges Governor Corbett and Acting Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Ellen Ferretti to do everything in their power to prevent natural gas drilling operations in an extraordinary part of the Loyalsock State Forest in Lycoming County known as the Clarence Moore lands.

Representative Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, Democratic Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, plans to introduce HR 500 in the very near future. The resolution currently has 45 co-sponsors.

The Clarence Moore lands of the Loyalsock State Forest consist of 25,621 acres in northeastern Lycoming County. These lands hold a wealth of natural and recreational resources including the acclaimed 27-mile Old Loggers Path hiking trail; most of the watershed of Rock Run, an Exceptional Value stream often referred to as the most beautiful stream in Pennsylvania; the Devils Elbow Natural Area; large tracts of intact forest; plant and animal species of special concern; and a National Audubon Society-designated Important Bird Area.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation proposes significant industrialization of the Clarence Moore lands for natural gas development. This proposed development includes at least 26 well pads, three compressor stations, impoundments, and miles of pipeline swaths and roads that will destroy, degrade and fragment these extraordinary public lands and natural resources of the Commonwealth.

An unusual land deed gives Governor Corbett and the DCNR extraordinary powers to protect these lands from natural gas development. A 1983 Commonwealth Court decision, backed up by a decision of the Pennsylvania Board of Claims, gives the administration the clear legal authority to deny surface access to Anadarko to over 75 percent of the Clarence Moore lands. The Department of Environmental Protection could restrict surface access to much of the remaining acreage based on the likely impacts to water and other resources under the powers provided by Act 13.

To search for your state representative by address, county or municipality, please visit the General Assembly's web site.

A rising tide to protect the Loyalsock

A statewide effort to protect one of the natural and recreational treasures of Penn's Woods from large-scale industrial gas development is gaining steam.

Last week, a broad coalition of conservation and outdoor organizations delivered over 12,000 petition signatures to Governor Corbett, who has considerable power to prevent gas drilling in the Clarence Moore lands within the Loyalsock State Forest in Lycoming County. 

The petition specifically requests that Corbett and his Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) hold public hearings and open a public comment period on Anadarko Petroleum Corporation's proposed development plans for the Loyalsock. DCNR has unusually strong powers to protect this extraordinary part of the state forest.

Rep. Greg Vitali, Democratic Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, joined the groups and stated that, "Anadarko's plan, if enacted, would destroy the wild character of the Loyalsock State Forest. Public hearings are crucial. Greater public awareness will result in a better outcome."

The coalition working to save the Loyalsock also unveiled a new website (www.saveloyalsock.org) to educate the public about the threats posed by gas development to the unique resources of the Clarence Moore lands of the Loyalsock.

These resources contain Exceptional Value streams including beautiful Rock Run, often hailed as Pennsylvania's most beautiful stream; the Old Loggers Path, an acclaimed hiking trail; a National Audubon Society-designated Important Bird Area; and the Devil's Elbow Natural Area.

Please take the time to sign the Loyalsock petition to Governor Corbett, take action through the web site of PennFuture or one of our coalition partners, attend a forthcoming event, contact us to join the fight, or all of the above. 

Stormwater bill success highlights spring legislative session

The negotiation and passage of the budget for the next fiscal year in Pennsylvania is generally accompanied by a flurry of legislative activity on a wide range of bills. With Governor Corbett signing the last piece of budget-related legislation into law on July 18, this week is a good time to review some of the finished and unfinished business left behind by the General Assembly.

Today we will start with a highlight of the spring session, the passage of Sen. Ted Erickson's Senate Bill 351 that provides municipalities with the option to create stormwater authorities. Governor Corbett signed SB 351 into law as Act 68 of 2013.

A municipal authority in Pennsylvania, such as a water or sewer authority, is an alternative means to advance public purposes independent of the direct action of local governments or the use of their taxing authority. Local governments can create an authority, either on their own or jointly with other local governments, to acquire, construct, operate or fund projects. Authorities have been created to address a wide range of issues across the Commonwealth, including water and sewer systems, airports, transit systems, libraries, solid waste, and parks and recreation.

However, prior to the passage of SB 351, many local governments have been hesitant to create an authority to tackle the widespread problem of stormwater management because they believed that they lacked the legal authority to do so.

Stormwater can have a catastrophic effect on life, property and communities, and is also one of the largest sources of pollution to Pennsylvania's rivers and streams. Stormwater can carry a wide range of pollutants including toxic heavy metals, sediment and nutrients.

Stormwater authorities will allow communities to work together to address stormwater issues on a watershed basis. Today's Scranton Times-Tribune has an editorial urging municipalities in northeastern Pennsylvania to quickly move to create such a regional authority for this reason. Stormwater authorities will also provide municipalities with potential sources of funding for stormwater planning and projects.

Former PennFuture attorney Brian Glass proposed this legislation in 2011, and over the past two years I had the great pleasure of working with prime sponsors of the bill, Sen. Ted Erickson, R-Delaware, and Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, and many other legislators, to get the bill passed. 

Sen. Erickson showed strong leadership in building near-unanimous support for SB 351 in the Senate and working with the Senate Republican leadership to get the bill to Governor Corbett's desk. Rep. Harper did an extraordinary job guiding SB 351 through the House Local Government Committee that she chairs, and then around some challenging shoals in the House Republican Caucus for a final passage vote in the House. Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Northampton, the minority chair of the House Local Government Committee, also provided valuable leadership and built near-unanimous support for the bill among House Democrats.

The Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Chesapeake Bay Foundation and many local government officials also provided key support for the legislation.

Thanks to the support of the General Assembly and Governor Corbett, Pennsylvania's local governments now have a new and important tool to help address the critical problem of stormwater management.