Senate committees to hold hearing in Indiana this Friday on bills threatening Pennsylvania wildlife

Two Senate committees will hold a public hearing this Friday in Indiana to consider legislation that would grievously harm the ability of our wildlife management agencies to protect the mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians of Penn's Woods.

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.

Stop the attack on wildlife and let wildlife professionals do their jobs

The natural gas, coal and other industries have launched an unprecedented attack on Pennsylvania's wildlife and the ability of our wildlife management agencies to preserve and protect the diversity of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians that inhabit Penn's Woods. Every citizen who cares about the web of life and the natural inheritance we leave to future generations should be deeply concerned.

House Bill 1576 and Senate Bill 1047 would undermine the longstanding independence of the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission and severely limit their ability to protect Pennsylvania's threatened and endangered species.

If this bad legislation becomes law:

• It would be extremely difficult for the Game Commission and the Fish & Boat Commission to list any species in Pennsylvania as state threatened or state endangered unless the species was nearing national extinction.
• Wildlife management agency decisions now made on the basis of facts and science would be significantly politicized and subject to a cumbersome and lengthy regulatory review process.
• Every species now listed as Pennsylvania threatened or endangered would be removed from the list unless they could be approved under the new rules within two years.
• Permits for gas drilling, mining and other development activities would be allowed to be issued without making the applicant check for the presence of Pennsylvania threatened and endangered species.
• The Fish & Boat Commission's ability to protect streams that qualify as wild trout streams would be severely limited.
• The Game Commission and the Fish & Boat Commission may lose significant federal funding.

Protecting species at the state level is the most effective way to prevent their decline and extinction nationally. Robust state wildlife conservation programs are critical to avoiding a listing of a species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Pennsylvania has a long and proud tradition of allowing independent commissions staffed by nationally-recognized wildlife experts to manage the wildlife of Pennsylvania without political interference. These bills would end that tradition.

Please contact your state representative and state senator and urge them to oppose HB 1576 and SB 1047. PennFuture now has an action alert on our web site to make it easy for citizens to take action on this critical issue. 

Help us stop the attack on wildlife in Pennsylvania and let wildlife professionals do their jobs.