Here we go again: Stop the new (old) industry bill that imperils state wildlife

In early March, strong citizen action from across our state stopped Pennsylvania House Bill 1576, which was driven by natural gas, coal, and oil interests.

HB1576 would have undermined the ability of Pennsylvania's wildlife management agencies to protect threatened and endangered species, and our best native trout streams.

PennFuture helped lead a diverse coalition of environmental, conservation, hunting, angling and recreation organizations opposed to HB 1576. This broad coalition generated thousands of e-mails, phone calls, letters, office visits and letters to the editor across the Commonwealth. 

Support for this bad bill greatly eroded in both the House Republican and House Democratic Caucuses as members heard from their constituents and grasped the fact that HB 1576 was an attack on science-driven wildlife management and essentially a solution in search of a problem.  

Now these industries are launching another attack -- essentially re-packaging the same bad ideas in a different bill. 

The same industries who couldn't take no for an answer have launched the 'Son of House Bill 1576' proposal that would similarly give political appointees the ability to second guess and veto decisions to list wildlife species as threatened or endangered, or to designate wild trout streams.

This proposal has yet to be formally introduced -- but it could be voted on by the House as early as the week of April 28. 

Please TAKE ACTION and urge your House member to oppose the 'Son of  House Bill 1576' that would give the oil, gas, and coal industries even wider latitude to destroy habitats and wildlife. 

We stopped this bill once, and we can stop it again -- with your help. 

We need to tell Harrisburg and the fossil fuel industry that enough is enough.

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's Director of Outreach and is based in our Philadelphia office. He tweets @RexBainbridge.

The future of wildlife rests here

Yes, they’re at it again – gas and oil interests and their political allies are pushing another bad bill that sacrifices wildlife to the ever-growing industrialization of our wild places. This latest effort, House Bill 1576, represents an historic attack on Pennsylvania’s wildlife and their habitats.

PennFuture has fought against this bill, along with coalitions of sportsmen and women, anglers, hunters, and conservation and environmental groups, together representing well over 100,000 Pennsylvanians –- but it is going to be a heavy lift against the well-funded interests supporting it. If you haven’t yet, please take action and email or call your state representative today to find out where they stand, and urge a NO vote if the bill comes to a vote.

Looking out the window of PennFuture’s ninth-floor Wilkes-Barre office, we have a reminder right here of the importance of threatened and endangered species protection. In addition to views of the cityscape, flocks of pigeons, and a nearby wind farm, we have a peregrine falcon whose flights and loud caws are a regular sight to those in the know.

Downtown Wilkes-Barre peregrine falcon; photo courtesy of David Weaver

It’s been on the Pennsylvania endangered species list for good reason –- much like the bald eagle and others, it suffered catastrophic decline due to pesticides. After nearly 30 years with no nesting pairs, it’s now making a return with several dozen pairs in the state. We know that protecting species at the state level is the best way to prevent their decline and extinction. So why risk successful efforts such as these by politicizing and lengthening the process to list species, which this bill would do?

This bill is chiefly promoted by the fossil fuel industry, including the Marcellus Shale Coalition — and it undermines the ability of Pennsylvania's wildlife management agencies to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats. It would also erode wildlife agencies' ability to designate wild trout streams -- impacting our environment and our state economy that depends on outdoors recreation.

As we noted in our message this week: Who do YOU trust to protect our natural world: scientists who make it their life's work, or extractive industries and the politicians doing their bidding? We need to tell Harrisburg and the fossil fuel industries that enough is enough.


Kate Gibbons is PennFuture's Northeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and works in our Wilkes-Barre office.

Death of Red Wolf Highlights Problems With Changing Pennsylvania Law

In North Carolina, a sixth red wolf in the past month was killed by an apparent gunshot wound and recovered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday.

There are less than 100 red wolves left in the wild. This death brings the total to 14 this year. Nine have been confirmed or suspected as having resulted from a gunshot wound.

The dead wolf was found on private property in western Hyde County, one of five North Carolina counties that form the only free roaming habitat for the federally protected species.

You can read more about the story in this Sun Journal report, which points out that there is no record of a red wolf ever attacking a person unprovoked, and that there is a reward being offered for information leading to the responsible person.

This incident points out one of the significant flaws with Pennsylvania HB 1576, the law that would undercut the ability of the Game and Fish and Boat Commissions to make independent, science based decisions on whether to list threatened and endangered species.

HB 1576 naively requires that the Commissions create a "centralized database" that provides, among other things, detailed information about the "specific areas" where each listed or designated species is "known to be present."  This is more than publicly designating a habitat that needs to be protected for species recovery - it means directly informing those with both a direct and indirect financial stake in the development specifically where threatened and endangered species are known to exist.

It's the rule of unintended consequences. The publication requirement will make efforts to ensure recovery of the species more difficult for conservation organizations.  It will inevitably lead to increased poaching of protected species, increased harm to protected habitat, and decreased likelihood that the species will be removed from the protected list. Where the law plainly aims to promote commercial development over species protection, it's long term effect is likely to do just the opposite.

HB 1576 is a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation that needs to be put in a No. 2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's porch, and forgotten.

George Jugovic, Jr. is chief counsel for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh.