Legislative #FAIL: PA House and Senate side with special interests on two bad bills

Late Wednesday, the Pennsylvania legislature passed two bad bills that will harm the water and air of Pennsylvanians. Both HB 1565, the Subdivision Flooding Bill, and HB 2354, the Stall on Carbon Bill, kowtow to powerful special interests as they dismiss the need for clean air and water for all Pennsylvanians.

The Stall on Carbon Bill allows either chamber of the General Assembly to block and delay Pennsylvania from submitting its carbon rule compliance plan to the Environmental Protection Agency, raising the likelihood that Pennsylvania cedes control of its compliance program to the federal government. By creating three different entities (House, Senate and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection) with authority over the compliance plan, negotiation efforts by affected businesses and stakeholders will be confounded. 

Further, the bill raises serious constitutional issues related to separation of powers. Rather than craft a feasible system to enhance legislative oversight of Pennsylvania’s carbon rule compliance, the bill is rife with stalling tactics as it creates layers of legal and procedural complications to the detriment of the people and businesses of the state. The Stall on Carbon Bill is an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) initiative championed by Pennsylvania’s coal industry.

The Subdivision Flooding Bill ignores the twin issues of stormwater runoff and flooding as it caters to the state's powerful builders lobby. Pennsylvania citizens and communities have paid dearly in safety, life and property as a result of the consequences of flooding and stormwater. Part of the reason is the loss of riparian buffers in headwater and other streams that hold and slowly release rain and runoff. Passage of the bill now jeopardizes the riparian buffers along Exceptional Value and High Quality streams that not only reduce flooding and stormwater runoff, but markedly improve water quality, decrease pollution, protect drinking water, and improve habitat for fish and other wildlife.

Passage of these bills at the eleventh hour only serves to appease deep-pocketed interests and large campaign contributors. These bills can in no way be seen as helping to protect public health and safety. Rather, they do exactly the opposite. 

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.

Fifteen senators press Obama for methane standards

From Huffington Post: 

"WASHINGTON -- Fifteen senators are pressing the Obama administration to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas production, arguing that addressing methane is a "key component" of curbing planet-warming emissions. 

"Ton for ton, methane causes at least 80 times more warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period," wrote the 13 Democratic senators and two Independents, led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), in a letter addressed to President Barack Obama on Friday. "Voluntary standards are not enough. Too many in the oil and gas sector have failed to adopt sound practices voluntarily, and the absence of uniform enforceable standards has allowed methane pollution to continue, wasting energy and threatening public health." 

The Environmental Protection Agency released five white papers in April looking at emissions from oil and gas operations. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Friday in a meeting with reporters that the agency is now in the process of developing a strategy for addressing those emissions. That strategy, which the EPA plans to release some time this fall, "will look at what tools we have and what we think are most appropriate" for addressing the matter, McCarthy said. She did not specify whether the agency would recommend voluntary measures or new regulations."

The potential for federal methane rules could be a big step in the right direction. This strategy has the potential to deliver the federal regulatory oversight that is needed to complement much-needed state efforts and make sure that all of the oil and gas industry meets basic, common-sense standards to deploy readily available technologies. 

But federal rules don't replace the need for Pennsylvania to get its methane problem under control. As the fastest growing natural gas producer in the country -- and a state that emits nearly a full percent of the world's greenhouses gases -- Pennsylvania can't afford to wait. 

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director  of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets at @RexBainbridge.