Let's do this: Time to enact proposed revisions to PA oil and gas rules

While Pennsylvania's Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) said YES on October 27 to moving proposed revisions to the state's oil and gas rules on to the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), it wasn't before asking for even more time to review a suite of standards that has been in the works for almost five years and already been subject to two public comment periods that generated over 30,000 comments.

The five voting members of the TAB, several of whom have ties to the oil and gas industry, floated a resolution after an exhaustive, five-hour briefing on the proposed rules by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The resolution would allow TAB to present a report to the EQB on the proposed rules at a later date, a report which will not incorporate comments from the TAB's four non-voting members, who represent community and environmental groups and other non-industry constituencies.

Are you keeping up? We can't blame you if you're not as the process to revise the state's oil and gas rules has been fraught with the threat of industry-backed lawsuits, needless delays, and the flat-out dismissal of the public interest by oil and gas industry lobbyists -- this despite strong public support for updated rules to cover everything from leaky centralized wastewater impoundments to the proximity of drilling activity to public resources that would include schools and playgrounds.

Oh yeah, did we say that these rules need to be finalized by March 2016 or the whole MULTI-YEAR-LONG process starts all over again?

The oil and gas industry, and those who are enabling its misguided efforts around these rules in Pennsylvania, need to stop delaying what has been a thorough and exhaustive process and move forward in support of updated standards that will help ensure clean air and water for Pennsylvanians while helping to protect public health and the environment.

Elaine Labalme is strategic campaigns director for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh.

Northern Long-Eared bat listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act

This post was originally shared on our site dedicated to protecting Allegheny Mountain.

There is a rare bat hibernaculum adjacent to the Allegheny Tunnel, known to house the endangered Indiana bat. Now, the Northern Long-Eared bat will be another protected species in harm's way if the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission cuts an open highway gash through 1,400 acres of roosting, swarming and migratory habitat found above the tunnel. Bat populations are dwindling at an alarming rate due to white-nose syndrome and habitat degradation. Let's not make the problem worse.  

Valessa Souter-Kline is western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @ValessaSK.

ALCOSAN’s Wet Weather Plan is looking gray; does that leave room for green?

In 2012, PennFuture submitted comments encouraging the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) to look for ways to green their Wet Weather Plan. The Plan is required by law, to outline a strategy to keep raw sewage out of our waterways.* The end goal is important. Our rivers provide our drinking water as well as places to fish, swim, boat and unwind. If our rivers aren't clean and healthy, we in Allegheny County lose out.

Stormwater Bumpout
Image credit:
Philadelphia Water Department

Reaching the Goal 
How we reach the end goal has been the subject of a very public conversation over the past year. While ALCOSAN proposed gray infrastructure (pipes and tanks) to store more water, many groups, including PennFuture, are asking for green. Green infrastructure means capturing rain where it lands, before it enters the pipe system and, ideally, allowing it to soak into the ground or be taken up by plant roots. Unlike gray infrastructure, green doesn't just manage stormwater. Green infrastructure provides secondary benefits including limiting surface water erosion; creating habitat and passive recreational areas; shading urban spaces and reducing cooling costs (hard to appreciate in February but important nonetheless); offsetting climate change; cleaning our polluted air; and increasing property values.

If green is so great, why isn't it in the Wet Weather Plan?  
Good question. The features that make green infrastructure great, including that it is on the surface, beautifying our neighborhoods while cleaning our water, are also what make it challenging to plan for. Green infrastructure must be integrated into 83 municipalities. Over the past year, understanding of the value of green infrastructure has increased dramatically throughout the county and the demand is now loud and clear, with leaders including Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald leading the way.

Let’s go green now
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently told ALCOSAN that the Wet Weather Plan won’t meet required water quality standards. With a new administration in Pittsburgh, the news may be a step forward rather than a setback. By asking ALCOSAN to revisit the plan, the EPA has left the door open for green infrastructure. Let’s take this opportunity to invest in clean water AND thriving communities by incorporating green infrastructure along with the gray.

*How does raw sewage wind up in the water, you ask? 
As we build our homes, schools, offices roads and parking lots, we cover up soil and replace it with hard, impermeable surfaces. When it rains (or snows) all the water that hits those hard surfaces is sent straight into pipes instead of soaking into the ground. Once the pipes fill up, they are designed to overflow (so they don’t back up into your basement), and overflows dump not only rain and snow melt into our rivers but the sewage that flows in there, too. Gross, I know!

Valessa Souter-Kline is PennFuture's Western Pennsylvania Outreach Coordinator and is based in our Pittsburgh office. 

Land (bank) and Water (department): A Philly update

On Monday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter held a signing ceremony for the Philly land bank bill. It represents an historic opportunity to address the City’s broken system for putting vacant properties back to productive use. 

The hard work of creating a Philadelphia Land Bank begins now. To get the land bank up and running quickly, the Philly Land Bank Alliance has called on the Nutter Administration as well as City Council to focus on three key steps:

• First, the Nutter Administration and City Council must appoint a permanent Board of Directors so they can immediately begin the work of overseeing the development of the new agency’s Strategic Plan, policies, and regulations. 

• Next, the Council and the Mayor need to work together to ensure adequate funding for the Land Bank’s operations as part of the FY15 budget. 

• Third, Council and the Administration must transfer all of the thousands of publicly-owned properties to the Land Bank. A key reform of the land bank ordinance is the consolidation of publicly-owned properties from the three agencies that currently hold them into one single entity.  

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In December, we told you about a bill that will change the way water rates are set in Philly. After 2015, a board of political appointees will be tasked with setting rates. We agree with ex-Mayor John Street on this one. It's not a good idea. 

We were especially concerned because last-minute amendments removed key minimum financial standards that had been negotiated by the Philadelphia Water Department, City Council, and stakeholder groups -- standards that would help guarantee that the department has rates set high enough to cover operating expenses and debt service.

In addition to harming the Water Department's ability to carry out its mission, we were concerned the lack of basic financial standards could damage the department's credit rating and cause concern among bond holders. Why is that important? When it costs more to borrow money, those costs are absorbed by water customers -- ultimately leading to higher rates across the board. 

Welp, that didn't take long. 

In an otherwise positive ratings outlook, credit rating agency Fitch cited recent Council amendments and "politicization of rate relief," saying that the changes made to the ordinance raise concerns and could lead to "negative rating action" -- meaning higher water rates.  

While there was no credit downgrade, make no mistake, credit agencies will be watching closely. 

This is a story we'll be following. 

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia.

Last minute City Council amendments could prevent PWD from making critical investments

"If you let politicians set water rates, we'll all be drinking mud."

Those words were uttered by someone who knows a thing or two about Philly politicians, former Mayor and Council President John Street. 

On Thursday, City Council is set to vote on a bill that will allow a board of political appointees to set water rates. 

Currently, water rates are set through a public hearing process in which the Mayor and City Council select a hearing officer and a public advocate, with the final decision to approve rates made by the Water Commissioner. 

While not perfect (or completely devoid of politics), the process has allowed the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) to maintain water infrastructure and set rates that ensure we have clean drinking water. [PennFuture intervened in both the 2009 and 2012 rate proceedings.]

The current rate process has afforded the City the ability to make badly needed investments in stormwater infrastructure through its Green City Clean Waters initiative, the City's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-mandated plan to protect and enhance our water supply by managing stormwater. 

But thanks to a ballot question last November -- and last-minute amendments in City Council last week -- things could change, and soon. And not in a good way. 

Let's back up: Last November, voters approved a ballot question to create an "independent" rate-making board. (Not surprising given that Philly tends to approve the cleverly-crafted ballot questions). PennFuture opposed the ballot question at the time, as it will instantly burden the process with more political actors who may not understand the need to balance low rates with the need to create a good water system.

On Thursday, City Council will vote on a bill that will officially create this rate-making board and regulate how the rates are imposed. 

But missing from that bill are key provisions that would provide the water department basic fiscal certainty -- fiscal certainty that is needed to protect our water supply, maintain aging infrastructure, and adapt to unforeseen economic circumstances. 

Amendments introduced last Thursday removed essential minimum financial standards that had been negotiated with the Water Department, City Council, and stakeholder groups -- standards that  would help guarantee that the department has rates set high enough to cover operating expenses and debt service. 

In June, a bill passed out of committee that did just that. We testified in support of the original unamended bill at the committee hearing because it gave the department the best chance to continue its crucial stormwater work and adequately invest in key infrastructure projects. 

In addition to harming the Water Department's ability to carry out its mission, the lack of basic financial standards could damage the department's credit rating and cause concern among bond holders -- ultimately leading to higher rates for all ratepayers. 

We urge you to contact your Councilmember and tell them that the Water Department needs basic financial certainty to do its job and provide clean, safe drinking water. 


Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's Director of Outreach and works out of our Philadelphia office.