Tell Pennsylvania Legislators to Defend Clean Water and Stop Regulatory Rollbacks

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is in the process of deciding whether to pass a suite of bills that would jeopardize our clean water protections. The bills would create unnecessary levels of bureaucracy and slow down progress on any environmental regulations that further protect our waterways from pollution. Here’s what a few of the more problematic bills would do:

  • House Bill 430 (PN 417) -  This bill would prohibit Pennsylvania state agencies, like the Department of Environmental Protection, from reissuing the same or similar regulations in the future, unless the regulation is authorized specifically by the state legislature. Not only does this present a separation of powers issue, but it would prevent state agencies from acting expeditiously to correct, tweak, or improve existing environmental regulations.

  • House Bill 509 (PN 945) - This bill would require state agencies to contract with “third-party professionals” to review and make decisions on permit applications. This would open the door for conflicts of interest where the “professional” reviewing the environmental permit application is actually in the pockets of the company applying for the permit. This runs counter to fact that the state government is accountable to Pennsylvania citizens. Additionally, this bill would prevent any new laws from applying to existing permits.

  • House Bill 806 (PN 899) and House Bill 507 (PN 636) - This bill would give the legislature effective veto power over the promulgation of all new regulations. Any new regulation would need to be approved by the legislature within ten days, or it would be effectively vetoed. With the state legislature meeting on a sporadic basis, this could halt any new clean water regulation from coming through.

These are just a few of the bills in the suite of proposed legislation that would halt any future progress from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Tell Pennsylvania legislators to OPPOSE House Bills 430, 507, 509, 762, 806, and 1055 today! The House of Representatives will next meet on April 29th - time is of the essence!