Dear Senator,
\nMany of the undersigned organizations have written to you in the past expressing our opposition to SB 411. We want to bring to your attention an important issue regarding this bill.
\nThe activities that would occur as a result of the enactment of SB411 are far-reaching and require comprehensive analysis and yet the General Assembly has not conducted any study or analyses of the potential impacts. This is a consequential mistake that must be avoided.
\nThe General Assembly would violate the Pennsylvania Constitution if it enacts SB411 without any environmental impact assessment. As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made clear last month in the Act 13 litigation, the General Assembly has an obligation under Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution to perform environmental impact analyses when it enacts legislation that affects the reserved environmental rights of Pennsylvania citizens and public natural resources. Performing investigation and analysis in advance of acting, and taking seriously the outcome of those analyses, is part of the General Assembly\u2019s obligation under the Constitution to avoid infringing on each citizen\u2019s right to a clean, healthy environment, and to act as a trustee (a fiduciary) of the people\u2019s public natural resources.
\nArticle I, Section 27 declares:
\nThe people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania\u2019s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.
\nAs the Supreme Court recognized, the General Assembly must \u201cconsider in advance of proceeding the environmental effect of any proposed action on the constitutionally protected features.\u201d Robinson Twp., Washington Cnty. v. Com., — A.3d —, 2013 WL 6687290, *33 (Dec. 19, 2013) (emphasis added). Further, the General Assembly has fiduciary obligations as a trustee of public natural resources who must conserve and maintain those resources for present and future Pennsylvanians. The General Assembly must consider before acting whether the proposed legislation will lead to the \u201cdegradation, diminution, or depletion\u201d of the people\u2019s public natural resources either now, or in the future. Id. at *38, *40 & n.46; see also 20 Pa.C.S. \u00a7 7203(a) & (c)(5); In re Scheidmantel, 868 A.2d 464, 492 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2005) (\u201ctrustee\u2019s action must represent an actual and honest exercise of judgment predicated on a genuine consideration of existing conditions\u201d); 20 Pa.C.S. \u00a7 7773. The General Assembly must also consider whether the legislation places higher environmental
\nburdens on some Pennsylvania citizens than others, which violates a trustee\u2019s obligation to treat the beneficiaries equitably in light of the trust\u2019s purposes. Id. at *40, *59.
\nAs you know, SB411 would amend the Environmental Good Samaritan Act (EGSA) and extend immunity for those involved in withdrawing Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in connection with oil and gas operations and other uses offsite. SB411 would incentivize the spread of AMD-polluted water to other streams and watersheds in Pennsylvania. The bill does not promote the reduction and abatement of AMD pollution, which is the purpose of EGSA. In fact, SB411 would harm streams and communities where the AMD water is being withdrawn transferring water out of source watersheds, impacting water supplies upon which the people and economies rely in these areas. Voluminous withdrawals would deplete aquifers that sustain local water wells and healthy stream flows essential to the restoration of these vulnerable waterways that groups are struggling to bring back under the EGSA. There has not even been an analysis to show how much of this water could replace fresh water that is currently being used in well drilling and hydraulic fracturing, one of the rationales the bill is based on.
\nThese are substantial impacts and important inquiries that require thorough analysis before SB411 is voted on. We ask you, as a Pennsylvania Senator who is bound to safeguard the public natural resources for our benefit and the benefit of future generations and who is bound to insure that all Pennsylvanians are treated fairly and equally, not disproportionately burdening some for the benefit of others, that you fully analyze the potential impacts of SB411 and not move ahead without that knowledge as the Senate is now poised to do. The Supreme Court has very recently reminded the General Assembly of this obligation in Robinson Twp., Washington Cnty. v. Com, please carefully consider their ruling and recognize the relevance to SB411.
\nWe remain opposed to SB411 and we ask that SB411 be tabled immediately so the required environmental impact assessment can be conducted. If you do not table the bill, we urge you to vote no.
\nSincerely,
\nAllegheny Defense Project, Ryan Talbott, Executive Director
\nBeaver County Marcellus Awareness Committee, Celia Janosik, Treasurer
\nBerks Gas Truth, Karen Feridun, Founder
\nCenter for Coalfield Justice, Patrick Grenter, Esq., Executive Director
\nCitizens for Clean Water, Susquehanna County, Pa., Vera Scroggins
\nCitizens for Water, Joe Levine, Director
\nClean Water Action – Pennsylvania, Steve Hvozdovich, Marcellus Shale Coordinator
\nCommunities United For Rights and Environment, Kenneth Joseph Weir, President
\nDamascus Citizens for Sustainability, Barbara Arrindell, Director
\nDelaware Riverkeeper Network, Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper and Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director
\nEarthworks, Nadia Steinzor, Eastern Program Coordinator
\nEnvironmental Justice Committee, Thomas Merton Center, Wanda Guthrie, Chair
\nFood and Water Watch, Sam Bernhardt, Pennsylvania Coordinator
\nFriends of the Harmed, Dana Dolney
\nGreen Party of Pennsylvania, Jay Sweeney, Chair
\nLeague of Women Voters of PA, Susan Carty, President and Betty Tatham, Vice President, Issues and Action
\nMarcellus Outreach Butler, Diane Sipe, Director
\nMarcellus Protest, Briget Shields
\nMountain Watershed Association, Beverly Braverman, Executive Director
\nNYH2O, Buck Moorhead, Chair
\nPA Forest Coalition, Richard A. Martin, Coordinator
\nParadise Gardens and Farm, J. Stephen Cleghorn, PhD.
\nPeach Bottom Concerned Citizens Group, Maria Payan, Executive Director, York County, PA
\nPennEnvironment, David Masur, Executive Director
\nPennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air, Jenny Lisak, Co-director
\nProtect Eagles Mere Alliance, Shannon Baker, President
\nProtect Our Children, Diane Sipe
\nProtect Our Parks, Gloria Forouzan
\nProtecting Our Waters, Iris Marie Bloom, Executive Director and Coryn Wolk, Deputy Director
\nResponsible Drilling Alliance, Robert Cross, Board President
\nShale Justice Coalition, John Trallo, Executive Committee
\nSierra Club PA Chapter, Joanne Kilgour, Chapter Director
\nUpper Burrell Citizens Against Marcellus Pollution, Ron Slabe, Debra Borowiec, Co-founders
\nWestmoreland Marcellus Citizens’ Group, Jan Milburn, President
\nYoughiogheny Riverkeeper, Krissy Kasserman
\nIf you have any questions, please contact tracy@delawareriverkeeper.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Senator, Many of the undersigned organizations have written to you in the past expressing our opposition to SB 411. We want to bring to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acid-mine-drainage","category-actions","category-take-action"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1849,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions\/1849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gastruth.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}