The following bills of interest saw action this week in the House and Senate--

Well Standards: Senate Bill 1092 (Kasunic-D-Somerset) amending the Oil and Gas Act to require oil and gas well operators to provide cement quality logs to DEP was reported from the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.

Leasing State Land: Senate Bill 1159 (D.White-R-Indiana) authorizing the Department of General Services to lease minerals on state land owned by agencies other than DCNR, Fish and Boat and Game Commissions and depositing any payments or royalties in the Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund was amended and reported from the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.

Mining Permit Fees: Senate Bill 1176 (D.White-R-Indiana) requiring changes to mining permit fees to be done by regulations;  Senate Bill 1196 (D-White-R-Indiana) requiring changes to mining permit fees to be done by regulation;  Senate Bill 1197 (D.White-R-Indiana) requiring changes to coal refuse disposal permit fees to be done by regulation were reported from the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.

Air Pollution Fines: Senate Bill 1250 (Pileggi-R-Delaware) requiring 25 percent of penalties assessed under the state Air Pollution Control Act to be distributed to the impacted municipality was reported from the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar for action.

House

Well Reporting:  Senate Bill 297 (Yaw-R-Bradford) providing for semi-annual reporting of oil and gas well production was passed by the House and returns to the Senate for a concurrence vote in House amendments.

General Fund Budget:  House Bill 2279 (D.Evans-D-Philadelphia) containing the General Fund budget was amended and reported out by the House Appropriations Committee after stripping out $180 million in funding from the bill that was revenue projected from natural gas drilling leases of State Forest land with Democratic and Republican votes.  The bill was referred back to the House Appropriations Committee.

Capital Budget: House Bill 2289 (D.Evans-D-Philadelphia) providing for a 2010-11 Capital Budget was reported from the House Appropriations Committee and is now on the House Calendar for action.

Raising Debt Ceiling:  House Bill 2290 (D.Evans-D-Philadelphia) to the House floor raising the RACP Capital Budget borrowing limit to $4.25 billion from $3.45 billion was reported out of the House Appropriations Committee and is now on the House Calendar for action.

3/15/2010