For more than a dozen years, Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango) served as Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, but her service in that capacity ends November 30 with the formal end of the legislative session.

Listen To A Portion Of Sen. White’s Farewell Remarks

First elected to the Senate in 1996, she served the 21st Senatorial District, which consists of Clarion, Forest and Venango Counties, and parts of Butler, Erie and Warren Counties.

Sen. White's committee assignments included Appropriations, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, and Public Health and Welfare and as Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

She also served on the Wild Resource Conservation Fund, the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee, the Environmental Quality Board, and the PA Commission on Sentencing.

For the 2001-2002 Legislative Session, Sen. White was elected Caucus Administrator for the Republican Majority, becoming the first woman ever elected to a Senate Republican leadership position. She held this position through the 2005-2006 Legislative Session.

Although part of every piece of environmental legislation passed in more than a decade, Sen. White lists her most significant accomplishments as--

-- Growing Greener Environmental Restoration Program, the largest single investment on restoring Pennsylvania’s environment in history;

-- Revisions to Pennsylvania’s deep mine safety law after the 2002 Quecreek Mine Rescue;

-- Marcellus Shale legislation-- Act 13-- adopting tougher environmental standards and a reasonable drilling impact fee which she said, “will be revered as one of the most progressive oil and gas acts in the nation;” and

-- Water Resources Planning legislation to inventory water resources throughout the Commonwealth and identify critical water areas.

“I first got to know Sen. White when she served on DEP’s  Solid Waste Advisory Committee before she began her service in the Senate,” said David E. Hess, former Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection.  “From the beginning she brought a practical approach to helping to solve environmental problems and continued to ask the tough questions as Chair of the Senate Committee.  I very much appreciated her support for precedent setting changes to environmental programs.  She never shied away from an issue.”

11/26/2012