Unlike some states, Pennsylvania does not have a way for citizens to petition the government to change state laws through referendums.  But anyone, a citizen, business or group, can petition the state’s Environmental Quality Board to change or adopt new environmental regulations.

The 20 members of the Environmental Quality Board adopt regulations for the Department of Environmental Protection, so any law or regulation administered by the agency is open to the petition process.

The specific provision in Section 1920-A of the Administrative Code says: “Any person may petition the Environmental Quality Board to initiate a rulemaking proceeding for the issuance, amendment or repeal of a regulation administered and enforced by the department.”

Petitioning regulations adopted by the Board outline the procedures for submitting spspecific requests for new or amended regulations.   The requests must be made on the petition form posted on DEP’s website.

In addition to petitions to change regulations for air, waste, water quality and other DEP programs, there are specific procedures for citizens to request the redesignation of streams to and from High Quality and Exceptional Value watershed designations.

Citizens can also designate watersheds or portions of watersheds unsuitable for surface coal  mining under Chapter 86 of the department’s regulations.

Under the general EQB petitioning procedures, requests are submitted to DEP who, within 30 days, must determine whether the petition is complete or not appropriate for submittal to the Board.

If DEP determines the petition does not meet the basic petition requirements, petitioners have 30 days to submit a corrected or amended petition.

If a petition is determined to meet the requirements of the petition regulations, the individual or group submitting the petition is given the opportunity to make a presentation on the proposed change or changes to the full Board.

The Board then determines by vote whether to accept the petition.  The Board can reject a petition for several reasons outlined in the policy: if the matter is under litigation, if the request is not appropriate for rulemaking due to policy or regulatory considerations, if the petition involves an issue previously considered by the Board or if the Board considered the same issue within the last two years.

If accepted, the petition is then evaluated and DEP staff has 60 days to return to the Board with a recommendation to draft a regulation making the changes suggested by the petition or recommend against the change.

DEP’s recommendations are also sent to the petitioner to review and the petitioner has the right to respond to the recommendations before the Board considers DEP’s report.

The Board then has the opportunity to accept or reject DEP’s recommendations.

The process for considering stream redesignations and unsuitable for surface coal mining are handled slightly different, but generally the process is the same.

According to the Environmental Quality Board webpage, there are four petition requests under active consideration, but the page has not been updated for some time.

2/11/2013