In addition to reporting out House Bill 1565 (Hahn-R-Northampton) weakening DEP’s stream buffer program and House Bill 2354 (Snyder-D-Fayette) which authorizes one House of the General Assembly to veto any greenhouse gas emission reduction plan, the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Monday reported out legislation requiring state buildings to meet green standards, bills related to oil and gas royalty payments and landfill leachate collection.

The bills include--

-- Senate Bill 1061 (Rafferty-R-Montgomery) requiring state buildings to meet green building standards was also reported out of the Committee after being amended to include the provisions of House Bill 34 (Harper-R-Montgomery) setting the same requirements.  The bill was later referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

-- House Bill 402 (Pickett-R-Bradford) further providing for the recording of oil and gas leases.  The bill is on the Senate Calendar for consideration;

-- House Bill 2278 (Pickett-R-Bradford) requiring semi-annual reporting of oil and gas production. The bill is on the Senate Calendar for consideration; and

-- Senate Bill 1481 (Erickson-R-Delaware) prohibiting DEP from prohibiting the vehicular transportation of leachate to an offsite facility for treatment.  The bill was amended and passed by the Senate and now goes to the House for consideration.

Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) serves as Majority Chair of the Committee and Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne) serves as Minority Chair.

10/13/2014