The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee is scheduled to meet April 9 on legislation setting deadlines on reviews of erosion and sedimentation permits if they were submitted by a registered  engineer and requiring DEP to forward waste violation notices to municipalities.

The bills include--

-- House Bill 414 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) requiring an erosion and sedimentation permit application submitted to DEP or conservation districts  “shall be approved within 20 days of receipt”  if it was submitted by a state licensed engineer.  If an application is denied, the agency shall notify the applicant why it was denied (sponsor summary).  [Note: Almost all erosion and sedimentation control permits are submitted by engineers presently.  DEP studies of erosion and encroachment permits outside of oil and gas program found 80 percent of the applications were not complete and 30 percent had technical deficiencies in 2016.  A DEP review of erosion and sedimentation permits related to oil and gas operations found 60 percent of the applications were incomplete or had technical deficiencies in 2017.  Since these reports, DEP has worked with the consulting community to improve the applications they submit and has taken steps toward converting to electronic permit submissions to cut down on the number of incomplete and deficient applications received by DEP from engineers.]

-- House Bill 476 (Mako-R-Northampton) amends the Solid Waste Management Act to require DEP to forward notices of noncompliance issued by the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) for violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and a notice of noncompliance for violation of the SWMA to the municipality where the violation occurred (sponsor summary).

The meeting will be held in Room G-50 of the Irvis Building at the Call of The Chair after the first session break of the day.  Click Here to watch the meeting online.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-783-1707 or sending email to: dmetcalf@pahousegop.com. Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7647 or sending email to: gvitali@pahouse.net.

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