House Republicans last week introduced House Bill 604 (Fritz-R-Susquehanna) adding more bureaucracy to the DEP permit review process, declaring in law the applicant for an environmental permit is always right and eliminates public comment periods.

The bill establishes a new “Rube Godberg” review process for the review of any individual or general environmental permit issued by DEP that sets a uniform 45 day review deadline for all permits, regardless of mandated public comment periods.

If DEP does not meet the 45 day review time, the permit applications are automatically approved if a professional engineer who prepared the application self-certifies the application’s contents are “true and correct” to the best of their knowledge and that the requirements for issuing the permit “have been satisfied.”

The bill also sets up a new process for determining when an application is complete that says an application is complete, “notwithstanding whether the necessary information or other information supplied in the application is sufficient to grant the application.”

It also says if there are disagreements between the applicant and DEP over completeness, a new provision is put in law that says if a professional engineer who self-certifies the application is complete, then the application is complete, unless DEP rebuts the presumption by clear and convincing evidence to a new permit completeness dispute referee.

A new process is established with a new permit completeness referee that makes determinations of whether a permit application is complete.  The decision of the referee cannot be appealed to the Environmental Hearing Board.

 Some Thoughts

First, most people, even most legislators, would say eliminating public comment periods for hazardous waste, landfill, air quality, mining, wastewater discharge and almost all environmental permits would be a problem, and not only because these comment periods are required by state and federal law.

Most people would say requiring the issuance of a DEP permit based on having someone who prepared a permit application self-certify that it is complete and meets all the requirements of environmental law and regulations is a problem.

This is especially true seeing as how the House Environmental Committee found at a hearing 50 to 60 percent of the permit applications submitted by engineers to county conservation districts, as one example, are incomplete or technically deficient and it takes them an average of 33 business days to respond to those deficiencies.  Read more here.

Add to that-- DEP is reviewing 94 percent of its permit applications and authorizations WITHIN the deadlines established in its Permit Decision Guarantee Program established by Gov. Ridge and re-established by Gov. Corbett, even during the COVID pandemic.  Read more here.

Most people would say ADDING bureaucracy to DEP’s permit review process in the form of a completeness “referee” and not allowing the decisions of that referee to be appealed is a problem and a violation of due process.

The bottomline is this legislation makes DEP’s permit review process LONGER, cuts out the public and allows the person who prepared the application to self-certify the permit application is correct and meets all requirements.

Other New Initiatives

Republicans introduced these other new environmental initiatives last week--

-- Rolls Back Environmental Protection Standards For Conventional Oil & Gas Wells: House Bill 1144 (Causer-R- Cameron) rolls back environmental protection standards for conventional oil and gas wells and legalizes road dumping of drilling wastewater [Read more here].  This legislation was vetoed by Gov. Wolf in 2020.  Read more here. 

-- Rolls Back Environmental Protection Standards For Conventional Oil & Gas Wells: Senate Bill 534 (Hutchinson-R-Venango) rolls back environmental protection standards for conventional oil and gas wells and legalizes road dumping of drilling wastewater [Read more here].  This legislation was vetoed by Gov. Wolf in 2020.  Read more here.

-- Killing Regulations By Doing Nothing: Senate Bill 520 (DiSanto-R-Dauphin) killing economically significant regulations by doing nothing.  Read more here.

-- Adding Solar Panels To Broken E-Waste Recycling Program: Senate Bill 530 (Dush-R- Jefferson) requiring the recycling of solar panels through the broken state electronic waste recycling program to drive up solar energy costs.  Read more here.

-- Kills Public Participation In Agency Rulemaking/Policy Making During A Declared Emergency:  Senate Bill 533 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would prohibit any public participation in state agency rulemaking and policy making processes during a declared emergency and prohibits agencies from adopting regulations.  Read more here.

-- Adding More Bureaucracy To Permit Review Process: Senate Bill 535 (Yaw-R-Lycoming) would add more bureaucracy to the DEP permit review process by requiring third-party permit reviews.  Read more here.

-- Letting Companies Decide When To Report Pollution: Senate Bill 545 which allows companies to decide when to report spills that pollute receiving streams and harm public health (sponsor summary).  Read more here.

The following are other House and Senate Republican environmental and energy proposals introduced so far.  It is not a complete list--

House Republican 2021 Environmental & Energy Agenda - Bad

-- House Republicans Introduce Bills To Raid Dedicated Environmental Funds, Cripple Solar Energy, Shield Violators From Enforcement

-- Republican Bills Again Seek To Make Road Dumping Of Conventional Drilling Wastewater Legal

-- Republicans On House Committee OK Letter Urging IRRC To Disapprove Reg. Reducing Carbon Pollution From Power Plants

-- House Republicans Reintroduce Bill To Kill Regulations By Doing Nothing

-- House Republicans Want To Mandate Private Contractor Permit Application Reviews, Eliminating DEP’s Review On Behalf Of The Public

-- Republicans On House Committee OK Letter Disapproving Of Proposed EQB Changes To Chapter 105 Regulations                                

-- House Budget Hearing Fails To Address A Single Critical Budget Issue Faced By DEP Or DCNR

Senate Republican 2021 Environmental & Energy Agenda - Bad

-- Senate Republicans Introduce Bill To Let Companies Decide When To Report Spills That Pollute Receiving Streams, Harm Public Health

-- Republican Bills Again Seek To Make Road Dumping Of Conventional Drilling Wastewater Legal

-- PA Senate Republican Caucus Files Lawsuit Against Delaware River Basin Commission Over Shale Gas Drilling Moratorium

-- Republicans On Senate Environmental Committee Approve Letter Urging IRRC To Disapprove Reg. Reducing Carbon Pollution From Power Plants

-- Senate Republican Bills Kill Regulations By Doing Nothing, Shield Violators From Enforcement

-- Senate Republicans Want To Mandate Private Contractor Permit Reviews, Eliminating DEP’s Review On Behalf Of The Public

-- Sen. Yaw Bill Would Load Up Renewable Energy Projects, Makers Of Energy Efficiency Products, Biomass, Coal Waste Plants, Alternative Fuels, Even High-Efficiency Locomotives With Bonds To Make Them Less Competitive

-- Sen. Yaw Introduces Bill To Preempt Local Governments From Requiring New Buildings Use Climate-Friendly Energy Sources

-- Sen. Yaw Plans Bills To Stop State From Supporting Solar Energy Projects With Any Foreign Components; Adopt A Moratorium On Rulemaking During A Declared Emergency

Senate Republican 2021 Environmental & Energy Agenda - Not Bad

-- Senators Laughlin, Haywood Announce Bipartisan Bill To Increase AEPS Solar Share To 5.5%

-- Sen. Scavello Reintroduces Legislation To Enable Community Solar Projects

-- Senate Committee OKs Bill To Encourage Development Of Clean Vehicle Infrastructure- Electric, Natural Gas, Hydrogen

-- Sen. Yaw Introduces Bill To Control Overuse Of Fertilizer On Turf; 11th Year For Consideration

[Posted: April 9, 2021]

4/12/2021