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Republicans Move Bills To Kill Regulations By Doing Nothing, Waive Any Permitting Requirement, Add Cost, Time, Complexity To Regulatory/Permitting Bureaucracy

Republicans in the Senate last week moved legislation to kill regulations by doing nothing, allow the waiver of any permitting requirement and add more time, cost and bureaucracy to the permitting and regulatory process.

Many of these proposals related to permit and regulatory issues are five years old or older and no longer relate to updated permitting processes.

In March, DEP Acting Secretary Richard Negrin announced and is implementing a 10 Point Plan to speed permit reviews. Read more here.

‘I Want A Chance To Fix This First’

On March 22, Acting DEP Secretary Richard Negrin outlined a 10 Point Plan to improve permit reviews at DEP as part of his budget hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I want a chance to fix this first [before considering options like third-party permit reviews]. I think it [the plan] makes sense,” said Acting Secretary Negrin.

“I've heard those nightmare stories. I think we talked about a permit that took four years, a permit that took seven years.

“That should never happen. That team should be able to dive in way before when we start to see delays and we're tracking, we're putting those numbers up to prevent that.

“If I don't have the resources to do some of that internally, then I think it's time to have a conversation about what's the best way to do that.

“I'm open to that conversation going forward, but I want a chance to fix this first.”

Read more here on DEP permit reforms.

Bills Passed By Republicans

Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out these bills on a party-line vote and passed them by a party-line vote--

-- Kill Regulations By Doing Nothing: Senate Bill 188 (DiSanto-R- Dauphin) authorizing the General Assembly to kill regulations by doing nothing [Read more here] The Senate then passed this bill 28 to 21, with Republicans supporting.

-- ‘Sunset Review’ Of Regulations: Senate Bill 190 (Brooks-R-Crawford) requiring an automatic three-year review of economically significant regulations in a process similar to what was called “sunset reviews” decades ago. That process was abandoned by the General Assembly because it became a costly, time-consuming exercise with little benefit [Read more here]. The Senate then passed this bill 28 to 21, with Republicans supporting.

Moved In/Out Of Committees

The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee reported out these bills by a party-line vote, Republicans supporting--

-- Review Of Permit Applications By Private Contractors: Senate Bill 350 (Phillips-Hill-R- York) requires all state agencies to establish a program to require the review of permit applications by private contractors for applications that have been “delayed,” eliminating agency review of permit applications on behalf of the public and adding more state bureaucracy and cost on taxpayers [Read more here].

The Committee amended the bill to include, among other provisions, a “deemed approved” requirement and referred it into and out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill was then passed by the Senate 29 to 19, Republicans supporting. The bill now goes to the House for action.

-- Allow Waiving Of Any Permit Requirement: Senate Bill 633 (Coleman-R-Bucks) establishing a Regulatory Relief Office in the Governor’s Office with the authority to waive or replace any regulatory requirements proposed by permit applicants with minimal public review [Read more here] about similar legislation last session.

The Committee reported this bill out and then referred it to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Related Articles:

-- DEP Offers 10 Point Plan To Improve Permit Reviews; Climate/Energy Work Group Co-Chairs Announced; Work Group Formed To Prevent New Oil & Gas Well Abandonments [PaEN]

-- Gov. Shapiro Receives State Agency Reports On Permitting, Next Step Is To Set Money-Back Permit Review Times [PaEN]

-- Gov. Shapiro Issues Order Directing Agencies To Set Deadlines For Permit Reviews, Requires Money-Back Guarantee If Deadlines Not Met; A Similar Program Started At DEP In 1995 [PaEN]

Related Article This Week:

-- Republicans On Senate Environmental Committee Report Out Bills To Narrow Grounds For Appealing DEP Actions, Stream Cleaning, Take ‘Protection’ Out Of The Dept. Of Environmental Protection [PaEN]

-- DEP: Widespread Presence Of PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Fresh Water May Have Led To ‘Inadvertently’ Using Contaminated Water For Fracking Gas Wells In Washington County [PaEN]

-- PA General Energy Announced It Will Plug Proposed Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well In Grant Twp., Indiana County [PaEN]

-- Triumph Township, Warren County Advertising For 100,000 Gallons Of ‘Salt Brine’ To Dump On Township Roads [PaEN]

-- Penn State Shale [Gas] Network Workshop Features Acting DEP Secretary Richard Negrin May 18-19 In State College [PaEN]

-- Harrisburg University Research Cited By 2 Federal Agencies In New Regulations To Fight Methane Pollution From Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities [PaEN]