The House this week amended and passed House Bill 110 (Vitali-D-Delaware) that would require the Department of Environmental Protection to create a Climate Change Action Plan with the help of an advisory board.

Meanwhile a companion bill-- Senate Bill 266 (Erickson-R-Delaware)—reported out of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee last week, was re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee this week.

Citing the fact that Pennsylvania is responsible for producing a full 1 percent of the entire world's greenhouse gases, Rep. Vitali said his proposal would lay the groundwork necessary for a plan to address the issue.

"This bill, which has enjoyed broad bipartisan support, would provide a detailed and organized action plan for dealing with the impact of global warming and climate change, and set greenhouse gas standards and a timetable to achieve goals to reduce the state's contribution to the problem. It is critical for the state to begin formulating a plan right away," Rep. Vitali said.

House Bill 110 would require the state to take a broad look at the issue of global warming by doing the following: inventory the greenhouse gas emissions of various economic sectors in the state, create a voluntary greenhouse gas registry, develop and publish a global warming impact statement for Pennsylvania, and develop an action plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state.

The bill also would provide state officials with a more complete picture of greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector. If the bill is enacted, Pennsylvania would be the 23rd state to establish a Climate Change Action Plan.

The measure also would establish a voluntary greenhouse gas registry that, Rep. Vitali said, would allow the Commonwealth to recognize companies that are already acting to limit their greenhouse gas emissions.

Once the advisory group identifies key sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the Commonwealth, it will be responsible for creating an action plan – including possible legislative initiatives – to address climate change in Pennsylvania.

The bill was amended on the House floor by Rep. David Reed (R-Indiana) to broadened the scope of participation on the advisory board creating the Climate Action Plan.

The bill calls for the Governor to appoint 12 members – four each from the business, environmental and scientific communities – and the House and Senate will each appoint three members. In addition to these 18 members, the advisory board will include the secretary of DEP and the majority and minority chairmen of both the House and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy committees.

"If the intent is to have the board offer legislative proposals, then it makes sense to me to involve the Legislature from the outset," Rep. Reed said. "Neither the governor nor the Legislature will be able to solve this problem alone. This is such a complex issue that we're going to have to work together to make meaningful progress."

Rep. Reed's amendment will also ensure that the advisory board considers existing federal rules and regulations when drafting the climate change plan. Specifically, the advisory board will have to identify where any proposal made in the plan would exceed existing federal rules.

The amendment also directs the advisory board to look at existing sources of information on greenhouse gas emissions and recommendations and specifically mentions the Pennsylvania Climate Change Roadmap developed by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and a stakeholder group.

Finally, Rep. Reed's amendment will ensure that the elected representatives of the people of Pennsylvania will have the final say about what's included in the report. Under Reed's amendment, the report will come before the Legislature after it is approved by the governor.

"Pennsylvanians deserve a climate change action plan that is agreed upon by both the executive and legislative branches of their state government," Rep. Reed said. "Working together is the only way to ensure that we have the actionable plan that Pennsylvania needs to address this issue in a comprehensive manner."

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