Sen. Vance

The Senate this week unanimously approved Senate Resolution 224 (Vance-R-Cumberland) that requires a third-party study of the costs for sewage treatment facilities to fulfill the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy

“Just this week the Chesapeake Bay Foundation joined those requesting that the state assist with the costs of implementing the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy,” Sen. Vance said. “In addition, the Department of Environmental Protection has given a variety of figures about what it will cost municipalities to do necessary upgrades. We need to find out what the true costs are before funding sources can be more thoroughly discussed.”

Senate Resolution 224 directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to review estimates of the costs that sewage treatment facilities will incur to comply with the CBTS.

“The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee has an excellent reputation for doing these type of studies in a nonpartisan, objective way,” Sen. Vance added. “I have full confidence in the work of their staff.”

Pennsylvania has been working with other states over the last two decades to implement programs to improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay. In 2005 the governor unveiled Pennsylvania’s bay strategy. It was designed by the Department of Environmental Protection to implement multi-state agreements intended to achieve significant reductions in the pollutants that have degraded the bay by 2010.

These pollutants can come from a variety of sources: agriculture, stormwater runoff, wastewater treatment plants, septic systems, forested lands and atmospheric deposition.

The Senate Republican Policy Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the cost of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup on February 21 in Harrisburg. (See separate story.)

NewsClips: Vance Bay Impact Bill Gets OK

Senate Calls for Study of Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Costs

Groups Push Funding to Revive Polluted Waterways

Lock Haven Bills to Skyrocket Under Chesapeake Bay Requirements

Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Funding Sought

Chesapeake Bay Sticker Shock

Plants to Keep Nutrients at Bay, But Cost a Concern

State Asked to Fund Sewer Plant Upgrades

Passing the Buck on Water Quality

Chesapeake Sticker Shock

Danville Challenges Sewer Upgrade Requirements

Links: Chesapeake Bay Foundation Urges Environment Be Given More Priority

County Conservation Districts Concerned With Gov. Rendell’s Proposed Budget

PA Farm Bureau Concerned About Budget Cuts to Vital Programs

PA Chesapeake Bay Program

2/15/2008