PRINTER'S NO. 657
No. 28 Session of 1993
INTRODUCED BY GEORGE, REBER, BELARDI, WOZNIAK, VEON, MIHALICH,
JAROLIN, STISH, LUCYK, SURRA, VITALI, STEELMAN, FAIRCHILD,
FEE, FREEMAN, TIGUE, VAN HORNE, BUXTON, ARGALL, GIGLIOTTI,
D. R. WRIGHT, CLARK, S. H. SMITH, LAUGHLIN, JADLOWIEC, STERN,
MASLAND, BIRMELIN, SCHEETZ, ALLEN, THOMAS, LEVDANSKY, McCALL,
COLAIZZO AND YANDRISEVITS, MARCH 15, 1993
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MARCH 15, 1993
A RESOLUTION
1 Directing the Committee on Conservation of the House of
2 Representatives to conduct hearings across the Commonwealth
3 on the state of the Department of Environmental Resources.
4 WHEREAS, Section 27 of Article I of the Constitution of
5 Pennsylvania is entitled, "Natural Resources and the Public
6 Estate," and states, "The people have a right to clean air, pure
7 water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic
8 and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public
9 natural resources are the common property of all the people,
10 including generations yet to come. As trustee of these
11 resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for
12 the benefit of all the people."; and
13 WHEREAS, The Department of Environmental Resources is
14 responsible for managing the State's natural resources,
15 enforcing laws and regulations to prevent environmental
16 pollution and degradation; and
1 WHEREAS, The laws which the Department of Environmental
2 Resources must enforce include The Clean Streams Law, the Low-
3 Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Act, the Plumbing System Lead
4 Ban and Notification Act, the Oil and Gas Conservation Law, the
5 Air Pollution Control Act, the Conservation District Law, the
6 Pennsylvania Used Oil Recycling Act, the Pennsylvania Safe
7 Drinking Water Act, the Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Mine Act,
8 the Storm Water Management Act, The Bituminous Mine Subsidence
9 and Land Conservation Act, The Land and Water Conservation and
10 Reclamation Act, the Coal and Gas Resource Coordination Act, the
11 Pennsylvania Conservation Corps Act, the Flood Plain Management
12 Act, the Water Well Drillers License Act, the Pennsylvania
13 Bituminous Coal Mine Act, the Solid Waste Management Act, the
14 Pennsylvania Solid Waste - Resource Recovery Development Act,
15 the Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act, the
16 Radiation Protection Act, the Noncoal Surface Mining
17 Conservation and Reclamation Act, the Oil and Gas Act, the
18 Infectious and Chemotherapeutic Waste Law, the Dam Safety and
19 Encroachments Act, the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, the
20 Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act, the Hazardous Sites
21 Cleanup Act, the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste
22 Reduction Act; and
23 WHEREAS, The Department of Environmental Resources includes
24 the Environmental Quality Board, the Citizens Advisory Council,
25 the State Conservation Commission, the State Board for
26 Certification of Sewage Enforcement Officers, the State Board
27 for Certification of Sewage Treatment Plant and Waterworks
28 Operators and the Water Facilities Loan Board; and
29 WHEREAS, The Department of Environmental Resources includes
30 the following bureaus: Hazardous Sites and Superfund
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1 Enforcement, Regulatory Counsel, Legal Services, Investigations,
2 Deep Mine Safety, Mining and Reclamation, Oil and Gas
3 Management, Waste Management, Water Quality Management,
4 Laboratories, Air Quality Control, Community Environmental
5 Control, Radiation Protection, Water Resources Management, Water
6 Projects, Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Forestry, Dams and
7 Waterway Management, Topographic and Geologic Survey, and State
8 Parks; and
9 WHEREAS, The citizens of this Commonwealth are dependent upon
10 the proper conduct of the Department of Environmental Resources
11 in administering and enforcing the laws and programs for which
12 it is responsible; and
13 WHEREAS, The effectiveness of the Department of Environmental
14 Resources in carrying out its assigned responsibilities must be
15 ascertained for the proper functioning of that department; and
16 WHEREAS, There is great concern across this Commonwealth
17 regarding the present and future effectiveness of the Department
18 of Environmental Resources; and
19 WHEREAS, The organization of the Department of Environmental
20 Resources among the several regional offices may encourage
21 unequal and nonuniform enforcement of regulations across the
22 Commonwealth; and
23 WHEREAS, Certain programs, duties and responsibilities which
24 currently are administered and enforced by the Department of
25 Environmental Resources may more appropriately be administered
26 by other departments within State government; and
27 WHEREAS, The added responsibilities imposed upon the
28 Department of Environmental Resources raise the question of its
29 capacity to properly enforce the laws of the Commonwealth; and
30 WHEREAS, The decisions, organization and proper functioning
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1 of the Department of Environmental Resources directly and
2 indirectly affects all the citizens of this Commonwealth;
3 therefore be it
4 RESOLVED, That the Committee on Conservation of the House of
5 Representatives conduct hearings across the Commonwealth of
6 Pennsylvania on the state of the Department of Environmental
7 Resources; and be it further
8 RESOLVED, That the Conservation Committee may take
9 appropriate testimony and make its inquiries and investigations
10 at such places and at such times as it deems necessary within
11 this Commonwealth; and be it further
12 RESOLVED, That the Chairman of the Conservation Committee
13 shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations to
14 witnesses appearing before the committee; and be it further
15 RESOLVED, That the Conservation Committee shall be empowered
16 to issue subpoenas under the hand and seal of its chairman upon
17 a majority vote of committee members, commanding any person to
18 appear before it and answer questions touching matters properly
19 being inquired into by the committee and produce for inspection
20 such books, papers, records, computer data, accounts, reports
21 and documents as the committee deems necessary.
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