THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY HUTCHINSON, BAKER, BENNINGHOFF, CAUSER, CLYMER, CREIGHTON, ELLIS, FABRIZIO, FLECK, GEIST, GOODMAN, GROVE, HARHART, HARRIS, HENNESSEY, HESS, KAUFFMAN, MAJOR, METCALFE, MILLER, MOUL, MURT, OBERLANDER, PYLE, RAPP, REICHLEY, ROAE, ROHRER, SCAVELLO, STERN, STEVENSON, SWANGER AND VULAKOVICH, MARCH 10, 2009

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, MARCH 10, 2009  

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 28, 1995 (P.L.89, No.18), entitled "An

act creating the Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources consisting of certain functions of the Department

of Environmental Resources and the Department of Community

Affairs; renaming the Department of Environmental Resources

as the Department of Environmental Protection; defining the

role of the Environmental Quality Board in the Department of

Environmental Protection; making changes to responsibilities

of the State Conservation Commission and the Department of

Agriculture; transferring certain powers and duties to the

Department of Health; and repealing inconsistent acts," in

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, further

providing for findings and statement of purpose, for forests

and for parks.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Sections 101, 302(a)(6) and (b)(3) and (11) and

303(a)(10) of the act of June 28, 1995 (P.L.89, No.18), known as

the Conservation and Natural Resources Act, are amended to read:

Section 101. Findings and statement of purpose.

(a)  Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as

follows:

(1)  Pennsylvania's public natural resources are to be

conserved and maintained for the use and benefit of all its

citizens as guaranteed by section 27 of Article I of the

Constitution of Pennsylvania.

(2)  Pennsylvania's State forests and parks cover almost

2.3 million acres in this Commonwealth and contain some of

our State's most precious and rare natural areas.

(3)  Pennsylvania has the third largest system of State

parks in the United States.

(4)  Our State parks and forests and community recreation

and heritage conservation areas are critical to the continued

success of our tourism and recreation industry, the second

largest industry in the State.

(5)  Our forest products industry employs over 100,000

people and contributes over $4.5 billion a year to our

economy, making it the State's fourth largest industry.

(6)  Preserving, enhancing, maintaining and actively

managing our system of State parks, forests, community

recreation and heritage conservation areas contributes

greatly to the quality of life of Pennsylvania's citizens and

the economic well-being of the State.

(7)  The current structure of the Department of

Environmental Resources impedes the Secretary of

Environmental Resources from devoting enough time, energy and

money to solving the problems facing our State parks and

forests.

(8)  State parks and forests have taken a back seat to

other environmental issues because polluted air and water and

toxic waste sites, for example, are more immediate, life-

threatening and publicly visible issues than natural resource

concerns.

(9)  State parks, forests and community recreation and

heritage conservation areas have lost out in the competition

for financial and staff resources because they have no

cabinet-level advocate to highlight these issues for the

public.

(10)  Income earned by the Commonwealth as royalties from

leasing development rights for natural gas reserves and land

rental payments from natural gas storage facilities

underlying State forest lands has paid for numerous

conservation, recreation, dam and flood control projects that

were not funded by appropriations from the General Fund. The

royalty and rental payments have also enabled the

Commonwealth to substantially improve public recreation

opportunities through the purchase of lands needed to create

eight State parks and to supplement and expand 31 existing

State parks.

(11)  It is in the best interest of this Commonwealth to

encourage and promote the development of the rich endowment

of natural gas reserves underlying Pennsylvania's 2.3 million

acres of State forest lands to enhance Pennsylvania's energy

security, to curb carbon emissions, to meet the growing

demand for new electric generating capacity and to provide a

source of clean energy for residential and commercial heating

and as a fuel or feedstock for manufacturers.

(b)  Intent.--It is the intent of the General Assembly and

the purpose of this act:

(1)  To create a new Department of Conservation and

Natural Resources to serve as a cabinet-level advocate for

our State parks, forests, rivers, natural resources, trails,

greenways and community recreation and heritage conservation

programs to provide more focused management of the

Commonwealth's recreation, natural and river environments.

The primary mission of the Department of Conservation and

Natural Resources will be to maintain, improve and preserve

State parks, to manage State forest lands to assure their

long-term health, sustainability and economic use, to enhance

and facilitate the identification, development and delivery

to market of natural gas reserves underlying State forest

lands, to provide information on Pennsylvania's ecological

and geologic resources and to administer grant and technical

assistance programs that will benefit rivers conservation,

trails and greenways, local recreation, regional heritage

conservation and environmental education programs across

Pennsylvania.

(2)  To change the name of the Department of

Environmental Resources to the Department of Environmental

Protection.

(3)  To retain the rulemaking powers of the Environmental

Quality Board in relation to the Department of Environmental

Protection.

Section 302.  Forests.

(a)  Acquisition, establishment and disposition.--The

department has the following powers and duties with respect to

the acquisition, establishment and disposition of State forest

lands and certain other Commonwealth-owned resources:

* * *

(6)  Whenever it shall appear that the welfare of this

Commonwealth, with reference to reforesting and the

betterment of the State forests, with respect to control,

scientific management, protection, utilization, development

and regulation of their occupancy and use, will be advanced

by selling or disposing of any of the timber on the State

forests, to dispose of timber on terms most advantageous to

this Commonwealth. The department is authorized and directed

to set aside, within the State forests, unusual or historical

groves of trees or natural features especially worthy of

permanent preservation, to make the same accessible and

convenient for public use and to dedicate them in perpetuity

to the citizens of this Commonwealth for their recreation and

enjoyment. The department is hereby empowered to make and

execute contracts or leases in the name of the Commonwealth

for the mining or removal of any valuable minerals that may

be found in State forests, or of oil and gas beneath those

waters of Lake Erie owned by the Commonwealth, or of oil and

gas beneath the land of Woodville State Hospital owned by the

Commonwealth, whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of

the department that it would be for the best interests of

this Commonwealth to make such disposition of those minerals.

Any proposed contracts or leases of valuable minerals

exceeding $1,000 in value shall have been advertised once a

week for three weeks, in at least two newspapers published

nearest the locality indicated, in advance of awarding such

contract or lease. The contracts or leases may then be

awarded to the highest and best bidder, who shall give bond

for the proper performance of the contract as the department

shall designate. The department shall conduct a competitive

public auction to lease State forest land for exploration and

development of natural gas reserves owned by the Commonwealth

whenever two or more bidders nominate overlapping or

contiguous State forest land acreage for lease. The

department shall conduct the public auction within six months

of the receipt of a second nomination for contiguous or

overlapping acreage. However, where the Commonwealth owns a

fractional interest in the oil, natural gas and other

minerals under State forest lands, the requirement of

competitive bidding or public auction may be waived, and the

department may enter into a contract to lease that fractional

interest, with the approval of the Governor, and upon such

terms and conditions as the department deems to be in the

best interest of this Commonwealth.

* * *

(b)  Utilization and protection.--The department has the

following powers and duties with respect to the utilization and

protection of State forest lands:

* * *

(3)  To grant rights-of-way through State forests to

individuals or corporations who may apply therefor when it

shall appear to the department that the grant of a right-of-

way will not so adversely affect the land as to interfere

with its usual and orderly administration, and when it shall

appear that the interests of the Commonwealth or its citizens

will be promoted by such grant. The department shall grant

rights-of-way as needed to facilitate the gathering and

delivery to market of natural gas produced from State forest

lands or from adjacent or contiguous public or private lands. 

Right-of-way, as used in this subsection, is hereby construed

to include rights of passage and haulage for any lawful

purpose, also rights of flowage or transmission for any

lawful purpose.

* * *

(11)  To lease, with the approval of the Governor, and in

cooperation with the Department of [Commerce] Community and

Economic Development, those State forest lands acquired by

gift from Pennsylvania State University or by acquisition

from the Curtiss-Wright Corporation which are located at

Quehanna, Pennsylvania, or recovered through the termination

of a lease with Curtiss-Wright Corporation relating to

Quehanna, Pennsylvania, and upon which are erected certain

industrial buildings constructed by the Curtiss-Wright

Corporation for industrial or economic development purposes

or for nuclear reactor safety zone purposes. Such leases may

be made with industrial tenants or nonprofit industrial

development corporations. The department in securing tenants

shall cooperate fully with the Department of [Commerce]

Community and Economic Development. Every such lease entered

into shall conform in general to the terms of the standard

industrial lease used by the department and approved by the

General Counsel and the Attorney General. Every such lease

shall otherwise than as in this act prescribed be upon such

terms and conditions as the secretary considers in the best

interests of this Commonwealth. However, all paved roads

through the Quehanna project shall remain open to the general

public use. Any such lease may permit the tenant to alter or

expand, at its own expense and with the approval of the

department first obtained in writing, existing buildings to

meet the requirements of its particular industrial operation.

Every such lease shall provide for the deposit of industrial

floor space rentals and sewage and water rentals in a

restricted revenue account from which the department may draw

moneys for use in developing, operating and maintaining the

water and sewage disposal facilities, and replacing

machinery, equipment and fixtures appurtenant thereto, at

aforesaid Quehanna. The restricted revenue account shall be

audited two years from the effective date of this act and at

two-year intervals thereafter, with any residue appearing in

the account at the end of each auditing period to be

deposited in the General Fund. The department is hereby

authorized to indemnify and hold harmless PermaGrain

Products, Inc., from and against any and all damages incurred

by PermaGrain Products, Inc., related to personal injury or

property damage, resulting from radioactive contamination

arising exclusively from performance by this Commonwealth or

its contractors of the characterization, remediation,

decontamination and removal of radioactive materials from

contaminated structures on those State forest lands acquired

from the Pennsylvania State University or Curtiss-Wright

Corporation and located at Quehanna, Pennsylvania.

* * *

Section 303.  Parks.

(a)  Powers and duties enumerated.--The department shall have

the following powers and duties with respect to parks:

* * *

(10)  To grant rights-of-way in and through State parks

to municipal authorities and political subdivisions of this

Commonwealth for the laying of water lines and of lines for

the transportation of sewage to sewage lines or sewage

treatment facilities on State park land under such terms and

conditions, including the payment of fees, as the department

may deem proper and when it shall appear that the grant of

such right-of-way will not so adversely affect the land as to

interfere with its usual and orderly administration and that

the interests of this Commonwealth or its citizens will be

promoted by such grant. The department shall grant rights-of-

way in and through State parks as needed to facilitate the

gathering and delivery to market of natural gas produced from

State park lands or from adjacent or contiguous public or

private lands.

* * *

Section 2.  This act shall take effect immediately.