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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	March 24, 2015 12:40 PM
From:	Senator Andrew E. Dinniman
To:	All Senate members
Subject:	DEP Public Notification and Access to Information Act; Pipeline Acre-for-Acre; and Condemnation Approval

In the near future I will introduce a four-bill legislative package to improve how the DEP notifies the general public of important permitting actions; to provide the public electronic access to related documents; to protect taxpayer-funded easements against pipeline projects on an acre-to-acre basis; and finally, to protect agricultural easements against condemnation of land for pipeline and Electric Corridor projects.

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Document #1

Description:

DEP Access to Information Act. My first piece of legislation will be my DEP Access to Information Act, which will require the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to post on its website applications for a defined list of permits and the applications’ supporting public documents, e.g. engineering studies, etc. During the permitting of a pipeline in Chester County,  Senator John Rafferty Jr. and I had to make a last-minute request for supporting documents prior to a scheduled hearing.   Additionally, the DEP only provided concerned residents permit applications and supporting documents in hard-copy form, which in turn could only be accessed from my office or local libraries.   It is time for Pennsylvania’s DEP to follow in the footsteps of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which provides Internet access to permit applications and supporting documents.

Document #2

Description:

DEP Public Notification Act. My second piece of legislation will be my DEP Public Notification Act. My bill is based partly upon what the DEP already does within its Environmental Justice Areas, which are U.S. Census tracts where 20 percent or more individuals live in poverty and/or 30 percent or more of the population is minority.   I introduce this bill due to the lack of public notification and permit information received by residents in my district in a DEP permit application for a pipeline. Specifically, after a pipeline operator’s first request to install a pipeline across a major waterway in my district was denied by the DEP, it reapplied for the permit in 2012. As far as notifying the public of this second permit request (and of subsequent comment periods and hearings), the DEP’s only required action was to publish notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.   Under my DEP Public Notification Act, the DEP would require pipeline operators to notify property-owners affected by their proposed pipeline (in line with current Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requirements). For those seeking a specified list of DEP permits, my bill would require notification to residents who live within a half-mile of the project (in line with the DEP’s current practice within Environmental Justice Areas).

Document #3

Description:

Pipeline Acre-for-Acre Act. In addition, due to the many existing pipelines in my district and the many more planned in order to bring Marcellus Shale gas to market in Philadelphia and other ports, a third bill I am introducing would require pipeline operators that take taxpayer-funded agriculture and conservation easements to replace them within the same county.  My bill would only require such acre-for-acre replacement in the first, second and third-class counties – which are more prone to population and land pressures. To further protect these easements and other land in first, second and third-class counties, the bill would further require that pipeline operators take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that their projects do not worsen the stormwater characteristics (total volume and rate of stormwater run-off) of their pipeline right-of-ways.

Document #4

Description:

Condemnation Approval. My fourth bill also seeks to protect Act 43 farmland from condemnation by PUC- and FERC-approved projects and again would only affect first, second and third class counties. Act 43 currently exempts such projects from requiring the approval of the Agricultural Lands Condemnation Approval Board. My bill deletes this exemption and I will introduce it in light of not only gas pipeline projects but also the National Electric Corridor project.