Senate committee advances four environmental bills

The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee recently advanced four bills intended to update existing environmental regulations and provide a solution for plugging the state’s abandoned oil and gas wells.

“The committee advanced four bills that will streamline existing environmental regulations and address ongoing problems, like uncertainty around accidental spills and generating money to plug orphaned oil and gas wells,” state Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Bradford), committee chairman, said. “I appreciate my colleagues’ support in advancing these important measures.”

House Bill 668 would add a stakeholder from the coal refuse energy and reclamation industry to the Mining Reclamation and Advisory Board.

Senate Bill 945 would allocate proceeds from the sale of alternative energy credits to the Commonwealth Financing Authority. This money would be used to create a fund to plug abandoned oil and gas wells.

Senate Bill 1030 would amend the Air Pollution Control Act of 1959 to temporarily suspend a 2002 regulation requiring heavy-duty highway diesel engines sold in Pennsylvania to meet California Air Resources Board certification standards.

House Bill 1842 would amend the Clean Streams Law to require the Environmental Quality Board to further identify and define accidental spills that require reporting to the Department of Environmental Protection.