House Bill 1950 fails the people miserably

House Bill 1950, sponsored by Brian Ellis and Mary Jo White from Butler County, recently passed by the State Legislature, fails the people of PA miserably.  Governor Corbett and all the state legislators,  who voted for this bill, have given a huge gift to the gas industry.  The reasons for saying this are contained in what this bill does and does not do.

1.  This bill does unprecedented harm to the ability of local governments to protect their citizens and communities by eliminating local control of zoning of this industry as set forth the Municipalities Planning Code. Consequently, drilling, laying of pipeline and the building of compression stations and gas processing plants will essentially be permitted anywhere, including residential areas.
2. To add insult to injury, the bill also takes away the legal right for any municipality to challenge a permit decision by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that the local government believes is not in the best interest of its community.
3. The law is written so that the Public Utility Commission (PUC), which has little expertise in zoning matters, will be given the authority to invalidate local zoning ordinances that seek to restrict drilling.
4. The bill allows DEP to grant drilling permits when the gas drilling company is in violation of laws elsewhere in the state. Almost every other statute administered by DEP requires DEP to deny permits if the applicant has unresolved violations of law elsewhere in the state.
5. The bill requires drillers only to replace, not clean up, private and public water supplies they contaminate. So if the gas drillers pollute a water supply under HB 1950, they only need to bring in the water buffalo or other replacement water, not clean up the mess.  (Based on what happened in Dimock, PA, these water buffaloes are eventually removed by the gas drillers, leaving people to fend for themselves.)

It is obvious to me that this bill was written mostly by the industry.  The most unbelievable part is verbiage on p. 99 of the bill that prevents doctors from revealing the chemicals for which they are treating patients from drilling areas.  This indicates that the industry knows that substances they are using are a threat to public health.  Isn’t it a violation of human and civil rights for residents to not be warned if they are being exposed to hazardous chemicals that are making others seriously ill?

Although HB 1950 will soon be law, our worst response would be to accept this egregious violation of our rights to protect our communities and our health and remain silent.  Speak out, get involved and let your representatives know your concerns.

d.a.