Bill Text: PA HR87 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging the Environmental Protection Agency to stop its unlawful application of the Guidance Memo relating to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which is a substantive change to the permitting procedure conferred on the states, and restore the regulatory environment that existed prior to the release of the Guidance Memo.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 23-7)

Status: (Passed) 2011-05-03 - Adopted (148-49) [HR87 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-HR87-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 780
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No. 87 Session of2011
INTRODUCED BY PYLE, BENNINGHOFF, BURNS, CAUSER, CHRISTIANA, CLYMER, P. COSTA, DENLINGER, ELLIS, GABLER, GEIST, GEORGE, GIBBONS, GROVE, HALUSKA, HARHAI, HARRIS, HESS, M.K. KELLER, KORTZ, OBERLANDER, PICKETT, RAPP, ROAE, TALLMAN, VULAKOVICH, TOBASH AND STEVENSON, FEBRUARY 23, 2011
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, FEBRUARY 23, 2011
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Environmental Protection Agency to stop its unlawful
application of the Guidance Memo relating to the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act, which is a substantive change to
the permitting procedure conferred on the states, and restore
the regulatory environment that existed prior to the release
of the Guidance Memo.
WHEREAS, Under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act (62 Stat. 1155, 33 U.S.C. § 1342), National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits are
typically issued by states for discharge of nondredged and
nonfill material; and
WHEREAS, Once the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
approves a state permitting program, the state has exclusive
authority to issue NPDES permits; and
WHEREAS, Through a 1991 Memorandum of Agreement executed
between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the EPA, the
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was identified as
the lead agency with exclusive authority for administering and
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granting NPDES permits for mining-related activities in this
Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, In September 2010, the EPA informed the DEP that it
was altering the Commonwealth's administration of its permitting
program and would conduct its own additional review of NPDES
permits; and
WHEREAS, This abrupt change in the Commonwealth's permitting
process was not the result of any accompanying Federal statutory
or regulatory changes; and
WHEREAS, As a result of this change, the DEP is required to
provide the EPA's Region 3 field office with all pending mining-
related NPDES permit applications, whose activity will either
discharge into the Monongahela River or into any designated
total maximum daily load impaired stream for its independent
review; and
WHEREAS, The EPA's Region 3 field office is not sufficiently
staffed to perform these types of reviews in a timely manner,
causing indefinite delays in the permitting process; and
WHEREAS, The EPA's objections to the issuance of these permit
applications vary, but generally are based on what the Federal
agency perceives are inconsistencies between the applications
and an interim final Guidance Memo that the EPA released in
April 2010, designed to provide a framework for regional reviews
of surface mining projects in Appalachia based on conductivity
levels it associated with adverse impacts to streams; and
WHEREAS, Although the stated intent of the Guidance Memo is
to limit its applicability to surface mining projects only, a
number of the permits being delayed in this Commonwealth are for
activities other than this type of mining; and
WHEREAS, The Guidance Memo is based on flawed studies with
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limited application and unconfirmed conclusions that cannot be
used to develop a predictive cause and effect relationship
between the EPA's established benchmark threshold for
conductivity levels and healthy streams in this Commonwealth;
and
WHEREAS, Despite the representation that the Guidance Memo is
an interim document, it nevertheless is applied by the EPA in a
binding manner in its current version, even though the EPA
continues to receive comments on it; and
WHEREAS, The EPA's application of the Guidance Memo
constitutes a substantive change in the basic application of the
permitting process; and
WHEREAS, By substituting the issuance of agency guidance for
formal rulemaking, the EPA circumvents the clear requirements of
the Administrative Procedure Act (60 Stat. 237, 5 U.S.C. § 551
et seq.) for public notice and comments; and
WHEREAS, This unnecessary extended review of NPDES permit
applications by the EPA has led to a significant backlog of
permits that could result in coal contracts being lost, mining
jobs being destroyed and this Commonwealth losing its major
source of affordable and reliable electric generation; therefore
be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the Environmental Protection
Agency to stop its unlawful application of the Guidance Memo
relating to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which is a
substantive change to the permitting procedure conferred on the
states, and restore the regulatory environment that existed
prior to the release of the Guidance Memo; be it further
RESOLVED, That the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reassert its
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rightful role as the sole agency with permitting authority of
mining-related National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
permits; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of the House of
Representatives transmit a copy of this resolution to the
Governor of Pennsylvania, the Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator and all members of the Pennsylvania Congressional
Delegation.
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