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Meet PennFuture!    • Williamsport, 06/27 Climate Change Advisory Committee meetings, 2013 Harrisburg open to the public; dates subject to change    • July 2    • October 8

Inaction has bad consequences for the economy and the environment
Iberdrola Renewables announced this week it is cancelling two wind farms in Bedford and Clearfield Counties; this more than highlights the need for Congress to extend the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy. A representative from Iberdrola told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the two Pennsylvania wind farms and many others here and across the nation won't be built unless the tax credit is extended.

The PTC is vital to the development of wind energy in the U.S. and the creation of thousands of good-paying jobs. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), there is now enough U.S. wind energy to power the equivalent of more than 12 million homes. In addition, nearly 500 facilities across 44 states manufacture components for the wind energy industry. Wind energy has provided 35 percent of all new U.S. power capacity in the last five years. The PTC is essential for wind farms to secure private financing.

Bad bill rising in the House next week
Who do you want to be in charge of protecting our water and air — private industry and its consultants or the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)? On Wednesday the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee will vote on House Bill 1659, which would severely limit or eliminate DEP's ability to adequately review applications for permits that establish how much pollution private industry can put into our environment. The bill would set very short deadlines for DEP to review applications, and applications would automatically be granted if DEP could not meet the deadlines. An additional provision would allow industry to do two things — contract with outside private consultants to not only prepare applications, but also to review permit applications. DEP would be required to accept the recommendations of consultants, unless they were clearly erroneous — a standard that would not permit DEP to reject an application unless the private consultant was not only wrong, but VERY wrong.

Both of these provisions are bad news. Either DEP would be forced to do a slipshod job of reviewing the permits, or private companies would be put in charge of making decisions about how much pollution other private companies (who are paying them) could discharge into our environment. This is no way to enforce Pennsylvanians' constitutional right to a clean environment.

A good hook for anglers
Fishing license sales are declining in Pennsylvania and across the nation. This poses a challenge to the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, which relies almost exclusively on income from fishing licenses, boating registrations and federal funds tied to fishing and boating. With this shrinking bit of money, the commission regulates fishing and boating, and is responsible for managing all fish, amphibians, reptiles, and aquatic invertebrates.

Next week the House Game and Fisheries Committee will vote on legislation designed to give the Fish & Boat Commission the flexibility to make fishing licenses more convenient and less expensive. Senate Bill 1049, sponsored by Sen. Richard Kasunic, D-Fayette, will allow the commission to offer multi-year licenses and offer creative license packages.

Philly catching up to San Fran, Da Capital, and the Big Apple
The Philadelphia City Paper reported this week that a proposal being pushed by Next Great City and PennFuture is moving forward – and it's all about energy. Actually, it's all about knowing how much energy we're wasting.

Council member Blondell Reynolds-Brown introduced a bill that would require any non-residential building of over 25,000 square feet in the city to publish its energy and water usage figures. These initial benchmarks, published online, will allow everyone to know how much energy is being used in these buildings, and which ones are doing a better job than others.

When this was done in New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, just the publication of the figures led to 6 to 7 percent cuts in energy use, as building owners saw the need to cut costs and level the playing field with their competitors. And we know how competitive Philadelphians are, so we're expecting even better savings in the City of Brotherly Love.

Don't worry, we won't be gone long
We know. Summer doesn't really start until the solstice. But trying telling that to Session Daze.

Session Daze will be MIA next Friday, getting a head start on the Memorial Day weekend. We'll be recharging our batteries for June, when the General Assembly will wrestle with the final passage of the budget and the many bills PennFuture is following as your watchdog in Harrisburg.

Have a great holiday!

PennFuture's Session Daze is designed to be a brief, informative and occasionally humorous look at public policy in Pennsylvania. Please visit our website for more information about PennFuture.

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