Environmental Updates

As previously reported in this newspaper, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is advancing the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy to help remove the Chesapeake Bay from the federal Clean Water Act’s list of impaired waters by 2010.

The strategy calls for reducing the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment from areas within the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins. Since September 2005, PAR and the Pennsylvania Builders Association (PBA) have studied the strategy and developed an action plan that includes the development of a broad coalition of stakeholders.

The House of Representatives and the Senate have both passed resolutions calling for a nine-month moratorium on the implementation of the strategy. The resolutions also ask for estimates of how much the strategy will cost, the environmental benefits to be accrued, potential alternatives, and an explanation of where financial resources will be obtained to complete the work. While the resolutions do not mandate any action from DEP, passage of them by unanimous votes may convince DEP to work more closely with stakeholder organizations in implementation of the strategy.

DEP is also in the process of revising 25 PA Code, Chapters 71-73, which cover the Administration of the Sewage Facilities Planning Program, the Administration of the Sewage Facilities Permitting Program, and the Standards for Onlot Sewage Treatment Facilities. One of the main reasons for opening the chapters is to place standards for alternate and experimental systems into the regulations.

Once again, PAR and PBA have formed a task force to discuss the current chapters and to recommend revisions to DEP. The regulations were scheduled to be published in the fall of 2005 however, DEP experienced delays due to loss of key staff and resulting workload reallocation, competing priorities, and the desire to complete development of all three chapters (71, 72, and 73) as one package. No amended schedule for the release of the draft has been provided.