Just another WordPress site
Posted on Leave a Comment
On February 6, the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association submitted comments to the Environmental Quality Board regarding the consideration of conservation easements in Pennsylvania stream redesignations. Special thanks go to Ron Ramsey (The Nature Conservancy), Pat Pregmon, and, most notably, Kelly Germann (Tinicum Conservancy) for their particularly substantial reviews.
Click here to read the PALTA comments in their entirety.
Click here to read comments submitted by others.
Posted on Leave a Comment
In a letter to the governor and general assembly, the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association joined fellow advocates for restoring Susquehanna River health and safe drinking water sources for Pennsylvanians across the state in calling for your swift and significant action to increase investments in water quality protection.
Posted on Leave a Comment
Email sent from PALTA to state representatives on 6/27/17:
Dear [Representative]:
On behalf of the 75 member organizations of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association and the 120,000 Pennsylvanians they count as members, I write to request your support of HB 544 and ask that you oppose all amendments with the exception of Rep. Maher’s A1763.
The final passage vote for this legislation last year was 187-2 in the House.
HB 544 would amend the Recreational Use of Land and Water Act to limit the liability for personal injury or property damage of landowners who generously open their lands to public use for hunting, bird watching, hiking, and other forms of recreation. It ensures they will not punished for allowing the public on their land free of charge.
The Association’s member organizations work with landowners to conserve their land and to provide safe and responsible recreational opportunities to the public. Landowner fear of liability is often an obstacle to establishing trails and other outdoor recreational opportunities. By providing assurance to landowners that their public-minded decisions to provide access won’t be punished with undue liability, House Bill 544 will expand recreational opportunities for the public.
Landowners and the public deserve the protections and recreational opportunities that this bill promotes. Both of their interests would benefit from the passage of this bill.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Andrew M. Loza
Executive Director
Posted on
On October 15, 2014, by a vote of 118 to 79, the House gave final approval to House Bill 1565 (Hahn-R-Northampton) that would weaken DEP requirements for stream buffers in Special Protection Watersheds. In September, the House passed an earlier version of the bill by the vote of 119 to 79. The bill now goes to the Governor for his action.
Click Here to see how your House member voted. House action Wednesday followed a vote by the Senate Tuesday which approved the bill by a vote of 27 to 22. Click Here to see how your Senate member voted.
Prior to its final Senate action, Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, amended the bill to change the provisions of the bill to give applicants the option to install practices other than a stream buffer, but only if they can prove other practices are “substantively equivalent to” a stream buffer.
The amendment also changed the provision allowing the installation of a buffer in other areas, but “as close as feasible to the area of disturbance” to limit the replacement buffer to areas within the same watershed.
Update: Governor Corbett signed the bill into law on October 22, 2014.
Source: PA Environment Digest
Posted on
October 8, 2014
The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association urges senators to oppose HB 1565. In a letter delivered to the senate today, PALTA wrote:
Enactment of this legislation would cause irreversible harm to Pennsylvania’s water quality and increase the destruction wrought by flooding.
The scope of the bill goes far beyond the supposed problems with the implementation of the regulations. The bill effectively eliminates the requirement of a riparian forest buffer, essentially replacing it with a grass buffer standard. The science is crystal clear and without challenge: grass buffers are grossly inferior to forested riparian buffers in keeping our water clean and minimizing flooding.
The pressing need and science that resulted in the establishment of the regulations has not changed. Riparian forest buffers are by far the most effective and least expensive approach to sustaining water quality and reducing the harm caused by erosion, sedimentation and flooding.
For more information, view the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association’s 10/6/2014 letter to the Senate as well as the many other communications posted at ConservateAdvocate.org.
