PEC sent the following letter in support for Amendment A05108 to Senate Bill 831 (P.N. 1514) to Members of the House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee on June 24, 2024:
Dear Representatives:
On behalf of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and Clean Air Task Force, we wish to express our strong support for Amendment A05108 being offered by Chairman Matzie to Senate Bill 831 when the bill is considered by the Committee tomorrow.
If adopted, this amendment will provide significant improvements to the legislation with respect to public land protections, environmental justice (enabling rejection of projects with undue impact on overburdened communities), community engagement, landowner rights (raising consent threshold from 60% to 75% and preventing surface use), preventative induced seismicity management requirements, extending the default post-injection site care period to 50 years, and enabling the Department of Environmental Protection to promulgate and enforce additional regulations as needed to protect the people and environment of the Commonwealth. We are greatly appreciative of Chairman Matzie and Senator Yaw’s hard work on these changes.
Carbon capture and sequestration, if properly sited away from orphaned wells and managed securely, can play a targeted but important role in Pennsylvania’s larger decarbonization strategy. With this amendment, Senate Bill 831 would provide a solid foundation for realizing that potential that is nation-leading in several respects. While issues with respect to infrastructure siting and buildout (including pipelines) will require separate legislation that should be promptly developed and considered, we urge your support for this amendment.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
John Walliser
Senior Vice President, Legal & Government Affairs
Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Adam Peltz
Director and Senior Attorney, Energy Transition
Environmental Defense Fund
Evan Endres
Pennsylvania Director of Government Relations and Policy
The Nature Conservancy
John Carlson
Senior Regional Policy Manager
Clean Air Task Force