Tell your State Representative: Don’t Let Polluters Redefine “Pollution” in Pennsylvania

From PennFuture (http://www.pennfuture.org):

This week, the Pennsylvania State Senate voted on a bill (SB 619) that would make it easier to pollute our waters. This bill would cut back existing regulations, fundamentally changing water protection in Pennsylvania.

Senate Bill 619 seeks to amend the Clean Streams Law – enacted in 1937 to protect Pennsylvania’s abundant water resources – to exclude from its definition of “pollution” any “accidental discharge, spill or release that does not cause a violation of” a limited list of 15 water quality criteria, such as temperature, color, and bacteria.

This bill makes it easier to pollute our waters in two ways:

• First, by changing the definition of “pollution,” SB 619 would prevent state agencies from taking action against people who cause spills that threaten waterways, but don’t technically violate the specific numeric water quality criteria. This would allow many types of spills to go unpunished, including, for example, accidental discharges of oil, grease, scum, and floating materials.
• Second, SB 619 changes the requirements for reporting the newly-defined accidental discharges or spills, making them reportable to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) only after the polluter determines whether it violates the numeric water quality standards. Currently, polluters are required to immediately notify state agencies and downstream water users as well as to immediately take action to prevent injury downstream.

SB 619 eliminates critical safeguards in Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law that protect waterways from spills that harm the environment, public health, and property. We oppose this attempt to allow our waters to be polluted without recourse and without the knowledge of the DEP and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, both of which work hard to protect Pennsylvania’s water quality.

Take action now to call your state representative to say: “Stop this senseless attack on Pennsylvania’s waters and put community interests before industry profit!” Find your representatives contact information at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm#address.

Pennsylvania’s waters are an invaluable resource for drinking water and recreation, and bring significant economic value. We can’t afford the impact that redefining “pollution” and weaker protections would have on our water.

Urge your state representative to vote “NO” on this dangerous bill.