Pennsylvania bill putting 45-day window on DEP permits split across party lines

(The Center Square) – With a Republican majority backing it, a House bill placing a 45-day window on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s permitting process passed its first hurdle amid strong opposition from Democrat lawmakers.

The Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on June 23 approved, on a 17-8 vote, a first consideration of House Bill 604, which puts the onus on DEP officials to issue, modify, renew or transfer applicant permits within the one-and-a-half month time frame.

The 15 majority Republican House lawmakers on the panel approved the bill. Minority member state Reps. Manuel Guzman, D-Berks, and Pam Snyder, D-Carmichaels, also cast support for the legislation. The bill has advanced to the House Rules Committee.

Delays in the DEP’s permitting process are the impetus for the legislation, said state Rep. Jonathan Fritz, R-Susquehanna, who is the bill’s primary sponsor.

“HB 604 is a bill that brings predictability and consistency to the permit attainment process in Pennsylvania,” Fritz said at the committee meeting. “Pennsylvania right now is woefully slow in issuing permits.”

Fritz, who has a background in business, said, “deadlines are a fact of life” in the private sector and stated a desire to have the same standards in place in government.

“My goal is to make Pennsylvania more attractive to businesses,” Fritz said. “Our young talent is seeking jobs in other states. This is a dangerous trend.”

Several Democrats sitting on the committee adamantly disagreed with Fritz’s legislation and pointed fingers at the Republican-led General Assembly for stripping staffing resources out of the DEP in more recent years.

“(The agency) has insufficient staff to do this,” said state Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, the committee’s minority chair. “Instead of starving the DEP of resources, give them the resources to do their jobs. Properly fund the DEP – that’s the answer.”

Throughout the debate, however, Republican lawmakers continued to circle back to jobs and the overall business climate, asserting a more clear-cut and robust permitting process will make Pennsylvania a more attractive state to prospective companies.

State Rep. Joshua Kail, R-Monaca, said he believes his area of representation in the western portion of the state is losing out to Ohio and West Virginia.

“We are missing so many opportunities for good, blue collar jobs in this state,” Kail said. “We need to get our permitting work done. We’ve got to hold (DEP officials’) feet to the fire.”

From his vantage point, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, said he viewed HB 604 as one of multiple solutions to balancing business and environmental interests.

“There are many facets to this problem,” said Metcalfe, the committee’s majority chair. “I think this bill would help with some of them. This is a win-win.”

Several Democrat lawmakers on the committee said they would be willing to lend support to a more clear-cut approval timeline process if there were more details of how the DEP would carry out the revised marching orders.

“We can’t assume that it will all just fall into place,” state Rep. Dianne Herrin, D-West Chester, said.

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