County Pushing For Two State Law Changes

Two legislative issues being pushed strongly by the Potter County Commissioners are close to adoption into the County Platform. That’s a document used by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania for its advocacy work with the state legislature. During a meeting of CCAP’s Energy, Environment and Land Use Committee today, Potter County’s proposals dealing with water well drilling standards and licensing of drillers, as well as the reinstatement of county conservation districts’ permitting authority for oil and gas drilling activities, were adopted by majority vote.

Specifically, the platform supports House Bill 1855, which contains consumer and environmental protection measures establishing uniform statewide standards for water well construction and requiring operators to demonstrate that they’re qualified to drill water wells.  Also approved is a proposal before the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection to reverse a 2009 policy stripping county conservation districts of their long-held erosion and sedimentation permitting authority related to oil and gas drilling.

Potter County is also active in CCAP’s lobbying to give counties greater flexibility in the use of state funding for human service programs. CCAP has argued that proposed cuts for human service programs in the governor’s 2012-13 budget proposal will reduce county-supported services and, with fewer restrictions, counties will be better able to cushion the impact.