HARRISBURG (TNS) — The Pa. Senate passed a bill that would overhaul elements of the commonwealth’s energy development system — a move hailed by the Republican majority as a way to attract more investment but decried by Democrats as an attempt to skirt environmental regulations.
The bill, which passed on a party-line vote, is unlikely to be well-received in the Democratic-majority House, particularly as energy policy remains a major point of negotiation between the legislature and Gov. Josh Shapiro.
“We know this is not going to go anywhere because we know there’s not been an appropriate dialogue,” said Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny County, noting that Democrats only received language for a major revision of the bill a day before the vote.
“We shouldn’t be throwing comprehensive, complex legislation in our laps at the last minute and expecting us to support it without the proper vetting,” Costa said.
The bill, authored by Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming County, originally pertained only to the creation of a new Independent Energy Office that would be tasked with providing analysis on Pennsylvania’s electricity needs and related matters.
But the bill was amended to also include a reorganization of the PA Energy Development Authority (PEDA), which is responsible for doling out grants and loans to energy-generating projects.
Under the revised version of Yaw’s bill, the agency would be renamed the Opportunities with Energy Reliability Authority and its board membership would be reduced, stripping the governor’s office of its direct appointees.
The new authority would also be granted broad powers to give energy projects waivers and exemptions from Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permitting and to use its own third-party reviewers in lieu of DEP oversight.
PEDA will potentially be handling large amounts of federal money passed through recent infrastructure bills, with Republicans saying the agency needs to be streamlined to get projects done without the potential delays caused by DEP reviews.
While the new rules in the bill would apply to all types of energy projects — from fossil fuels to solar to hydropower — Republicans have focused on the possibilities for natural gas.
“We need to stop apologizing for what we have,” Yaw said Wednesday, referencing Pennsylvania’s status as the nation’s foremost energy exporter due to its natural gas-fired power plants.
In urging his colleagues to vote for the bill, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana County, pointed to recent instances of Pennsylvania losing out on natural gas projects that have instead happened in neighboring states.
Pittman said his constituents who “rely on these kinds of capital investments to feed their families are going to have to pack a suitcase and head to West Virginia to make a living wage” unless Pennsylvania catches up.
The Senate GOP proposal comes weeks after Shapiro proposed a major change to Pennsylvania’s energy standards, which would increase the amount of renewables required in power companies’ portfolios and institute a credit system capping greenhouse gas emissions — measures opposed by fossil fuel-burning power plants.
Proposals like Shapiro’s portfolio standards are a balanced approach to the issue, Costa said Wednesday, as opposed to Yaw’s bill that “creates a process to avoid complying with regulations of this commonwealth which were duly adopted in state law.”
In an email, Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder said the administration “was opposed to Senate Bill 832, and we are reviewing new amendments made to the legislation yesterday – but we’re encouraged that Senate Republicans agree that we need to take action and we look forward to working together to create energy jobs, address climate change, and ensure we have safe, reliable power for the long-term.”
