With the help of many in and out of government, Pennsylvania’s air, water and land are cleaner today than eight years ago when Gov. Edward G. Rendell took office.
First, take a look at Pennsylvania’s improved air quality. Hazardous air pollutants are down 40 percent, while emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide—which contribute to smog—are down 38 percent and 47 percent, respectively. This is real progress that has made our rain and snow substantially less acidic, but only significant further reductions will make our air healthy to breathe all the time.
The governor also leaves a legacy of better water. That work starts with about $4 billion invested since 2003 to improve water and sewer facilities. This infrastructure reduces the pollution and raw sewage flowing into our streams and will provide 40 years of economic and environmental value. It also includes a strong plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which is essential as Pennsylvania must meet a federal court’s requirement to do so.
During the governor’s time in office, Pennsylvania removed 146 dams, restored 700 miles of polluted streams to health—the second most of any state—and extended the Exceptional Value legal protection to another 1,433 miles of waters, ensuring that these natural jewels have the strongest safeguards. To protect more waters, the Governor passed a rule requiring a 150-foot buffer from development, the single best natural protection, for another 23,000 miles of streams, a quarter of the state’s waterways.
On land, the former mayor of Philadelphia proved a friend to agriculture, preserving 197,547 acres of farmland on 2,023 farms. Put another way, this represents almost half of all the farms ever preserved in Pennsylvania.
The Rendell administration also protected greenspace by revitalizing 325 industrial sites in urban areas. At the same time, the governor completed 292 mine reclamation and acid mine pollution projects. He also successfully advocated changing federal law so that Pennsylvania will receive $1 billion for mine cleanups by 2020 and signed a new mine safety law that helped to make 2010 the very first year in the long history of Pennsylvania mining when no miners died.
The governor also cleaned up communities by removing 3,075 leaking underground tanks, plugging 1,600 oil and gas wells, removing an incredible 12.6 million waste tires—85 percent of the total—and increasing recycling 30 percent.
Much of this work was made possible, because Governor Rendell kept his promise to pass Growing Greener II, a $625 million voter-approved program.
Given that most environmental problems are rooted in how energy is produced and consumed, the Governor’s clean energy policies are essential to environmental protection and a powerful economic engine that now employs more than 25,000 people. In 2003, Pennsylvania was near the bottom of states developing clean energy, but now, we are an internationally recognized leader.
Thanks to three major pieces of bipartisan legislation passed by the General Assembly since 2003, 1,200 megawatts of additional renewable energy—or enough to power 500,000 homes is operating or being built. These projects account for $3 billion of private investment that created thousands of jobs and is producing clean electricity that is keeping market prices lower for all of us.
The state also enacted a landmark energy conservation law that puts Pennsylvania in the top five nationally. Using less energy is the cleanest, cheapest way to meet our energy needs. None of these clean energy landmarks that cut soot, smog and heat trapping gas by 25 million tons per year would have been possible without Governor Rendell’s passionate leadership.
The Marcellus gas resource lowers heating bills and creates jobs, but it is both an environmental threat and opportunity.
Natural gas drilling is industrial activity and must be strongly regulated by professional, independent environmental cops, as Governor-elect Corbett recently said. In the last two years, Pennsylvania more than doubled its drilling oversight staff and vastly strengthened its drilling regulations, adding new measures that govern water withdrawals, drilling wastewater discharges, and how wells are built.
Using more natural gas and renewable energy sources, and less coal and oil, will save lives and protect the environment. Seventy percent of America’s coal fired power plants have little or no environmental controls, while just one out of control oil well in the Gulf devastated it. Natural gas emits no soot or mercury, unlike coal.
Tens of thousands of Americans each year are sickened and killed by soot from diesel trucks and coal plants. Mercury from coal burning has contaminated fish, and now one out of six American women has elevated mercury levels because they have eaten contaminated fish.
The air, water and land of Pennsylvania are cleaner, thanks to Governor Rendell and those who toil to protect our environment. For sure, more work remains and the responsibility of protecting and restoring Pennsylvania’s environment is now passed to Governor-elect Corbett from whom we will need leadership and to whom we must offer our help.
John Hanger
Secretary
Department of Environmental Protection