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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Tim Seip State
Rep. Neal Goodman |
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Seip, Goodman welcome bipartisan deal on hazardous-sites fund, jobs
HARRISBURG, Dec. 11 – State Reps. Tim Seip, D-Schuylkill/Berks, and Neal Goodman, D-Schuylkill, welcomed today’s bipartisan House agreement that will keep the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund operating.
“This fund was about to run out, putting at risk the health of people who live and work near numerous sites in Schuylkill and Berks counties,” said Seip, a member of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
“The agreement will also avoid looming layoffs for 146 people at the Department of Environmental Protection, many of them in northeastern Pennsylvania. With the holidays coming up, this agreement is especially good news for them,” said Goodman, a member of the House Labor Relations Committee.
Seip said many House members strongly opposed a bill the Senate passed last summer. That bill (S.B. 913) would have funded the hazardous-site cleanups by raiding money from another environmental account, the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund. That money goes to parks and open-space preservation, as well as library improvements.
The new bill (S.B. 1100), also passed by the Senate, met initial resistance in the House of Representatives before today’s agreement. The new bill will provide money for the hazardous-site cleanups from the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax, which is being phased out, so the funding will need to be revisited.
“For now, the most important thing is that the cleanups can continue and the employees can keep working,” Seip said.
The new bill is expected to receive a final vote in the House on Wednesday, which will send it to the governor for his signature.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Ben Turner |