Citizens Bank wins small business banking award

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Collaborative Nursing Network of NEPA to hold conference April 19

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley called it &#8220;climate disruption.&#8221;</p><p>A former mayor of Hazleton City, Quigley said Pennsylvania is becoming a different place due to significant changes in the climate.</p><p>For instance, he said, for 110 years, there was a rise in average temperature of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Between 2000 and 2015, Quigley said the rise is on pace for a 4 degree rise in average temperature by 2050.</p><p>&#8220;We have changed the chemical composition of our atmosphere,&#8221; Quigley told the Times Leader Opinion Board Thursday.</p><p>Quigley went on to discuss potential impacts of climate change on Pennsylvania and the effects it could have on public health, agriculture, energy and the economy.</p><p>Quigley said by the year 2050, Pennsylvania&#8217;s climate will warm to the current climate in Washington, D.C.</p><p>&#8220;You might as well say goodbye to Montage Mountain,&#8221; Quigley said. &#8220;Snow skiing in Northeastern Pennsylvania will be lost.&#8221;</p><p>Quigley said by 2050, Pennsylvania ski resorts will not be economically viable due to decreasing snow cover. He said Pennsylvania&#8217;s black cherry trees are receding and are expected to continue their current rate of decline. And, he added, tropical diseases such as West Nile Virus, are increasing due to increasing temperatures that enable disease-carrying insects to thrive.</p><p>DEP has worked with the Climate Change Advisory Committee to develop a second update to the Climate Change Action Plan and is accepting comments on the plan through March 30.</p><p>Under the federal Clean Air Act, each state is required to develop a state-specific compliance plan to meet individual state targets set by EPA or be subject to the Federal Plan.</p><p><strong>Budget woes</strong></p><p>Quigley said DEP&#8217;s budget has been hit hard in recent years, seeing more than twice the cuts that other state agencies. He said DEP has had a 14 percent reduction in key staff positions over the last 10 years, including about half of its inspectors and permit writers.</p><p>&#8220;DEP has taken an inordinate hit,&#8221; Quigley said. &#8220;And I believe it was done deliberately. It was ideologically driven to reduce the size of DEP.&#8221;</p><p>Quigley said his budget must return to &#8220;some level of sanity, or place public health at risk.&#8221; He said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is watching DEP closely which, he claims, is in danger of losing national certification for its laboratory charged with testing air and water quality.</p><p>Quigley also said DEP is in dire need of a massive update in informational technology, noting the IT budget has been cut from $16 million to $23 million since 2004. He said there is too much reliance on paper and stressed the need for mobile electronic devices that could double the staff&#8217;s productivity.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t have all the tools we need,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have to invest so we can be more efficient and more effective.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Favors severance tax</strong></p><p>Citing overwhelming public support, Quigley said Pennsylvania should enact a severance tax on the natural gas industry.</p><p>&#8220;We are the only state without one,&#8221; Quigley said. &#8220;We&#8217;re talking about an extremely profitable industry. Any suggestion that by enacting a severance tax, the gas industry will leave Pennsylvania is bogus.&#8221;</p><p>He said Pennsylvania is referred to as &#8220;the Saudi Arabia&#8221; of natural gas.</p><p>&#8220;Where would they go?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you &#8212; it would have to be to a state with a severance tax already in place.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pennsylvania DEP Secretary John Quigley meets with the Times Leader Opinion Board on March 24. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_johnquigley.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pennsylvania DEP Secretary John Quigley meets with the Times Leader Opinion Board on March 24. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

DEP secretary John Quigley: NEPA snow industry could melt away by 2050