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State Sen. John Yudichak’s votes on recent critical environmental issues are contradictory for someone whose district represents some of Pennsylvania’s most beautiful eco-tourism destinations.
As minority chair of the Senate’s Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, he should be providing leadership that champions efforts to protect our health and environment and standing up to attacks that take us backward. What we’ve seen, however, is just the opposite.
It started last year with his vote to eliminate a 150-foot buffer requirement that protected Pennsylvania’s best streams. It continued this summer when he supported a fiscal code bill that included an amendment to prevent the adoption of updates to oil and gas regulations for conventional drilling. His latest anti-environmental vote occurred only days ago when he voted for legislation that promotes using treated acid mine drainage water for fracking, while limiting driller’s and mine operator’s liability and exempting them from parts of the Solid Waste Management Act.
The senator is offering his colleagues that look to him for guidance a disservice. Justifying one’s actions by talking about not having control of committees or not having the power to call up a bill for a vote does not matter when you side with those who weaken environmental protections.
Sen. Yudichak needs to show his constituents that he recognizes that he should not kill the environmental goose that has blessed his region, and he should start acting and voting like someone who is chair of a committee that is supposed to address issues that threaten our environment.
Brooks Mountcastle
Eastern state director
Clean Water Action
Philadelphia