Doctors speak out against Shapiro energy board plan

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(The Center Square) - Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Lightning Plan promises to combine his commitment to win investments in the artificial intelligence sector with a focus on improving permitting processes that has been successful in many wings of the state bureaucracy.

House legislators have turned that vision into a bill that promises to develop a central authority for large projects called the Reliable Energy Siting and Electric Transition, or RESET, Board. 

One group of doctors wrote an open letter to the governor opposing the bill.

“We decline to be included in the advisory committee for this legislation as we cannot and do not support the bill in its current form,” wrote the Physicians for Social Responsibility of Pennsylvania.

The bill’s language refers to the state’s obligations under Article I of the state constitution, Section 27, which states “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment."

The section elaborates that the commonwealth’s natural resources are shared not only by all those currently living in the state but by future generations. It demands that the government play an active role in preserving them.

One such way that Pennsylvania has done that is by giving local municipalities authority over projects like the ones the Lightning Plan hopes to centralize.

“By eradicating municipal power, the bill strips away the ability of local governments—those most directly accountable to residents—to protect their communities from harmful industrial practices,” reads the letter. “For frontline residents already burdened with disproportionate health and environmental impacts, this legislation would silence their voices at the very moment they most need to be heard.”

Even under the current structure, many communities have found themselves voiceless when major decisions are made about development projects. Protesters and local advocacy groups have voiced strong opposition to the re-opening of Three Mile Island, the development of Amazon’s new data centers in Luzerne and Bucks counties, the construction of massive warehouses, increased fracking in the western region of the state, and a liquid natural gas plant in Chester.

In Chester, the project was successfully stalled and remains in the air. Everywhere else, production seems to be moving forward undeterred.

“HB 502 undermines these constitutional guarantees by stripping municipalities of their ability to regulate land use and protect the health and welfare of their residents. In doing so, it risks judicial challenge and potential invalidation,” wrote the physicians.

The group also cited the Pennsylvania Constitution, noting the emphasis on home rules overriding state interest. They also point to Article I which states “all power is inherent in the people” with the government’s purpose being their “peace, safety and happiness.”

That the group supports the kind of clean energy projects Democrats hope to move more rapidly into production is secondary, they say, to the potential abuse of power created by the bill. The group does not wish to be included in an advisory committee they say would have “little real power or authority” calling it “inadequate and misleading.”

“Our organization supports renewable energy development that is inclusive, equitable, and grounded in the democratic values enshrined in Pennsylvania’s governance—not development that comes at the expense of local voices and constitutional protections,” they wrote. “Pennsylvania has the opportunity to lead in clean energy development, but it must do so in a way that protects public health, respects local authority, and upholds constitutional principles.”