Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart A - Preliminary Provisions › Article I - Administrative Provisions › Chapter 9 - ENVIRONMENTAL MASTER PLAN › Subchapter B - POLICIES FOR CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AREAS › GENERAL › Section 9.101 - The critical areas approach

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a)
						  The Environmental Master Planning program has been previously described as a
						  program to enhance and maintain the environmental quality of the Commonwealth
						  through the development and implementation of environmentally sensitive
						  policies.
(b) Traditionally, the
						  concern of the Commonwealth for protecting environmental quality has been
						  expressed through specific legislation designed to regulate the pollution and
						  degradation of the environment. Although the innovative legislation of the
						  Commonwealth has resulted in dramatic environmental improvements, there are
						  numerous areas within this Commonwealth of immediate concern because
						  environmental quality is better than existing regulatory standards or because
						  of the inadequacy of standards to protect existing environmental values. These
						  areas may be of value for protecting ecological relationships or for
						  maintaining the existing quality or character of the environment valued by
						  society.
(c) Since the overall
						  environmental quality of the Commonwealth will be greatly dependent on emerging
						  growth and development patterns and specific uses of the land, the protection
						  of environmentally important areas will be a major factor in determining future
						  development. Certain geographic areas which are of statewide environmental
						  importance and which are significant determinants of state and regional growth
						  and development patterns are considered key or environmental areas. Although
						  the term "critical environmental area" is usually limited to natural areas
						  having rare, unique or fragile qualities, the Master Planning program applies a
						  broader meaning which considers the overall ecologic importance of maintaining
						  a healthy natural environment and translates this concern as a determinant for
						  future growth and development.
(d)
						  In a recent publication by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
						  Resources entitled Area Considerations for Pennsylvania's Statewide
						  Environmental Master Plan" (February 1975), various critical environmental
						  areas were examined to provide an overview of inherent values and problems.
						  Criteria were presented in that publication to identify priority areas having
						  Statewide environmental value and being significant determinants of Statewide
						  and regional growth and development patterns. Based upon the criteria, the
						  following critical environmental areas were selected as being priority areas
						  having environmental values of Statewide importance: prime farmlands,
						  watersheds with high quality streams, floodplains, coal resources, areas with
						  limited water supply, clean air resource areas, open space in metropolitan
						  areas, landslide prone areas and areas with carbonate geology.
(e) The selection of these areas is intended
						  to indicate a priority for areas having environmental value and being
						  determinants of future growth, and does not mean that other areas are not
						  important. In the future, policies of the Master Planning program will address
						  issues related to other areas having environmental values such as forest,
						  natural areas, scenic areas, wetlands and coastal zone areas.
(f) The primary environmental policy concern
						  for each critical area is the protection of values which contribute to the
						  overall environmental importance of the critical area. Additional policies for
						  each critical area are designed to protect these environmental values through
						  the development of alternative management strategies sensitive to the major
						  environmental issues. Since protecting environmental values is the thread tying
						  the policies together, many of the policies are mutually supportive. For
						  example, keeping prime agricultural soils in farmland maintains the recharge
						  capacity of productive aquifers, while discouraging development on floodplains
						  provides ecologically valuable open space in metropolitan areas.
(g) The policies do not comprehensively
						  address all issues for each critical area but do propose basic directions for
						  future Commonwealth actions. Major issues related to intergovernmental land
						  policy responsibilities, property tax structure, and public facilities
						  investments are common to many critical areas and policies addressing these
						  issues will be of significant importance for protecting Statewide environmental
						  values. In addition, the policy statements are not self-executing, and their
						  pronouncement is only the beginning of a series of actions which must take
						  place before the policies will effectively guide state, regional, county and
						  local activities.