Game Committee       02-08-07

 

 

 

 

Introduced in PA House

 

HB 13 Readshaw:  Amending the act of February 2, 1965 (P.L.1860, No.586), entitled "An act encouraging landowners to 

make land and water areas available to the public for recreational purposes by limiting liability in connection therewith, 

and repealing certain acts," further providing for liability of landowners toward recreational users, persons or property for acts 

or acts of omission by recreational users.

Referred to GAME AND FISHERIES COMMITTEE, Jan. 30, 2007

This is to replace HB 3007, which died in the House last session, and in response to a court decision

that placed liability on a landowner for a shooting accident on his land, by a hunter.  

Subsequently, many landowners have closed their land to hunting, in fear of liability.

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PGC Press Release  # 012-07   1/23/07    (excerpt)

BOARD APPROVES MINING SUPPORT LEASE/LAND EXCHANGE

The Board of Game Commissioners approved an underground mining support lease to install air shafts on two separate tracts of State Game Lands in southwestern Pennsylvania in exchange for three tracts of land totaling 235 acres.

The ventilation shafts will be installed on a 25-acre parcel of SGL 179 in Jackson Township, Greene County,

and another on a 15-acre portion of SGL 245 in East Finley Township, Washington County by Consol Energy Inc., of Pittsburgh. The actual surface area on both sites to be impacted by construction -  access roads, power lines, erosion and sediment controls - is 25 acres. The shafts are being constructed to provide safe underground mining conditions

and to efficiently recover coal reserves. The Game Commission, which does not own the rights to the coal being mined, and has only limited surface support rights, also will be compensated for any timber impacted by the construction of the air shafts.

The project sites will be regulated by the state's underground and surface mining regulations, as well as the agency's standard lease agreement. There will be a $10,000 performance bond for each air shaft and requirements to meet environmental protection measures. The anticipated life of the air shafts - and the mining they support - is 10 years, after which, they will be removed and the sites reclaimed to provide wildlife habitat through a plan approved by the Game Commission.In exchange for the right to occupy the leased area, Consol is conveying to the agency three tracts of land totaling 235 acres, adjacent to SGL 245. The properties are hilly, and include at least 60 acres of woodland, 29 acres of riparian/wetland areas and existing or reverting pastureland. Commission staff concluded that the total value of the lands acquired is equal to or greater than the accumulated value of the lease.

 

BOARD APPROVES GREENE COUNTY LAND EXCHANGE

The Board of Game Commissioners approved a land exchange in Dunkard Township, Greene County, to help promote cleaner environmental conditions, as well as increase the size of State Game Lands 223.

In the exchange, AMD Reclamation Inc., of Needham, Mass., offered 40 acres - including all mineable surface coal and

associated mining rights - adjacent to SGL 223 in exchange for 3.8 acres of SGL 223 and a temporary construction

easement for an additional 6.8 acres on land flanking an existing AMDRI treatment facility on the game lands.

AMDRI is a non-profit corporation established to prevent the discharge of acid mine drainage from abandoned mine pools into surface waters. It requested this exchange to add a reverse osmosis treatment process and a third clarifier to its treatment facility at the Shannopin Mine Steele Shaft. These modifications will increase the company's capability to treat additional acid mine drainage, possibly eliminating, or at least diminishing, several existing acid mine discharges into Dunkard Creek. The treated water may provide some of the water called for to meet the demands of the proposed Longview Power Plant.Commission staff concluded that this proposal is of equal or greater value for the benefit of wildlife.