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WHAT ARE ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COUNCILS?

Environmental advisory councils are officially constituted municipal boards created to advise local governments on environmental issues and policies. Any municipality or group of municipalities in Pennsylvania can create an EAC by ordinance.

Authority for Creation of An EAC: Act 148 of 1973

In 1973, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act 148 authorizing any municipality or group of municipalities to establish, by ordinance, an environmental advisory council to advise the local planning commission, park and recreation board, and elected officials on matters dealing with the protection, conservation, management, promotion, and use of natural resources located within the municipality’s territorial limits.

Mandated Responsibilities

The enabling legislation requires each council to keep records of meetings and activities and to issue an annual report, which should be printed in the municipality’s annual report or, if there is no municipal report, made available to the public in other ways.

Specific Powers

Act 148 empowers environmental advisory councils to:

Identify environmental problems and recommend plans and programs to the appropriate municipal agencies for the promotion and conservation of natural resources and for the protection and improvement of the quality of the environment within its municipal boundaries;

Promote a community environmental program;

Keep an index of all open space, publicly and privately owned, including flood-prone areas, swamps, and other unique natural areas, for the purpose of obtaining information on the proper use of such areas;

Make recommendations for the possible use of open land areas;

Advise the appropriate local government agencies, including but not limited to the planning commission and park and recreation board or, if none, the elected governing body, on the acquisition of property, both real and personal. Board of Supervisors