Changes to Permit Review Process of PNDI Receipts [46 Pa.B. 1953]
[Saturday, April 16, 2016]The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) announced an interim final Policy for the Imposition of Fees for PNDI Receipts Generated Through the PA Conservation Explorer at 45 Pa.B. 5688 (September 19, 2015). DCNR published all comments and responses on the policy at 46 Pa.B. 1222 (March 5, 2016).
On March 21, 2016, DCNR released PA Conservation Explorer, which replaced the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory (PNDI) Environmental Review tool. The PA Conservation Explorer includes both conservation planning and PNDI environmental review components. This tool provides improved access to visible conservation and species habitat information, leading to better project planning and fewer impacts on threatened and endangered species as well as special concern species and resources.
Persons submitting permit applications to the Department of Environmental Protection (Department) use the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program's (PNHP) PNDI to achieve the protection of threatened and endangered species and species of special concern. The PNDI is the primary source of information used by the Department during the permit review process for the protection of threatened and endangered species, and species of special concern.
Section C of the Department's final technical guidance document Policy for Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory (PNDI) Coordination During Permit Review and Evaluation (DEP ID: 021-0200-001) states that ''the PNDI Form can be submitted to DEP to perform the PNDI online search if the applicant does not have Internet access.'' Because of DCNR's inclusion of a convenience charge for electronic PNDI receipts, the Department will no longer be able to perform the PNDI online search on behalf of applicants and this section of the policy is no longer applicable. Users without access to a computer or who do not wish to pay the convenience charge for an electronic PNDI receipt may submit their projects for review directly to each of the four jurisdictional agencies (DCNR, the Game Commission, the Fish and Boat Commission and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service).
Permit applicants will be able to submit their projects:
• By using the PA Conservation Explorer directly by creating a private user account and paying the $40 convenience charge for each project PNDI receipt using Visa, MasterCard or Discover Card.
• By obtaining direct project review from the four jurisdictional agencies, at no charge, using the manual project submission process.
The Department's technical guidance document currently references the ''PNDI tool,'' ''ER Tool'' and ''Environmental Review Tool.'' These references should now be read to refer to the ''PA Conservation Explorer'' tool. Additionally, through the PA Conservation Explorer tool, the Large Program Form/PNDI Form (Appendix B) of the Department's policy is no longer in use. This form and process is now called the ''manual project submission'' and the form can be found on the PA Conservation Explorer web site at https://conservationexplorer.dcnr.pa.gov/content/resources.
The Department anticipates substantive revisions to this technical guidance document in 2016 and the revisions highlighted in this notice will be incorporated into a revised policy. These revisions, when fully developed, will be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and a public comment period will be provided.
Questions regarding this technical guidance document should be directed to the Office of Program Integration, (717) 772-1856 or RA-EP-OPI@pa.gov.
JOHN QUIGLEY,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 16-649. Filed for public inspection April 15, 2016, 9:00 a.m.]
