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Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, urging the committees of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to consider and its members to pass the Landslide Assistance & Insurance Program Act (Senate Bill 364 and House Bill 215) with all due haste to protect residents of Pennsylvania from landslide damage through the creation of the Landslide Insurance and Assistance Program within the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
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WHEREAS, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), landslides are responsible for causing damage to transportation routes, utilities, and buildings and create travel delays and other side effects; while most are moderate to slow moving, they damage things rather than people; and
WHEREAS, damage from landslides can still be significant - backyard landslides (common in the Pittsburgh area) are usually repaired incompletely or not at all, cost estimates of several hundred thousand dollars for stabilization and repair of a landslide affecting two or three properties are typical which often results in the abandonment of the property; and
WHEREAS, urban and rural land development is increasing both the number of landslides through the placement of fill to modify a slope, construction activities on the lower parts of slopes, and through changing of the drainage or moisture conditions of a slope; landslides can also be triggered by extreme amounts of rainfall, rain-on-snow events, or high soil moisture from long periods of moderately high rainfall; and
WHEREAS, although Southwestern Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of landslides, much of the state has susceptible areas making landslides a concern for the entire Commonwealth; a U.S. Geological Survey landslide-inventory map shows more than 1,200 recent and 900 old sides on one map in Green County while a study by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey mapped 480 recent and active landslides and nearly 1,000 old landslides in the Williamsport area in northcentral Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, outside the southwest, high susceptibility areas are smaller and have more varied geology and topography; most highways in all regions of the state have sections cut in rock or soil that can fail; in the northern part of the state, stream-bank and lake-bluff slumps occur where unstable glacial and glacial-lake sediments are present; and
WHEREAS, landslides have a large cost to the Commonwealth; a PennDOT estimate in 1991 showed an average of $10 million per year in landside-repair contracts across the state, a U.S. Geological Survey study found that public and private costs of landsliding in Allegheny County alone over a six-year period of 1970 to 1976, averaged at least $4 million per year; and
WHEREAS, landslide damage caused by flooding is not covered by the National Flood Insurance Program, and while damage caused by mining practices is covered by the Coal and Clay Mine Subsidence Insurance Fund and mudslide damage is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program, other types of landslide damage are not usually covered by insurance;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby resolves as follows:
SECTION 1.
Allegheny County supports the Landslide Assistance & Insurance Program Act and urges the committees of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to consider and its members to pass the legislation (Senate Bill 364 and House Bill 215) with all due haste to protect residents of Pennsylvania from landslide damage through the creation of the Landslide Insurance and Assistance Program within the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
SECTION 2.
Copies of this Resolution shall be transmitted to the Governor of the Commonwealth, the Members of the General Assembly from Allegheny County, and the leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives to express this County's support of the establishment of the Landslide Assistance & Insurance Program Act. Copy shall also be provided to the County Commissioners' Association of Pennsylvania.
SECTION 3. If any provision of this Resolution shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Resolution which shall be in full force and effect.
SECTION 4. Any Resolution or Ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Resolution is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Resolution.