American climate change activists are still pinching themselves to see if they are dreaming.  But, no, Pennsylvania on July 3 passed PA Senate Bill No. 266, which will look into just how much the state contributes to global warming.  Dog-rescuing Governor Ed Rendell has already championed many alternative energy programs and has said that he will sign the bill into law.  Mostly, it will:

"Under the bill, the state Department of Environmental Protection each year must catalog the sources and amounts of greenhouse gases, which most scientists believe contribute to a warming global climate." (News for PA General Assembly)

The first report is due December of 2009 (which is lightning speed in the American political system).

What's The Big Deal?

The big deal is that Pennsylvania will be the first state to take serious steps to figuring out exactly what they're doing wrong to the planet and fix it.  There are still some sates in America that don't accept that global warming is a reality, or (if it is) that it is something that we should be concerned about.

The REALLY big deal is that a bill like this got passed in Pennsylvania at all, as the state has a large group of global warming deniers.  They had quite a lot to complain about when the law passed the PA Congress.  However, the vote was 176-24 in favor of Bill 266, so their elected officials just might not be listening to them.

Another big deal is that studies have shown that just one county in Pennsylvania - Montgomery County - emits more greenhouse gasses than half of the world's COUNTRIES and that these gasses were all man-made.  The one comprehensive study already done was released in 2005.  The 145 page report by a college graduate student came out with this mind-blowing conclusion, but it hasn't been taken very seriously. 

It CAN be taken seriously now, if the Department of Environmental Protection finds numbers to back up this controversial study.  We are definitely full of a lot of hot air here in Pennsylvania.

The Practical Upshot

Montgomery County isn't waiting for the bill.  In 2007, they began doing their own reports and making suggestions through the Montgomery County Greenhouse Gas Task Reduction Force.

We won't see results from PA Senate Bill No. 266 tomorrow, but should in our lifetimes.  This would mandate businesses to find more eco-friendly ways of making their stuff and the funneling of more government money into public transportation.  It would also require government offices and public services to set high standards of being eco-friendly, even before that of private business. Although not included in the bill, another suggestion kicking around the state's press is that by feeding grass and hay only to cows (and cutting out corn completely), this can greatly reduce the methane emissions from cows, making them burp less.

And, most importantly, we can finally tell the global warming deniers in Pennsylvania what to go do with themselves ... metaphorically and literally.