“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
On this July 4, it is also worth remembering the words of the Declaration Of Independence as we work for a better, safer, healthier, cleaner environment and against those who would deny our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit Of Happiness.
The words of the Declaration not only declared our independence from tyranny and government that did not represent us, it outlines fundamental principles the United States had lived by for nearly 250 years.
Read these words carefully and slowly from the Declaration--
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”
A Brief History Of Conservation In Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania we have actively applied these words to a series of environmental harms and threats during our history--
-- We've Heard This Before: "We're Providing Jobs - Stopping Pollution Threatens Jobs" - Until Air Pollution Killed People, Then We Said No.
-- We've Heard This Before: "We're Providing Jobs - Stopping Pollution Threatens Jobs" - Until Hunters Could Find No Game And Anglers Could Find No Fish, Then We Said No.
-- We've Heard This Before: "We're Providing Jobs - Stopping Pollution Threatens Jobs" - Until Mountains Of Coal Waste, Ravaged Landscapes Killed Our Streams, Then We Said No.
-- We've Heard This Before: "We're Providing Jobs - Stopping Pollution Threatens Jobs " - Until More Streams Were Killed, Breaker Boys Worked For Pennies, A River Disappeared Into Mines, Then We Said No.
Now we are faced with these and other challenges--
-- We've Heard This Before: "We're Providing Jobs - Stopping Pollution Threatens Jobs" - Adverse Health Impacts, Polluted Drinking Water, Land, Air, Dumping Waste, Explosions, Flaring, Noise, Punishing Local Officials Who Want To Protect Their Residents, Uncontrolled Gas Venting, Threats, Intimidation, Then we said….
Working for and achieving fundamental change to secure our unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is hard… very hard.
But, we’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again.
Written By David E. Hess, former Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Resource Link:
-- PA Capital-Star: On This July 4, Read The Declaration Of IndependenceRelated Articles This Week:
-- Celebrating 30 Years of Environmental Progress As The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection [PaEN]
-- 18 DEP Staff Members Honored With Governor's Awards For Excellence For Responses To Mine Subsidence And Dam Sediment Release [PaEN]
-- Celebrating 30 Years Of Excellence As The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources [PaEN]
-- Off Duty DCNR Park Manager Earns Governor’s Award For Excellence After Providing Lifesaving Aid To Swimmer [PaEN]
-- Remember The Words Of The Declaration Of Independence As We Work For A Better, Safer, Healthier, Cleaner Environment To Secure Our Unalienable Rights To Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness [PaEN]
-- US. Environmental Protection Agency Declaration Of Dissent Signed By Over 1,240 Employees [PaEN]
[Posted: July 4, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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