Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced on Friday that he accepted the resignation of John Quigley as Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. The Governor thanked Mr. Quigley for his service to the commonwealth and stated that, effective immediately, Patrick McDonnell will serve as Acting Secretary of the DEP. Most recently, Mr. McDonnell was the DEP’s director of policy.
On February 18, 2016, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Secretary John Quigley held a press conference to announce the release of the final Governor’s Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force (PITF) Report. Secretary Quigley stated that the final report contains only minor modifications to the draft report, but adds an executive summary and appendices. The final report includes all draft recommendations, including 11 that do not appear to have garnered majority support from the task force members in weighted voting. Appendix C to the final report assigns various government entities and/or industry with responsibility for following up on each individual recommendation.
Keith Coyle, a shareholder in Babst Calland’s new Washington, D.C. office and member of its Pipeline and HazMat Safety Practice Group, served on the Task Force.
On January 19, 2016, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a sweeping new regulatory strategy for reducing methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations in the Commonwealth. Methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, is considered by federal and state agencies to be a potent greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change. Governor Wolf stated that Pennsylvania, as the nation’s second-largest producer of natural gas, is “uniquely positioned to be a national leader in addressing climate change.”
The Pennsylvania methane reduction strategy is expected to result in significant changes to the air permitting and regulatory regime that currently applies to oil and natural gas industry sources. For more information, read our Administrative Watch.
Today, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a press release to announce the opening of the public comment period for its long-awaited proposal to revise the oil and gas regulations at 25 Pa. Code Chapter 78 (environmental protection standards). The comment period will open this Saturday when the official notice is published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. Comments will be accepted through February 12, 2014.
During the public comment period, the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB) will host seven public hearings across the Commonwealth. Persons wishing to present testimony at a hearing must contact the EQB at least one week in advance. In addition to the EQB hearings, DEP will host two informational webinars on Thursday, December 19th from 2:30 – 3:30pm and Friday, January 3rd from 9:30 – 10:30am. DEP will answer questions about the rulemaking during the webinars.
Earlier this week, the Senate of Pennsylvania unanimously confirmed Ellen Ferretti as Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), and in a 42-8 vote, also confirmed Chris Abruzzo as Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Abruzzo’s background is mainly in prosecution but he also worked as Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Corbett and in the drug enforcement section of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office. Ellen Ferretti previously served as DCNR’s Deputy Secretary for Parks & Forestry and has worked on environmental issues both in and out of government. Both nominees have already been serving in their respective positions; Abruzzo since April, and Ferretti since June.
The Charleston Gazette recently reported that two of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection studies addressing natural gas drilling concerns will not be released by the deadline established in the Horizontal Well Act of 2011. DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said work on the wastewater impoundment study, scheduled to be released by January 1, 2013, is complete but there were problems with formatting and revisions. Huffman also said that the second study on noise, light and dust, scheduled to be released by December 31, 2012, is not close to being completed because there is still data to be collected. Huffman hopes to have a report completed by mid-February for the wastewater impoundment study, but offered no estimated completion date for the noise, light and dust study. A third study, examining air pollution from oil and gas operations, is not required to be released until July 1, 2013.
As indicated in this article from January 29th, Andy Dinniman, state senator for Pennsylvania’s 19th Senatorial District, planned to introduce the Public Notification and Access to Information Act this week. Reportedly, the Act would require the posting of additional information about proposed gas pipeline projects on the Department of Environmental Protection’s website.