PA Environment Digest

The Governor's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission work groups on infrastructure, public health, safety and environmental protection, local impact and emergency response and economic and workforce development met for the first time this week to begin the process of sorting through the specific issues they plan to address and heard presentations on topics related to the groups.

Environmental Protection Work Group

Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley attended a portion of the Environmental Protection Work Group meeting, which was chaired by Acting DEP Secretary Michael Krancer and Cynthia Carrow, Western PA Conservancy.

In response to a question by Commission member Ron Ramsey, The Nature Conservancy, about the recent directive to have enforcement and permit activities related to Marcellus Shale development approved by the Secretary, Krancer said recent statements and news articles have generated more heat than light on this issue and created a misapprehension.

Krancer said he does not want to sign off on every notice of violation saying field staff should do what they need to do. He said consistency between field offices was important, and so is having NOVs the agency can defend when they are appealed. The goal is more robust enforcement that can withstand a challenge he said.

He noted DEP has taken action within the last two weeks to shutdown facilities that did not meet requirements.

Krancer also explained the Oil and Gas Act itself requires the Secretary to sign off on certain enforcement actions. He said there had already been in place a policy of notifying the Secretary of major actions-- permit and enforcement-- for all programs when he took over the agency in January.

Ramsey also outlined what he thought were important environmental issues the work group and the Commission should address, including--

-- Strengthening the permit review process, establishing industry best management practices and looking at the cumulative impacts of thousands of new Marcellus Shale gas wells;

-- Looking at forest and wildlife impacts, and opportunities to reduce footprint and avoid or minimize impacts of well pads, pipelines and other infrastructure;

-- Providing better protection for sensitive lands within State Forests;

-- Improving protection of water resources, including drinking water supplies and ecological flows in streams, encouraging frack water recycling and looking at aquatic impacts;

-- Identifying and addressing air quality impacts from full range of Marcellus activities;

-- Characterizing baseline environmental and wildlife habitat conditions in Marcellus Shale areas, providing for ongoing monitoring of these conditions; -- Looking at the capacity of State agencies and local governments to handle impacts and responsibilities;

-- Looking at the options for a severance tax or impact fee to fund Growing Greener and other environmental programs; and

-- Evaluating the current enforcement policies and structures for fines, penalties and other actions needed to assure compliance with state laws and regulations.

Ramsey said this is just an initial list and recommended bringing in experts to give presentations and provide input to the Commission on these issues.

The work group heard presentations from several speakers, including:

-- David Miller, American Petroleum Institute, on API's new engineering and practice standards related to Marcellus Shale gas well development;

-- Pat Caravan, Clariton Municipal Authority, on their policies and practices in accepting drilling wastewater for treatment;

-- Walt Nicholson, Williamsport Municipal Authority, on treatment of drilling wastewater and selling water for fracking operations;

-- Tony Bartolomeo, PA Environmental Council, provided an overview of PEC's recent Marcellus Shale Report recommendations.

Infrastructure Work Group

Much of the discussion at the Infrastructure Work Group meeting involved basic background on the pipelines needed to take Marcellus Shale gas from well to markets.

           Members of this work group heard presentations from the Lycoming County Gas Task Force, David Sanko of the PA State Association of Township Supervisors and from Range Resources providing an emergency response overview.
           Economic & Workforce Development
           The presentations for this work group will be posted soon online.

Presentation materials for this work group and each of the others are posted on the work group's webpages (see right side of Commission webpage).

The next meeting of the full Commission is April 27. For more information, visit the Governor's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission webpage.

NewsClips: Marcellus Shale Working Groups Begin Meeting

Acting DEP Head Defends Marcellus NOV Policy Change

DEP Accused Of Rubber-Stamping Marcellus Well Permits

Editorial: Enforcement Of Gas Drilling In Political Hands

State Fire Commissioner: Drilling Impact Strains Volunteers

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