The Department of Environmental Protection has told several boards and advisory committees to the agency they had to cancel their meetings in October due to the budget impasse.

The meetings include: the October 13 DEP Water Systems Technical Assistance Center Board, the October 20 meetings of the Environmental Quality Board and DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council, the October 21 Agricultural Advisory Board meeting and the October 7 meeting of the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee.

At the same time, DEP has said the listening sessions on EPA’s Clean Power Climate Plan, the Oil and Gas Technical (Marcellus Shale) Advisory Board meeting on October 27, the October 28 meeting of DEP’s Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force and the October 29 Conventional Oil and Gas Advisory Committee meeting will go ahead as planned.

There is no word yet on whether other upcoming DEP meetings or workshops will still be held, including the Mining and Reclamation Advisory Board meeting on October 22; the Regulatory Committee of the Aggregate Advisory Board meeting on October 23; the Small Business Compliance Advisory Committee meeting on October 28; and the State Board for Certification of Water and Wastewater Systems Operators meeting on October 29.

Some DEP staff are looking for alternative ways of holding meeting, such as through webcasts or conference calls that do not involve paying travel expenses.

Click Here for a list of upcoming DEP events.

DCNR Meetings

Meetings in the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, like those on the draft State Forest Management Plan, are going ahead as planned, according to DCNR. 

Click Here for the calendar of DCNR events.

On October 1, Gov. Wolf imposed a hiring freeze on state agencies, along with new limits on travel-- in-state and out-of-state-- and continued a ban on purchasing items not critical to state agency operations, which apparently includes some DEP advisory committee and board members.

10/12/2015