DEP Secretary John Quigley Thursday announced Richard Morrison, Deputy Secretary for Active and Abandoned Mine Operations will retire from state service December 24.

John Stefanko, Executive Deputy Secretary for Programs, will assume Morrison’s duties in the interim.

Morrison was appointed to the Deputy Secretary position in October after serving as DEP’s acting Chief Counsel since March.  Prior to that he served as Chief Counsel in the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

He first joined DEP in January 2005 as program counsel for DEP’s Mining Programs and served in several capacities at DEP, including Executive Deputy Chief Counsel for DEP's Office of Chief Counsel, and assistant director of DEP’s Bureau of Regulatory Counsel.

Prior to joining DEP, Mr. Morrison was in private practice in the New Jersey office of Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Ingersoll where he practiced environmental litigation and franchise law.

From 2001-04, he was an assistant counsel to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. He is a 1994 honors graduate of Rutgers School of Law, Camden.

12/14/2015