The DEP Citizens Advisory Council meets on September 19 and on the agenda is a discussion of updating three key policies related to the public and advisory committees participating in the development of regulations and technical guidance.

More specifically, the three policies are: Development and Review of Regulations, Development and Publication of Technical Guidance and Advisory Committee Guidelines Policy.

The Council has a long history of involvement in improving DEP’s public participation program.

DEP first announced it was updating these three policies in early 2013 and the Council followed up by soliciting ideas from the public and DEP’s other advisory committees to improve public participation.

The Council made recommendations to DEP for improving public participation based on its review and public ideas in May of 2013.

In response to Council’s recommendations, DEP proposed changes to its Permit Review Public Participation Policy in June 2013 and the Council commented on those changes.  That policy was finalized in March of 2014.

DEP also created a new online Public Participation Center later in 2013 in response to Council recommendations putting everything related to participating in DEP’s decisions in one place.

In September 2014, the Council undertook an initiative to ask each of DEP’s advisory committees for their ideas on improving DEP’s Advisory Committee Guidelines Policy in advance of draft revisions by DEP.

In June 2015, DEP proposed changes to the policy related to the Development and Publication of Technical Guidance and launched the eComment tool to make it easier for the public to submit comments on regulations and policies.

That same month, DEP followed another Council recommendation by publishing its first Non-Regulatory Agenda for Technical Guidance that gives the public a heads up on the status of changes to formal policies in the agency, just like its Regulatory Agenda does for regulations.

The agenda also includes--

-- A report by DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell; and

-- A presentation on Karst Geology by the DEP Office of Active and Abandoned Mine Operations.

The meeting will be held in Room 105 of the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg starting at 10:00.   The meeting will also be available by conference call to: 717-612-4788 or toll free at 855-734-4390 PIN: 390646.

For more information, visit DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council webpage or contact Lee Ann Murray, Executive Director of the Citizens Advisory Council, by calling 717-705-2693 or send email to: LeeMurray@pa.gov.

[Posted: Sept. 6, 2017]

9/11/2017