On May 8, the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee reported out the renomination of Patrick McDonnell as DEP Secretary with a favorable recommendation to the full Senate.

Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming), Majority Chair of the Committee said, “I have worked well with Pat over the past several years on a number of issues, as well as collaboratively on the state’s Chesapeake Bay Commission.  He has served honorably in his role since first being confirmed, and I expect he will continue to be a steady hand at the Department.”

Click Here to read McDonnell’s opening statement to the Committee.

Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) and Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery) voted no on the renomination after raising the concerns of their constituents over the way the Mariner East Pipeline project has been managed.

Sen. Dinniman, in particular, raised a number of questions on the pipeline that Secretary McDonnell said he could not answer because the matter is under investigation or in litigation.

Sen. Leach said members should not be forced to vote on the renomination without the information he believes he needs to make a decision.

On April 25, Senators Andy Dinniman (D-Chester), Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery), Katie Muth (D-Chester), Tom Killion (R-Delaware) and Tim Kearney (D-Chester) wrote to the Chairs of the Senate Environmental Committee asking for a postponement of the reconfirmation of McDonnell until investigations into the Sunoco Mariner East Pipeline project are complete.

Both Senators Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming), Majority Chair, and John Yudichak (D-Luzerne) said they thought it was better to go ahead with the hearing because the Senate has a limited amount of time-- 25 legislative days-- to consider nominations made by the Governor.

They also said it was not appropriate to ask questions of Secretary McDonnell when they knew he could not answer them due to investigations or litigation.

Sen. Yaw added that the concerns of the Senators’ constituents have been rightly raised to the appropriate agencies and those concerns are being investigated.

McDonnell received questions from other members of the Committee on speeding up permit review times and other issues.

Sen. Elder Vogel (R-Beaver) asked about the status of permits needed by Energy Transfer Partners for pipeline projects around the state in the aftermath of the Revolution Pipeline explosion last September. 

In February, DEP put an indefinite hold on reviewing all permits for Energy Transfer/Sunoco pipeline projects in the state because DEP said they failed to comply with an order to stabilize disturbed areas around the explosion site.

McDonnell said this issue was also the subject of litigation.

Sen. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango) questioned the direction and emphasis DEP has had in addressing “lofty goals” and “worldwide and international issues” [read climate change] before solving the tangible, concrete issues that are right in front of the state and which we know how to solve.

He said DEP should focus on bringing predictability to the agency and making sure it is well run in order to create jobs.  The best way to solve environmental problems is by creating wealth and that should be the focus, he added.

McDonnell said there are absolute impacts we are dealing with now from things like climate change, including increased flooding where he pointed out last summer alone DEP had to issue hundreds of emergency permits to deal with flood damage and prevention issues.

He also pointed out that Erie has an extra month of exposure from diseases like West Nile Virus because of climate change.

Sen. Hutchinson said also said he did not feel DEP was listening to the concerns of conventional oil and gas well drillers and making the changes needed in regulations.  He said without changes he is concerned the industry would disappear.

He also said without the conventional industry there would be no hope of plugging the hundreds of thousands of abandoned wells we have in Pennsylvania.  [Note: Since oil was discovered in Titusville in 1859, the conventional oil and gas industry has drilled from 300,000 to 760,000 wells. DEP estimates that as many as 560,000 remain unaccounted for and abandoned.]

McDonnell said he believes there are points of agreement between DEP and the industry and he does recognize conventional drilling is different from unconventional (shale) gas drilling.

[Note: The most recent compliance reports from DEP show the number of violations by conventional oil and gas drillers has tripled between 2015 and 2017.]

Click Here to watch a video of the meeting. [When posted]

Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) serves as Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-787-3280 or sending email to: gyaw@pasen.gov.   Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7105 or sending email to: yudichak@pasenate.com.

Click Here for a list of Gov. Wolf’s cabinet nominees confirmed or reconfirmed by the Senate so far this year.

NewsClip:

DEP Secretary Gets OK From Senate Committee Over Pipeline Objections

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[Posted: May 8, 2019]

5/13/2019