On July 12, Environmental Quality Board approved a final regulation establishing a municipal waste rural transfer facility permit-by-rule and heard a presentation on DEP’s permit fee report on the Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation Program recommending a fee increase.

DEP said they are continuing to evaluate the petitions to increase well plugging bonding amounts for conventional oil and gas and UNconventional shale gas wells.  Read more here.

Legislation is now on Gov. Wolf’s desk to block action by the Environmental Quality Board to increase woefully inadequate bond amounts for conventional oil and gas wells to what it actually costs taxpayers to plug wells that continue to be abandoned by drillers. Read more here.

Under the existing bonding amounts DEP has only $15/well to plug those wells that are abandoned. Read more here.

In response to a question from Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), Minority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, DEP said they expect to act in the next few weeks to bring Part 2 of the package to reduce volatile organic compounds/methane from conventional oil and gas facilities to the EQB.

Acting DEP Secretary Ramez Ziadeh told the Board both parts of the regulation need to be submitted to EPA by December 16, 2022 or Pennsylvania will be subject to the sanction of withholding federal highway funds.  Read more here.

Municipal Waste Transfer GP

The EQB approved a permit-by-rule for municipal waste transfer facilities to encourage the responsible and convenient collection of waste for disposal and recycling in rural areas.

DEP believes these facilities will help alleviate the mismanagement of residential waste by burning or illegal dumping of waste in rural parts of Pennsylvania.

This will also help reduce the costs state and local governments incur to clean up illegal dump sites and reduce the enforcement costs the Department currently incurs to respond to burning and illegal dumping complaints.

Click Here for a summary of the final regulation.

Chapter 102 Fee Report

DEP reported the fees collected for Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation Permit reviews have failed to cover the costs of the program for the last five years, excluding costs for Oil and Gas Program Chapter 102 reviews. 

The deficit started in DEP’s part of the program FY 2016-17 at $816,390 and increased to $1,438,062 in FY 2020-21.

Costs and fees collected to implement the program by county conservation district have experienced a deficit starting in FY 2013-14.  In FY 2020-21 the deficit was $6,889,551.

The deficit was also caused by cuts in General Fund support for this and other water quality programs.

In summary, existing fees cover about 70 percent of DEP’s costs and 65 percent of county conservation district costs for this program, but does not include full staffing of the program and vacancies or training of staff.

DEP points out that both Chapter 102 and a 2019 Legislative Budget and Finance Committee report require the agency to recommend changes that eliminate any disparity between program income generated by fees and the costs to administer the program.

DEP is recommending an increase in permit fees to cover the deficit.

DEP made it clear Chapter 102 permit review costs for the Oil and Gas Program are taken from Oil and Gas permit fees and not from the Chapter 102 account.

There was confusion at the meeting between DEP and Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), Majority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, because the name of the Oil and Gas Program permit fee account is the Well Plugging Restricted Revenue Account which pays administrative costs of the program from permit and registration fees [Act 13 Section 3271].

There are separate restricted accounts for orphan and abandoned well plugging funds which finances actual well plugging. [Act 13 Section 3271]

Of course, the unconventional oil and gas drillers have not used 40 percent of the drilling permits DEP issued to the industry, wasting a tremendous amount of DEP’s staff time.  Read more here.

Click Here for a copy of the report.

For available handouts and more information, visit the Environmental Quality Board webpage. Questions should be directed to Laura Griffin, Regulatory Coordinator,  laurgriffi@pa.gov, 717-772-3277.

Related Articles:

-- Gov. Wolf Now Has To Decide To Hold Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Accountable, Or Create A $5.1 Billion Cleanup Liability For Taxpayers  [PaEN]

-- PA Environmental Council: Without A Veto Of HB 2644, PA's Abandoned Oil & Gas Well Problem May Be All But Permanent  [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Gov. Wolf, Don’t Give Money To The Oil Industry - By Rev. Mitchell Hescox & Kim Anderson, Evangelical Environmental Network

-- PA Environmental Council/Environmental Defense Fund + 12 Other Groups: HB 2644 Unjustifiably Limits Bonding For Oil & Gas Wells, Risks Eligibility For Federal Well Plugging Funds  [PaEN]

-- Evangelical Environmental Network Opposes HB 2644 Subsidy & Bailout For Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers - ‘Stop Rewarding Industry For Not Being Responsible’  [PaEN]

-- DEP Oil & Gas Advisory Board Meets July 25 To Hear Presentation On Penn State Study Finding Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Dumped On Unpaved Roads Contains Pollutants That Exceed Human-Health Standards  [PaEN]

[Posted: July 12, 2022]

7/18/2022