Citizens Voice Editorial: ‘Protection’ Still Core Of DEP’s Job
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This editorial first appeared in the Citizens Voice on June 9, 2023--

Farcically claiming that the state Department of Environmental Protection is an intimidating regulatory bully, state Senate Republicans have decided to promote a culture change at the agency by renaming it the Department of Environmental Services.

On a strictly party-line 28-22 vote, the Senate passed the name-change bill Wednesday.

“The word ‘protection’ carries the law enforcement or security connotation rather than that of an environmental resource and a partner to the citizens of Pennsylvania,” said Republican Sen. Gene Yaw, of Lycoming County, an ardent advocate of the natural gas industry and chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

“Unfortunately, enforcer has become the prevalent view of the department,” he said.

Unfortunately? Pro-industry lawmakers long have perpetuated the myth that environmental regulators and industry can achieve compliance by working together, as if they share identical interests.

Administrations over the years — most recently that of Gov. Tom Corbett — have tried that approach, providing empirical evidence that it doesn’t work.

The state, for example, provided $1.7 billion in tax credits for a massive Shell petrochemical refinery in Beaver County and cleared an array of hurdles to fast-track its construction.

So far, the company has racked up more than $10 million in fines in less than six months of operation for heavily polluting the air.

Perhaps the DEP should have adopted a “service” rather than “enforcement” approach to spare the company that expense.

The DEP provides services. The greatest one is protection.

It protects Pennsylvanians’ right as spelled out in the state constitution: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.”

The agency was named the Department of Forest and Waters in 1901 when it was created.

To reflect a broader role to fight choking pollution, it changed in 1970 to the Department of Environmental Resources, when the Legislature spun off the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to oversee state parks and forests.

The House should reject the name change to emphasize the agency’s proper role.

If it approves the change, Gov. Josh Shapiro should veto the bill.

DEP Reforms/Changes:

-- Gov. Shapiro’s Budget Proposes Major Initiative To Speed Up DEP Permit Reviews/ Inspections; Double Oil & Gas Fund Investment In State Parks/Forests Infrastructure  [PaEN]

-- DEP Budget Testimony: Increasing Permitting Efficiency, Cleaning Up Legacy Pollution, Investing In Communities, Holding Companies Accountable  [PaEN]

-- DEP Offers 10 Point Plan To Improve Permit Reviews; Climate/Energy Work Group Co-Chairs Announced; Work Group Formed To Prevent New Oil & Gas Well Abandonments  [PaEN]

-- DEP Acting Secretary Wants To Encourage A Culture Of Being User-Friendly At DEP And Used The Train Derailment Response As An Example  [PaEN]

-- DEP Acting Secretary Negrin: All Climate Change Is Local - We Are Guardians Of Our Neighborhoods, We Are To Act In Service To Our Neighbors  [PaEN]

-- House Budget Hearing: Acting DEP Secretary Outlines His Views On Environmental Justice, Announces Fernando Treviño As Special Deputy For Environmental Justice  [PaEN]

DEP-Related Compliance Actions Since January:

-- DEP Signs Consent Order Including $10 Million In Penalties, Local Payments With Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County To Resolve Air Quality Violations; Plant To Restart May 24

-- How Chesapeake Appalachia Created Another New Shale Gas Brownfield In Bradford County; Timberline Energy Plugs Its Abandoned Conventional Gas Wells In Venango County

-- EPA/DEP: Eastman Chemical Resins, Inc. To Pay $2.4 Million Penalty For Multiple Environmental Violations In Allegheny County

-- Attorney General Henry Charges 2 With Criminal Risking Catastrophe Charges Related To Work On Natural Gas Pipeline In Lawrence County; Pipelines Have Worst Environmental Compliance Record In PA

-- DEP Moves To Enforce Order To Plug 4 Abandoned Conventional Gas Wells Leaking Methane In Allegheny County Owned By Michael Harju & Economy Natural Gas, Inc.

-- Struggle To Plug Tatonka Oil Co. LLC’s Nancy 13 Conventional Well Leaking Gas, Production Wastewater Since 2018; Citizen Complaint Finds ‘Bubbling’ Gas Well

-- Citizen Complaint, Company Report Results In DEP Inspection Finding 63,000 Gallon Wastewater Spill At Seneca Resources Shale Gas Well On State Game Lands In Elk County; More Leaks, Spills

-- Citizen Complaint Results In Discovery Of An Unreported Crude Oil Spill Affecting Over 2,400 Feet Of Stream At A Cameron Energy Conventional Well Site In Forest County

-- Chesapeake Appalachia: DEP Inspections Find Violations For Spills, Releases, Continuing Defective Casing/Cementing At Shale Gas Well Pads In Bradford, Susquehanna Counties

-- How Chesapeake Appalachia Created Another New Shale Gas Brownfield In Bradford County; Timberline Energy Plugs Its Abandoned Conventional Gas Wells In Venango County

-- DEP Inspection Finds Two Repsol Oil & Gas Shale Gas Wells Venting Natural Gas To Atmosphere, Defective Well Casing/Cementing In Susquehanna County; Violations Continue From May 2017

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Failed To File Annual Production/Waste Generation Reports For 61,655 Wells; Attorney General Continues Investigation Of Road Dumping Wastewater

-- DEP Issued 754 Notices Of Violation For Defective Oil & Gas Well Casing, Cementing, The Fundamental Protection Needed To Prevent Gas Migration, Groundwater & Air Contamination, Explosions

-- Attorney General Files Criminal Charges Against Dallas Area Authority, Luzerne County For Dumping Millions Of Gallons Of Untreated Wastewater Into Toby Creek

NewsClip:

-- PennLive - Jan Murphy: PA Senate Approves New Name For DEP In Hopes Of A ‘Culture Change’

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- MarkWest Liberty Midstream Files To Clean Up 10,000 Gallon Natural Gas Condensate Spill Caused By December’s Winter Storm Elliot Freeze In Washington County  [PaEN]

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - June 3 to 9:   Plugged Conventional Well Frack-Out; 10 More NOVs For Abandoning Conventional Wells  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - June 10   [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts 51 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In June 10 PA Bulletin  [PaEN] 

Related Articles This Week:

-- House Committee Reports Out Bill Requiring The Evaluation Of Cumulative Impacts Of Some New Pollution Sources On Communities Already Burdened By Pollution; And Other Bills  [PaEN]

-- Republicans, Shale Gas Industry Oppose House Bill Requiring The Evaluation Of Cumulative Impacts Of Some New Pollution Sources On Communities Already Burdened By Pollution  [PaEN]

-- Senate Environmental Committee Info Session On Carbon Capture Discusses Job Potential; Reaching Net-Zero Carbon Goal; Impacts/Risks Of The Technology; PA’s Poor Track Record In Regulating Pipelines, Oil & Gas Industry  [PaEN]

-- Better Path Coalition: June 22 Virtual Brown Bag Briefing With Laurie Barr On Abandoned Conventional Oil/Gas Wells  [PaEN]

-- Inside Climate News: Abandoned Conventional Oil/Natural Gas Wells Emit Carcinogens, Other Harmful Pollutants In PA, Study Shows  [PaEN]

-- Inside Climate News - Stacey Burling: $400 Million In Federal Abandoned Conventional Oil/Gas Well Plugging Funds In PA, But It’s Not Enough; Hazards Include EQT Frack-Out In Greene County; More Wells Being Abandoned All The Time

-- Federal Court Declines To Prohibit PA Environmental Hearing Board From Hearing Appeals Of DEP Permits Issued For Regional Energy Access Expansion Natural Gas Pipeline Project  [PaEN]

-- EPA Invites Comments On Proposed Oil/Gas Waste Underground Injection Well In Fayette County; July 11 Virtual Public Hearing Set  [PaEN]

-- Residents, Environmental Groups Rally Against Shell Petrochemical Plant's Pollution In Beaver County  [PaEN]

-- Senate Republicans Pass Bill Taking ‘Protection’ Out Of The Name Of Department Of Environmental Protection; But DEP Doesn’t Have To Change Its Signs Until They Wear Out  [PaEN]

-- Citizens Voice Editorial: ‘Protection’ Still Core Of DEP’s Job  [PaEN]

[Posted: June 9, 2023]


6/12/2023

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