PA Environment Digest

Share this:

DEP Secretary Negrin To Citizen Activists: ‘We Don’t Represent Chevron, We Don’t Represent Shell And I’ve Made That Absolutely Clear-- We’re Holding Those Leaders Accountable’

On July 11, DEP Secretary Richard Negrin said “We don’t represent Chevron, we don’t represent Shell and I’ve made that absolutely clear-- we’re holding those leaders accountable.”

He made the comments in response to serious concerns raised by several citizen activists during the open public comment period at Tuesday’s DEP Citizens Advisory Council.

The activists raised a number of issues over the lack of action by DEP to protect citizens and the environment from the impacts of the oil and gas industry.

Lisa Johnson

Lisa Johnson, Lisa Johnson & Associates, is an attorney representing citizens and local governments in a number of cases appealing DEP actions and inactions.

One of the cases she has involves the Bryan Latkanich Family in Washington County who said a shale gas driller on their property violated the terms of their lease by endangering their health, contaminating their water supply and not protecting their land. Read more here.

“I represent Bryan and Ryan Latkanich who are in Washington County, who lived next to Chevron's [well pad drilling] operations for roughly a decade,” said Johnson. “Ryan, when he was nine years old, had a toxicology test done and those reports detected carcinogens like benzene in his urine at nine years old.”

“These are real issues affecting children and adults across the state, but parents and people who are concerned about their children aren't getting any answers with respect to these rare cancers and why their kids are getting sick.”

“And Ryan sent a letter to Governor Shapiro requesting that children who live next to or go to school next to oil and gas operations are provided with free toxicology testing, and we've yet to receive a response,” said Johnson.

In another case, she represents Liberty Township and the Citizens Environmental Association of Slippery Rock Area, Inc. in Mercer County who appealed a major permit modification DEP granted to Tri-County Landfill who allegedly misrepresented the types of waste to be accepted at the landfill, including oil and gas waste.

“During the permitting process, the permittee misrepresented a lot of things in the application, specifically ongoing water pollution, the fact that this would include oil and gas waste, and it would be a radiation source,” said Johnson

“That's just the tip of the iceberg on the permitting issues we've seen in this one case.

“The DEP staff who had reviewed the permit admitted that they didn't know what the Environmental Rights Amendment was [during the Environmental Hearing Board case hearing],” said Johnson.

“They admitted they didn't follow the letter of the law when reviewing and approving this permit. And so this is not an outlier. This is the permitting that's happening across our state, especially with respect to accepting oil and gas waste, which is radioactive,” said Johnson.

“The third item I wanted to talk about was with respect to the reception that people get from the Department of Environmental Protection,” said Johnson. “It is extremely disrespectful.

“It is extremely disturbing for residents to interact with government officials who are supposed to be protecting them, who disrespect them and mock them. This is true for rural landowners.

“It's true for Liberty Township. It's true for the Citizens group. This has been their experience and people's experience across the state.

“And I will say that when Governor Shapiro was Attorney General, the grand jury report [on DEP’s shale gas program] did an excellent job of outlining what the issues with the DEP are. Those issues continue: failure to notify, failure to test, all of those failures are ongoing,” said Johnson. Read more here.

“The documentation that we have also includes an opinion by the Environmental Hearing Board, and recently an opinion by the Commonwealth Court, that notes the Department's delays and their actions have hurt people, have deprived them of clean drinking water, have deprived them of other meaningful remedies,” explained Johnson.

[Note: The Commonwealth Court order involved a case in Wyoming County where DEP failed to make a determination on whether or not a water well owned by a farm family was contaminated by oil and gas operations within the 45 days stipulated in law. DEP was on its 10th month of evaluation when the family filed its appeal. Read opinion here.]

Secretary Negrin started his response to the points raised by Johnson, by saying, “On the permitting side, first of all-- “not familiar with the Environmental Rights Amendment?”

“Do me a favor and send me a list of who those folks are, because every time I stand up in front of our folks, I talk about the Environmental Rights Amendment. It's the first thing you see when you walk into my office. It's the last thing you see when you walk out. It's really big.”

“If they don't know that, they're not paying attention, and I need to have a conversation with them. I'm happy to educate them,” said Secretary Negrin.

“I'll check into the status of your letter over at the Governor's Office to make sure that they have it, because he gets a lot of that stuff. We'll make sure we follow up on that and see that you get a response. You're entitled to a response from the Governor's Office,” said Secretary Negrin.

“On the disrespectful DEP personnel side, really, really a huge concern and a big focus for me is to change the way, it's what I call cultural competence here,” said Secretary Negrin.

He noted Rosetta Lue, the first Customer Service Officer the agency ever hired, just started Monday [July 10].

“I've done a model of this and a version of this in other agencies, and I can tell you it makes a huge difference when you bring a user-friendly customer service approach to how we do things in government,” Secretary Negrin explained. Read more here.

Tom Pike, Protect PT

Tom Pike from Protect PT (Penn Township) in Westmoreland County, said “Many times when the DEP approves the drilling project with a deficient application, we are forced to engage in legal advocacy stepping in to defend the rights of Pennsylvania citizens where the DEP has failed to protect our constitutional rights to clean air and water.”

He provided additional background on the Bryan Latkanich Family case in Washington County pointing out they had been exposed to PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ and to radioactive wastes from shale gas drilling on their property by Chevron.

“DEP has throughout this process taken the side of the polluter. We believe the Latkanich family deserves the right to know what is in their water, their air, and most importantly their bodies as a result of these operations. But the DEP continues to side with Chevron forcing the Latkanich family to undergo stressful and costly litigation.

“The DEP taking the side of the polluter seems to be standard operating procedure for the department, because they approved a project, they stand behind their decision in court even if the decision was wrong.

“It's alarming that DEP wants to speed up permitting reviews to increase harmful oil and gas infrastructure in our state.

“We believe the DEP has a higher obligation to the people and natural resources of the state than they do to drillers, as is stated clearly in the DEP's mission.”

“The DEP is obligated to protect our right to clean air and water under Article I ,Section 27 of the PA Constitution [Environmental Rights Amendment], which states in plain English that people have a right to clean air, pure water under the preservation of natural scenic, historic, and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come.”

“Protect PT urges this [Council] to examine the internal DEP policies that have led to the department siding with the polluters over their victims, in this case of the Latkanich's and in others.

“While Protect PT remains steadfast in filling the gap where DEP has failed, we deserve to be spending time in our communities and with our families, not fighting corporate polluters who are defended by state government.

“DEP should stop defending Chevron in court and start defending people.”

Secretary Negrin started his response by saying, “Thanks Tom. Couldn't agree more on everything you said, and the second part of Article I, Section 27 [Environmental Rights Amendment], this goes beyond us being a steward as you mentioned. It's about being a trustee, right?

“And that's a responsibility that I take incredibly serious,” said Secretary Negrin.

“I agree with you that we're not the Department of Environmental Services, that we are about protection. And as I've made my point and my position clear that despite this sort of legislation sort of out there trying to try to change our name.

“I think protection, in spite of all evidence, is critical.”

“What I can say is we're looking at everything you talked about, and I don't know a lot of the specifics around the Chevron case. I'm happy to educate myself on all of that.

“But I can tell you that I formed a new enforcement strategy that Carolina DiGiorgio, the new Chief Counsel, was driving and you see the first blueprint of that enforcement strategy and we provided that.” Read more here.

“And one of the things we're doing that we're in the middle of right now is being driven by our Environmental Justice Team with Fernando Trevino in his new role of Special Deputy Secretary of Environmental Justice,” said Secretary Negrin. Read more here.

“And what I've asked them to do on the enforcement side, every significant settlement that we're entering to right now, and we're still talking about what significant means, and whether we can do it to as many as possible. It's going to have a community fund where we're specifically going to act to mediate the difficulties.”

Secretary Negrin said sometimes DEP does not have the authority to stop an activity if these companies can be legally allowed to do-- “If that's the case, that is what it is, we've got to figure out how to protect and mitigate as best we can under the circumstances.”

“It makes our job harder, Tom, but we've got to protect the environment despite those limitations, I mean that approach,” said Secretary Negrin.

As an example of a recent enforcement action, he pointed to the $10 million penalty settlement with the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County on air pollution violations that included a $5 million community fund. Read more here.

“We don’t represent Chevron, we don’t represent Shell and I’ve made that absolutely clear-- we’re holding those leaders accountable,” said Secretary Negrin.

“I think that's a big part of our strategy and that's a big part of what this Governor talks about all the time, whether it was that grand jury report [on DEP’s shale gas regulatory program} or whether it's in a speech or what he says almost every day. I think this is the first governor we've ever had who is talking about accountability more than I [do], which is really cool,” said Secretary Negrin.

Craig Stevens, Dimock, Susquehanna County

Craig Stevens, a landowner in the Dimock area of Susquehanna County impacted for the last 13 years by shale gas drilling in the region, gave the Secretary an overview of the issues they’ve had to face.

“The DEP. We call them don't expect protection. We're hoping that changes with you being put in now. Why do I say that? Not because we don't like the individuals working for them, but the leadership sucks,” said Stevens.

“And I'm telling you right now, that's coming from firsthand experience where they let a pipeline company in 2011 blow out my creek in my backyard eight times, Secretary Negrin, over two and a half months.

“My creek ran with drilling mud, and you know what? They just let them keep on drilling until they blew it out eight times.

“This is the most ridiculous lack of response I've ever seen.

“Yes, we have a constitutional right, but unless it's enforced, Secretary Negrin, we have no rights. You know that. This is the nine square mile in Dimock blocks.”

Stevens noted he and other landowners in the Demock area of Susquehanna County had a meeting with Attorney General Shapiro about three months after he started and that meeting started one of the largest investigations of environmental crimes in Pennsylvania history.

“You know why I got it, Secretary Negrin? I got a call from them that said, "Is this the Craig Stevens that’s been calling the Attorney General's office every week for seven and a half years?"

“Yes it is, Secretary Negrin. We need you to come here. You need to see what you inherited from the last [Administration].”

[Note: On November 29, 2022, Coterra Energy, formerly Cabot Oil & Gas, pleaded no contest to criminal charges related to polluting water supplies in and around Dimock, Susquehanna County. Read more here.

[On November 29, 2022, DEP signed a consent order with Coterra Energy lifting a 12-year old ban on shale gas drilling in and around Dimock, Susquehanna County. Read more here.]

“The chairman of the Senate [Environmental Resources and Energy Committee], Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming), was our Senator for 12 years, Secretary Negrin. Ask me how many times he came to visit his constituents in Dimock after they were contaminated”

“That would be zero,” Stevens said.

“By the way. Ask Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), the Speaker of the House, why she gave us an hour on May 8th. Also the Majority Leader [Rep. Matthew Bradford (D-Montgomery)],” said Stevens.

“Why? Because you just said it and we agree with you. Your job is to have your people reach out and treat us with the respect that we do have a right to clean water,” said Stevens.

“Okay, let me finish with this. We appreciate you. We know you just got in the office. We don't expect you to know everything, but please come. I'll set up a time.

“You can come up and meet these neighbors who've been living through hell for 14 to 15 years and I like what I'm hearing now instead of the talk like we've been getting from everybody else. I'm looking forward to the action.

“Thank you so much for being on this call and providing me the opportunity to speak and we're looking forward to meeting you in person and showing you what's happening and solving these problems together, Secretary Negrin,” Stevens said.

Secretary Negrin encouraged all the individuals who spoke during the public comment period to use the Citizens Advisory Council as a conduit into DEP and a resource.

“I want to be accessible to you guys and the public in general, which is why I'm here.

“I wanted to be here for the public comment portion, because it's important for me to hear actually from you guys before you get into the meat of the bone of the meeting.

“Thank you for your comments.”

For available handouts and more, visit the DEP Citizens Advisory Council meeting. Questions should be directed to: Max Schultz maxschultz@pa.gov or Glenda Davidson at gldavidson@pa.gov or 717-783-4759.

Related Articles To Issues Raised:

-- Washington County Family Lawsuit Alleges Shale Gas Company Violated The Terms Of Their Lease By Endangering Their Health, Contaminating Their Water Supply And Not Protecting Their Land [PaEN]

-- AG Shapiro: Coterra Energy, Formerly Cabot Oil & Gas, Pleads No Contest To 15 Criminal Charges Related To Polluting Water Supplies In Dimock, Susquehanna County [PaEN]

-- DEP Consent Agreement Allowing Shale Gas Drilling To Resume Under Dimock, Susquehanna County Sets New Drilling, Water Supply Protection Standards, Imposes $444,000 Penalty [PaEN]

Related Articles - Impacts Of Natural Gas Industrial Activities:

-- 3 Days That Shook Washington County: Natural Gas Plant Explosion; Pipeline Leak Of 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Gas; 10,000 Gallon Spill At Compressor Station [PaEN]

-- KDKA Investigations: Washington County Family Says Energy Transfer/MarkWest Natural Gas Processing Plants Turned Peaceful Farm Into Nightmare - Part I & II [PaEN]

-- DEP Rejects MarkWest Act 2 Cleanup Notification For 10,000 Gallon Natural Gas Condensate Spill At Compressor Station In Robinson Twp., Washington County; Notice Is Re-sent [PaEN]

-- Robinson Twp., Washington County Seeks Answers To Cleanup Of MarkWest Liberty Midstream 10,000 Gallon Spill Of Natural Gas Condensates After Company Sends Notice To Wrong Municipality [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Counties, PEMA Need To Include A Complete Vulnerability Assessment Of All Natural Gas Facilities In State, County Hazard Mitigation Emergency Plans - By Cat (Cathy) Lodge, Washington County Resident [PaEN]

-- Observer-Reporter Letter: Act 13 Drilling Impact Fees Don’t Help Those Impacted By Gas Drilling - By Cathy Lodge, Washington County

-- Observer-Reporter Letter: The Definition Of Insanity - Have Qualified Stewards Of Our Health, Environment, Learning, Play Spend Washington County’s $9 Million In Act 13 Impact Fee Money