The 2012 Act 13 law required the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to update sections of the older 1984 PA Oil & Gas Act (see Rewrite of 1984 PA Oil and Gas Act Underway). That process was pretty much done and dusted under PA Gov. Tom Corbett. But then his Secretary of the DEP, Chris Abruzzo, resigned near the end of Corbett’s term, throwing the department into some disarray (see PA DEP Sec. Chris Abruzzo Resigns Following Porn Email Scandal). Tom Wolf won the governor’s race and installed John Quigley to head up the DEP and Quigley had other ideas about the rewrite that was nearly done (see PA DEP Sec Quigley Pulls a Fast One, Changes Drilling Rules). Now that Quigley has changed things up, he’s going to give the “public” a good long look. Instead of the typical 30 day comment period, Quigley’s DEP announced yesterday they will give the public three hearings and 45 days (ending May 19) in which to comment on their changed new rule changes…
