Rich Negrin Assumes Role of PA DEP Secretary with No Senate Hearing

We spotted an article chronicling a visit to Pennsylvania by the Dept. of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland yesterday. She was there to tout money flowing to the Keystone State from the so-called Infrastructure bill in order to plug old abandoned oil and gas wells. What was interesting about her visit was not that she was there to promote the Bidenista agenda and proclaim how great the doddering old fool (her boss) is. The interesting thing is who was by her side: Rich Negrin. You may recall newly minted liberal Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro nominated Negrin to be the next Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) just about 30 days ago (see Josh Shapiro Nominates Former NFL Player to Head PA DEP). So far, the State Senate has not held any hearings nor taken any votes on his nomination. Yet he is now the Acting Secretary of DEP, fully in charge. 2/11/23 UPDATE: We have the inside scoop from a former Secretary of DEP as to how this works--the process for new heads of departments taking on the Acting role, the customs and traditions for how it is handled in PA. Please see the bottom of this article.

To view this content, log into your member account. (Not a member? Join Today!)