PA DEP Still Hasn’t Cleared 33% of Permit Backlog (640 Permits)

Permitting in Pennsylvania overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits to speed up approvals (see PA Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Allow 3rd Party Review of Erosion Permits). In March of this year, the DEP said it was making progress in reducing turnaround times for permits, including Chapter 102 permits (see PA DEP Claims Progress in Reducing Out-of-Control Permit Backlog). In April, the DEP launched yet another initiative to reduce the time required to issue new Chapter 102 permits (see PA DEP Makes Effort to Speed Up Approvals for Erosion Permits). In July, the DEP claimed it had reduced its massive backlog of permit applications by 56% since the end of last year (see PA DEP Claims it Reduced Permits Backlog by Half Since 2023). The agency is back to tout that the backlog has now been whittled down by 67% (another 11% beyond July). What that means is that 33% of the backlog remains.

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