Statewide PA

As the fiscal year in Pennsylvania draws to an end, PA legislators in both the House and Senate are working on a number of proposed new laws that will make the Keystone State less onerous for energy producers and more business-friendly in general to drillers and those in the Marcellus Shale industry. Four such bills are actively making their way through the legislative process and look promising: Senate Bill (SB) 1195 extends the review period for legislators to review Wolf’s idiotic plan to comply with Obama’s onerous Clean Power Plan; SB 279 establishes a council to help the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to get its head straight when it comes to crafting new drilling regulations for conventional (non-shale) drillers; SB 562 provides for more transparency and timely communication, preventing Big Green organizations from pushing through new regulations with the DEP in the dead of night as they do now; and SB 805 will allow large energy users to opt out of state-sponsored energy efficiency programs–because those users are already more efficient that the state-run programs. Here’s the run down on where each bill sits, along with a copy of the latest versions for each bill…
Read More “4 Common Sense Energy Bills Advance in PA Legislature”

Yesterday MDN held out hope that PA’s far-left Governor, Tom Wolf, had actually wised up with respect to blocking new drilling regulations for conventional drillers in the state (see Wolf Wises Up – Agrees to Block/Rework Conventional Drilling Regs). We thought perhaps the Wolf was learning to moderate his hard-left stances and work with the more reasonable Republican Party to advance the state. Ha ha ha. We should have known better. How very Pollyanna of us. We spotted an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that gives us the real reason Wolf agreed to sign off on a deal to block new Article 78 regulations for conventional drillers: Because if he didn’t, Republicans AND Democrats were waiting to block ALL of the new drilling regs–including regs for shale drillers. Members of his own party told him they would vote to override his veto, if it came to that. Wolf knew he had lost the fight and rather than go down to defeat, he grabbed onto a half a loaf–allowing shale regs to advance–to salvage what little reputation he has left…
Read More “Wolf Really Didn’t Wise Up, He Just Took Half a Loaf re Drilling Regs”

Two weeks ago Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Quigley was fired for using a PRIVATE email account to collude with his Big Green friends to try and bully PA’s legislators into supporting his onerous proposed regulations (see Smoking Gun: Copy of the Email that Got John Quigley Fired). Richly deserved. The man who took his place as Acting Secretary is Patrick McDonnell, a 19-year veteran of the DEP. What do we know about Pat, and will he be appointed as the new, full Secretary?…
Read More “PA’s New Acting Sec DEP: What Do We Know? Will He Be Permanent?”

We are close to the endgame with respect to Pennsylvania adopting onerous new drilling regulations rammed through by the former Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley. MDN reported in April that the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted to approve the new regulations (see PA Drillers Lose Vote to Stop Onerous New Regs in Partisan 3-2 Vote). The only thing stopping the regs from becoming law is a vote by the full PA House and Senate, which would send the measure to Gov. Wolf who would, in all likelihood, veto the “no go” resolution. Then the House and Senate would need to vote to override Wolf’s veto. It is a game of political chicken. Wolf is already an unmitigated disaster in his first year as governor. Can he afford to have the legislature override a veto, making him look even weaker than he already looks? The House has until June 13, next Monday, to vote against these onerous new regulations. Then the Senate has either 10 legislative days, or 30 calendar days (whichever is longer) to vote. This is a real nail-biter!…
Read More “Any Day Now PA House May Vote to Kill Article 78 Drilling Regs”