Statewide PA

The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association turned up the heat on newly-elected Gov. Tom Wolf and Acting Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley. In fact, the temperature is downright hot. The issue is Wolf and Quigley’s possibly illegal maneuver in firing the members of the previous DEP Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Committee (TAB) and appointing all new members, PLUS appointing so-called non-voting members who are largely from environmentalist organizations–there to gum up what until now has been a well-oiled machine. In a letter addressed to current TAB members (minus the extra non-voting members), with copies going to Wolf, Quigley and a host of others, PIOGA tells TAB they should reject Quigley’s last minute reworking of Chapter 78 and 78a rulemaking (i.e. new regulations, see PA DEP Gives Public 45 Days to Comment on O&G Rule Changes). According to PIOGA, Quigley has clearly overstepped his authority as granted by the legislature and although it’s uncomfortable politically, the new TAB members need to “do the right thing” (our words) and reject Quigley’s changes…
Read More “PIOGA Turns Up the Heat on Wolf/Quigley Over TAB/Chapter 78”

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf must have a fetish for staffers who can advise him on energy issues. Maybe he feels less-than-adequate following in the footsteps of Tom Corbett–someone who really understood the energy industry? Wolf has two former secretaries of the Dept. of Environment Protection (DEP) on his staff–Katie McGinty, his chief of staff, and John Hanger, his Secretary of Planning and Policy (i.e. Secretary of High Taxes). Wolf also appointed the former Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resouces, John Quigley, to become his current Secretary of the DEP. He had loads of experts on the environment and energy, but apparently they aren’t enough to advise him on what he should think about energy in the Keystone State. So Wolf has appointed someone to be his “top” energy advisor, who happens to be (surprise!) a lawyer…
Read More “Wolf Appoints Energy “Advisor”; Says Natgas Should Stay in PA”

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…
Read More “PA DEP Gives Public 45 Days to Comment on O&G Rule Changes”

We have mixed emotions about a new rule proposed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that further extends the Clean Water Act behemoth by applying it (yet again) to regulating the oil and gas industry. The new rule, titled “Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Oil and Gas Extraction Point Source Category” (document number EPA-HQ-OW-2014-0598, full copy below) would prevent untreated frack wastewater from being treated by municipal sewer and water treatment plants. The entire rule is created because once upon a time this sort of thing did happen in Pennsylvania, before then PA DEP Secretary Michael Krancer put a stop to it in 2012 (see PA DEP, Marcellus Shale Coalition Admit Drilling Wastewater Likely Contaminating Drinking Water). The EPA thinks because PA used to do it, there’s nothing to say they might not fall into their old, bad habits and do it again “someday,” so the EPA wants to put a new unvoted-on law in place to prevent it…
Read More “EPA Expanding CWA (Again), Applies to Shale Drillers re Wastewater”

Pennsylvania has now moved to the head of Marcellus pack when it comes to production reporting. Previously drillers in the state were required to file production numbers with the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) every six months, but last October the Republican state legislature passed a bill that Republican Tom Corbett signed into law moving reporting from every six months to every month (see 2 Bills on PA Gov’s Desk: Monthly Production #s, Lease Termination). The first monthly production report, for January 2015, is now available. The DEP says 80% of drillers filed on time (representing 99.5% of shale wells in the state). What do the numbers show?…
Read More “PA’s First Monthly O&G Production Report Goes Live”