PA DEP Rejects PIOGA’s Call to Dump 4 Non-Voting TAB Members
week and a half ago MDN told you about the brewing showdown between the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, or PIOGA (see PIOGA Turns Up the Heat on Wolf/Quigley Over TAB/Article 78). The bone of contention is Acting DEP Secretary John Quigley’s appointment (illegal appointment according to PIOGA) of four mostly anti-drilling board members to the DEP’s Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB). The four are non-voting members–but they gum up the real work that needs to get done by TAB in approving new drilling regulations–something called Chapters 78 and 78a. Yesterday the DEP doubled down and rejected PIOGA’s call to dismiss the four new members appointed by Quigley. Actually, all five voting members were replaced by Quigley too, in a great purge (see Why did PA DEP Acting Sec Quigley Mass Fire Gas Advisory Board?). PIOGA previously said they will consider a lawsuit to pursue the matter should Quigley continue down this road…
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Where’s HG Wells when you need him? We’ve had another Martian sighting! At yesterday’s PA Dept. of Environmental Protection Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) meeting, Amy Nassif, representing some of the parents from the Mars School district in Butler County, PA, addressed TAB members imploring them to “keep oil and gas well pads away from schools.” Aaah, Ms. Nassif–what about well pads that already exist ON SCHOOL PROPERTY? Like the well pad at the Elk Lake School in Susquehanna County (see
As we told you Tuesday, Ohio is now squarely in the ethane cracker race (see