Post by Logan on Feb 4, 2016 1:52:28 GMT -6
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s environmental rule-making body approved major revisions to strengthen the state’s oil and gas regulations on Wednesday at the end of a heated three-hour meeting when critics of the rules called elements of the package illegal or unnecessary.
The state Department of Environmental Protection, which drafted the rules over five years, defended them throughout the meeting and advised the board against adopting 16 amendments that would have changed the regulations’ language or meaning. The Environmental Quality Board eventually voted 15-4 to adopt the rules as DEP proposed them.
“This is certainly a big milestone for work that is long overdue,” DEP Secretary John Quigley said after the vote. He called the rules package, which lays out separate standards for the state’s shale gas and traditional shallow oil and gas drilling industries, “a set of reasonable, balanced and incremental improvements.”
The 20-member Environmental Quality Board is made up of the heads of state agencies, members of the state Senate and House, and representatives of a citizens advisory council.
Read more: powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/policy-powersource/2016/02/03/Pennsylvania-board-approves-major-revisions-to-drilling-rules-DEP-Marcellus-Shale-conventional/stories/201602030207
The state Department of Environmental Protection, which drafted the rules over five years, defended them throughout the meeting and advised the board against adopting 16 amendments that would have changed the regulations’ language or meaning. The Environmental Quality Board eventually voted 15-4 to adopt the rules as DEP proposed them.
“This is certainly a big milestone for work that is long overdue,” DEP Secretary John Quigley said after the vote. He called the rules package, which lays out separate standards for the state’s shale gas and traditional shallow oil and gas drilling industries, “a set of reasonable, balanced and incremental improvements.”
The 20-member Environmental Quality Board is made up of the heads of state agencies, members of the state Senate and House, and representatives of a citizens advisory council.
Read more: powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/policy-powersource/2016/02/03/Pennsylvania-board-approves-major-revisions-to-drilling-rules-DEP-Marcellus-Shale-conventional/stories/201602030207