PA Agencies Must Get Approval From Head Of State EPA Before ANY Enforcement Action On Gas Drillers

[hatrack]

Oil and gas inspectors policing Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania will no longer be able to issue violations to the drilling companies they regulate without first getting the approval of top officials.

That’s according to a directive laid out in a series of emails received by the Department of Environmental Protection staff last week and leaked to ProPublica. The emails <1> say <2> the new edict applies only to enforcement actions related to Marcellus Shale drilling and that failure to seek prior approval “will not be acceptable.”

The memos require that each of the hundreds of enforcement actions taken routinely against oil and gas operators in Pennsylvania each month now be approved by the department’s executive deputy secretary, John Hines. The memos are raising concerns that the state’s environmental inspectors can no longer act independently and that regulations could be overridden by the political whims of the state’s new governor, Tom Corbett.

“What this apparently is saying is that before any final action, the inspector must get approval by two political appointees: the secretary and the deputy secretary,” said John Hanger, who headed the DEP until January under former Gov. Ed Rendell and worked to strengthen the state’s oil and gas regulations. “It’s an extraordinary directive. It represents a break from how business has been done in the department within the Marcellus Shale and within the oil and gas program for probably 20 years. “It’s on its face really breathtaking and it is profoundly unwise. I would urge them to rethink and rescind.”

EDIT

http://www.propublica.org/article/pennsylvania-limits-authority-of-oil-and-gas-inspectors

[deminks]

1. More thug politics. After all, they were "hired" to get out of the way of bidness.

Political whims of the state's new governor, and his puppet masters.

[ThomCat]

2. Not good. Political vetoes of any enforcement. That's what this is.

:(

[doc03]

3. The acting WV Gov. Tomblin was in the valley yesterday

for a signing of an agreement that lowers the water quality standards for the Severstal coke plant and Wheeling Nissan Steel. He is Sen. Joe Manchin's hand picked replacement.

[drm604]

4. My poor state.

:cry:

[Divernan]

5. PA/GOP Governor Corbett, aka the Frack Ho or Gov. Gashole

He continues to oppose an extraction tax on the drillers, even though every other state with gas drilling imposes such a tax and even though the drillers have stated for the past year they are willing to pay such a tax and even though some 75% of the voters favor such a tax.

There are increasing concerns voiced about his sanity/mental health. I'm thinking early early dementia/aka Reagan. It is said that if one has mini-strokes, a result can be an unreasonable stubbornness.

As one columnist pointed out, Pennsylvanians thought they were electing John Wayne and ended up with the sheriff of Nottingham.

"The gunslinger rode in from the west, straddling a pale horse and a howling wind.

"He cantered up the Capitol steps like John Wayne pulling up to a saloon full of the soon-to-be-ventilated, the sharp gleam in his cold, blue eyes promising any mangy varmint who dared look askance a lethal dose of hot lead. Unless, of course, said varmint has some cash he'd like to donate to the cause. In that case, feast your hungry eyes, cowboys!

"There's a new sheriff in town, the big galoot said. Name's Corbett. Tom Corbett. Ex-prosecutor. Born lawman. The Keystone State has lost its way, he said with a paternal sigh. It needs a strong hand to put it back on the path to righteousness. Someone with True Grit. As attorney general, I battled corruption. Put a few polecats in the hoosegow. I aim to clean house in Harrisburg. Any big spenders who don't want to get dispatched to Boot Hill better step on out the back.

Transformation

"It was a magical moment. Even "The Duke" would have choked up, but it turned out we all had the wrong sheriff in mind. A strange thing happened as Sheriff Corbett unveiled his first budget as governor: He morphed from John Wayne into the Sheriff of Nottingham, right before our throbbing eyes. Suddenly, the state's enemies no longer were corrupt officials, tax-dodging corporations and scoundrels who exploit the vulnerable. Now they were the middle class, organized labor, the hungry, the sick, the elderly, children, college students and puppies."

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/but-while-pennsylvanians-voted-for-john-wayne-they-may-be-stuck-with-sheriff-of-nottingham-1.1118041#ixzz1ICiBc14O

[PA Democrat]

8. Corbett is not only a whore; he is a cheap whore.

For a mere $835,000 in campaign contributions, those drillers are reaping hundreds of millions in benefits. That's a pretty good return on investment.

[Divernan]

6. Political appointees in direct control of permit issuance/enforcement actions.

The new rules extend to routine matters such as notices of violations that previously were issued by inspectors and their regional directors, and they put political appointees in direct control of permit issuance and enforcement actions on Marcellus Shale related matters but not in any other permitting or enforcement areas.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11090/1136068-503.stm#ixzz1ICiquZOn

[Nihil]

7. One Nation Under Mammon. (n/t)