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.
John Hanger, who was the chief environmental official under Corbett's predecessor, Ed Rendell, and who has been fairly down the middle until now about the new GOP governor's policies toward the natural gas gold-rush in rural Pennsylvania involving hydrofracking, or "fracking," is appalled by this new info. Hanger tells ProPublica the DEP directives are "really breathtaking," "profoundly unwise," and should be rescinded immediately.
As the article notes, Corbett has already named a major campaign donor from the coal industry with a history of anti-environmentalism to oversee new permit applications for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. All this, of course, comes after Corbett's rigid refusal to consider the kind of tax on natural gas drilling that exists in the other 14 of the top 15 gas-producing states, even as his administration plans to slash spending for public schools and state universities to the bone.
Now, just over two months since Corbett took the oath of office, has he gone too far in pushing the interests of the drillers, who donated more than $800,000 to his 2010 campaign? It will be very interesting to see the reaction to this.
