Pa. suspends air pollution controls at drilling sites

[RamboLiberal]

Just a week after repealing a policy requiring an environmental assessment of Marcellus Shale gas well permit proposals in state parks, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has announced it is suspending and reconsidering key air pollution controls governing the drilling industry.

The latest policy changes, detailed in today's Pennsylvania Bulletin where official state actions are listed, would eliminate a December guideline that regulates emissions from all well operations in a region together, which could result in stricter pollution controls than if the wells are regulated individually.

The department is soliciting public comments on "whether any guidance or policy should be considered on this topic, and, if so, what such a policy or guidance might provide."



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11056/1127950-113.stm#ixzz1F0NivJax

[PA Democrat]

1. As if we need any further proof who is pulling Corbett's puppet strings.

:mad:

[benfranklin1776]

2. Yes Indeed his entire top staff are gas and oil industry hacks

Tom Corbett is Pennsylvania's answer to George Dumbya Bush, a total tool of the extraction industries. He is dutifully repaying their investment in him. Too bad we don't have recall.

[markpkessinger]

3. The Gas Drillers have successfully convinced PA voters that...

...if the Commonwealth doesn't roll over in the face of every demand by the gas drilling industry, that the industry will take its drilling operations, and the attendant jobs, to other states. I grew up in PA, in Clinton County, which is right on the southeastern edge of the largest contiguous deposit. That part of the state has been economically depressed for decades, and so people are understandably reluctant to be seen as putting up any obstacles in the way of an industry that promises to bring more jobs. Unfortunately, what many of the PA voters don't seem to realize is that the gas companies want to drill in PA because that's where the bulk of the deposits lie. Sure, there's a large chunk under West Virginia, Ohio and New York, but the drillers want as much access as they can get throughout all four states. New York certainly has not simply rolled over in the face of drillers' demands; I don't know about Ohio or West Virginia. Unfortunately, though, the drilling interests have waged a very successful propaganda campaign aimed at convincing citizens that (a) fracking is perfectly safe with no deleterious effects whatsoever; and (b) PA had better give in to their demands or else they'll take their jobs elsewhere. And sadly, much of the citizenry in that part of the state believes them.