A five year process has culminated in some significant changes to the rules governing Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry. With the approval of chapter 78/78A regulations, drillers will among other things, now have to identify public resources such as schools and playgrounds and identify old or abandoned wells that could be impacted by new drilling. If a water supply is tainted, the driller will be required to restore or replace it to federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards or pre-drilling conditions (if they were better). Storage pit rules have been strengthened and the industry will be barred from using brine for dust suppression or de-icing. These rules now have all the necessary approvals and will hopefully be put in place soon.

State legislators who support the gas industry want these regulations derailed. Your support is needed to keep them in place and ensure proper funding and enforcement.

Unfortunately hydraulic fracturing can never be made safe by regulations, and although a step forward, new rules are meaningless without rigorous enforcement and oversight. It is the governor’s job to protect the health and welfare of Pennsylvania’s citizens and our environment. Without the funding to hire enough DEP inspectors and without a strong enforcement program driven by the Governor’s office itself, that responsibility cannot be fulfilled.

Write, call or email Governor Wolf and tell him to veto any attempt to weaken or derail the new regulations and to restore funding to the DEP and ensure their enforcement!

Governor Wolf’s Office phone is: (717) 787-2500
You can email him through his website: www.governor.pa.gov/contact/
Postal mail address is:

c/o Governor Tom Wolf
501 N 3rd Street
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Did you know that postal letters are the most effective way to voice your concerns? If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of writing a letter, DCS will be happy to help you.

Drilling and all the associated processes cannot be made ‘safe’ by regulations, but these new regulations WILL help residents and communities near drilling to have fewer injuries than before. Many items in the new regulations are just commonsense, like requiring a survey of unplugged wells near potential drilling sites, and limiting open pits, among other items.

Download a summary of the new regulations as a pdf
Download the full regulations as a pdf
Download DCS’s statement concerning this issue