David Hess is an environmental treasure! When I first saw this article title I sort of panicked – thankfully he is still with us and working! Wonderful article – some history, insights, and descriptions of how he has solved specific problems.

We at DCS have worked with Mr.Hess for years sharing information and observations – he is an incredible sponge for details with the ability to lay out complexities clearly so the details and the ramifications are understood. We certainly want many more years of working with a real environmental protector! B. Arrindell, Director, DCS

Now, 20-odd years after David Hess, former head of the PA Department of Environmental Protection retired, lawmakers and environmentalists say his lasting legacy as an environmental champion in Pennsylvania revolves around his blog, the prosaically named PA Environmental Digest. The blog sports a mid-2000s web aesthetic that belies uncompromising coverage of Pennsylvania’s environment and its energy policy.

Once the most powerful environmental regulator in Pennsylvania, Hess spends a lot of his time these days birddogging a destructive force he never saw coming during all his years in Harrisburg: hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

Hess follows the global fight against climate change and believes the fracking industry—which produces billions of gallons of toxic, radioactive “wastewater” and leaks volatile organic compounds and the super-polluting greenhouse gas methane into Pennsylvania’s air—is the defining environmental issue for this generation of Pennsylvanians.

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