Is DEP too important or not important enough for a secretary

It’s been a month now since Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer (DEP) resigned. Instead of nominating a replacement, Governor Corbett named a deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office, Christopher Abruzzo to serve as interim secretary. Abruzzo, who previously served under Corbett when in the Attorney General’s office, has a background in drug enforcement with no experience in environmental law or policy. According to the March 22 press release announcing Abruzzo’s appointment, he will continue to hold his post as deputy chief of staff for the governor as well as head up DEP.

Abruzzo’s dual role essentially means that DEP is being run right out of the governor’s office. The concentration of environmental enforcement and policy-making into the governor’s office indicates one of two things: either Governor Corbett considers DEP to be an unimportant agency that his administration can handle with a part-time secretary; or, DEP’s enforcement powers and environmental policy roles are too important to be handled by anyone outside of the governor’s office.

 

Executive branch agencies and their secretaries are not independent players – they carry out the policies of their boss, the governor. However, agency secretaries are almost always experts in the policy area covered by their respective agencies and are expected to advise the governor on policy as well as administer their agencies’ laws and regulations and manage the personnel.

 

DEP is in the hands of a Corbett loyalist. With no background in environmental law or policy, no experience in an environmental agency, he cannot provide expert advice to the governor on environmental matters. Corbett apparently does not want that kind of advice. He wants a caretaker who will ensure DEP's actions and policies do not irritate his political allies.

You’re not welcome - non-public – no media meeting about drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest

I wish I could say I was wrong, but I wasn’t. As expected, yesterday’s invitation-only meeting held by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources about gas drilling in Loyalsock State Forest was not an opportunity for public input. It was a farce. 

DCNR has a unique opportunity to keep gas driller Anadarko out of environmentally sensitive and scenically spectacular parts of the Loyalsock because of a clause in the deed that gives the agency control over access to the surface over which Anadarko owns the mineral rights. Conservation and environmental organizations have been trying for months to get DCNR to hold a public meeting about its plans to allow drilling there. 

DCNR barred the media and uninvited local citizens from the meeting. State Senator Gene Yaw, whose district includes the Loyalsock, came to the meeting slinking in via the back door (watch the video). Yaw was angry at the media for a report last week that exposed his business ties with Andadarko, the driller in question. Yaw has leased a considerable amount of his land for gas drilling to Anadarko.  

Two conservation organizations were allowed in, and they delivered a letter to DCNR Secretary Rick Allen repeating their request for the agency to hold a public hearing on its gas drilling plans. The letter was signed by 28 conservation, recreation and environmental organizations. 

DCNR Secretary Allen made it clear that his agency is interested only in hearing from those it chooses to. People leaving the meeting said Allen told them that the closed-door meeting was the public meeting. 

The spectacular and unique resources of the Loyalsock draw visitors from all over the state. It includes some of the best hiking trails in the state forest system and the watershed of the exquisite Rock Run.

 

Taxpayers bought this land and they pay for its maintenance. The public owns it. Secretary Allen should be eager to listen to the owners of the precious resource that he is charged with protecting, but you’re not welcome - not even through the back door.

DCNR invite-only meeting on Loyalsock drilling – looking for input - or not?

Next week, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will hold an invitation-only meeting about drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest, including the Rock Run watershed. Included in the meeting will be local elected officials, other “stakeholders” and representative of two conservation organizations. Omitted from the meeting will be PennFuture attorney, Mark Szybist, who has been advising the conservation groups.

What will go on at this meeting? Will DCNR seek input into the plans to allow drilling in the Loyalsock? Or will DCNR simply inform the groups of what is in the deal that it and Anadarko has hammered out behind closed doors?

I’m putting my money on the latter.

Part-time secretary is an insult to DEP

I couldn’t put it better than long-time Harrisburg observer and Patriot News Opinion Editor, John Micek, did in his Tuesday Morning Coffee column, “Since the squirrels can largely take care of themselves and we've got the drillers to run things anyway, Gov. Tom Corbett has made being Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection a part-time gig for now..” 

He was referring to reporter Don Gilliand’s article noting that DEP’s new interim secretary, Chris Abruzzo who is and will remain a deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office, will divide his time among DEP, the Dept. of Corrections, Board of Probation and Parole, Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Dept. of General Services, Dept. of State, Dept. of Labor and Industry and Military and Veterans Affairs. 

That leaves DEP, an agency charged with myriad duties that together safeguard public health and safety and protect the environment, essentially leaderless. It’s an insult to the professional women and men in DEP who review the permit applications, inspect gas wells, sewage treatment plants and factories and enforce environmental laws. It tells them that to the Corbett administration, DEP is an inconvenience and an afterthought. 

I have had the good fortune to have personally met seven DEP secretaries. While I have often disagreed with their policies, I have admired their commitment to the agency and their willingness to endure the long hours, miles of travel, public appearances, and the public and political heat that come along with the job.  

The first secretary, Maurice “Doc” Goddard, held the post through both Republican and Democratic administrations. One of his proudest accomplishments was staffing the department with professional experts rather than political operatives. He is spinning in his grave. 

DEP’s mission to protect public health and the environment is vital to public safety and our quality of life. That mission should be served by a leader focused on fulfilling that mission, not by someone with 10 other jobs.

Voices for the Susquehanna

The Susquehanna River isn’t dead or dangerous. But the decline of the river’s world-class smallmouth bass fishery is a clear symptom that the river is sick. We must take action now to clean up pollution and restore the smallmouth bass to health or risk losing the fishery and the recreational and river town economies that depend on a healthy Susquehanna. 

That was the consensus of the anglers, outfitters, river guides, conservation organizations, environmental groups and civic organizations came together yesterday at the Susquehanna Summit held in Lewisburg. The people attending the summit left the meeting determined to serve as voices for river cleanup and returning the bass fishery to health.

 

Presentations by Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Executive Director John Arway and Susquehanna River Biologist Geoff Smith clearly laid out the current state of river monitoring and the latest understanding of the causes of disease and reproductive abnormalities in smallmouth bass. Presenters from the legal community and environmental organizations laid out how laws and regulations can be used to reduce the pollution that is stressing the fish and making them susceptible to disease. 

But by far, the most compelling presentations came from people who have been on the river all their lives and make all or part of their living from sharing the river’s beauty and bounty with customers that come from near and far. Those customers come to try their luck with the smallmouth bass, explore the river by canoe and kayak and enjoy the river’s wildlife that now includes a healthy population of eagles. While they are in river communities, they spend money on hotels, restaurants, fishing and boating gear and visit other local shops and businesses. 

The people at the summit made commitments to take action on the Susquehanna’s behalf. They want to pass down to their children and grandchildren a healthy river to enjoy and love as they have enjoyed and loved it. At the summit, the Susquehanna found its voices.

Susquehanna Summit next week – find out why river should be declared impaired

In an appearance before the League of Women Voters of the Lewisburg area, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer the Susquehanna River is not “technically” or “legally” impaired. 

 

Krancer continues to maintain that there is not enough scientific data that shows definitively what is sickening and killing smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna. However, there is a significant body of scientific research on the river water quality and the bass that show links between pollution, low oxygen levels and high water temperatures and fish kills, disease and the occurrence of fish with both male and female characteristics. 

 

More research is indeed needed and welcomed. Krancer also said that river monitoring and research information would soon be available on a website. But there is enough data already available for DEP to determine that one of the river’s uses, recreational fishing, is impaired.  

 

You can learn about the latest river research at the Susquehanna Summit next Thursday in Lewisburg. You’ll also learn how you can work with others to use the science to demand action from the state and federal governments to clean up the river.  

 

Registration is free. Join the effort to save the Susquehanna.

Will DCNR give away the forest?

The conservation, environmental and recreation groups have once again asked to be at the table as the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) negotiates giving Anadarko Petroleum Corporation access to more than 18,000 acres of sensitive land in the Loyalsock State Forest. Anadarko has purchased the mineral rights to drill there, but because of a unique feature of the deed, DCNR could deny the drilling company access to protect the unique resources of the Loyalsock including the pristine and exquisitely beautiful Rock Run watershed.

The groups, the Responsible Drilling Alliance, the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition, the Keystone Trails Association, PennFuture, the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter and the Appalachian Mountain Club, forced DCNR to turn over public documents that detail the negotiations with a Right-to-Know request. The documents reveal that DCNR has been in serious negotiations with Anadarko since last March.

Those negotiations include setting a price for Anadarko’s access with DCNR calculating that the cost to compensate for damage to the forest amounts to more than $22 million. Anadarko wants to pay only $15,000,000.

Other issues on the table include the extent of protection of the forest’s special resources, including the Rock Run watershed, and requirements for Anadarko to replace at its expense any damaged trails, picnic areas or scenic vistas. Anadarko seeks to reduce protection at every turn and remove DCNR’s ability to manage the impact of the drilling on forest resources.

There’s much at stake here. Anadarko wants DCNR to give away the forest. DCNR could use partners like these conservation groups on its side. It should grant their request for public involvement.