Harrisburg, PA – Clean Water Action commended the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board for voting to launch the rulemaking process on Governor Wolf’s concrete action to help address climate change through curbing harmful air pollution from the Commonwealth’s existing oil and gas operations.
“Pennsylvania’s transition from talk to action comes at a sorely needed time as President Trump continues his pursuit of shortsighted efforts to rollback federal standards to the benefit of polluters,” said Myron Arnowitt, State Director.
While Clean Water Action was glad to finally see movement around this issue, they also noted that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) needed to strengthen the draft rule if it’s going to be as effective as possible in protecting Pennsylvania families. They specifically called on DEP to include provisions that more directly address methane, remove the exemption in the draft rule for low-producing wells that, in aggregate, are responsible for a significant amount of harmful pollution in Pennsylvania and to jettison the provision that allows operators to shirk their responsibility to inspect their equipment frequently just because previous inspections did not reveal significant leaks.
“Pennsylvania bears an outsize responsibility to address climate change and we look forward to engaging residents across the Commonwealth during the public comment period to make sure this policy isn’t a hollow victory but one that helps Pennsylvania truly fulfill its obligation,” said Steve Hvozdovich, Pennsylvania Campaigns Director.
Pennsylvania is the second-largest natural gas producing state in the nation and the third largest greenhouse gas polluting state in the nation. A 2018 report estimated that Pennsylvania’s methane emissions from oil and gas sources are five times higher than what is being reported to the DEP.
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Clean Water Action has more than 80,000 members statewide in Pennsylvania. Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. We will protect clean water in the face of attacks from a polluter friendly Administration and Congress. www.cleanwateraction.org