Audit blasts state failures on fracking oversight
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"Without fear of a 'bite,' DEP's 'bark' will do little to ensure compliance."
Matthew Smith
Auditor General Eugene A. DePasquale issued a scathing 146-page audit today accusing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection of failing to adequately monitor the impact of natural gas drilling on water quality.
The DEP failed to order pollutors to remedy water contamination as required by law, according to the audit, and "chose instead to seek voluntary compliance and encouraged operators to work out a solution with affected parties." The soft-touch oversight means that "DEP risks losing the relevance and authority it holds as a regulator. Stated simply, without fear of a 'bite,' DEP's 'bark' will do little to ensure compliance."
Of 15 cases reviewed where DEP had confirmed a complaint of water pollution, the agency "issued just one order to an operator to restore/replace the adversely impacted water supply."
The DEP issued a response, claiming that "orders were not necessary" in those cases because operators "had already remediated the affected water supplies without an order" and that the audit discovered "no instances where DEP failed to protect public health, safety or the environment with respect to unconventional gas drilling activities." The agency also said that because the review only covered the period of 2009 to 2012, "most of this audit reflects how our Oil and Gas Program formerly operated, not how the program currently functions."
The Auditor General's report backs environmentalists' criticism of the way that Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, whose campaigns have been heavily backed by energy interests, has handled the state's booming natural gas industry.
"The report could not be clearer: DEP needs additional funding, more cops on the beat and a much more robust inspection system," according to a statement released by John Norbeck, vice-president of the environmental group PennFuture. "It also points to a failure in leadership — and a startling lack of transparency and accountability."
The failure to issue administrative orders to polluters, Norbeck writes, shows that the DEP is "effectively allowing the industry to police itself."
According to the Auditor General's report, the DEP disagreed with every single one of their critical findings but accepted all but seven of 29 recommendations for improvement.
The audit also found that the DEP failed to clearly communicate findings to citizens who made complaints; did not share adequate or clear data and inspection findings with the public; did not have a clear policy for inspecting gas wells; and monitored shale waste using data self-reported by the industry — the accuracy of which is never verified.
PennFuture calls the lack of transparency troubling.
"Kennel inspections and restaurant inspections are easily accessible on the Department of Agriculture's website," Norbeck writes. "When our citizens have greater access to information about kennel inspections and restaurant inspections than they do natural gas well inspections, we have a problem."
In a letter accompanying the report, DePasquale, a Democrat, states that the agency has not kept up with the natural gas industry's growth and has been left "underfunded, understaffed" and without "the infrastructure in place to meet the continuing demands placed upon the agency by expanded shale gas development."
The audit also notes that the Auditor General did not have "full access" to DEP's documents because the agency's "documentation was, and continues to be, egregiously poor.
"The agency's complaint tracking system, for example, cannot produce basic data such as precisely how many fracking-related water quality complaints were received, and how many were confirmed. DEP says that an increased fee for well permits will allow the agency to hire more inspectors and upgrade its technical capacity.
The audit comes at a sensitive time for Corbett. Natural gas drilling, carried out using a method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has sparked widespread concern over water pollution. Many have also been critical of Corbett's refusal to impose a severance tax on the industry in the face of massive education budget cuts. Democratic challenger Tom Wolf, who is strongly outpolling Corbett, is likely to make both matters top campaign issues ahead of the November election.
