JUNE 05, 2018 | 04:15 PM
No movement on companion Senate bill; Gov. Wolf opposes the effort
Marie Cusick
The state House approved a controversial bill Tuesday that eliminates key environmental requirements for Pennsylvania’s conventional oil and gas industry.
HB 2154 is the latest maneuver in a years-long legal and political battle over how to regulate the oil and gas industry.
In 2012, Pennsylvania passed Act 13, a major overhaul of the state’s oil and gas law. At the time, the law had not seen significant changes since the 1980s, despite technological advances in the industry. Act 13 placed new environmental requirements on both conventional and Marcellus drillers.
Conventional operators tend to be smaller companies that drill shallower oil and gas wells. They have long complained they’ve been unfairly thrust into a regulatory scheme targeted at major corporations that drill deeper, Marcellus wells.
Despite its passage in the House, a companion Senate bill has not advanced, and Gov. Tom Wolf is strongly against it.
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