DEP Announces Voting, Ad Hoc Members Of Oil And Gas Technical Advisory Board

The Department of Environmental Protection Wednesday announced the members of the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board. TAB’s mission is to increase transparency and communication about regulating the unconventional (Marcellus, Utica Shale) oil and gas drilling industry.

TAB is authorized under the 2012 Oil and Gas Act to advise DEP in the formulation, drafting, and presentation stages of all regulations relating to unconventional oil and gas extraction. TAB will be given the opportunity to review and comment on all regulations of a technical nature prior to submission to the Environmental Quality Board.

TAB consists of five members, all of whom are chosen by the Governor and are residents of Pennsylvania. All board members were appointed on March 9.

There are five TAB members appointed by the governor. Three members are either petroleum engineers, petroleum geologists or drillers with at least three years of experience in Pennsylvania. One member is a coal mining engineer with three years of experience in Pennsylvania. The last voting member is a geologist, petroleum engineer or driller with three years of experience in Pennsylvania, chosen from three candidates supplied by the Citizens Advisory Council to the governor.

The Advisory Board members include:

-- Fred J. Baldassare, P.G., Owner & Senior Geoscientist, ECHELON Applied Geoscience Consulting

-- David A. Yoxtheimer, P.G., Hydrogeologist, Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research at The Pennsylvania State University

-- Robert C. Hendricks, P.G., Water Team Lead/Groundwater Protection Lead Appalachia, Shell Exploration and Production Company

-- Casey V. Saunders, P.E., Pennsylvania Coal Operations Senior Project Engineer, CONSOL Energy

-- Bryan J. McConnell, P.G., Environmental Program Manager, Tenaska, Inc.

The non-voting members of the Advisory Board are selected by the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. These members are:

-- John Walliser, Esq., Vice President of Legal & Government Affairs, Pennsylvania Environmental Council

-- W. Michael Griffin, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Center for Energy and Decision Making, Carnegie Mellon University

-- Emily Krafjack, President, Connection for Oil, Gas, & Environment in the Northern Tier, Inc.

-- Barbara G. Kutchko, Ph.D., P.E., Physical Scientist, National Energy Technology Laboratory at the U.S. Department of Energy.

The TAB meets March 20 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 105 of the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg to review the proposed final Chapter 78A drilling regulations.

For more information, visit DEP’s Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board webpage.