Environmental Hearing Board Judge Richard P. Mather Retires

On October 2, Judge Richard P. Mather retired from the Environmental Hearing Board after serving for eleven years.

Environmental Hearing Board Chief Judge and Chairman Thomas W. Renwand said of Judge Mather--  

“After a professional lifetime in service to the people of Pennsylvania, Judge Richard Mather is retiring from the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. It has been a pleasure and an absolute privilege serving with him for the past eleven years. 

“Judge Mather brought not only an encyclopedic knowledge of the regulatory process gleaned from his earlier service as Regulatory Counsel at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to the Board but also a detailed understanding and appreciation of litigation.  

“His quiet demeanor often resulted in an uncanny ability to bridge vast gulfs in the positions of litigants resulting in settlements favored by all involved. 

“On the other hand, if a case could not be settled he presided over his cases fairly and with compassion assuring that justice was done.  

“He worked very hard and served with both distinction and brilliance. He will be remembered fondly by everyone who worked with him.”

Former DEP Secretary David Hess said, “Judge Mather gave me a first class education on environmental laws and regulations when he served in the Bureau of Regulatory Counsel during my own career at DER/DEP.  He helped build many of DEP’s environmental programs we have today and shaped DEP’s actions on key issues.

“I wish him well in retirement and thank him for his service to the people of the Commonwealth.”

Key Decisions

Some of the important cases Judge Mather decided include--

-- PWIA v. DEP and Hazleton Creek Properties, 2016 EHB 590 (August 31, 2016): Following an en banc oral argument, the Board denied a motion for summary judgment challenging Appellant’s standing. The Board held that, as a trade association, Appellant and its members had standing due to its financial or competitive interests in the litigation. Furthermore, the Board noted appellant qualified for the “taxpayer standing” exception to traditional standing requirements. The Board also sustained appellant’s motion claiming the Department erred in accepting drill cuttings at its Act 2 remediation site without a permit. The Board held that, since the drill cuttings did not originate on the site, the remediation activities could not be “undertaken entirely on the site,” as required for a permit exception under Act 2.

-- Gadinski v. DEP and Gilberton Coal Co., 2013 EHB 246 (May 31, 2013): Dismissed a third-party appeal of a permit’s mining reclamation plan using certified coal ash. The Board held that the Department had credibly established the coal ash, applied near the top of a mountain ridge, would not be used in a manner that threatened the water supplies of residents located near the southern base of the mountain.  

-- New Hanover Township v. DEP and Gibraltar Rock, 2014 EHB 834 (November 3, 2014): Sustained in part a third-party appeal of a temporary cessation of non-coal mining activity. The Board held it was an abuse of discretion for the Department to approve continuous temporary permit extensions over nine years without requiring a permittee to file an application for renewal that would allow the Department to determine whether the permit was still current.

-- Stanley Jake v. DEP and KMP Associates, Inc., 2014 EHB 38 (February 18, 2014): Dismissed a third-party appeal of a surface mining permit where the permittee failed to fill out a conservation district’s current address on its public notice application. While not a strict adherence to surface coal mining regulations, the Board held that the mistake was harmless error because the appellant had actual notice of the current address and appellant’s due process rights were not otherwise infringed upon.

-- Edward Wean Jr. v. DEP, 2014 EHB 219 (April 11, 2014): Upheld an explosives compliance order and an order suspending the appellant’s blaster’s license under the State’s blasting activities regulations. The Board held carbon monoxide generated from appellant’s blasting activities adversely affected nearby individuals’ health and safety and justified the Department’s orders.

-- Chimel v. DEP and Molesevich & Sons, 2014 EHB 957 (November 25, 2014): Dismissed a third-party appeal of a surface mining permit transfer and renewal but sustained the appeal regarding a revision made to the permit. The Board held coal mining permits’ general presumption of successive renewal justified the Department issuing a renewal after the permit at issue expired and further held the mining operator’s valid rights to conduct mining activities had not been abandoned. However, the Department’s revision to the permit to increase acreage was denied because the Permittee did not demonstrate they had right of access for all the proposed additional acreage.  

Biography

The Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of Judge Mather and he took the oath of office in October 2009. 

Prior to becoming a Judge, Judge Mather was the Deputy Chief Counsel for the Department of Environmental Protection. He worked for the Department of Environmental Protection and its predecessor, the Department of Environmental Resources for twenty-five years. 

For eighteen years during this period, he was the head of the Bureau of Regulatory Counsel. 

Judge Mather is a 1977 graduate of Lock Haven University. He received his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982. He was Business Editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review. 

From 1982 until 1984, he was an associate with the law firm of Thorp, Reed and Armstrong in its Pittsburgh offices. 

Judge Mather was born in Ashland, Pennsylvania and he was raised in Williamsport and Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lock Haven High School in 1972. He is a life-long resident of Pennsylvania and he currently resides in Susquehanna Township, Pennsylvania with his wife, Mary Jo and three sons, Ricky, Jonathan and Jeffrey.

The Environmental Hearing Board is the first level of appeal for actions taken by the Department of Environmental Protection.

(Special thanks to Thomas Renwand, Chairman & Chief Judge, Maryanne Wesdock, Senior Counsel and Christopher Minott, Assistant Counsel.)

[Posted: October 6, 2020]  PA Environment Digest