PA Environment Digest Blog: Kurt Klapkowski Serving As DEP Acting Deputy Secretary For Oil & Gas Management

Kurt Klapkowski is serving as Acting DEP Deputy Secretary For Oil & Gas Management.

Klapkowski replaces Scott Perry who served as Deputy until February 11. Read more here.

Prior to his appointment as Acting Deputy, Klapkowski served as Director of the Bureau of Oil and Gas Planning and Program Management since March of 2012.

As the Bureau Director, he oversaw the coordination of the Department's development of policy, technical guidance, regulatory and legislative documents, as well as providing on-going education and outreach to the public and regulated communities.

From January 1994 to March 2012, Klapkowski served as Assistant Council in DEP’s Bureau of Regulatory Counsel for a variety of programs, including Storage Tanks, Land Recycling Program, the Office of Pollution Prevention and Compliance Assistance, Oil and Gas Management, Hazardous Waste Management and Nuclear Safety.

Major Policy Decisions

The Oil and Gas Program is facing several major policy decisions in the coming months--

-- Deficit In Funding For Regulatory Program: DEP has a major deficit in funding to support the cost of the Oil and Gas Program that will have to be made up or there will be significant cuts. Read more here.

-- Increasing Bonding Amounts: In November the Environmental Quality Board accepted a rulemaking petition to increase the bonding amounts for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells to the cost taxpayers would have to pay to plug them if abandoned by drilling companies. Read more here.

-- Conventional Drilling Regulations: Drafting proposed regulations setting environmental protection standards for conventional oil and gas well drilling. Read more here.

-- Investing Federal Well Plugging Funds: Pennsylvania is in line to receive $395 million in funding for plugging oil and gas wells abandoned by conventional oil and gas wells over the next 15 years through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is a major new program for the agency. Read more here.

-- Road Spreading Oil & Gas Wastewater: DEP received a significant study of the water quality impacts of road spreading of conventional oil and gas wastewater from Penn State on December 30. It is one in a series of studies in the last two years on this topic. The study is expected to have a major impact on how DEP deals with this issue. Read more here.

Other Penn State studies have clearly shown road spreading conventional oil and gas wastewater is a threat to the environment and public health.

DEP has banned the practice for the unconventional drilling industry, but so far has not taken the same action on the conventional side, even though it has the same chemical and physical characteristics.

DCED’s PA Grade Crude [Oil] Development Advisory Council is scheduled to discuss the December 30 Penn State study at its next meeting on April 21.

For more information on this program, visit DEP’s Office Of Oil And Gas Management webpage.

-- DEP To Prohibit Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers With Unresolved Environmental Violations From Getting Conventional Well Plugging Contracts; 133 Companies Interested In Doing Well Plugging Work

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Pay Only $46,100 Of The $10,600,000 It Costs DEP To Regulate That Industry; Taxpayers May Be Asked To Pay The Difference

-- Senate Budget Hearings: PA’s Experience With New Pipeline Construction Shows State Laws Not Strong Enough To Prevent Environmental Damage, Protect Public Safety

-- 12 Unconventional Shale Gas Drillers Issued DEP Notices Of Violation For Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them At 35 Well Pads In 17 Counties

-- New Abandoned Wells: DEP Records Show Abandoning Oil & Gas Wells Without Plugging Them Is Pervasive In Conventional Drilling Industry; Who Is Protecting Taxpayers?

-- Millions Of Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Spread Illegally On Dirt Roads, Companies Fail To Comply With DEP Waste Regulations

-- DEP Lists 84 Townships As ‘Waste Facilities’ Where Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Has Been Disposed Of By Road Spreading; Municipalities Need To Do Their Due Diligence

-- Preliminary Results From New Penn State Study Find Increased Cancer, Health Risks From Road Dumping Conventional Drilling Wastewater, Especially For Children

-- The Science Says: Spreading Conventional Drilling Wastewater On Dirt & Gravel Roads Can Harm Aquatic Life, Poses Health Risks To Humans - And It Damages The Roads

-- PA Natural Gas Politicians Want To ‘Unleash’ PA’s Gas Industry - What We Need First Is For Industry To Divert LNG To Europe; Take Up The Slack; Oil & Gas 2.0; True Energy Independence