With more than 14 years of service with DEP, Secretary Shirley has served as an Executive Policy Specialist, Policy Director, first-of-its-kind Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator, and Executive Deputy Secretary, where she oversaw the influx of federal funding supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and developed groundbreaking executive orders related to PFAS, climate change, energy conservation, and sustainability within Commonwealth operations.
“Secretary Shirley has spent her career serving the people of Pennsylvania and she is committed to delivering timely answers while protecting Pennsylvanians’ constitutional rights to clean air and pure water,” said Governor Shapiro. “During her 14 years with the Department, Secretary Shirley has been a driving force in safeguarding our environment while streamlining permitting processes and promoting economic growth. I’m proud that the state Senate clearly recognized her commitment to delivering results by confirming her nomination in a bipartisan vote – and I look forward to her continued leadership of the Department of Environmental Protection.”
“It is an honor and a privilege to head DEP and I am grateful to Governor Shapiro for entrusting me with his nomination and to the Senate for confirming me,” said DEP Secretary Shirley. “I look forward to leading this agency of talented professionals as we continue to serve Pennsylvanians by protecting the air we breathe, the land we live on, and the water we drink from pollution. We will continue to work as partners with people, businesses, and organizations to protect our natural resources and public health.”
The Senate voted 49 to 1 to confirm a group of the Governor’s nominations that included Secretary Shirley. Sen. Katie Muth (D-Chester) voted against the nominations.
Click Here for the Governor's announcement.
Senate Committee Comments
On June 25, Secretary Shirley was questioned by members of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on her position on several issues before the Committee voted unanimously to recommend her nomination to the full Senate.
Environmental Justice
Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington) expressed concern about DEP’s interim final Environmental Justice Policy saying the policy “was in effect even before the department received public comment and made any revisions based on those comments.
“The comment period ended in November of 2023. But 20 months later, the policy has not been revised based on input from affected stakeholders.”
“So, this leads a lot of people to scratch their heads, "Okay, there's this mission. We're going to do this. New sheriff in town." But yet even internal policy is delayed by almost two years.
“And I'm really, really, really fed up with losing billions of dollars of capital investment that should be pouring into Pennsylvania, using our abundant energy. And it's so frustrating.”
Secretary Shirley responded-- “So, on the environmental justice policy, I'll take that one.
“I wanted to see it implemented, to see if it was effective, and if it was going to work the way that we had intended.
“I wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to prolong any type of permitting, and that's why it hasn't been finalized yet.
“What we have found over these 20 months is that no permitting timelines have been increased in any way because of implementation of the policy.
“So, we are working to finalize it. There are a few tweaks that we're going to make to it, but nothing that would substantively change it.
“What the policy does, though, is it really obligates the department to do that community outreach, and educate the folks that live there about what the permitting process is, and things that they're going to see, and in terms that they can understand.
“It's not about delay. It's not an additional review.
“It is an obligation of the department and my staff to make sure that they are reaching out to the community members and that they feel protected, environmentally protected with our permits from the development that is going to occur.
“So, working through, like I said, a few little tweaks, but nothing majorly substantive that would change it, because we have 20 months of data.
“Actually, I think it's probably closer to 22 months of data that shows that it does not increase permitting timelines.”
Sen. Katie Muth (D-Chester) expressed concerns about the Governor’s proposal to create a state energy RESET Board to override local government control of siting decisions on larger energy generation and energy storage facilities in House Bill 502 (Steele-D- Allegheny). [Read more here]
“How do you feel about having to serve on a board that entails a voting member that is a political action committee?” said Sen. Muth.
“The Pennsylvania Chamber is politically involved across Pennsylvania, representing its various 10,000, some Fortune 500 companies. So this isn't just small business we're talking about, but big companies that have been in the energy space for decades.
“Do you feel prepared to hash that out with these entities where your role in the Department of Environmental Protection, versus the risk of further exploitative capitalism in Pennsylvania?”
Secretary Shirley responded-- “So on the question of the RESET Board, I think there's a couple of questions in there.
“I think as state leaders, all of us, myself included, the governor, all of you really need to think about what our goals for energy are.
“And I think that the package of bills that has been presented by the governor's office [the Lightning Energy Plan] represents what his goals are, which is to bring additional development of energy resources onto the PJM grid.
“Now, I'm not going to get into some of the issues with PJM [Interconnection], but what I will say is that the necessary energy resources, electricity resources that this state is going to need into the future are vast.
“The Electrify Everything movement is great for air quality, but it does constrain our grid significantly.
“So we are supportive of the board, the RESET Board, because what it does is it eliminates one of the roadblocks or barriers that folks have to bringing additional electricity and electricity generation sources onto our grid.”
“I'm reading a book, I can't quite endorse it yet because I'm not done with it, but the book really talks about sometimes the perverse outcomes that policies have.
“And when you think about zoning, zoning sometimes has an outcome that prevents things that people want or people need.
“I don't think that this board is meant to eliminate zoning in municipal requirements, but I think it is meant to bring people together in partnership with various interests to find the best places to cite energy.
“This is something that I've done a lot of thinking about.
“I've had some conversations with Senator Vogel about it as he's concerned about farmland preservation as I am as well. If we can use the RESET Board to direct developers to place energy sources on abandoned mine lands or brownfields,
“I think it's really an opportunity. And I don't know that developers necessarily have that big picture view.”
“On the question of working with the Chamber. I can tell you that the Department of Environmental Protection has had a very long-standing relationship working with the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.
“I meet with them quarterly and we discuss different ways that we can help businesses to comply with regulations because that's really what it's about.
“We all want to see environmental compliance. So as we update regulations, as we move forward with new initiatives, we always try to talk with them to gain their perspectives.
“And I do think that they have a perspective to bring.
“On that board, would it be a controlling perspective? No, it wouldn't be, but it is an additional voice that I think that folks should consider, which is the business community.”
Click Here for a video of the Committee hearing.
Related Articles This Week:
-- Gov. Shapiro Honors Exceptional Commonwealth Employees For Remarkable Public Service, Including From DCNR, DEP [PaEN]
-- PA Resources Council Receives 2025 Governor's Award For Environmental Excellence For Hard-To-Recycling Collection Events [PaEN]
[Posted: June 25, 2025] PA Environment Digest
No comments :
Post a Comment