Oil & Gas Program
Seth Pelepko, DEP’s Acting Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, will be presenting the agency’s update to Council, no doubt with an emphasis on activities in his program.
Pelepko joined the agency in September, succeeding Kurt Klapkowski, who continues his public service as Director of the Bureau of Oil and Gas Planning and Program Management. Read more here.
The Oil and Gas Program faces major challenges, including--
-- Steadily Expanding Workload: The number of permitted shale gas wells have increased from 18,060 in December 2016 to 24,451 as of January 1-- a 35.3% increase
-- Freeze On Enforcement Staff: DEP enforcement staff has been frozen at nearly the same levels as December 2016, according to DEP’s budget materials last March, while workload keeps expanding dramatically.
Kurt Klapkowski told the PA Grade Crude Development Advisory Council December 4-- “There's been a pretty significant hiring freeze in place given the chaos at the federal level with the budget, and then the state budget impasse this year. Our human resources department has basically locked down any hiring. So, we’ve got significant vacancies.”
“This isn't where I wanted us to be, honestly, today.”
-- Funding Oil & Gas Industry Inadequate To Support Program: Funding for the Oil & Gas Program is based on fees charged for shale gas well permit applications, however, the volume of permit applications received by DEP has dropped dramatically. DEP estimated it would take revenue from 2,000 applications a year to fully fund its enforcement program [Read more here]. In 2025, DEP received just over 628 applications.
The conventional oil and gas industry permit application fees rarely generate more than $46,000 a year to support a program that costs taxpayers $10.6 million to ensure conventional well compliance with state environmental laws and regulations.
The FY 2025-26 state budget includes $15 million in General Fund monies to support the program. The FY 2024-2025 budget included a $5 million was transferred to the program.
-- Shale Gas Regulations Not Updated In Nearly A Decade: DEP regulations covering shale gas operations have not been updated since 2016, nearly a decade, and have not kept up with drilling technology or the kinds of environmental protection problems being experienced today.
-- Conventional Oil & Gas Regulations Not Updated In Nearly 39 Years: DEP regulations covering conventional oil and gas wells were last adopted in 1987. An attempt to update them failed in 2016, when the General Assembly/Gov. Wolf killed the package to allow the shale gas regulations to move forward. The 2016 conventional regulations update represented a significant improvement in environmental protections, but still had gaps.
-- Updated Setback Distances For Shale Gas Operations: One of the things learned through health studies and practical experience since the last state Oil and Gas Act was passed in 2012 is the minimum setback of 500 feet from shale gas well pads is completely inadequate to protect public health.
Most recently, a House hearing in November resulted in extensive testimony on the issue, including first-hand accounts of the inadequacies of the existing 500 foot setback. Read more here.
In December, the Environmental Quality Board voted to accept a citizens rulemaking petition for study that would increase the basic setbacks from 500 to 3,281 feet to better protect the public. Read more here.
The petitioners extensively documented the shortcomings of the existing setback distances. Read more here.
At the same December EQB meeting, the Board accepted three oil and gas industry rulemaking petitions for study. Read more here.
There is no timetable for how long DEP’s review of the petitions will take.
-- Conventional Well Owners Continue To Abandon Wells: While DEP has made significant progress in plugging abandoned conventional wells thanks to federal funding, DEP issued over 700 violations to conventional well owners in 2025 for abandoning wells and 860 violations in 2024. DEP has stepped up enforcement activities with its limited staff, but it has not put a dent in those numbers.
-- “Widespread Non-Compliance” In Conventional Industry The Norm: Last June, DEP said it continues to see “widespread non-compliance with laws and regulations in the conventional oil and gas industry, particularly regarding improper abandonment of oil and gas wells, but also not reporting hydrocarbon and waste production [and disposal] and conducting mechanical integrity assessments.” Read more here.
As DEP noted, well owners fail to comply with the most basic requirements: 85% failed to submit annual production and waste generation/disposal reports and 87% failed to submit annual well integrity reports for 2024. Read more here.
A December 2022 a first-ever report by DEP on conventional industry compliance said until the industry’s “culture of non-compliance” changes, there will be no meaningful improvement in compliance. Read more here.
-- Millions Of Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Unaccounted For: Today, no one knows how much wastewater conventional well owners generate because of widespread non-reporting. Conventional well owners reported generating 93.4 million gallons of wastewater in 2017. A white paper by the PA Independent Oil and Gas Association in 2017 estimated the average conventional oil and gas well produced 2,146 gallons of wastewater a year. With an estimated 86,125 active conventional well permits, the math says the industry generates about 184.8 million gallons a year. Where did the wastewater go?
-- Conventional Well Owners Push To Legalize Road Dumping Wastewater: The illegal disposal of conventional oil and gas wastewater by dumping it on paved and dirt and gravel roads continues unabated in Pennsylvania as are efforts to legalize the practice. Read more here.
The industry itself reported 3.5 million gallons of wastewater were indiscriminately and illegally dumped on roads between 2018 and 2023, according to DEP records, but the real amount is much, much more due to limited self-reporting.
Conventional well owners continue to push for legalizing road dumping for disposing of their wastewater through changes in law, regulations and policy from DEP. Read more here.
DEP has supported legislation to clearly ban the practice of road dumping conventional wastewater as its own regulations did for shale gas operations since 2016. Read more here.
Multiple studies by Penn State University and many others have documented the public health and environmental impacts of road dumping and of wastewater from conventional and shale gas wells. Read more here.
A December 15 meeting was scheduled between DEP and members of the conventional oil and gas industry on the issue of disposing of wastewater, but the meeting was not open to the public and any solutions discussed or commitments to follow-up actions are unknown at this time.
-- Systemic Problems Continue In Tracking Oil & Gas Waste “Cradle To Grave:” In late December, Inside Climate News published three articles by reporters Kiley Bense and Peter Aldhous on tracking the generation, recycling, treatment and disposal of waste and wastewater from Pennsylvania’s shale gas and conventional oil and gas industries. Read more here.
Lack of easy connections between data bases and reporting requirements and the failure in particular of conventional oil and gas well owners to report the waste they generate have hampered efforts to know the answers to basic questions like how much waste is produced and where does it go?
The lack of staff to do audits of the reporting is also reducing confidence in the numbers that are being reported.
The articles also pointed to the need to update safeguards surrounding the handling of radioactive shale gas and conventional waste. Read more here.
EQB Rulemaking Petitions
Laura Griffin, DEP Regulatory Coordinator, will provide an overview of the Environmental Quality Board rulemaking petition process that allows anyone to petition the Board for changes to existing regulations or make proposals for adopting new regulations.
The process has become controversial with some as a result of the petition submitted by citizen and environmental groups to increase setbacks from shale gas well pads. Read more here.
In a comment related to the setback petition, Rep. Joshua Kail (R-Beaver) said at DEP’s budget hearing last March he thought it was “outrageous” DEP has a process where any citizen can petition the agency for a change in its regulations. Read more here.
The EQB has had the authority to accept rulemaking petitions from anyone since October 10, 1980 when the General Assembly amended the Administrative Code of 1929 with this authority in Section 1920-A (h) as part of the process for obtaining federal primacy under the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
Click Here for DEP’s presentation.
Data Center Water Use
Andy Yencha, a Water Resource Educator from Penn State Extension, will give a presentation on water use by data centers in Pennsylvania and related issues.
Comment Period
Individuals interested in providing public comment during the meeting must sign up 24-hours in advance of the meeting by contacting Ian Irvin, Executive Director, by sending email to: iirvin@pa.gov.
Commenters are asked to limit comments to 3 minutes to accommodate other commenters and the rest of the agenda.
Council encourages the submission of a written copy of public comments 24-hours in advance of the meeting so that they can be shared with CAC members in advance, posted to the CAC’s website under the relevant meeting date, and properly reflected in the meeting minutes.
Click Here for more information.
Join The Meeting
The meeting will be held in Room 105 Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg starting at 12:30 p.m.
Click Here to join the meeting online via Microsoft Teams. The meeting is also available by telephone: 267-332-8737, Conference ID: 541 794 634#
For available handouts and more information, visit the DEP Citizens Advisory Council webpage. Questions should be directed to Ian Irvin, Executive Director, at iirvin@pa.gov or 717-579-0329.
(Photos: Row 1-- Late night road dumping on March 21, 2025, note triangular spray pattern; Row 2-- Morning-after March 21 dumping fingerprint; Row- 3 Telltale bluish sheen from road dumping on paved road, water collected after road dumping on Scranton Hollow Road on September 17, 2024)
Related Articles This Week:
-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council Meets Jan. 13 To Hear Update On Oil & Gas Program; Discuss EQB Rulemaking Petition Process; Presentation On Data Centers & Water Use [PaEN]
-- DEP: MarkWest Liberty Midstream Reports Losing 197,000 Gallons Of Pipeline Drilling Fluid Into Abandoned Mine Voids In 3 Incidents In Washington County; Total Losses Reach 734,600 Gallons [PaEN]
-- DEP Issued Lazy Oil Company Violations For Abandoning 12 More Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Butler, Venango Counties [PaEN]
-- Vistra Corp. Acquires Cogentrix Energy Natural Gas Power Plants, Including 2 In PA, As Part Of Strategy To Feed A.I. Data Centers [Locking Up More Energy For A.I. Data Centers] [PaEN]
-- Sen. Boscola To Introduce 6-Bill Package To Protect Pennsylvania Communities And Ratepayers From Large-Scale A.I. Data Centers Rapidly Expanding Across The State [PaEN]
-- PJM Interconnection: 2025 Year In Review Part II: PJM Revised Market Rules With Goal Of Supporting Efficiency, Increasing Generation Resources [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- PennFuture News: There Isn’t Enough Energy For You And A.I. Data Centers In The PJM Grid, So Who Gets It?
-- Vistra Corp Acquires Cogentrix Energy Natural Gas Power Plants, Including 2 In PA - Patriot, Hamilton-Liberty - As Part Of Strategy To Feed A.I. Data Centers [Locking Up More Energy For Machines]
-- Utility Dive: Vistra To Buy Cogentrix Energy’s 5.5 GW Of Natural Gas Power Plants As Part Of Strategy To Feed A.I. Data Centers [2 In PA]
-- Bloomberg: Vistra Corp. Buying 10 More Gas Power Plants In New England, Texas To Deepen A.I. Energy Bet
-- The Allegheny Front - Rachel McDevitt: PA Environmental Groups Appeal Permit For Massive 4.5 GW Natural Gas Power Plant Meant To Fuel Homer City A.I. Data Campus In Indiana County
-- Spotlight PA: As PA Energy Prices Rise, Advocates Skeptical That Lawmakers Will Put Aside Partisan Differences
-- Washington & Jefferson College: Electric Bills Will Continue To Rise After PJM Auction Due To A.I. Data Center Power Demand Increases
-- Utility Dive: A.I. Data Center Demand Was 40% Of The $47.2 Billion Cost Imposed On PJM Electric Ratepayers In Last Auction: PJM Market Monitor
-- Inside Climate News: Looking Ahead To A Deepening Affordability Crisis, An Election And The Threat Of An A.I. Investment Bubble
-- Inside Climate News: Virginia Regulators Approve New Dominion Energy Rates, Assign More Costs To A.I. Data Center, But Didn’t Go Far Enough To Protect Ratepayers, Consumer Advocates Say
-- PA Capital-Star: In 2026, More A.I. Data Center Regulations Could Be Coming In Maryland; PJM Regulator Asks For Rules To Prevent Centers From Connecting To Grid Without Their Own Power
-- Kleinman Center For Energy Policy Podcast: Why A New Natural Gas Power Boom Is Putting Methane Emissions Back In The Spotlight - By Mark Brownstein, EDF, Andy Stone, Kleinman Center
-- PA Capital-Star: PA Supreme Court Dismisses Appeals To Revive RGGI Carbon Pollution Reduction Program [Part Of State Budget Deal]
-- PennLive: 3rd Person Dies After Natural Gas Explosion At Bucks County Nursing Home
-- AP: 4 Injured In Bucks County Nursing Home Natural Gas Explosion File Negligence Lawsuit
-- WHYY - Susan Phillips: Lawsuit Claims Bucks County Nursing Home Natural Gas Explosion Could Have Been Prevented; Nursing Home, PECO Failed To Protect People
-- Indiana Gazette: Natural Gas Compressor On Private Property Damaged After A Series Of Five Explosions In Indiana County
-- PUC PA OneCall Damage Prevention Committee Imposes $232,250 In Penalties On 162 Companies For Violations
-- Warren Times: PIOGA/PIPP Form Alliance To Strengthen Voice Of PA Conventional Oil & Gas Industry On Energy Issues
-- Kleinman Center For Energy Policy Podcast: Why A New Natural Gas Power Boom Is Putting Methane Emissions Back In The Spotlight - By Mark Brownstein, EDF, Andy Stone, Kleinman Center
-- WSJ: Consumer Love Cheap Gasoline, But With More Oil From Venezuela, The Oil Patch Will Pay The Price
-- Financial Times: US Oil Groups Warn They Will Need Taxpayer Guarantees To Invest In Venezuela
-- NY Times: US To Control Venezuela Oil Sales ‘Indefinitely,’ DOE Secretary Says
-- Post-Gazette: Fetterman To Democrats On Venezuela: ‘Stop Comparing Everything To Iraq’
-- TribLive: President Says Venezuela Will ‘Turn Over’ Up To 50 Million Barrels Of Oil To US
-- TribLive/AP: President’s Plan To Seize, Revitalize Venezuela’s Oil Industry Faces Major Hurdles
[Posted: January 8, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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