-- DEP Update by Seth Pelepko, Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management
-- State Of Washington’s Geothermal Regulatory Structure by Rian Skov, Deputy Oil and Gas Supervisor, Washington Department of Natural Resources
-- Repurposing Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells For Geothermal Energy by Eddie Guerra, Senior Vice President, Rizzo International
-- Combined Sewer Overflows by Marc Cammarata, Philadelphia Water Department
Geothermal Energy
For recent background on geothermal energy in Pennsylvania, read this summary of a March 27 hearing by the House Energy Committee--
-- House Energy Committee Hears How Geothermal Energy Could Meet 100% Of PA’s Electricity, Heating Needs Offering True Energy Independence And Freedom From Foreign Energy Markets Costing Pennsylvanians Billions [PaEN]
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 like he did in January.
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 24,555 as of March 27-- a 35.9% 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.
-- Potential Cuts In Federal Funding To Plug Conventional Wells Abandoned By Their Owners: On January 9, Laura Legere of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the US House of Representatives Thursday passed a budget bill that cut $785 million from programs to restore abandoned coal mine lands and plug abandoned oil and gas wells saying it was “a blow to Pennsylvania efforts to clean up those scars.”
If no changes are made by the US Senate, Pennsylvania could see a cut of $169 million in abandoned mine reclamation funds and a reduction of at least $24 million in funds for plugging conventional oil and gas wells abandoned by their owners. Read more here.
-- 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 March 10 Environmental Quality Board meeting, DEP said it expects to make a recommendation on the petition to update setback distances by the end of 2026. Read more here.
At the same December EQB meeting, the Board accepted three oil and gas industry rulemaking petitions for study. Read more here.
DEP also provided an update on the status of other petitions pending before the EQB at the March meeting. Read more here.
-- 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 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.
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.
NewsClip:
-- Erie Times/USA Today: Radioactive Radium On Rural Roads? PA House Bills Clash Over Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater On Public Roads [PDF of Article]
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