PA Attorney General Releases Grand Jury Report Detailing Failures In Regulating Shale Gas Industry
On June 25, Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a Grand Jury report detailing what he called the “systematic failure by government agencies in overseeing the fracking industry and fulfilling their responsibility to protect Pennsylvanians from the inherent risks of industry operations.”
“This report is about preventing the failures of our past from continuing into our future,” said Attorney General Shapiro. “It’s about the big fights we must take on to protect Pennsylvanians– to ensure that their voices are not drowned out by those with bigger wallets and better connections. There remains a profound gap between our Constitutional mandate for clean air and pure water, and the realities facing Pennsylvanians who live in the shadow of fracking giants and their investors.”
The Grand Jury made a series of recommendations including expanding “no-drill zones,” requiring public disclosure of all chemicals used in fracking, regulating all natural gas gathering lines, regulating all sources of air pollution from oil and gas development, having a comprehensive response to health concerns and giving the Attorney General original criminal jurisdiction over unconventional oil and gas companies.
Attorney General Shapiro gave a very strident and graphic description of what the Grand Jury thought were the failures of the Department of Environmental Protection in particular. Read more here.
Shapiro said this is not the last announcement on this issue.
NewsClips:
AP-Mark Scolforo: AG Grand Jury Finds Systematic Regulatory Failures In Natural Gas Drilling
Don Hopey/Laura Legere: AG Shapiro: Grand Jury Report Reveals PA’s Systemic Failure To Regulate Shale Gas Industry
Stephen Caruso: AG Shapiro Calls Out Gas Drillers; Faults PA Agencies For Not Adequately Watchdogging The Industry
Frank Kummer: AG Releases Scathing Grand Jury Report On Fracking Industry, State Regulators
Reid Frazier/Susan Phillips: PA Grand Jury Report On Fracking: DEP Failed To Protect Public Health
Charlie Thompson: PA Attorney General’s Report Highlights Shortfalls In State’s Marcellus Shale Oversight
