EPA Responds To Krancer's Letter; Krancer Says Missive "Speaks For Itself"

• Scott Detrow
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.
  
  Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.
  
  Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

The Associated Press has followed up on Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer’s most recent combative letter to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which we initially reported on the StateImpact website Monday afternoon.
The EPA is considering delivering water to residents of Dimock, Susquehanna County, whose well water has been contaminated by methane allegedly tied Cabot Oil and Gas drilling operations.
Krancer called the federal agency’s understanding of the situation “rudimentary.”
The AP has the EPA’s response:

In an email, the EPA said Tuesday that the federal agency intends to work in a cooperative spirit with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
“We continue to keep Mr. Krancer and the department updated as we’re actively reviewing the situation in Dimock and filling information gaps,” the agency email said.
…The EPA’s involvement in Dimock has been erratic. Federal regulators told residents in late November their water didn’t pose a health threat, then backtracked as more sampling data came in that the agency said merited further investigation.
Then, on Friday, EPA officials promised to hire a contractor to deliver water to the residents. A day later, EPA reneged and said the matter was still under consideration.

I spotted Krancer at the Pennsylvania Farm Show this afternoon and asked if he had anything else to add about the situation. He wouldn’t bite, only saying, “the letter speaks for itself.”

Editor's Picks