DEP Will Limit Expedited Permits for Gas Drillers

The Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion has reversed a pol­icy imple­mented in 2008, that fast tracked sed­i­ment and ero­sion per­mits for drillers. In 2009, the DEP went fur­ther and lim­ited the role of local con­ser­va­tion dis­trict offi­cials. The Chesa­peake Bay Foun­da­tion appealed a num­ber of these expe­dited per­mits to the Envi­ron­men­tal Hear­ing Board.

On Fri­day, the DEP announced a set­tle­ment with the envi­ron­men­tal group, open­ing their pro­pos­als to pub­lic com­ment. No expe­dited per­mits will be issued to any drill pad pro­posed for a flood plain, or any that would drain into an exceptional-value or high-quality value watershed.

“Our biggest con­cerns have been drill rigs con­structed in flood­plains, and drilling near our most pris­tine water­ways,” said CBF’s Matt Ehrhart in a release. “Flood­plains, by their nature, can flood. We felt that the expe­dited review process should not be avail­able in these loca­tions because of the poten­tial for down­stream contamination.”

The DEP will accept com­ments on the new pro­pos­als until March 21, 2012.