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Krancer: DEP Has Expanded Its Inspection Staff

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

DEP Secretary Michael Krancer


Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer took his turn before the state Senate’s Appropriations Committee yesterday. Discussing his department’s budget, Krancer said DEP has the staff it needs to inspect Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale wells. That’s despite Governor Corbett’s proposal to trim the department’s budget by more than $10 million.
Capitolwire has more:

Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer told the Senate Appropriations panel the department has doubled its Bureau of Oil and Gas Management staff, and said a new revenue stream from the recently passed Marcellus Shale law could also be used for staff funding.
“We do have the resources and the personnel to regulate … in the oil and gas fields and all areas we regulate,” he said. “We’ve increased the number of inspections, doubled from the year before.”
Corbett’s 2012-13 proposed budget, just like his first budget, proposes cuts to the department. Gov. Tom Corbett proposes cutting more than $10 million in state funding from the department’s budget, dropping the budget from $137.2 million to $126.6 million.
Some Senate Democrats raised concerns about how the budget cuts will affect the departments’ ability to handle inspections and permitting, but Krancer said, “right now, I don’t see a problem.”

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