Task force debates pipeline recommendations

• Marie Cusick
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  Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

At a recent press conference, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley joked with reporters that he’d assembled “the world’s largest committee” to try to deal with the state’s building boom of natural gas pipelines.

He was in a decidedly less jovial mood Wednesday as he tried to corral the 48-member group. Quigley didn’t want them to parse every word of the committee’s 335 page draft report, which contains 184 separate recommendations.

“Folks need to take a breath and realize these are broad recommendations,” he said.

The Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force is comprised of people from government, industry, and environmental groups. The idea is to bring planning and best practices to pipeline projects that move Marcellus Shale products to new markets. Some industry representatives were reluctant to endorse recommendations they viewed as too specific.

For example, one would require projects to have post-construction monitoring for five years.

“Using words like ‘require’ and other definitive terms– that puts us in the position of, ‘Well you said we need to require this,'” said Sarah Battisti, a lobbyist for Southwestern Energy. “There’s an issue with that– for all these recommendations.”

Quigley said he didn’t want to water down the report, but promised the DEP’s final version would include a preamble that makes it clear the entire task force does not endorse every word of it.

“We’re not trying to have a vote here. We’d never get this done,” he said. “We’d end up like Congress.”

Anti-fracking protesters briefly disrupted the meeting.They had previously targeted the task force, calling it a public relations front by Governor Tom Wolf’s administration.

“We’re concerned that you’re removing the public from this process,” said Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum, as she was escorted out of the meeting by Capitol police.

“We want to proceed in an orderly fashion. This group needs to do its work,” Quigley told her. “Democracy is a messy process.”

The task force is expected to send its final set of recommendations to Wolf by February.

 

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