Why is DEP review limited to public water supplies?

Question from Ralph Duquette, Campbelltown, Pa.

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

Pennsylvania updated its oil and gas law in 2012. Known as Act 13, the law includes a provision about public notification of spills.

It requires the state Department of Environmental Protection to alert any “public drinking water facility that could be affected by the event that the event occurred.”

Approximately 3 million Pennsylvanians—many living in shale gas development regions—rely on private water wells and thus are not covered by this language.

In a September 2016 order, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave the Legislature six months to fix the law. To date, the legislature has not complied.

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