DEP Announces Release Of Draft Pipeline Task Force Report For Public Comment

The Department of Environmental Protection Tuesday announced the release of the first draft of the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force report and will open a 30-day public comment period beginning November 14.

This draft report is the first product of Gov. Tom Wolf’s Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force, chaired by DEP Secretary John Quigley.

“This is an important first milestone in developing the framework to help guide responsible pipeline development in Pennsylvania,” said Quigley. “This draft report is the culmination of hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of work done by the members of this task force and by the volunteers on the 12 workgroups.”

The workgroups provided the following 184 recommendations found in the draft report. The task force and DEP will accept public comments on the recommendations in the report, starting on November 14, and continuing for 30 days. The public comment period closes on December 14.

“The recommendations in this draft report have been put together by the sectors affected by pipeline development. Agriculture; communities; environmentalists; cultural resource advocates, industry officials; local, state, and federal agencies, emergency responders; and more are all represented in these pages,” said Quigley. “It is important to remember that the report is not meant to be the final word. When we present our report to the Governor in February 2016, I anticipate that the next step will be to determine the feasibility and implementation strategies for each recommendation.”

DEP will be accepting comments on the report from November 14 to December 14 through DEP’s  eComment webpage.

The draft report will be discussed at the next Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force meeting, scheduled for November 18 at 1 p.m. at the DEP Southcentral Regional Office, 909 Elmerton Avenue in Harrisburg.  As with all task force meetings, it will be webcast.

The draft report can be found here.

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