The first 10 days of March were interesting for those who attempt to divine regulatory priorities or enforcement strategies from environmental policy pronouncements. On March 3, Gov. Tom Wolf released his budget. The budget in brief—the governor’s plain-language overview—does not mention the word “environment” or “environmental” anywhere in the text. It does, however, discuss natural gas development repeatedly in the course of arguing for a new severance tax to replace other levies and to fund education.
On March 9, the Department of Environmental Protection announced a new iteration of the proposed revisions to the regulations governing that same natural gas development. On March 11, Acting DEP Secretary John Quigley reportedly told a legislative committee that Wolf would support continuation of the moratorium on natural gas development in the Delaware River Basin.
