On December 5th, PIOGA, PGCC and PIPP filed the second lawsuit challenging the lawfulness of the process of finalizing the Conventional VOC Regulation. The lawsuit is available for your review on PIOGA’s website at this link: VOC – Petition for Review

Count I (one) asserts that the use of the final omitted process was improper because DEP’s reasons that requesting comments was impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest have already been rejected by the Commonwealth Court in previous litigation.

Count II asserts that the regulation concerns conventional oil and gas wells, so the development of the regulation by DEP and EQB was improper because it was not done “separately and independently of unconventional wells or other subjects” and did not include a regulatory analysis form (RAF) “restricted to the subject of conventional oil and gas wells” as required by Act 52 of 2016, the statute that abrogated the Chapter 78 regulations for conventional wells and created the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Development Advisory Council (CDAC).

Both Counts provide the basis for the Commonwealth Court to determine that the Conventional VOC Regulation was improperly finalized, rendering it null and void, and Count II would require DEP to begin anew by complying with the “separate and independent” development mandate of Act 52.

Kevin J. Moody, General Counsel

 

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