For Immediate Release
March 22, 2013
Contacts:
Karen Feridun, Berks Gas Truth, 610-678-7726
Krancer’s Departure from DEP Good For Pennsylvania Says Berks Gas Truth
Kutztown, PA – Governor Corbett’s office announced today that DEP Secretary Michael Krancer would be stepping down from his post on April 15th. Berks Gas Truth believes the departure of the controversial Krancer is good for Pennsylvania.
“Michael Krancer has not served Pennsylvania well as the person tasked with protecting our environment. He has clearly been on the side of the natural gas industry, going so far as to say that he was ‘here to get gas done’,” said Karen Feridun, founder of Berks Gas Truth.
In recent months, Berks Gas Truth has been working with coalition partners from the PA Campaign for Clean Water to get answers to questions about water testing procedures and policies that were raised when the Bureau of Laboratories chief testified in a deposition that 24 tests are routinely done on well water suspected of being contaminated, but that only 8 of those test results are given to the well owner. Further testimony revealed that a suite of tests developed specifically to identify contamination coming from gas drilling has never been used.
At the Governor’s request, Secretary Krancer invited the groups to meet with DEP laboratory staff to discuss water testing. Krancer later revoked the invitation, claiming that one of the organizations invited was out to get him. When members of the disinvited organizations sent thousands of emails to Krancer’s office urging him to reschedule the meeting, he wrote a strange and accusatory auto-reply that still failed to address any of the concerns.
Krancer also refused to attend a House of Representatives Policy Committee hearing on the same water testing issues, calling it ‘political theater.’
Just this week, the DEP found itself in the hot seat once again when 971 pages of unsealed court records in Hallowich v. Range Resources contained evidence of the agency’s failure to maintain records of an investigation of a well water complaint from one of the Hallowich’s neighbors. The investigation was done by someone who left the DEP to work for Range Resources shortly thereafter.
“Our excitement with Krancer’s departure is tempered by rumors that he is under consideration for the vacant Supreme Court seat. That would be a disastrous development for Pennsylvania,” said Feridun.
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