HARRISBURG, Pa. — Five members of the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) have been selected.
TAB’s mission is to increase transparency and communication about regulating the unconventional oil and gas drilling industry.
TAB is authorized under the 2012 Oil and Gas Act to advise the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the formulation, drafting, and presentation stages of all regulations relating to unconventional oil and gas extraction.
TAB will be given the opportunity to review and comment on all regulations of a technical nature prior to submission to the Environmental Quality Board.
Members
TAB consists of five members, all of whom are chosen by the governor and are residents of Pennsylvania. All board members were appointed March 9.
Three members are either petroleum engineers, petroleum geologists or drillers with at least three years of experience in Pennsylvania. One member is a coal mining engineer with three years of experience in Pennsylvania.
The last voting member is a geologist, petroleum engineer or driller with three years of experience in Pennsylvania, chosen from three candidates supplied by the Citizens Advisory Council to the governor.
The advisory board members include:
• Fred J. Baldassare, P.G., owner and senior geoscientist, ECHELON Applied Geoscience Consulting
• David A. Yoxtheimer, P.G., hydrogeologist, Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research at the Pennsylvania State University
• Robert C. Hendricks, P.G., water team lead/groundwater protection lead Appalachia, Shell Exploration and Production Co.
• Casey V. Saunders, P.E., Pennsylvania Coal Operations senior project engineer, CONSOL Energy
• Bryan J. McConnell, P.G., environmental program manager, Tenaska, Inc.
The nonvoting members of the advisory board are selected by the secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection.
These members are:
• John Walliser, Esq., vice president of legal and government affairs, Pennsylvania Environmental Council
• W. Michael Griffin, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Energy and Decision Making, Carnegie Mellon University
• Emily Krafjack, president, Connection for Oil, Gas, and Environment in the Northern Tier, Inc.
• Barbara G. Kutchko, Ph.D., P.E., physical scientist, National Energy Technology Laboratory at the U.S. Department of Energy.
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