Jun. 14, 2022
HARRISBURG — Today, PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee (ERE) Majority Chairman Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) issued the following co-sponsor memo calling for the impeachment of outgoing Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Patrick McDonnell:
“The Department of Environmental Protection under Secretary Patrick McDonnell has committed a number of flagrant violations of our state Constitution and statutes throughout his tenure at the top of the department. Though he has recently announced his upcoming resignation, it is important to hold public officials accountable for the actions they take.
“A number of these violations of law occurred during the development of the RGGI regulation. The regulation clearly contains a tax, not a fee, which can only under our state Constitution derive from the General Assembly.
“In addition, DEP refused to have in-person hearings in impacted communities as required under the Air Pollution Control Act. The secretary also chaired the EQB meeting in which the regulation was voted in a room that was closed to the public, which clearly violated our state’s Sunshine Act. While the DEP violated the law specifically related to the RGGI regulation, the department, under the secretary’s leadership has also done so a number of other times on a variety of different subjects.
“I could not possibly name all the examples in this memo, but some examples include the DEP’s refusal to implement a manganese regulation clearly required by state law, and similarly, the department’s refusal to allow for the use of alternative on-lot septic systems as required by state law.
“Most recently, DEP did not follow
Act 52 of 2016 which requires that separate regulations be promulgated for the conventional oil and gas industry when it proposed a regulation on VOC emissions.
“Under the secretary’s leadership, DEP was a lawless agency, with no respect for the people of our Commonwealth that it should represent. Please join me in this important resolution to finally hold this bureaucrat accountable for his actions.”
Representative Daryl Metcalfe
12th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Ty McCauslin
717.772.9979
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