State Sen. Katie Muth, D-44th, of Royersford, has retained national transparency law expert, Terry Mutchler, to assist with her ongoing battle on behalf of teachers and taxpayers to obtain basic
State lawmakers on Tuesday pitched new legislation to tighten fracking industry oversight and accountability standards.
Pennsylvania Senate Democrats, joined by Attorney General Josh Shapiro, said the package of bills was drafted in response to last year’s grand jury report on the unconventional oil and gas industry.
The bills would move drilling sites further away from homes, schools, hospitals and reservoirs and give the attorney general’s office original criminal jurisdiction over oil and gas companies by amending existing laws. Currently, the office can t prosecute environmental crimes without a referral from an agency with legal jurisdiction, lawmakers said, which is often time consuming.
The bills come nearly a year after a statewide investigative grand jury found that state regulators failed to protect the public from the health impacts of fracking.
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