He says it would weaken protections.
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) – The chairman of a state panel that made recommendations for natural gas drilling in western Maryland is highly critical of draft regulations proposed by the administration of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
David Vanko’s letter to the Department of the Environment is among hundreds of pages of public comments obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
Vanko says the draft regulations, if adopted, would significantly weaken protections that most members of his advisory commission thought were needed to lower the risks of hydraulic fracturing to an acceptable level.
Department spokesman Jay Apperson says in an email that the agency won’t meet the General Assembly’s deadline to adopt by Oct. 1 drilling regulations that would become effective a year later. He says MDE will likely issue the proposed regulations sometime this fall.
By the Associated Press