The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board(EQB) has passed by a vote of 15-4 a package of oil and natural gas drilling regulations. The independent board adopts and reviews environmental regulations written by the stateDepartment of Environmental Protection (DEP), which worked on the revisions for more than four years. The package includes, among other things, changes for well sites, protection of water resources and public resources, and they address health, safety, data management and landowner concerns. DEP had sent the rulemaking, which includes separate regulations for the conventional and unconventional industries, to the EQB in January (see Shale Daily, Jan. 6). The package will now be sent to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission and the state House and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committees for review. The DEP expects the rules to be enacted later this year.