Citizens

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) recently appointed George Jugovic Jr. president and CEO. Jugovic replaces Jan Jarrett, who resigned after 13 years with the statewide environmental organization. Jugovic previously served as a senior attorney for PennFuture. Before joining the organization, he served as the southwest regional director for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in Pittsburgh.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Citizens Advisory Council has appointed Marjorie Hughes as executive director. The 18-member council reviews the work of the DEP and makes recommendations to the department, the governor and the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Hughes comes to the position following 35 years working on environmental and transportation issues for state and local governments, most recently serving as the chief of the DEP’s Conservation District Support Division in the Bureau of Waterways and Wetlands. She is replacing Sue Wilson, who retired from the position in December after 19 years.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed a bill Thursday that offers tax breaks to companies that build an ethane cracker in the state, then jetted off to Houston to meet with Royal Dutch Shell plc executives about their plans to possibly build such a facility in the Mountain State.

While environmentalists and some citizens are opposed to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to develop shale natural gas, experts — one of whom has studied fracking for more than 41 years — told a Senate committee the practice does not negatively impact drinking water or the environment.

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) has launched a campaign to prevent Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania’s state parks. The campaign was unveiled by John H. Quigley, a special adviser to PennFuture and former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

Federal officials have won permission from a district judge to intervene in a New York lawsuit that would compel a full environmental review of the impact of natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin before proposed regulations for Marcellus Shale development are completed.

The mayor of Pittsburgh said he would not sign a measure allowing voters to decide whether to ban natural gas extraction in the city, but the city council is still trying to get the referendum on the ballot.

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, also known as PennFuture, has filed a lawsuit against an Ultra Petroleum subsidiary, alleging that some of the company’s facilities in the Marcellus Shale violate the federal Clean Air Act and state regulations.

Eight members of Congress have told President Obama that the United States’ national security interests are dependent on natural gas, and urged the president to support efforts to expand exploration, development and production, especially through hydraulic fracturing (fracking).