Revolving Door: Pennsylvania Conservation Dept. Welcomes Former Director at Chesapeake Energy

Pennsylvania’s revolving door has spun once again…

Brian Grove of Chesapeake Energy Corporation speaks during a gas drilling seminar, sponsored by the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, at the Binghamton Regency, Tuesday in Binghamton. / DIOGENES AGCAOILI JR. / Staff Photographer / Ithaca Journal

In an announcement on Friday Oct. 25 former Senior Director of Corporate Development at Chesapeake Energy, Brian Grove is now Deputy Secretary for Administration at DCNR, an agency charged with managing the state’s forests, park system, and wild natural resources.

My big question is… What might he think about DCNR’s 2009 study, which found that there were zero acres left for oil and gas development in state forests that would not lead to significant degradation and loss of primitive ecosystems?

Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation & Natural Resources’s study from 2009 states that there is no state land left for surface development of oil and natural gas industry.

Grove enters the scene in the middle of a controversy surrounding whether or not highly contested tracts in Loyalsock State Forest will be developed. On Nov. 1st, environmental activist group Marcellus Shale Earth First plan to hold a “family-friendly day of action against fracking” in the Loyalsock.

Chesapeake’s History in Pennsylvania

During Grove’s tenure at Chesapeake Energy, though not necessarily the result of any decisions he made personally, the company had repeated problems with operations, development and within leadership. Some of which have been exclusively investigated by Public Herald and featured in the documentary, Triple Divide. 

The Man For The Job?

The mission of the Pennsylvania DCNR is (not as easy to find on the website anymore):

Established on July 1, 1995, the primary mission of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is to maintain, improve and preserve state parks; to manage state forest lands to assure their long-term health, sustainability and economic use; to provide information on Pennsylvanian’s ecological and geologic resources; and to administer grant and technical assistance programs that will benefit rivers conservation, trails and greenways, local recreation, regional heritage conservation and environmental education programs across Pennsylvania.

So why Grove? A state press release doesn’t really say, but lists Grove’s employment history: Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne); Executive Director for Back Mountain Recreation; Deputy Director of Operations for Gov. Tom Ridge and Director of the Office of Public Liaison for Governor’s Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker. The release also states Grove is a native of northeastern Pennsylvania and currently lives in Wyoming County. In addition to leading the DCNR’s Bureaus of Administrative Services, Human Resources and Information Technology Services, Grove will be in charge of “all budget” matters.

This isn’t Grove’s first time through the revolving door; he joined Chesapeake in 2009 after serving as “former top executive in Pennsylvania state government.” Really, what better person to administer the flow of people, information and services in order to protect and conserve Pennsylvania’s rich natural landscape than an expert in environmental services management campaign management and corporate development.

Spin Me Right Round

Not the first time a natural gas industry official has gone to work for the agency regulating it, or vice versa…

Many DCNR and DEP staff have left their respective environmental public service posts for industry. After all, industry pays more and probably isn’t as sterile as working for Uncle Sam. In April, Michael Krancer resigned from his position leading the Dept. of Environmental Protection to serve as attorney and point person for Blank Rome LLP’s “ENERGY, PETROCHEMICAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES: Power Play” division.

Blank Rome’s shale gas & oil development team is strategically positioned to represent companies involved in the development and production of Marcellus Shale in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as companies seeking to participate or obtain meaningful investments in these plays.

‘Breaking Up With Corbett’

Over a handful of Governor Tom Corbett’s own administration have resigned more than a year before the end of the governor’s first term, for reasons that remain partly cloudy at best. Department of Public Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander left March 2013. Inspector General Kenya Mann Faulkner left the month before Alexander. Turnpike CEO Roger Nutt left October 2012. And then there’s the leadership upheaval at Pennsylvania’s environmental agencies: the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in charge of oil and gas extraction and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) in charge of conservation and management of forests, parks and other natural areas. DCNR has limited authority to manage oil and gas fracking on state land, since DEP issues the permits under its own set of policies and procedures.

In June, then head of DCNR Richard Allen was fired after an email to his wife Patricia who then worked at DEP reached the Governor’s desk. The email contained potentially-racist comments toward a high-ranking staff member of DEP, whom Allen also called a “B****” in the email. Sources say that the staff member has since quietly left DEP without announcement. Mrs. Allan has also left DEP but still works for the state.

Governor Corbett has since replaced Michael Krancer as head of Environmental Protection with environmental expert Chris Abruzzo, former Chief Deputy Attorney General. Aburzzo supervised the state’s Drug Strike Force and also serves as Derry Township Supervisor in Hershey, Pa.

‘Gossip’ aside, what does all this mean for Pennsylvanians? Some believe it means that while the spinning door spins, communities have to be educated and ready to deal with fracking however they see fit. This is, after all, a free nation.

PS – The following video begs the question: Will Brian Grove and the rest at DCNR dance, even just a little bit, to this catchy song by Marcellus Shale Earth First about their campaign so save the Loyalsock?

Related Reports from Public Herald on Chesapeake Energy:

• “Chesapeake Energy Hydraulic Fracturing Spill @ Towanda Creek” – (April 2011) about the company’s Atgas 2H well blowout in Bradford County, Pa. on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil disaster
• “Chesapeake Energy Misinformed Shareholders About Impact of Well Blowout” – (Nov. 2011)
• “Natural Gas Pollution: What Chesapeake Energy and Department of Environmental Protection Concluded about Towanda Creek Blowout” – (Nov. 2011)
• “Chesapeake Fixes Water Well After Blowout to ‘Be a Good Neighbor‘” – (Nov. 2011) about Chesapeake’s reason for fixing a water supply it claimed it did not damage
• “Shoveling Water: Predrill Tests” – (Dec. 2011) about Chespeake’s dismissal of predrill water tests after a private water water showed a 10-fold increase in contaminants during the Atgas 2H blowout investigation
• Triple Divide – (2013) covers DEP’s weak enforcement of fracking with exclusive interviews with Chesapeake Energy

Here are some of the other headlines Chesapeake has grabbed in the past few years and shared via Public Herald’s member newsfeed:

• “PA Officials Issue Largest Fine Ever to Gas Driller [Chesapeake]” – Nicholas Kusnetz, ProPublica (May 2011)
• “Special Report: The casualties of Chesapeake’s ‘land grab’ across America” – Brian Grow, Joshua Schneyer and Anna Driver for Reuters (October 2012)