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White: Proposed DEP Changes Spring from Suspected Cornerstone Care Cover Up

'At this point, I simply do not trust the DEP to do its job, and neither should anyone else in Pennsylvania," state Rep. Jesse White said in his weekly column.

I recently introduced a two-bill package in the state Legislature that would change the head of the Department of Environmental Protection from an appointed secretary to an independently elected commissioner. The bills—HB 2606 and 2607—would change the Pennsylvania Constitution to give the DEP commissioner true independence to do his or her job, much like we did in 1981 by moving the office of Attorney General from an appointed to elected position. What’s the benefit? First and foremost, any time the people have a direct say in choosing their leaders, it’s a good thing. Voters would be able to examine candidates based upon their qualifications and knowledge of the issues to help decide, which is much better than the current system of the …

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White: DEP Denied Open Records Request for Air Quality Data

State Rep. Jesse White said, 'Either DEP did a shoddy job in conducting the testing and doesn’t want to be embarrassed, or the data shows something the DEP doesn't want the public to see.'

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 3:58 p.m. to include response from DEP. State Rep. Jesse White said to consider his mind blown. The state Department of Environmental Protection denied the Cecil lawmaker's open records request for air-quality test data from the agency's investigation of odors at Cornerstone Care—a non-profit medical clinic in Burgettstown. Cornerstone has been closed since May 25, when it was forced to evacuate the facility for a third time.  White said the letter, dated June 18, and signed by the DEP's open records officer, stated that the DEP's investigation concerning the odors at Cornerstone was "non-criminal" in nature and was exempted from the state’s Right to Know Law.  White said he plans to appeal DEP's …

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Andy Mechling

7:17 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012

I apologize. I popped onto this blog because I thought this was a case of indoor air pollution where the source of the odors was unknown. What I had not appreciated was that this clinic's neighbors include at least one landfill facility permitted to receive, "treat", and spread the very nastiest of oilfield wastes, all classified as "non-hazardous", of course. I found the NPR article from 5/15/…   more ›