Posted: | March 29, 2022 03:56 PM |
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From: | Representative James B. Struzzi, II |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | DEP Well Plugging Contracts – Pennsylvania Businesses First |
A major influx of federal dollars will be coming into the state of Pennsylvania for us to use to address our historic issues with orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells. Pennsylvania is in line to get up to $400 million in funding, which represents a significant opportunity for the Commonwealth to address a legacy environmental issue. There are a number of companies and experts within Pennsylvania who are perfectly positioned to do these well plugging jobs. Unfortunately, DEP’s current well plugging contracts do not prioritize awarding these jobs to businesses based in Pennsylvania. And because of arbitrary size requirements, some businesses within Pennsylvania are actually prohibited from even bidding on contracts, which has led to these contracts being awarded to out of state companies. I will soon be introducing legislation to address this concern which will require DEP to prioritize eligible Pennsylvania businesses for well plugging jobs. Please join me in sponsoring this important legislation to ensure that the contracts that our state government is awarding are going to support the businesses and workers within our own communities. |
Introduced as HB2528