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The state Department of Environmental Protection said recent changes to its policy regarding the review of sediment, erosion and stormwater control plans for gas exploration will enhance environmental safeguards.

Some environmental groups said they fear the changes will give the oil and gas industry a free pass to do as they please regarding those safeguards.

Under the new policy, county Conservation Districts will no longer review the plans. The reviews now will be done by DEP staff, according to the agency.

The department also is making plans to streamline its erosion and sediment and stormwater permitting processes as they pertain to gas drilling.

A letter from the DEP's Office of Water Management notified the agency's regional offices and Conservation Districts about the changes.

"The (department) continues to refine and integrate the regulatory programs and processes associated with the Marcellus Shale plan. To take full advantage of this opportunity as a chance to improve efficiency of our resources and maximizing the effective delivery of these programs, DEP is transferring some of the associated permitting review and process functions," the letter said.

"The changes were made for two reasons," DEP press secretary Teresa Candori said. "Conservation District staff were not doing inspections of oil and gas well sites. DEP regional staff were doing that. It made little sense to have Conservation District staff doing the review of plans and issuing permits when we already had DEP people doing inspections. This way we have a uniform procedure."

Candori said that although the agency provided Conservation District staff with training, each district "handled things differently."

"Now there is a uniform standard," she said. "This is a common sense change."

According to Candori, the agency's goal is to offer gas drillers different methods to acquire erosion and sediment and stormwater control permits.

The long-term goal is to create an administrative "permit-by-rule" process for low-impact earth disturbances that would require streamside improvements such as riparian buffers and low-impact best management practices.

The plan only requires the seal of a licensed professional engineer, "who would be ultimately responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the plan," according to Candori.

Most, but not all, drilling sites would qualify for the permit-by-rule process, she added.

The agency also is in the process of consolidating permit and review inspection responsibilities for erosion and sediment permits within each regional oil and gas office, Candori said. The agency recently opened a satellite oil and gas office in the northcentral region office in Williamsport.

The office currently is staffed with about nine people. According to Candori, the agency plans to hire a total of 37 new staff to deal with oil and gas issues statewide.

"We consider (the changes) an enhancement for environmental protection," she said. "It makes it better."

But some environmental organizations do not agree.

Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water, a consortium of 36 environmental organizations, sportsmens groups, watershed associations and others, issued a statement condemning the new policies.

"DEP's actions are complete give-aways to the oil and gas industry," said Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum.

A riverkeeper is an advocate for a body of water and its surrounding community.

Van Rossum complained that the agency changed the policy "without any public notice or opportunity to comment, and in so doing increased the likelihood of more sediment pollution to Pennsylvania's rivers and streams."

Other organizations echoed van Rossum's concerns.

"At a time when DEP is admittedly understaffed to deal with the rush of Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania, it makes no sense whatsoever to strip the Conservation Districts of their duties and give them to DEP staff that lack their level of experience in erosion and sediment control," Myron Arnowitt, Pennsylvania state director of Clean Water Action.

"Many local communities have already been heavily impacted by drilling," he said. "The public is looking for more oversight, not less."

Matt Royer, an attorney for the Pennsylvania office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, suggested that fast-tracking permits and eliminating technical review of erosion, sediment and stormwater plans is illegal under state and federal laws that require controls for those issues.