One of the biggest losers in the long and bloody state budget battle was the Department of Environmental Protection, which saw its appropriations cut by $56.46 million, or 27 percent, the largest cut ever in environmental spending.

As a result, up to 400 DEP employees could be laid off soon.

"I don't have all the answers yet. There will be layoffs, unfortunately, some reductions, but I'm not prepared to provide specifics at this time," John Hanger, state DEP secretary, said Friday in Pittsburgh. "We will make decisions expeditiously and sooner rather than later. The fiscal year is already more than a quarter gone, so we don't have a lot of time left to make reductions."

Among the program funding eliminated in this year's budget is $287,000 for climate change initiatives; $7.5 million for consumer energy rebates; $5 million for a home energy efficiency loan fund; $11 million for a safe water program; and more than $2 million for storm water management.

The DEP cutbacks come at a time when the department is struggling to establish regulations for and oversight of a natural gas drilling industry that has its sights set on the Marcellus shale formation containing 363 trillion cubic feet of natural gas underlying three-fourths of the state.

Deep wells tapping those deposits each use up to 4 million gallons of pressurized, chemically treated water to crack, or "frack," the shale and release trapped natural gas. The used wastewater contains high levels of chlorides, dissolved solids and fracking chemicals. Its disposal has raised environmental concerns, especially for the Monongahela River where now, for the third time in a year, high levels of dissolved solids are causing concern for more than 350,000 people served by public water suppliers that draw from the river.

Although some environmental groups have expressed concern that the budget reductions insisted on by the Republican-controlled Senate were intended to hamstring the DEP's oversight and enforcement of environmental laws, Mr. Hanger said that won't happen.

"The governor fought to reduce [the DEP] cuts, and it's no secret where the budget reductions came from in the budget debate," he said. "But if there were such an attempt, it will not succeed. I will not allow the budgetary constraints to cripple our review and enforcement efforts."

In a statement distributed last week to answer criticism of the DEP budget cuts, state Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Venango, chairwoman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said the reductions aren't as deep as they appear and a sizable chunk comes from eliminating new or discretionary grant programs, including the safe water grants and Consumer Energy Rebate Program.

According to Ms. White's statement, the majority of the reductions are found in three line items: general government operations, cut $3.3 million; environmental program management, reduced $5 million; and environmental protection operations, trimmed by $13.5 million.

The statement said some of the budget reductions were offset by new fee increases totaling about $20 million annually for oil and gas, air quality and coal mining permits; water operators certificates; and environmental lab accreditation.

The money from increased oil and gas permit fees is supposed to be used to hire new inspectors to police the hundreds of new natural gas drilling operations tapping into the Marcellus shale.

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