Krancer on Why He's Leaving the [PA] DEP

Pittsburgh Business Times
22 March 2013
Anya Litvak, Reporter

DEP Secretary Michael Krancer talks to the Pittsburgh Business Times' Anya Litvak about why he's leaving the job after 26 months.

“It’s been the greatest honor, the greatest job I’ve ever had, the greatest team I ever worked with,” said Michael Krancer, who Friday announced he’s leaving the agency after 26 months at the helm.

Why?

“The time is right for me to go back home. I’ve lived away from home for over two years. I’ve got a wife and two high-school-aged daughters.”

He didn’t have a truncated term in mind when he accepted Corbett’s nomination in January 2011, but “living away from home is something that makes you think about what you’re sacrificing to do this,” he said. “I’m not going to get this time back.”

Come April 15, Krancer will be chairing the Energy, Petrochemical and Natural Resources Practice at Blank Rome LLC, a Philadelphia law firm where he worked for most of the 1990s.

“In a sense, I’m going to be doing there what I did at the DEP — creating a team to bring resources to the table,” he said.

According to the company's statement, Krancer will be helping the firm’s energy clients navigate a state, federal, international and corporate worlds. Will there be limitations on what cases he can take up as a former government official?

“For one year, I’m not able to appear personally before the DEP,” he said. “Other than that I think we have to take it one case at a time.”

Here's some more from our chat.

On telling the boss:

“He was sorry to see me leave. I think he recognizes the great job that I’ve done and the good job our agency has done. I think he was very sorry that I had brought him this news, but I’m sure he’ll find a great (replacement). Who knows, I may be the Wally Pipp of history and the next guy may be the Lou Gehrig.”

On picking a replacement:

“I think that’s something if they want my advice, I’m happy to give it because I think I do know something about that job and the kind of person it takes.”

On what the job description should say: “Running the best and most competent regulatory agency in the world and being able to communicate about that, and be able to run it in a science-based manner.”

Is that a parting dig at the Environmental Protection Agency, you sense coming? Yep.

“That’s the thing we strive for every single day. I don’t know that that’s the model for every regulatory agency in history, but it’s certainly the model that I believe in. We’re a government of laws, and not of men and women.”

Anya Litvak covers energy, transportation, gaming, engineering and construction. Contact her at alitvak@bizjournals.com or 412-208-3824.