John Hanger is a former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a position he held between September 2008 and January 2011 under former Governor Edward G. Rendell. John is also a former Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission,.[1] He is currently Special Counsel for Eckert Seamens.
John is a nationally recognized expert on environment, energy, gas drilling and green economy issues who has unique experience in government and in the private sector. He is one of a two Pennsylvanians who have served both as a Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and as a Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
John has written leading utility and environmental regulatory decisions, enacted major environmental and utility rules, and played a pivotal role in writing and passing major legislation such as Pennsylvania's 1996 Electricity Generation Competition and Customer Choice Act, the 2004 Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, the 2005 Growing Greener 2 legislation, the 2007 Net Metering statute, the 2008 Act 129 initiating major electricity conservation programs, the 2008 Act 70 requiring DEP to write a climate change action plan, the 2008 Alternative Fuels Act, the 2010 Recycling Fee extension, and others. [2]
John was the founding President of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future or PennFuture from 1998 to 2008, the leading public interest organization working to improve the environment and economy.
He was considered a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate election in 2004 against Arlen Specter.[3]