The WV Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale is working off SB-424 to renew attempts to modernize the regulations for the natural gas industry.Seven amendments were put into place yesterday. In all but one case, the amendments were introduced by House members. In the seventh amendment, Sen. Orphy Klempa, D- Ohio, was the lead name, joined by the House members.
To summarize, based upon recent news reports: (1) If a well operator violates its Division of Highways letter of certification regarding a road maintenance agreement, the DEP will suspend the operator’s permit, prohibit further work at the well and deny all other pending permits until the violation is corrected. (2) The acreage for requiring engineering certification of a well pad and the sediment and erosion control plan is reduced from five to three. (3) All drinking water wells within 2,500 feet of a drilling rig’s water supply well (when water is drawn from an underground well) shall be flow and quality tested by the operator upon request of the drinking well owner prior to operating the water supply well. (4) Waste pit liners must be taken to an approved landfill within 60 days of expiration of their certificate of approval. (5)The DEP must report to the Legislature by July 1, 2012, on the safety of pits and impoundments and evaluate whether further rules are needed regarding radioactivity and toxins held in the pits and impoundments. (6) The DEP must regulate and, if appropriate, issue air-quality permits at well sites. (7) For air quality permits, the DEP must consider cumulative impacts of “multiple wells in a localized geographic area”.
The Committee is scheduled to meet again shortly. Acting Senate President Jeff Kessler said today that sufficient time is needed for the Committee to complete its work, for the Legislature to study the Committee report, and for the industry and the public to examine such a proposed bill, before a special session takes up a new SB-424.
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On # 3, it would seem to me that the drinking water wells should be tested, not by the drilling company, but by an independent entity, at the expense of the drilling company.