Draft General Stormwater Permit Offerred by WV-DEP for Oil & Gas Industry

WV-DEP Building

Public comment is invited until April 9^th on a proposed general stormwater permit for oil and gas activities associated with exploration, production, processing or treatment operations or transmission facilities that disturb one acre of land area or more.  While this does not apply to drilling pads, it does cover pipelines where substantial acreage can be involved, as recently reported.

This draft permit is based on the state’s existing construction stormwater permit but without any reference to the federal law that authorizes that, according to Scott Mandirola, Director of the DEP Division of Water and Waste Management. The authority for this is the state’s Water Pollution Control Act.

A public hearing is set for 6 p.m. on April 9, 2012, at the DEP’s Coopers Rock Training Room in its Charleston offices. Oral and written comments will be taken at that time.

Comments may be mailed to the Department of Environmental Protection, Attention: Tonya Ombler, 601 57th Street, SE, Charleston, WV 25304, or e-mailed to Tonya.K.Ombler@wv.gov. Correspondence should include the name, address and telephone number of the writer and a concise statement of the nature of the issues being raised.