- Horizontal Marcellus Gas Well
The West Virginia Office of Oil and Gas has revised and updated the permit process for Permits to drill and frack in the Marcellus shale of the State. Based upon the ”Horizontal Drilling Act” enacted by the Legislature in late 2011 and the “emergency rules” established by the Governor early in 2011, these new procedures provide more information to the public and provide for some opportunity for public comment.
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The information below is from the WV-DEP on March 14, 2012
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The Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Oil and Gas has launched a webpage that contains information specifically related to horizontal drilling as defined by the Horizontal Drilling Act that was passed by the state Legislature in December.
As part of the Act, the Legislature required the DEP to create the page so citizens could obtain information about the location of proposed horizontal wells and give them the opportunity to comment on those permit applications.
Currently, the page offers links to items that will be further developed as permit applications are received by the agency. Links to pages that allow citizens to submit or review comments about specific permit applications, as well as a link to a tool that helps them find the location of a proposed well,
are included.
“The page will continue to grow and change as more permit applications are submitted to the agency,” said James Martin, Chief of the Office of Oil and Gas. “Soon, after we populate the site with applications that have been received, people will be able to see a list with information such as the applicant, where the well is located, the formation it targets, whether the well has been completed and the date the permit was issued.”
Under the new legislation, one of the first steps operators have to take is placing a Class II Legal notice in local newspapers at least 10 days prior to submitting an application.
“As an added public notice option, people can go to this page and sign up for an email notification whenever a permit is received or issued by the Office of Oil and Gas,” Martin said.
The site, which is shown below, can be found at:
http://www.dep.wv.gov/oil-and-gas/Horizontal-Permits/Pages/default.aspx
Horizontal Drilling Permit Page
The Office of Oil and Gas welcomes you to this page, which is dedicated to providing information about permitting activity related to horizontal well development which falls under the Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act. The Act defines a horizontal well as “any well site, other than a coalbed methane well, drilled using a horizontal drilling method, and which disturbs three acres or more of surface, excluding pipelines, gathering lines and roads, or utilizes more than two hundred ten thousand gallons of water in any thirty day period.”
This page provides information related to horizontal well permit applications, including the name of the applicant, approximate location of the well, the well registration number and any public comments that have been submitted regarding the application. This page also allows users to sign up for email notification of horizontal well applications that have been submitted to the Office of Oil and Gas, as well as applications that have been approved.
Links:
To request a copy of a permit application, please use the following email address: DEP.OOGComments@wv.gov or send a letter to: Permit Review, Office of Oil and Gas, 601 57th St., SE, Charleston, WV, 25304. The telephone number is 304-926-0450. Written comments on permit applications can be mailed to the address above. Please reference the county, well number and operator.
Copies of permit applications may be reviewed at the WV Department of Environmental Protection headquarters, located at 601 57th St., SE, Charleston, WV., 25304 (304-926-0450). A charge of $15.00 will be included for full copies or scans of permit applications or issued permits.
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