Frack Check WV » Select Marcellus Committee https://www.frackcheckwv.net Just another WordPress site Wed, 20 Mar 2024 22:41:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Amendments Added by WV Select Committee on Marcellus Shale https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2011/08/03/amendments-added-by-wv-select-committee-on-marcellus-shale/ https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2011/08/03/amendments-added-by-wv-select-committee-on-marcellus-shale/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:48:27 +0000 Duane Nichols http://www.frackcheckwv.net/?p=2645

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.
]]> https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2011/08/03/amendments-added-by-wv-select-committee-on-marcellus-shale/feed/ 1 Industry Executives and WV Residents Speak at Wheeling Legislative Hearing https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2011/07/22/industry-executives-and-wv-residents-speak-at-wheeling-legislative-hearing/ https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2011/07/22/industry-executives-and-wv-residents-speak-at-wheeling-legislative-hearing/#comments Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:39:14 +0000 Duane Nichols http://www.frackcheckwv.net/?p=2463

Deborah Kittle and Delegate Tim Manchin. Photo by Dee Fulton.

Some 150 people, including state legislators, natural gas industry representatives, property owners and concerned residents, assembled at the WV Northern Community College  in Wheeling on Thursday for a hearing by the Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale.

Deletate Tim Manchin of Marion County conducted the hearing.  He said mineral owners have rights to see their minerals extracted – despite possible objections from surface owners.  This is an established rule based on English Common Law that is very unlikely to change. Manchin limited everyone to 2 minutes of speaking time.  There were 10 speakers for the gas industry and some 24 who expressed concerns about it. 

It was reported that Chesapeake Energy currently employs about 800 WV residents. As the most active natural gas driller in the Upper Ohio Valley, Chesapeake provided Marietta, Ohio, native Zack Arnold an employment opportunity that allowed him to return to the Ohio Valley from California. “When I got to Jane Lew, we had 30 employees in the office. Now we have 150,” he said. 

Spencer Wooddell of Taylor county said a gas drilling company is working on his neighbor’s property, adjacent to his 325-acre farm. He said three drilling-related spills have overflowed onto his land since December of 2010. He’s concerned about his livestock, as the animals drink from springs on his property.

Steve Conlon, Bill Hughes and Deborah Kittle of Wetzel County do not oppose the natural gas extraction – they just want to keep their water and air clean, while making sure landmen do not “bully” mineral owners.  Hughes said the state DEP needs to monitor air pollution from drilling sites. “No one in the State monitors air emissions at any well site, ever,” he said. Deborah Kittle said her husband is a 4th generation cow-calf farmer in Marshall county and a “ conservation farmer”.  They have leased their gas rights and currently have drilling going on their farm.  She said “I’m not against drilling.  I just want it done right.” A sign on her door says, “In God we trust.  All others we monitor.”

The next hearing will be this coming Monday evening at 7:30 PM at the WVU College of Law in Morgantown.

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