Marcellus Legislation Approved

The West Virginia Legislature passed legislation regulating Marcellus shale in West Virginia.  As reported on Monday, the bill proposed by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin during the special session this week, referred to as the Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act, requires higher permit fees, adds buffer zone provisions and more regulatory oversight of horizontal gas drilling and production activities in West Virginia.  The House of Delegates made several amendments to the bill Tuesday prior to its passage.  The bill will now be sent to Governor Tomblin for his signature.  The amendments to the Governor’s bill include the following:

• Requiring the West Virginia DEP to submit a report to the Legislature on the number of waivers granted regarding casing and cement standards and programs; 
   
• Requiring the West Virginia DEP to propose emergency and legislative rules pertaining to drilling in karst formations; 
   
• Requiring newspaper publication of a notice of permit applications and providing an opportunity for the public to submit written comments; 
   
• Requiring DEP to prepare a report to the Legislature on noise, light, dust and volatile organic compounds and their relationship to well location restrictions for occupied dwellings; 
   
• Allowing DEP to propose guidelines and procedures for controlling and mitigating levels of noise, light, dust and volatile organic compounds in relation to horizontal drilling activities; 
   
• Exempting certain wells from the Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act; and 
   
• Establishing criminal penalties and offenses for certain activities. 

Click below to read the entire bill as amended.
http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb401%20eng.htm&yr=2011&sesstype=4X&i=401