Gov. Regulates Marcellus Drilling Activities

- Gov. Regulates Marcellus Drilling Activities

Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Office of the Governor Earl Ray Tomblin

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, joined by West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman, Legislators, and natural gas industry representatives announced the filing of an executive order that directs the DEP to promulgate additional environmental regulations governing Marcellus Shale drilling activities.

"This executive order is the first step in my long-term plan to ensure responsible development of Marcellus Shale," Gov. Tomblin said. "The good-paying jobs predicted with this development must include the protection of our public's health and safety as well as that of our environment. I want to thank our citizens who have voiced their concerns about Marcellus Shale drilling and want to assure them that I recognize this emerging segment of the natural gas industry warrants my immediate attention to ensure responsible development."

By directing Secretary Huffman to use his existing emergency rule making authority, Gov. Tomblin is calling for additional regulations concerning: water withdrawals, stream and groundwater protection, and public notice.

Executive Order 4-11 outlines several requirements of natural gas companies including but not limited to:

• Marcellus Shale drilling applicants seeking to drill within the boundaries of a municipality must file a public notice of intent to drill.
• Surface land use that will disturb 3 or more acres must be certified by and constructed in accordance with plans certified by a registered professional engineer.
• Companies withdrawing over 210,000 gallons of water a month must file a water management plan with the DEP and adhere to certain specified standards.
  • Before fracking begins, such companies must also provide a list of additives that will be used in the frack fluid, and after fracking is complete, the additives actually used.
• When using water from a public stream, a company must identify the designated and existing uses of that stream.

"I am pleased that the natural gas industry supports my decision to pursue reasonable environmental regulations to ensure responsible development of the Marcellus Shale," Gov. Tomblin said. "Regulatory certainty is important not only to the industry, but also to our great citizens."

The executive order also instructs the DEP to further review the agency's overall authority over drilling activities related to horizontal wells.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK

N.C. Gov. Vetoes Offshore Drilling Bill

- N.C. Gov. Vetoes Offshore Drilling Bill

Friday, July 01, 2011
The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
by Bruce Henderson

Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed legislation on offshore drilling and environmental rule-making, delighting advocacy groups that had fought both.

Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, was a primary sponsor of the Energy Jobs Act. It directed the governor to form an offshore-energy compact with South Carolina and Virginia and prescribed how to use oil and gas revenues the state might get.

The Obama administration has banned offshore drilling on the Eastern seaboard until at least 2018, although the president has hinted he might soften that position.

Perdue, in vetoing the energy bill, called it an unconstitutional infringement on the governor's powers.

"We applaud the governor's decision to keep North Carolina's coast open to beach balls but not tar balls," said Derb Carter of the Southern Environmental Law Center. The bill, he added, tied state energy policy to fossil fuels and away from renewable fuels.

Along with her veto, Perdue issued two executive orders on energy.

One creates a task force on offshore wind, which Rucho's bill had largely ignored. The shallow waters of the mid-Atlantic coast, including North Carolina, hold some of the nation's highest wind-energy potential, federal agencies have reported.

The task force is charged with assessing the costs and risks of growing a wind industry and is to report by next March.

A second executive order reauthorizes a science panel to examine land-based energy sources, including natural gas locked in underground shale formations. That panel is to report at the end of 2012. Rucho's bill had also called for study of the gas issue.

Drilling techniques called hydraulic fracturing, which breaks open shale to release gas, and horizontal drilling have boosted estimates of U.S. gas reserves by 40 percent. Those techniques are now illegal in North Carolina, but exploration companies have bought up leases in Lee and Chatham counties.

Perdue also vetoed a regulatory-reform measure that prohibits, in most cases, new state environmental rules that are stronger than federal standards. The bill gives administrative law judges, not state agencies, the final say when violators appeal state fines.

The governor cited the state attorney general saying such a change would violate the state constitution.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK