H. B. 4513
(By Delegates Manchin, Beach, Caputo,
Fleischauer, Iaquinta, Longstreth, Mahan,
Manypenny, Marshall and Perdue)
[Introduced February 16, 2010; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §22-6-42, relating to
establishing requirements for Marcellus gas well operations
use of water resources.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §22-6-42, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 6. OFFICE OF OIL & GAS; OIL AND GAS WELLS.
§22-6-42. Additional requirements for Marcellus Shale gas wells
using water resources for fracturing or stimulating
gas production.
(a) Prior to drilling, fracturing or stimulating gas wells
that are completed in the Marcellus Shale formation and which use
water obtained from withdrawals of water resources of the state
that exceed seven hundred fifty thousand gallons during any month, gas well operators shall submit the following information to the
Office of Oil and Gas:
(1) The type of water source, such as surface, underground or
groundwater, and county of each source to be used by the operation
for water withdrawals, and the latitude and longitude of each
anticipated withdrawal location;
(2) The anticipated volume of each water withdrawal;
(3) The anticipated months when water withdrawals will be
made;
(4) The planned management and or disposition of wastewater
from the fracturing, stimulation and production activities;
(5) A listing of the additives as presented on material safety
data sheets that are used in water used for fracturing or
stimulating the well;
(6) For all surface water withdrawals, a water resources
protection plan that includes the information requested in
subdivisions (1) through (5) of this subsection and includes
documentation of measures that will be taken to allow the state to
manage the quantity of its waters for present and future use and
enjoyment and for the protection of the environment. The plan
shall include the following:
(A) Identification of the current designated and existing
water uses, including any public water intakes within one mile
downstream of the withdrawal location;
(B) For surface waters, a demonstration that a sufficient instream flow will be available immediately downstream of the point
of withdrawal. A sufficient instream flow is available:
(i) If the department's Water Use Guidance Tool demonstrates
that the stream contains sufficient water for the withdrawal and a
passby flow is maintained immediately downstream of the point of
withdrawal that is protective of the environment. The Water Use
Guidance Tool is a web based geographical information system that
calculates the water resources available in streams located in
specific drainage basins based upon stream flow data obtained from
the United States Geological Survey; and
(ii) When the department's Water Use Guidance Tool indicates
that water withdrawals should be limited or restricted but local
conditions suggest otherwise, only if the withdrawal rate is
limited to maintain a passby flow in the stream immediately
downstream of the point of withdrawal that is protective of the
environment; and
(C) Methods to be used for surface water withdrawal to
minimize the impact of entrainment and impingement of fish.
(b) For all water used for hydraulic fracturing and for
flowback water from hydraulic fracturing activities and produced
water from production activities, gas well operators shall comply
with the following recordkeeping and reporting requirements:
(1) For production activities, the following information shall
be recorded and retained by the well operator:
(A) The quantity of flowback water from hydraulic fracturing the well;
(B) The quantity of produced water from the well; and
(C) The method of management or disposal of the flowback and
produced well water.
(2) For transportation activities, the following information
shall be recorded and maintained by the operator:
(A) The quantity of water transported;
(B) The collection and delivery or disposal locations of
water; and
(C) The name of the water hauler.
(3) The information maintained pursuant to this subsection by
the gas well operator shall be available for reasonable inspection
by the Office of Oil and Gas along with other required permits and
records and maintained for three years after the water withdrawal
activity.
(c) This section, is intended to be consistent with, and does
not supersede, revise, repeal or otherwise modify, articles eleven
and twenty-six, of this chapter, and does not revise, repeal or
otherwise modify the common law doctrine of riparian rights under
West Virginia law.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish requirements
relating to water used in Marcellus gas well drilling operations.
This section is new; therefore, it has been completely
underscored.