Introduced Version
House Bill 2066 History
| Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2066
(By Delegate Mannypenny)
[Introduced February 13, 2013; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §22-6A-7 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring the posting of
material data safety sheets and documentation of fracking
fluid components at oil and gas well sites where fracking
fluids are used; providing the information to workers at the
sites, to emergency responders and to the local emergency
planning committee; and requiring publication in local
newspapers and posting on the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection's website.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-6A-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6A. NATURAL GAS HORIZONTAL WELL CONTROL ACT.
§22-6A-7. Horizontal well permit required; permit fee; application; soil erosion control plan; well site safety plan; site
construction plan; water management plan; permit fee;
installation of permit number; suspension of a permit.
(a) It is unlawful for any a person to commence any well work,
including site preparation work which involves any disturbance of
land, for a horizontal well without first securing from the
secretary a well work permit pursuant to this article.
(b) Every permit application filed under this section shall be
on a form as may be prescribed by the secretary, shall be verified
and shall contain the following information:
(1) The names and addresses of: (I) The well operator; (ii)
the agent required to be designated under subsection (h) of this
section; and (iii) every person whom the applicant shall notify
under any a section of this article, together with a certification
and evidence that a copy of the application and all other required
documentation has been delivered to all such persons;
(2) The names and addresses of every coal operator operating
coal seams under the tract of land on which the well is or may be
located, and the coal seam owner of record and lessee of record
required to be given notice by subdivision (6), subsection (a),
section five of this article, if any, if said owner or lessee is
not yet operating said coal seams;
(3) The number of the well or such other identification as the
secretary may require; other identification as required by the secretary.
(4) The well work for which a permit is requested;
(5) The approximate total depth to which the well is to be
drilled or deepened, or the actual depth if the well has been
drilled; the proposed angle and direction of the well; the actual
depth or the approximate depth at which the well to be drilled
deviates from vertical, the angle and direction of the nonvertical
well bore until the well reaches its total target depth or its
actual final depth and the length and direction of any actual or
proposed horizontal lateral or well bore;
(6) Each formation in which the well will be completed if
applicable;
(7) A description of any means used to stimulate the well;
(8) If the proposed well work will require casing or tubing to
be set, the entire casing program for the well, including the size
of each string of pipe, the starting point and depth to which each
string is to be set and the extent to which each such string is to
be cemented;
(9) If the proposed well work is to convert an existing well,
all information required by this section, all formations from which
production is anticipated and any plans to plug any portion of the
well;
(10) If the proposed well work is to plug or replug the well,
all information necessary to demonstrate compliance with the legislative rules promulgated by the secretary in accordance with
section thirteen of this article;
(11) If the proposed well work is to stimulate a horizontal
well, all information necessary to demonstrate compliance with the
requirements of subdivision (7), subsection (a), section five of
this article;
(12) The erosion and sediment control plan required under
subsection (c) of this section for applications for permits to
drill;
(13) A well site safety plan to address proper safety measures
to be employed for the protection of persons on the site as well as
the general public. The plan shall encompass all aspects of the
operation, including the actual well work for which the permit was
obtained, completion activities and production activities and shall
provide an emergency point of contact for the well operator. If
the proposed well work involves the use of fracking fluids, the
well site safety plan shall include the preparation of material
data safety sheets and documentation of all components of fracking
fluids which shall be submitted with the application and posted at
each site. Copies of the data sheets and documentation of
components of fracking fluids shall be provided to all workers on
the site and to all local and regional emergency response
organizations and their employees.
The well operator shall provide
a copy of the well site safety plan, including copies of the material data safety sheets and documentation of fracking fluid
components, to the local emergency planning committee established
pursuant to section seven, article five-a, chapter fifteen of this
code, for the emergency planning district in which the well work
will occur at least seven days before commencement of well work or
site preparation work that involves any disturbance of land. Prior
to the initiation of fracking activity, the well operator shall
cause to have published a copy of the material data safety sheets
and documentation of fracking fluid components in all local
newspapers and the secretary shall publish same on the West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's website, also
prior to the start of fracking activity.
(14) A certification from the operator that: (I) It has
provided the owners of the surface described in subdivisions (1),
(2) and (4), subsection (b), section ten of this article, the
information required by subsections (b) and (c), section sixteen of
this article; (ii) that the requirement was deemed satisfied as a
result of giving the surface owner notice of entry to survey
pursuant to subsection (a), section ten of this article; or (iii)
the notice requirements of subsection (b), section sixteen of this
article were waived in writing by the surface owner; and
(15) Any other relevant information which the secretary may
reasonably require.
(c)(1) An erosion and sediment control plan shall accompany each application for a well work permit under this article. The
plan shall contain methods of stabilization and drainage, including
a map of the project area indicating the amount of acreage
disturbed. The erosion and sediment control plan shall meet the
minimum requirements of the West Virginia Erosion and Sediment
Control Manual as adopted and from time to time amended by the
department. The erosion and sediment control plan shall become
part of the terms and conditions of any well work permit that is
issued pursuant to this article and the provisions of the plan
shall be carried out where applicable in the operation. The
erosion and sediment control plan shall set out the proposed method
of reclamation which shall comply with the requirements of section
fourteen of this article.
(2) For well sites that disturb three acres or more of
surface, excluding pipelines, gathering lines and roads, the
erosion and sediment control plan submitted in accordance with this
section shall be certified by a registered professional engineer.
(d) For well sites that disturb three acres or more of
surface, excluding pipelines, gathering lines and roads, the
operator shall submit a site construction plan that shall be
certified by a registered professional engineer and contains
information that the secretary may require by rule.
(e) In addition to the other requirements of this section, if
the drilling, fracturing or stimulating of the horizontal well requires the use of water obtained by withdrawals from waters of
this state in amounts that exceed two hundred ten thousand gallons
during any thirty day period, the application for a well work
permit shall include a water management plan, which may be
submitted on an individual well basis or on a watershed basis, and
which shall include the following information:
(1) The type of water source, such as surface or groundwater,
the 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 disposition of wastewater after
completion from fracturing, refracturing, stimulation and
production activities;
(5) A listing of the anticipated additives that may be used in
water utilized for fracturing or stimulating the well. Upon well
completion, a listing of the additives that were actually used in
the fracturing or stimulating of the well shall be submitted as
part of the completion log or report required by subdivision (14),
subsection (a), section five of this article;
(6) For all surface water withdrawals, a water management plan
that includes the information requested in subdivisions (1) through (5) of this subsection and 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, using methods
acceptable to the secretary, that sufficient in-stream flow will be
available immediately downstream of the point of withdrawal. A
sufficient in-stream flow is maintained when a pass-by flow that is
protective of the identified use of the stream is preserved
immediately downstream of the point of withdrawal; and
(C) Methods to be used for surface water withdrawal to
minimize adverse impact to aquatic life; and
(7) This subsection is intended to be consistent with and does
not supersede, revise, repeal or otherwise modify articles eleven,
twelve or twenty-six of this chapter and does not revise, repeal or
otherwise modify the common law doctrine of riparian rights in West
Virginia law.
(f) An application may propose and a permit may approve two or
more activities defined as well work, however, a separate permit
shall be obtained for each horizontal well drilled.
(g) The application for a permit under this section shall be
accompanied by the applicable bond as required by section fifteen
of this article, the applicable plat required by subdivision (6),
subsection (a), section five of this article and a permit fee of $10,000 for the initial horizontal well drilled at a location and
a permit fee of $5,000 for each additional horizontal well drilled
on a single well pad at the same location.
(h) The well operator named in the application shall designate
the name and address of an agent for the operator who is the
attorney-in-fact for the operator and who is a resident of the
State of West Virginia upon whom notices, orders or other
communications issued pursuant to this article or article eleven of
this chapter may be served and upon whom process may be served.
Every well operator required to designate an agent under this
section shall, within five days after the termination of the
designation, notify the secretary of the termination and designate
a new agent.
(I) The well owner or operator shall install the permit number
as issued by the secretary and a contact telephone number for the
operator in a legible and permanent manner to the well upon
completion of any permitted work. The dimensions, specifications,
and manner of installation shall be in accordance with the rules of
the secretary.
(j) The secretary may waive the requirements of this section
and sections eight, ten, eleven and twenty-four of this article in
any an emergency situation if the secretary deems the action
necessary. In such case the secretary may issue an emergency
permit which is effective for not more than thirty days unless reissued by the secretary.
(k) The secretary shall deny the issuance of a permit if the
secretary determines that the applicant has committed a substantial
violation of a previously issued permit for a horizontal well,
including the applicable erosion and sediment control plan
associated with the previously issued permit, or a substantial
violation of one or more of the rules promulgated under this
article, and in each instance has failed to abate or seek review of
the violation within the time prescribed by the secretary pursuant
to the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2), subsection (a),
section five of this article and the rules promulgated hereunder,
which time may not be unreasonable.
(l) In the event the secretary finds that a substantial
violation has occurred and that the operator has failed to abate or
seek review of the violation in the time prescribed, the secretary
may suspend the permit on which said violation exists, after which
suspension the operator shall forthwith cease all well work being
conducted under the permit. However, the secretary may reinstate
the permit without further notice at which time the well work may
be continued. and the well work may resume. The secretary shall
make written findings of any such suspension and may enforce the
same in the circuit courts of this state. The operator may appeal
a suspension pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (23),
subsection (a), section five of this article. The secretary shall make a written finding of any such determination.
NOTE: The purpose of the bill is to require the posting of
material data safety sheets and compounds in fracking fluids at oil
and gas sites using fracking fluids; to provide copies of these to
workers at the sites, emergency responders and the local emergency
planning committee; and, to require publication in local newspapers
and posting on the West Virginia Department of Environmental's
website.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.