As with all blogs this is a living document that is always being edited and updated.
" House Bill 895 - An Act amending the act of December 19, 1984 (P.L.1140, No.223), entitled "An act relating to the development of oil and gas and coal; imposing duties and powers on the Department of Environmental Resources; imposing notification requirements to protect landowners; and providing for definitions, for various requirements to regulate the drilling and operation of oil and gas wells, for gas storage reservoirs, for various reporting requirements, including certain requirements concerning the operation of coal mines, for well permits, for well registration, for distance requirements, for well casing requirements, for safety device requirements, for storage reservoir obligations, for well bonding requirements, for a Well Plugging Restricted Revenue Account to enforce oil and gas well plugging requirements, for the creation of an Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board, for oil and gas well inspections, for enforcement and for penalties," in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; and, in general requirements, further providing for protection of water supplies- submitted March 2011".
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 103 of the act of December 19, 1984 (P.L.1140, No.223), known as the Oil and Gas Act, is amended by adding a definition to read:
Section 103. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
* * *
"Unconventional well." A bore hole drilled or being drilled for the purpose of or to be used for producing oil or gas from a geologic formation existing below the base of the Elk Sandstone or its geologic equivalent stratigraphic interval where oil or gas generally cannot be produced at economic flow rates or in economic volumes except by wells stimulated by hydraulic fracture treatments, a horizontal well bore or by using multilateral well bores or other techniques to expose more of the formation of the well bore.
* * *
Section 2. Section 208(d) of the act is amended and the section is amended by adding subsections to read:
Section 208. Protection of water supplies.
* * *
(c.1) In the instance where the well is an unconventional well, unless rebutted by one of the five defenses established in subsection (d), it shall be presumed that a well operator is responsible for the pollution of a water supply that is within 2,500 feet of the oil or gas well, where the pollution occurred within 24 months after the completion of drilling or alteration of such well.
(d) In order to rebut the presumption of liability established in subsection (c), the well operator must affirmatively prove one of the following five defenses:
(1) The pollution existed prior to the drilling or alteration activity as determined by a predrilling or prealteration survey.
(2) The landowner or water purveyor refused to allow the operator access to conduct a predrilling or prealteration survey.
(3) The water supply is not within 1,000 feet of the well or, in the case of an unconventional well, not within 2,500 feet of the well.
(4) The pollution occurred more than six months after completion of drilling or alteration activities or, in the case of an unconventional well, the pollution occurred more than 24 months after the completion of drilling or alteration activities.
(5) The pollution occurred as the result of some cause other than the drilling or alteration activity.
* * *
(e.1) (1) At least 30 days prior to commencing a well drilling operation, the unconventional well operator shall survey, sample and analyze the quality and flow of water from any wells, springs or other water sources located within 2,500 feet of the proposed oil or gas well. The water well, spring or other water source to be tested shall be a supply that is utilized by a landowner or water purveyor for human consumption, domestic animals or other general use.
(2) The unconventional well operator shall utilize a laboratory approved by the department to perform the water supply analysis.
(3) The unconventional well operator shall within five days of receipt of the test results provide this information in writing to the landowner or water purveyor.
(4) In the event the landowner or water purveyor rejects the offer to have the water supply tested or denies access to the landowner's or water purveyor's property for the test to be conducted, the unconventional well operator shall not be required to meet the provisions of this subsection.
(5) The performance or excused performance of a water supply test under this subsection shall in no way prohibit the unconventional well operator from commencing drilling operations, provided the appropriate permit approvals are obtained.
(e.2) (1) Upon the completion of drilling activities and for a period of 24 months thereafter, the unconventional well operator, upon written request of the landowner or water purveyor, shall conduct a follow-up survey and analysis of the quality and flow of water from any wells, springs or other water sources initially tested by the well operator under subsection (e.1). The unconventional well operator shall not be required to conduct such follow-up test more than once in a 12-month period. The unconventional well operator's duty to conduct follow-up testing shall end 24 months after the completion of drilling activities.
(2) The unconventional well operator shall provide written notice to the landowner or water purveyor of the right to request follow-up tests.
(3) The unconventional well operator shall obtain and analyze the water samples in accordance with methods established by the department. All follow-up tests shall be conducted by a laboratory certified by the department to perform such testing.
(4) The unconventional well operator shall, within five days of receipt of the test results, provide this information in writing to the landowner or water purveyor.
(5) In the event the landowner or water purveyor rejects the offer to have a follow-up water supply test or denies access to the landowner's or water purveyor's property for the test to be conducted, the unconventional well operator shall not be required to meet the provisions of this subsection.
(6) The performance or excused performance of a follow-up water supply test under this subsection shall in no way prohibit the unconventional well operator from proceeding with a drilling operation, provided the appropriate permit approvals are obtained."
Comment
1. The selection of the target formation for this new legislation may not be clear - it may be wise to a more generalized description of the target area, vertical and formation targets, and regional target. By selecting this target, it appears that the legislation would require more baseline testing for unconventional oil and gas development below a shallow gas deposit in parts of Pennsylvania. I think this may be short cited. I believe it may be wise to clarify the intent of the legislation and target - such as Upper Devonian.
2. I believe that this legislation should apply to both shallow and deep wells and it appears that this does not address the issues related to coal bed methane gas.
3. Shallow vertical wells are hydrofractured and it would be my opinion that shallow vertical wells that are closer to the freshwater aquifer that are more likely to impact the freshwater aquifer, cause saline water to migrate vertically, or to cause methane gas to migrate along casing or more abundant shallow near vertical fractures.
4. It is my understanding that hydraulic fracturing may temporarily open existing fractures to a distance of about 1500 feet. Therefore, a 1500 feet to 2000 feet would be reasonable.
5. Since it takes about 500 to 1000 feet to turn from a vertical to horizontal well, a distance of at least 2500 feet from each horizontal boring appears reasonable.
6. Timing - I like the 2 year window.
7. I am a little concerned that we seem to forget we have a host of surface activities that are not related to natural gas development that may impact a private well, such as: other private wells, gasoline stations, pipelines, surface spills, industrial sites, old landfills, landfills, "improper disposal of household hazards, and much more.
8. I am a little concerned that we also seem to forget that in many cases private wells already have poor water quality that is natural. To be honest - it appears that some of the reported problems with discolored water, iron, manganese, and other contaminants is related to natural changes in groundwater quality or induced changes because of nuisance related bacteria because of poor private well construction and placement.
9. Conventional well distance should be increased to at least 1500 feet and unconventional well extended to 2500 feet (2yrs) and 3000 feet (6 months). To be honest - many drilling companies are conducting baseline testing at 4000 to 5250 feet.
10. The 30 days prior to drilling requirement could be interpreted to mean only data collected within this time frame is valid. Since many private well owners may want to conduct their own baseline analysis, this may create a burden to private well owners if data they collect as a baseline is more than 30 days prior to drilling. Private well owners can not control drilling schedules. This provision may also prevent or discourage drilling companies from conducting larger regional baseline testing - some companies are conducting baseline testing at 4000 to 5250 feet, but in most cases this is over 30 days prior to drilling. I would say that baseline testing is more likely conducted within 6 months of drilling the well. (Wording does not appear to be clear).
11. The well operator, in all cases, will you a laboratory certified by the state to conduct analysis using approved methods and chain-of-custody documentation.
12. The provision for access has been abused - in some cases I had heard rumors that some private wellowners would given virtually no notice of intent to sample. This may not be the common practice, but it appears to be occurring. Also, this appears to ignore that are region consist of a large number of seasonal dwellings with individuals living in either other states or other parts of the Commonwealth.
13. Some provisions should apply to both conventional and unconventional wells. The drilling company should be required to conduct a detailed predrilling and post-drilling baseline survey and then every 6 months be required to conduct a "screening test". The screening test would be for general water quality. Prior to the end of the 2 year period, a detailed post drilling test would be required. With respect to the screening test, this could be the baseline parameters recommended by the PADEP, plus specific parameters associated with that region.
14. Private well owners have the right to report potential well problems and complaints to PADEP. The homeowner should not be required to contact the drilling company, the homeowner or well owner should notify PADEP. This will ensure that problems are identified and corrected. In addition, PADEP can then charge the well drilling company for the cost of conducting the testing and field evaluation or use the funds posted by a bond.
15. Bonding - the company should post a bond to cover the cost of the post testing, including manpower, if they fail to perform this work.
16. The provisions do not seem to address springs, watercourses, etc. Please remember our groundwater and surfacewater resources are connected.
17. The natural gas company working a region should help fund and support a watershed based real-time water quality monitoring network for surfacewater systems and it may be advisable for the company.
Note:
The natural gas companies should be required to provide the homeowners results in the following formats hardcopy, pdf file, and electronic copy.
Please support the Wilkes University Citizen Groundwater and Surfacewater Database
http://www.wilkes.edu/water
Please support the Pocono Northeast RC&D Council - Private Well Owner Improvement and Rehabiliation Program - New Program being tested in 10 county area of PA. If succcessful this should be expanded throughout PA.
http://www.pnercd.org/
Just my thoughts
Thanks
Brian Oram, Professional Geologist
Direct access to HB 895
No comments:
Post a Comment