Don Garvin, legislative coordinator with the West Virginia Environmental Council, and David McMahon, co-founder of the West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, show members of the Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale a fracking operation. (Photo/Steven Allen Adams)

By Steven Allen Adams
steven@westvirginiawatchdog.org

The Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale held their first two meeting Tuesday night and Monday morning, wrapping up a week of legislative interim meetings that were overshadowed by Marcellus Shale protests and press conferences.

The first meeting, held Tuesday night after Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, acting as governor, unveiled an an executive order creating water use rules for Marcellus Shale and empowering the state Department of Environmental Protection to create emergency rules governing Marcellus Shale drilling.

Tuesday lawmakers heard from professors Sam Ameri and Khashayar Aminian with the Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering Department at West Virginia University.  Ameri explained the process of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing – techniques which use a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals to break natural gas out of the shale formations. Marcellus Shale stretchs from New York to Tennessee, holding pockets of natural gas. The shale is over 100-feet thick in Barbour, Monongalia, and Preston counties.

Lawmakers also heard from Bill Byrne, the former mayor of Morgantown and current city council member. Morgantown was one of two cities in the state that banned fracking within city limits, but went the extra mile of banning fracking within a mile outside city limits.

On Wednesday the committee heard from the environmental and surface owners community. Don Garvin, legislative coordinator with the West Virginia Environmental Council, was joined by Julie Archer and David McMahon with the West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization.

“This isn’t my dads oil and gas industry,” Garvin said. “This is much more complex. It’s just bigger in every way.”

Both the West Virginia Environmental Council and West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization call for strict regulation of the natural gas drilling industry, but were pleased with the emergency regulations put in place Tuesday by Tomblin. His executive order requires companies drilling within city limits to file a public notice first, get engineer approval of any drilling operation that disturbs three or more acres, file a water management plan with state Department of Environmental Protection if more than 210,000 gallons of water a month are used, and identify the designated and existing uses of streams. The executive order also requires companies to disclose the contents of their fracking fluid.

Still, Garvin and McMahon called for a public notice and comment period for any new Marcellus Shale drilling, which is already required by the DEP for deep wells and coalbed methane. They also call for an increased permitting fee, eliminating blanket bonds, and more inspectors.

“I’m not sure anybody comprehends the aggregate impact of these operations,” Garvin said. During his testimony Garvin showed pictures of fracking operations, though state Sen. Doug Facemire, co-chair of the committee, criticized Garvin for not showing what a well looks like after fracking.

“As a whole I think the industry tries to do a good job,” Facemire said. “You guys are trying to paint that as the norm and I don’t think that is fair to say that is the norm. I think we took some extreme examples to show here.”

Lawmakers plan to use S.B. 424 – a Marcellus Shale regulation bill passed by the State Senate during the 2011 general session, but died in the House of Delegates – as a template. The committee will look at possible amendments when they meet during August interim meetings.

Related articles

• WVLEG: WV4MOM Rallies for Marcellus Shale Moratorium (with video) (westvirginia.watchdog.org)
• WVGOV: Tomblin Proposes New Marcellus Shale Regulations (with video) (westvirginia.watchdog.org)