By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog

CHARLESTON — If Monday’s nearly five-hour debate is any indication, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin‘s Marcellus Shale regulation bill will take time before passage.

The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon, with debate starting at 9 a.m. and ending close to 2 p.m.

The Governor’s bill applies to any horizontal well that disturbs three or more acres and used over 210,000 gallons of water within 30 days. It sets a $10,000 permit fee for the first well and $5,000 for each additional well. Drillers would have to submit a water management plan detailing there their water comes from, expected volume, plans to dispose of the water, and require a listing of additives.

Companies would have to notify surface owners before filing a permit of their intent to survey between 72 hours and 45 days. Permits and filing would be published on a website maintained by the Department of Environmental Protection. Surface owners would get seven days notice before commencement of well work. The Bill establishes a 625-foot buffer zone between well sites and homes or agricultural structures.

Seven amendments passed the committee. Four amendments, sponsored by  Sen. Gregory Tucker (D-Nicholas), would require operators notify surface owners by certified mail of intention to drill on the property, change the Governor’s 72-hour minimum for notification to seven days, require the operator to find the physical address if the the address of record is a lien holder, and require mineral owners be notified of intent to drill.

Another amendment, by Sen. Evan Jenkins (D-Cabell), would require  the DEP  to report any waiver of minimum requirements on a yearly basis. Sen. Mark Wills (D-Mercer) sponsored two amendments, which would  grandfather in wells that already have a permit and well applications, exempting them from the new bill.

The multi-hour debate focused on the Governor’s economic study. Under the Joint Committee’s bill, a drilling company had to report the number of out-of-state workers and compensation. The Governor’s bill instead tasks the Workforce Investment Council with conducting a study which includes those questions. Debate also focused on the meaning of an “occupied dwelling” and how it pertains to the 625-foot buffer zone between residences and the well pad.

The bill went on to the Senate floor, where it was read a first time and sent to the Senate Finance Committee, which met this afternoon and approved the bill with no debate. According to the bill’s fiscal note, it’s expected to bring in $2.5 million a year. Of that, $1.4 million will be used to hire 14 additional inspectors.

None of the stakeholders are particularly happy with the bill, though despite their misgivings the natural gas industry said they want the bill. The environmental community and surface owners representatives, however, want the bill to die.

“We feel the governors bill falls short,” said Don Garvin, the legislative director of the West Virginia Environmental Council. “I’m really disappointed that the governor doesn’t believe the public deserves a notice and comment period. The public deserves the right to know what’s going on and the right to comment on it. That is a major failing of this bill.”

Both supporters of the Marcellus Shale industry and the environmental/surface owners lobby came for a public hearing held by the House of Delegates on the Governor’s bill. The supporters and detractors were split 50/50 and allowed to speak for one minute.

“The bill, as introduced by the Governor, provides for additional capacity for DEP through a 1,400 percent increase in the fees that we pay,” said Scott Rotruck, vice president of Chesapeake Energy, which is the second largest producer of natural gas in the nation.

“It provides certainty to the public that the enforcement, the laws, and the regs are in place to do that job,” He said. “It further more provides clarity to the industry so we can continue to invest in this state.”

“We just have too many concerns to go through,” said Julie Archer, with the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization. “We do want a bill. The citizens deserve a strong bill, but we don’t want to see a bill that’s just taking baby steps to address these leaps forward in technology and we definitely don’t want something that’s taking us backwards.”

The Senate adjourned for the day in order to allow senators times to read the bill and allow staff attorney’s to use technical amendments to clean up language in the bill. The House Judiciary Committee will meet at 9 a.m. to review the House version of the Governor’s bill. The Senate will gavel in at 10 a.m. and is expected to suspend their rule to pass their Marcellus Shale bill tomorrow.

Watch a montage of speakers from today’s Marcellus Shale public hearing below:

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• West Virginia’s Marcellus Shale special session begins (audio) (westvirginia.watchdog.org)