WVEC Action Alert

February 26, 2010

WVEC Action Alert: Marcellus Shale “Water Bill”
Contact Your Delegates Now!
Friday, February 26, 2010

HB 4513 – The Marcellus Shale “water bill” – was passed out of House Judiciary Committee yesterday, and will be up for House passage as early as Monday.

So now is the time to contact your Delegates and ask them to vote in favor of this important bill.

This bill was drafted with input from both the WV Environmental Council and representatives from the Oil & Gas industry.

It’s a good start at regulating withdrawal of water for drilling and fracturing these Marcellus shale wells.  The bill also contains regulations requiring identification of the contents of frac fluids – and sets up a system for tracking the disposal of those fluids.

Please contact members of the House of Delegates, expressing your support for this bill.

Talking points are included below.

The best way to reach your Delegate(s): 

●Call the capitol toll free: (877)-565-3447 – you can leave a voice mail message for your particular delegate.  It will go directly to their office.

●Visit the capitol website: http://www.legis.state.wv.us
You can locate your Delegate(s) easily, and leave your e-mail message for them. 

If you do not know which Delegates are your representatives, simply: plug in your zip-code in the lower right of the above page. Your Delegate’s e-mail and office number is listed along with other valuable information.

Talking Points / Reasons to Support HB 4513
Protecting State Water Resources from Marcellus Gas Well Drilling

HB 4513 establishes additional requirements for the drilling and fracturing of Marcellus Shale gas wells. These requirements are necessary in order to protect rivers and streams from becoming dewatered by stream withdrawals or contaminated by disposal of wastewater produced in the drilling and fracturing process.

The bill would require that prior to drilling, fracturing or stimulating Marcellus Shale gas wells that use large volume fracs, operators must submit the following information to WV DEP’s Office of Oil and Gas:

• Type of water source (surface, underground or groundwater) and county of origin
• GPS data of withdrawal location
• Anticipated volume of each withdrawal
• Anticipated months when water withdrawals will be made
• Planned management and/or disposition of wastewater
• Additives to frac fluids and material data safety sheets

For surface water withdrawals, a water resources protection plan that includes the above information, and measures to be taken to allow the state to manage water quantity. The Plan must include the following:

• Current designated and existing water uses, including public water intakes within one mile downstream
• Demonstration of sufficient instream flow immediately downstream
• Use of the DEP Water Use Guidance Tool as a measurement of flow
• Measures to protect fish

Further, the bill mandates that operators keep records of their handling of frac water, including the quantity of flowback water, the quantity of produced water, and the method of disposal of flowback and produced water.

For disposal of these waste waters, operators must keep records of the quantity of all water transported to disposal facilities, the collection and disposal locations of all waste water, and the name of the water hauler.