This afternoon, both the House and the Senate passed amended House Bill 401, which establishes the Natural Gas Horizontal Wells Control Act.

During a lengthy House Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday, committee members combined the Senate’s version of the bill, Senate Bill 4001, into their bill along with some other, minor amendments.

The amended bill passed unanimously in the Senate and passed the House with a 94-5 vote.

House Bill 401 increases fees from $400 per well to $10,000 for the first well and $5,000 for each additional well on a single pad. This increase will allow the hiring of at least 17 more inspectors to inspect and review permits. It also requires that at least one week’s notice be given to surface owners before an operator can survey the property and that the surface owner gets a copy of the permit application and other documents which show not only the proposed drilling location but also road and impoundment locations. Surface owners, as well as the public, will also be allowed to comment on the permits. An operator must publish a notice in the local newspaper in the county that the drilling will occur on or before filing a permit application. Operators must also enter into an agreement with the Department of Highways (DOH) in order to repair any roads harmed and to also post performance bonds.

Significant additions to permit requirements were also included in the bill. These additions include a sediment control plan, well site construction and safety plan, and a water management plan that includes proposed water withdrawal locations. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been given broad authority regarding distributing these permits.

A concern raised during the House Judiciary’s public hearing Monday was the safety of the publics’ water wells. One safeguard to combat this fear is a 500 foot increase over the current law for the presumption of contamination for water wells. Also, all fracking additives must be disclosed to the DEP as well as adding safeguards for well casings and drilling in karst terrain. This terrain includes exposed, mechanically and chemically weathered and eroded limestone landscape that may contain sinkholes, caves, and other features.

Lastly, House Bill 401 requires studies for air, pits and impoundments, noise, and job creation be implemented.

Both the House and the Senate adjourned Sine Die.

West Virginia House of Delegates members meeting on the fourth day of the Fourth Special Session of 2011 passed House Bill 401, which would establish the Natural Gas Horizontal Wells Control Act by a vote of 92-5. The bill was amended by the House Judiciary Committee and those amendments were approved by a voice vote on the floor prior to passage.

The measure now must go to the West Virginia state Senate for its consideration.

The House is in recess until 1:00 p.m. later today.

Following a lengthy House Judiciary Committee meeting and discussion regarding House Bill 401, which would establish the Natural Gas Horizontal Wells Control Act, the bill was reported to the House floor, read a second time and advanced to third reading with amendments pending and a general right to amend.

Also, a message from the Senate regarding that body’s passage of Senate Bill 4001, which pertains to the regulation of oil and gas wells, was taken up for immediate consideration and the bill was read a first time and advanced to second reading.

The House is adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 10 a.m.

Members of the House of Delegates held a brief floor session to announce committee meeting times for further discussion of the Marcellus Shale legislation, House Bill 401 which would establish the Natural Gas Horizontal Wells Control Act. This bill was read a first time Sunday, December 11th, prior to being referred to the House Judiciary Committee where it awaits legislative action.

Following the floor session the House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing beginning at 4:30 p.m. to allow public comment regarding House Bill 401. Nearly 70 speakers spoke, in equal numbers for and against the measure, for nearly two hours before the meeting was adjourned.

The House stands adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.

The House Judiciary Committee will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. to begin deliberations on House Bill 401