Ask Your Legislators to Fully Fund the DEP Office of Oil and Gas

This week, the West Virginia Senate and House energy committees passed SB448 and HB 3110, which provides funding to the Office of Oil and Gas (O&G) to increase the number of well inspectors. Both bills have advanced to their corresponding finance committees, where your help is needed!

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) Office of Oil and Gas has only ten inspectors responsible for 75,000 wells. This bill would double the funding for this office and increase inspector numbers from 10 to around 20. It also allocates 0.75% of the O&G severance tax to the Office of Oil and Gas and adds annual fees depending on the amount produced and the class of wells. 

While this is a good first step to addressing the inspector crisis, with 20 inspectors, West Virginia would still have around 4,200 wells per inspector, putting it far behind neighboring states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, with 1,730 and 2,240 wells per inspector, respectively. 

These inspectors are crucial to protecting both our public health and our environment. 

A 2018 Princeton and McGill university study showed that active conventional wells across West Virginia leak methane. The release of methane, which traps 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, contributes to accelerating climate change and exacerbates the risks of significant floods and power outages in West Virginia. In addition, the release of methane is accompanied by other air pollutants that can cause cancer, asthma, and premature birth.

What can you do? Please contact the Senate Finance Committee (SB448) and the House Finance Committee (HB3110) to urge your legislators to support full DEP Office of Oil and Gas funding. Call your Senators or Delegate and ask them to support these bills (phone number in links above). You can also email them using the sample message below. 

Download WV Rivers’s fact sheet to learn more.

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Call to Action: Email Senators on the Finance Committee

Subject: Please support full funding for the DEP Office of Oil and Gas

Dear Members of the Senate Finance Committee,

I’m concerned about the DEP’s current funding crisis in its Office of Oil & Gas, which can only support 10 inspectors to oversee approximately 75,000 wells across the state.

A bill in your Finance Committee (SB 448) addresses this problem but needs to go further. It expects DEP only to be able to add another 10 inspectors, which still leaves WV far behind surrounding gas-producing states in its oversight capacity.

Please support full funding for DEP’s Office and Oil Gas at stable levels that staff at least 40 inspectors to bring West Virginia in line with our neighboring states and responsibly oversee the industry as it grows. These inspectors are crucial to protecting both our public health and our environment. 

Thank you,

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Call to Action: Email Delegates on the House Finance Committee:

Subject: Please support full funding for the DEP Office of Oil and Gas

Dear Members of the House Finance Committee,

I’m concerned about the DEP’s current funding crisis in its Office of Oil & Gas, which can only support 10 inspectors to oversee approximately 75,000 wells across the state.

A bill in your Finance Committee (HB 3110) addresses this problem but needs to go further. It expects DEP only to be able to add another 10 inspectors, which still leaves WV far behind surrounding gas-producing states in its oversight capacity.

Please support full funding for DEP’s Office and Oil Gas at stable levels that staff at least 40 inspectors to bring West Virginia in line with our neighboring states and responsibly oversee the industry as it grows. These inspectors are crucial to protecting both our public health and our environment. 

Thank you,