WVEC Action AlertMarch 8, 2010CONTACT SENATE EIM COMMITTEE MEMBERS regarding HB 4513 on Marcellus Shale “Water Bill”!! Facebook Page: Stand Up for Clean Water by Wednesday! It’s not too early to contact your Senators on the Senate EIM (Energy, Industry & Mining) Committee – ask them to support HB 4513 the Marcellus Shale Water Bill. Ask EIM Chairman Mike Green to place HB 4513 on the agenda for Wednesday 10:00 AM. Ask all committee members to please support this bill. HB 4513 is being taken up today in the Senate Natural Resources Committee. Comments from the public will be heard and given to the committee. We expect HB 4513 to pass out of Senate Natural Resources – it will then go to Senate EIM – and hopefully placed on the agenda for the 10 AM Wednesday meeting – this needs to be taken up quickly so there is time for it to pass this session. 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. Talking points are included below. The best way to reach your Senators: ●Call the capitol toll free: (877)-565-3447 – you can leave a voice mail message for your particular Senator. It will go directly to their office. ●Visit the capitol website: http://www.legis.state.wv.us Fast way: plug in your zip-code; click on contact – (your particular representatives contact information will appear). Here are the capitol phone numbers for Senate EIM: Sen. Mike Green (D-Raleigh), Chair: (304) 357-7831 Talking Points / Reasons to Support HB 4513 Protecting State Water Resources from Marcellus Gas Well Drilling HB 4513 establishes minimum reporting 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:
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:
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.
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