WHEELING - Delegate Mike Manypenny of Taylor County plans to introduce more than 20 bills this legislative session to amend the Marcellus Shale measure passed by lawmakers last month.
Manypenny, a Democrat, works as an environmental consultant for the remediation industry, and his concerns center on how Marcellus Shale drilling will affect West Virginia's air and water.
"I am the only one in the Legislature who has worked in the field and understands" the environmental concerns, he said. "If someone else proposed these amendments, they wouldn't get the support I would get."
Manypenny said most surface owners' protections contained in the initial Marcellus Shale bill lawmakers passed out of committee in November were stripped from the legislation that was ultimately approved. As a result, he believes the bill was not as strong as many surface owners would have preferred, and that it contains an absence of environmental protections.
"In fact, many surface issues intertwine with environmental issues," Manypenny said. "As a surface owner, you may be exposed to environmental risks due to the close proximity of these wells to your home and water wells - including noise, air, light, water and land pollution, not to mention major increases in traffic."
He thinks its possible the Legislature may consider his amendments to the Marcellus Shale law passed in December, though he admitted "lawmakers have been worn down by industry opposing any regulations over the past three years."
"I feel that's why nothing has been done to update the laws that are over 40 years old until this recent push," Manypenny said. "There is some support, though. It's mainly in the community where surface owners are still being negatively affected - especially when they don't own the minerals beneath them."
Manypenny has introduced three bills pertaining to Marcellus Shale drilling during this year's legislative session:
-- House Bill 3254 - Would add oil and gas facilities, wells, pipelines and tanks to the coordinated statewide program of air pollution prevention.
-- House Bill 4066 - Relates to groundwater contamination and spills associated with the stimulation of wells using the fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, process.
This legislation would require drillers to disclose all groundwater contamination and spills associated with the fracking process to the public within two hours of the spill, and immediately after knowledge of the contamination becomes known.
-- House Bill 4067 - Requires a driller or owner of a natural gas well who contaminates a groundwater aquifer to remediate the aquifer until it meets the standards of the Clean Water Act.
"The industry has made statements to the fact that they have never contaminated the aquifer - therefore, I propose that in the event that it does occur then they should be required to remediate the aquifer until it meets the Clean Water Act standards," Manypenny said.
He said he plans to introduce as many as 20 other pieces of legislation pertaining to the drilling of Marcellus shale before the end of the current legislative session.
One of these would be to expand the required distance between gas wells and sources of water, which is currently 250 feet from the center of the gas well pad.
The distance of "250 feet from center could put your water well or spring on the pad itself - which would be exposed to heavy equipment, as well as surface spills of toxic chemicals that could pose a threat of polluting your water and the aquifer," Manypenny said. "It should be measured from the edge of pad, and I believe increased to 650 feet from the edge."
Likewise, he said the distance between a gas well and homes and dwellings on the property should be measured from the edge of the pad, as opposed to the center of the pad. He believes the current requirement of 650 feet from the center should be changed to 1,000 feet from the center or 650 feet from the well pad's edge, whichever is greater.