On January 13, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee amended and reported out Senate Bill 790 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson) to remove a provision legalizing road dumping of conventional drilling wastewater, but the bill still significantly reduces environmental protections from the impacts of conventional oil and gas well drilling. Click Here for a copy of the amendment.
Over 166 statewide and local environmental groups and over 1,445 citizens have made it clear to legislators they oppose this legislation and legalizing road dumping. Click Here for more.
Gov. Wolf has renewed his promise to veto the bill.
Gov. Wolf has renewed his promise to veto the bill.
The amendment also reduced the amounts of drilling wastewater required to be reported to DEP, but not to the level of existing environmental regulations, and removed some provisions limiting consideration of some public resources in the permitting process for new wells.
The amended bill was reported out of Committee to the full House for consideration with a party-line vote, all Republicans supporting.
Background
The PA Environmental Council and the Environmental Defense Fund outlined their opposition to key provisions in the bill in a September 19 letter to Senate members. Most of the concerns expressed in the letter have not yet been addressed.
The concerns included--
-- Excluding any well that uses fracking as a conventional well from the bill;
-- Oppose blanket bonds to insure wells are properly plugged covering an unlimited number of conventional wells and recommended an increase in bonding amounts;
-- Requirements for plugging a well need to be clear and should not allow a continuous flow of water out of a well;
-- Requirements for mechanical integrity and surface casing should apply to all wells;
-- The provisions related to bonding and plugging wells involved in permit transfers to a new owner are inadequate;
-- There should be specific provisions for operation and remediation of orphan wells;
-- Well location restrictions and setbacks from areas that flood in particular need to be updated and revised, including the protection of public resources; and
-- The bill must ensure when water supplies affected by conventional drilling are replaced they must, at a minimum, meet safe drinking water standards.
Senate Bill 790 was introduced as a follow up to action by the General Assembly to kill DEP’s final updated conventional drilling regulations in 2016 because the industry thought they were too strict.
The law then created the PA Grade Crude Development Advisory Council, made up of all industry-related individuals, that was supposed to “advise” DEP on development a new update to the conventional drilling regulations, but so far no draft regulations have been discussed by the Council since it was created in 2016.
The bill is a companion to House Bill 1635 (Causer-R-Cameron) also introduced in June. The language in House Bill 1635 passed the House last session as House Bill 2154, moved to the Senate and reported out of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and was awaiting action on the Senate Calendar when the session ended.
Senate Bill 790 has different provisions than House Bill 1635 which turns back the clock of environmental regulation of conventional wells all the way back to 1984. Click Here for more background.
Other Committee Action
The Committee also reported out House Bill 2045 (Dowling-R-Fayette) authorizing a land swap between Ohiopyle Borough and Ohiopyle State Park with a recommendation it be re-referred to the House State Government Committee.
Click Here to watch a video of the meeting [when posted]..
Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-783-1707 or sending email to: dmetcalf@pahousegop.com. Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7647 or sending email to: gvitali@pahouse.net.
NewsClips:
Stephen Caruso: Bill To Rollback Natural Gas Drilling Regulations Clears House CommitteeKatie Meyer: Wolf Says Despite Republican Compromise, Drilling Bill Still Poses Too Much Environmental Risk
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