Corbett Will Sign Drilling Emergency-Response Bill
Washington PA Observer
Reporter
20 January 2012
By Associated Press
HARRISBURG - Gov. Tom Corbett plans to sign newly passed
legislation designed to provide an emergency response plan and
accurate GPS coordinates for each Marcellus Shale well site in
Pennsylvania.
The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously this week, is the
third Marcellus Shale-related bill to go to Corbett's desk. It
passed the House last month.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, said it fills a
"gaping information hole" for emergency responders rushing to
accidents at well sites and will reduce risks to people, property
and the environment.
Under it, state regulators must write emergency regulations
ordering the well operators to provide emergency response agencies
with an emergency response plan and a unique GPS coordinate
address for both the well site and the access road entrance.
The operators also must post a reflective sign at the entrance to
each well site with the address, GPS coordinates, the operator's
emergency contact number and anything else state regulators decide
to require.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last week that the state
Department of Environmental Protection undercounted the number of
producing Marcellus Shale wells, frustrating Senate and House
staff members who have been trying to make accurate projections
about how much revenue an impact fee on wells might generate for
local governments.
The newspaper reported that its analysis of DEP data found 495
more wells producing gas, or ready to produce gas, than the DEP
has recorded as ever being drilled. Of those, 182 of those wells
didn't even show up on the state's Marcellus Shale permit list, it
reported.
Since 2008 began, operators have drilled more than 4,000 Marcellus
Shale wells in Pennsylvania, according to DEP figures, as
multinational energy giants have spent billions of dollars to join
the rush to exploit the gas in the formation.
For now, Corbett, a Republican, and leaders of the House and
Senate's Republican majorities are trying to negotiate an
agreement on a bill to slap an impact fee on Marcellus Shale wells
and update state safety laws that never envisioned such deep,
horizontal drilling across wide areas of the state.
In addition, the state Public Utility Commission is working to
hire seven new pipeline inspectors and finalize guidelines for
pipeline operators under a month-old law that authorizes the
agency to enforce federal safety rules over many new natural gas
gathering pipelines that are accompanying the booming drilling
industry.
Pennsylvania was one of two natural-gas producing states that did
not enforce the safety rules.
The law covers many, but not all, types of the gathering lines.
Lines built in the most rural areas would remain uninspected by
the government, although they still require federal, state or
local permits to cross wetlands, streams and roads.
Companies are expected to build thousands of miles of gathering
lines to ferry gas from producing Marcellus Shale well sites in
Pennsylvania to larger, interstate pipelines.
Under the proposed new guidelines, pipeline operators would be
required to register and submit information on how many miles of
gathering lines they manage.
Another bill signed by Corbett last year updated the rules for
drilling gas wells through workable coal seams.