THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY BOBACK, MUNDY, HELM, CALTAGIRONE, CARROLL, D. COSTA, DeLUCA, FLECK, HANNA, HARHART, KESSLER, KORTZ, MAHER, PAYTON, SANTARSIERO, SCAVELLO, SIPTROTH, STABACK, YOUNGBLOOD AND YUDICHAK, JUNE 30, 2010

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, JUNE 30, 2010  

AN ACT

Amending the act of December 19, 1984 (P.L.1140, No.223),

entitled "An act relating to the development of oil and gas

and coal; imposing duties and powers on the Department of

Environmental Resources; imposing notification requirements

to protect landowners; and providing for definitions, for

various requirements to regulate the drilling and operation

of oil and gas wells, for gas storage reservoirs, for various

reporting requirements, including certain requirements

concerning the operation of coal mines, for well permits, for

well registration, for distance requirements, for well casing

requirements, for safety device requirements, for storage

reservoir obligations, for well bonding requirements, for a

Well Plugging Restricted Revenue Account to enforce oil and

gas well plugging requirements, for the creation of an Oil

and Gas Technical Advisory Board, for oil and gas well

inspections, for enforcement and for penalties," further

providing for well permits, for well location restrictions

and for well reporting requirements.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 201(b) of the act of December 19, 1984

(P.L.1140, No.223), known as the Oil and Gas Act, is amended and

the section is amended by adding a subsection to read:

Section 201.  Well permits.

* * *

(b)  (1)  The permit application shall be accompanied by a

plat prepared by a competent engineer or a competent

surveyor, on forms to be furnished by the department, showing

the political subdivision and county in which the tract of

land upon which the well to be drilled is located, the name

of the surface landowner of record and lessor, the name of

all surface landowners or water purveyors whose water

supplies are within [1,000] 5,500 feet of the proposed well

location, the name of the owner of record or operator of all

known underlying workable coal seams, if any, the acreage in

the tract to be drilled, the proposed location of the well

determined by survey, the courses and distances of such

location from two or more permanent identifiable points or

landmarks on said tract boundary corners, the proposed angle

and direction of such well, if the well is to be deviated

substantially from a vertical course, the number or other

identification to be given the well, the workable coal seams,

if any, underlying the tract of land upon which the well is

to be drilled or altered, which are to be cased off in

accordance with section 207, and such information needed by

the department to administer this act.

(2)  The applicant shall forward, by certified mail, a

copy of said plat to the surface landowner, all surface

landowners or water purveyors whose water supplies are within

[1,000] 5,500 feet of the proposed well location, the owner

and lessee, if any, of such coal seams, and every coal

operator required to be identified on the well permit

application and shall submit proof of such notification with

the well permit application. With respect to surface owners,

notification shall be accomplished under this section by

sending notice to the persons to whom the tax notices for

said surface property are sent, as indicated in the

assessment books in the county in which the property is

located. With respect to surface landowners or water

purveyors whose water supplies are within [1,000] 5,500 feet

of the proposed well location, notification shall be made on

forms and in a manner prescribed by the department sufficient

to identify, for such persons, the rights afforded them under

section 208 and the advisability of taking their own

predrilling or prealteration survey.

(3)  If the applicant submits to the department written

approval of the proposed well location by the surface

landowner and the coal operator, lessee or owner, if any, of

the coal underlying the proposed well location and no

objections are raised by the department within 15 days of

filing or if no such approval has been submitted and no

objections are made to such proposed well location within 15

days from receipt of such notice by the surface landowner and

the coal operator, lessee or owner, if any, or by the

department, the same shall be filed and become a permanent

record of such location, subject to inspection at any time by

any interested person.

(4)  The permit application shall also be accompanied by

information regarding the zone of influence on groundwater

and an analysis that provides an estimate on the time of

travel that a potential release of hydraulic fracking fluid

or other liquid substances from the drilling operation may

take to reach the nearest waterway. The permit application

shall also be accompanied by a preparedness, prevention and

contingency plan. The plan shall include, but not be limited

to: the resources available at the well site to contain a

release of any fluids and to prevent an accidental blowout; a

listing of organizations that can respond within two hours of

notification to provide remediation of any environmental

contamination; a process to provide notification to all

downstream water users of any environmental remediation

activity within one hour of the commencement of that

activity.

* * *

(d.1)  Within ten days of the receipt of a permit

application, the department shall notify all public drinking

water system operators within the watershed in which the well is

to be located that a permit application has been received. The

department shall, within 25 days of the receipt of the permit

application, convene a meeting between the well operator and the

public water supply operator to review in detail the permit

application. If the department believes that the proposed well

site location may have the potential to contaminate a public

drinking water supply, the department shall publish in the

Pennsylvania Bulletin a notice that it has received a permit

application from a well operator and that the proposed well site

location may have the potential to affect a public drinking

water supply. This notice shall provide for a 30-day public

comment period.

* * *

Section 2.  Sections 205 and 212 of the act are amended by

adding subsections to read:

Section 205.  Well location restrictions.

* * *

(b.1)  No well site may be prepared or well drilled using

hydraulic fracturing or horizontal drilling within 3,000 feet of

a reservoir that serves as a water source for a community water

system as defined in section 3 of the act of May 1, 1984

(P.L.206, No.43), known as the Pennsylvania Safe Drinking Water

Act. The department shall not permit horizontal drilling to

occur directly under a reservoir which is utilized as a public

drinking water source for a community water system as defined in

section 3 of the Pennsylvania Safe Drinking Water Act.

* * *

Section 212.  Well reporting requirements.

* * *

(e)  Within ten days of the beginning of each calendar

quarter, each well operator shall submit to the department a

complete listing of those chemicals and chemical compounds which

compose the hydraulic fracture fluid planned to be used to

hydraulically fracture natural gas wells during the succeeding

quarter. The chemicals shall be listed on a form provided by the

department. Notwithstanding a proprietary product or materials

claim, the list shall, at a minimum, include: the service

company name; the product name; the hazardous components of the

product as listed on the material safety data sheets; the

hazardous ingredients by weight as a percentage; the pounds of

hazardous ingredients per pound of water, the gallons of

fracking solution per stage; and the concentration of the

chemical in the fracking solution in parts per million. The

department shall publish the list of chemicals for each well on

the Internet website of the department. The well operator shall

maintain the list at the well site and make it available for

inspection upon request by representatives of the department.  

In the event of a planned change in the composition of the

hydrofracking solution additives, the well operator shall submit

the changes on a revised list to the department at least ten

days prior to utilizing the new additives. The department may

deny or revoke a well permit for noncompliance with the

requirements of this subsection.

Section 3.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.