THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY COSTA, YUDICHAK, ERICKSON, TARTAGLIONE, FONTANA, KASUNIC, LEACH, FERLO, BREWSTER AND BROWNE, FEBRUARY 18, 2011

REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, FEBRUARY 18, 2011  

AN ACT

Relating to safe drinking water; establishing the Emergency

Drinking Water Support Fund; and providing for testing, for

purchase of clean drinking water and for surcharge.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall

have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Department."  The Department of Environmental Protection of

the Commonwealth.

"Fracking."  The injection of water into a Class II well as

defined by the Environmental Protection Agency to release or

"frack" natural gas from Marcellus Shale.

"Marcellus Shale."  The rock formation known as the Marcellus

Formation, also classified as the Marcellus Subgroup of the

Hamilton Group, Marcellus Member of the Romney Formation, is a

unit of marine sedimentary rock found in eastern North America.

Section 2.  Establishment of fund.

There is established a fund in the State Treasury to be known

as the Emergency Drinking Water Support Fund.

Section 3.  Surcharge.

Upon each permit filed under section 201(d) of the act of

December 19, 1984 (P.L.1140, No.223), known as the Oil and Gas

Act, there shall be a surcharge of $10 which the department

shall transfer in the succeeding month from which it was

collected to the Emergency Drinking Water Support Find. The

surcharge shall be in addition to any other fees that are

currently due and payable to the department.

Section 4.  Uses of funds.

(1)  The funds deposited in the Emergency Drinking Water

Support Fund shall be used for the testing of well water and

purchasing of clean water for residents and businesses that

have reason to believe their well water is contaminated from

either an accidental spill of fracking water or chemicals,

seepage of chemicals and fracking water or seepage of natural

gas dislodged by the fracking process.

(2)  The funds shall only be utilized to test well water

by a testing laboratory approved by the department. The test

is to determine whether chemicals known to be utilized in the

fracking process are present in the sample to a level that is

higher than recommended by either the department or the

Environmental Protection Agency according to guidelines

published. If the test determines that natural gas is present

in the water higher than that recommended by either the

department or the Environmental Protection Agency, the test

results shall state this information. A copy of the test

shall be provided to the homeowner or business that requested

the test.

(3)  If a test conducted under paragraph (2), or another

test done by an approved testing laboratory, determines that

the well water contains chemicals or natural gas higher than

recommended levels and the department determines that the

contamination probably resulted from Marcellus Shale drilling

activity, then the department shall use the funds to purchase

water for the affected household or business. Funds may only

be spent out of the Emergency Drinking Water Support Fund

until a final determination of the source of the

contamination is made and the responsible driller begins to

provide the water to the affected household or business. If

it is determined that drilling activity is not responsible

for the contamination, then no more funds shall be provided

from the fund.

(4)  If the well water test conducted under paragraph (2)

determines that there is no contamination or the

contamination is determined by the department under paragraph

(3) to not have been caused by drilling activity, the

department may, at its discretion, require the homeowner or

business to reimburse the fund for half of the costs of the

testing procedure. The department shall notify the homeowner

or business of the possibility of this reimbursement before

the initial test is conducted.

Section 5.  Removal of surcharge.

The department shall cease collecting the surcharge levied

under section 3, if the available balance in the fund is more

than $20,000 and the department sends a notice to discontinue

the surcharge to the chairman and minority chairman of the

Appropriations Committee of the Senate and the chairman and

minority chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the House

of Representatives.

Section 6.  Regulations.

The department may promulgate any regulations necessary to

implement this act.

Section 7.  Use of unspent funds.

If the department determines that any money accumulated in

the Emergency Drinking Water Support Fund is unlikely to be

utilized for the purposes contained in this act, the Secretary

of Environmental Protection may order those funds to be

transferred to any other fund established to provide for the

cleanup or rehabilitation of Marcellus Shale drilling sites.

Section 8.  Effective date.

This act shall take effect in 60 days.