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Thursday, August 25, 2011 @ 5:23 PM
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The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is
seeking public input on its Well Site Safety Plan Standards
and Casing and Cementing Standards that are referenced in
the DEP’s Emergency Rule for horizontal drilling, filed
Aug. 22 with the Secretary of State’s Office.

As part of the rule, all applications for well work permits
involving well sites that will disturb three acres or more
of surface must include a well site safety plan to spell
out what steps will be taken to protect persons on site, as
well as the general public and the environment. The plan is
to be developed in accordance with standards developed by
the DEP’s Office of Oil and Gas (OOG).

The Emergency Rule also includes operational rules intended
to protect water quantity and quality and instructs
operators to construct wells and conduct casing and
cementing activities of all horizontal wells in accordance
with OOG standards.

Public input on the OOG standards will be accepted until
Sept. 30, 2011, and can be mailed to the Office of Oil and
Gas, 601 57th St., S.E., Charleston, WV., 25304 or emailed
to DEP.comments@wv.gov. Copies of the OOG standards can be
viewed by clicking on the Office of Oil and Gas section on
the DEP homepage at: www.dep.wv.gov.

As directed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on July 12 in
Executive Order No. 4-11, the DEP filed its Emergency Rule
to increase regulatory oversight of horizontal well
development in the state.

 

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The West Virginia DEP’s emergency rule issued on August 22nd references i well site safety standards and casing and cementing standards.  To develop these plans, the DEP is seeking input from the public through September 30th.  These may be mailed to the Office of Oil and Gas, 601 57th St., S.E., Charleston, W. Va., 25304 or e-mailed to DEP.comments@wv.gov.  You can download the casing and cementing standards here, and the well site safety plan standards here.