New gas well regulations slipped into budget bill

Marie Cusick

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Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

July 1, 2014 | 12:03 PM

Lindsay Lazarski / WHYY

Natural gas wells in Springville Township, Pa.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports state Republican leaders have inserted controversial last-minute language to one of the budget bills that would change how Pennsylvania’s natural gas wells are regulated.
The bill requires state regulators to distinguish between two types of oil and gas wells— conventional, shallow wells, and deeper modern unconventional shale wells.

From the Inquirer:

Environmental groups say inserting the language into the fiscal code is tantamount to circumventing the legislative process, including debate on the floor.
They also say they object to the fact that the proposed language does not make it clear what the new regulations would be for traditional shallow wells.

The bills’ sponsors, including Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson), told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this year the major overhaul of Pennsylvania’s oil and gas law that passed in 2012 inadvertently applied some regulations targeted for Marcellus Shale drillers to what he called “mom and pop businesses” that operate smaller wells.
“Clearly, the legislative intent was not to include conventional drilling and wells into this,” he told the newspaper.
The language is part of the state fiscal code, which is necessary to implement the budget. The senate is expected to vote on it today.