House, Senate Environmental Committees OK Bills To Take Conventional Wells Out Of Act 13, Move Other Bills

The Senate and House Environmental Resources and Energy Committees Wednesday reported out legislation that would remove conventional oil and gas wells from regulation under the 2012 Act 13 drilling law and make DEP develop separate regulations for conventional and unconventional (Marcellus Shale) wells.

“We made an error in including conventional oil and gas wells in Act 13,” said Sen. Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson), prime sponsor of Senate Bill 1378 at the Senate Environmental Committee meeting. “The intent is to take conventional wells back out of Act 13.”

There was a similar discussion about House Bill 2350 (Causer-R-Cameron) in the House Environmental Committee before both were amended to make slight changes and reported out of their respective Committees.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council opposed both these bills because they would set different environmental standards for conventional oil and gas wells.  PEC also recommended the definition of conventional and unconventional wells should be made by technology, not by geologic formations.  Both kinds of wells use fracking to increase oil and gas production, for example.  Click Here for more background.

Other Senate Environmental Committee Action

The Senate Environmental Committee also considered these bills Wednesday--

-- Crude Advisory Council: Senate Bill 1310 (Hutchinson-R-Venango) creating the PA Grade Crude (Oil) Development Advisory Council within DEP- sponsor summary-- was amended and reported out; and

-- Drilling On Other State Lands: Senate Bill 1443 (White-R-Indiana) amending the Indigenous Mineral Resources Development Act to authorized state agencies (other than DCNR) to release mineral rights whether they owned the surface rights or not was amended and reported out.

All three Senate bills now go to the full Senate for consideration.

Senate Committee Hearing On EPA Carbon Rule Friday

On Friday, June 27, the Senate Environmental Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on EPA’s proposed greenhouse gas reduction requirements for existing power plants and its potential impacts on energy generation in Pennsylvania.

This is the first of two planned hearings, according to the hearing notice.

The hearing will be in Hearing Room 1 of the North Office Building starting at 11:00.

Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) serves as Majority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne) serves as Minority Chair of the Senate Committee.

Other House Environmental Committee Action

The House Environmental Committee met Tuesday and Wednesday and considered these bills--

-- General Assembly Approval Of DEP Carbon Reduction Plan: House Bill 2354 (Snyder-D-Fayette) requiring the approval of the General Assembly of any plan submitted by DEP to comply with EPA greenhouse emission reduction requirements- sponsor summary-- was amended with a “deemed approved” provision where the General Assembly failed to approve DEP’s plan or where one chamber approves and the other does not and reported out of Committee and will be on the House Calendar for action.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council opposed this legislation saying action was premature given the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has just proposed a rule on this issue and when there are so many questions unanswered about what its requirements will be.

“PEC supports informed and prompt reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from all sources and sectors across the Commonwealth, and we believe decisions should be based on purposeful analysis and deliberation,” said Davitt Woodwell, Executive Vice President of PEC in a letter to the prime sponsor Rep. Pam Snyder. “We believe House Bill 2354 will unbalance that equation and impair Pennsylvania’s ability to advance a strong and sound emissions reduction strategy, potentially forcing EPA to impose its rules directly on Pennsylvania.”

-- Reporting Well Production: House Bill 2278 (Pickett-R-Bradford) providing for monthly reporting of oil and gas well production was amended and reported out of the Committee and referred to the House Rules Committee as all bills are this time of year.

-- Recording Well Leases: House Bill 402 (Pickett-R-Bradford) further providing for the recording of oil and gas well leases was amended and reported out of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and referred to the House Rules Committee as all bills are this time of year.

Rep. Ron Miller (R-York) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Minority Chair.

It’s June!  Watch for other last-minute Committee meetings.

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