H. B. 2403

         (By Delegates Manchin, Caputo, Fleischauer,

              Iaquinta, Longstreth, Mahan, Manypenny,

                   Marshall and Perdue)

         [Introduced January 12, 2011; referred to the

         Committee on the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §22-6-42, relating to establishing requirements for use of water resources at Marcellus gas well operations.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §22-6-42, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 6. OFFICE OF OIL & GAS; OIL AND GAS WELLS.

§22-6-42. Additional requirements for Marcellus Shale gas wells using water resources for fracturing or stimulating gas production.

    (a) Prior to drilling, fracturing or stimulating gas wells that are completed in the Marcellus Shale formation and which use water obtained from withdrawals of water resources of the state that exceed two hundred ten thousand gallons during a month, gas well operators shall submit the following information to the Office of Oil and Gas on a form prescribed by the Office of Oil and Gas:

    (1) The type of water source, such as surface, underground or groundwater, the county of each source to be used by the operation for water withdrawals and the latitude and longitude of each anticipated withdrawal location;

    (2) The anticipated volume of each water withdrawal;

    (3) The anticipated months when water withdrawals will be made;

    (4) The planned management and disposition of wastewater from the fracturing, stimulation and production activities;

    (5) A listing of the additives as presented on material safety data sheets that are used in water used for fracturing or stimulating the well;

    (6) For all surface water withdrawals, a water resources protection plan that shall include the information requested in subdivisions (1) through (5) of this subsection and includes documentation of measures that will be taken to allow the state to manage the quantity of its waters for present and future use and enjoyment and for the protection of the environment. The plan shall include the following:

    (A) Identification of the current designated and existing water uses including any public water intakes within one mile downstream of the withdrawal location;

    (B) For surface waters, a demonstration that a sufficient instream flow will be available immediately downstream of the point of withdrawal. A sufficient instream flow is available when a passby flow is maintained immediately downstream of the point of withdrawal and that is protective of the environment.

    (C) Methods to be used for surface water withdrawal to minimize the impact of entrainment and impingement of fish.

    (b) For all water used for hydraulic fracturing and for flowback water from hydraulic fracturing activities and produced water from production activities, gas well operators shall comply with the following recordkeeping and reporting requirements:

    (1) For production activities, the following information shall be recorded and maintained by the well operator:

    (A) The quantity of flowback water from hydraulic fracturing the well;

    (B) The quantity of produced water from the well; and

    (C) The method of management or disposal of the flowback and produced well water.

    (2) For transportation activities, the following information shall be recorded and maintained by the well operator:

    (A) The quantity of water transported;

    (B) The collection and delivery or disposal locations of water; and

    (C) The name and address of the water hauler and the company for which the hauler was hauling the water.

    (3) The information maintained pursuant to this subsection by the gas well operator shall be available for reasonable inspection by the Office of Oil and Gas along with other required permits and records and maintained for three years after the water withdrawal activity.

    (c) This section is intended to be consistent with and does not supersede, revise, repeal or otherwise modify, articles eleven and twenty-six of this chapter and does not revise, repeal or otherwise modify the common law doctrine of riparian rights under West Virginia law.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish requirements for use of water resources at Marcellus gas well operations.

    This section is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.