WV SORO Action ALert
March 8, 2010
Public Hearing TONIGHT (Monday, 3/8/2010) ~ Urge Your Delegates to Oppose SB 369
It was just announced that the House Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing on SB 369 TONIGHT at 6:30PM in the House Chamber. If you live in the Charleston area or are in town for today's 1PM hearing on the Marcellus Water Bill, we hope you can attend. If you're unable to attend, please contact your Delegates and House Judiciary Committee members and urge them to oppose SB 369.
SB 369 would change the definition of a "shallow well" so that it applies to vertical Marcellus Shale wells. This would essentially legalize stealing of gas from neighboring mineral owners. Unlike wells defined as "deep wells," "shallow wells are not subject to well spacing and royalty sharing laws which allow mineral owners whose natural gas is drained by wells on their neighbors to receive their share of the royalties. If Marcellus wells aren't subject to those laws, gas drillers could drill on the edge of a neighboring mineral owners' land and drain gas from that tract without paying for it. One Marcellus Shale well could start out taking more than $1,000 a day in royalties from a neighboring mineral owner.
The bill is also bad for surface owners because without well spacing, there can be more of these larger sites on the surface, with no limit on how close together they can be. Well spacing is good for surface owners because only the number of wells necessary to produce the gas will be drilled. Without well spacing, the “rule of capture” applies resulting in extra, unnecessary wells being drilled as unscrupulous drillers, who are paid by the well, try to be the first to get the gas from the same pool. Each additional well site causes forest fragmentation, results in more soil erosion and stream sedimentation, and increases risks groundwater and other features of the environment.
Well spacing is also good for consumers because drilling fewer wells to get out more gas means less cost to get out the gas. It is good for everyone else in the process because it saves money and produces more gas than when the “rule of capture” applies.
SB 369 is terrible for surface owners, mineral owners, investors, consumers and even most drillers.
Please contact your Delegates and House Judiciary Committee members and urge them to oppose SB 369.
Call the Capitol toll free at (877)-565-3447 to leave a message for your Delegates. Click here to get Delegates' Capitol office numbers and e-mail addresses. If you do not know who your Delegates are you can find out here.
Contact information for House Judiciary Committee members:
Delegate Tim Miley (D-Harrison), Chair ~ (304) 340-3252, tim.miley@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Mark Hunt (D-Kanawha, Vice Chair ~ (304) 340-3392, mhunt@markahunt.com
Delegate Larry Barker (D-Boone) ~ (304) 340-3149, larry.barker@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Bonnie Brown (D-Kanawha) ~ (304) 340-3106, bonnie.brown@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Mike Caputo (D-Marion) ~ (304) 340-3249, mike.caputo@wvhouse.gov
Delegate John Ellem (R- Wood) ~ (304) 340-3394, ellem@wirefire.com
Delegate Michael Ferro (D-Marshall) ~ (304) 340-3111, mike.ferro@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Barbara Fleischauer (D-Monongalia) ~ (304) 340-3169, barbaraf@mail.wvnet.edu
Delegate John Frazier (D-Mercer) ~ (304) 340-3396, jfrazier@mail.wvnet.edu
Delegate Bill Hamilton (R-Upshur) ~ (304) 340-3167, bill.hamilton@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Tal Hutchins (D-Ohio) ~ (304) 340-3270, t.hutchins@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Patrick Lane (R-Kanawha) ~ (304) 340-3275, patrick.lane@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Linda Longstreth (D-Marion) ~ (304) 340-3124, linda.longstreth@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Harold Michael (D-Hardy) ~ (304) 340-3340, Harold@hardynet.com
Delegate Cliff Moore (D-McDowell) ~ (304) 340-3189, cmoore@mail.wvnet.edu
Delegate John Overington (R-Berkeley) ~ (304) 340-3148, john@overington.com
Delegate Mike Ross (D-Randolph) ~ (304) 340-3145, mikeross@mail.wvnet.edu
Delegate Robert Schadler (R-Mineral) ~ (304) 340-3191, rschadler@comcast.net
Delegate Patti Schoen (R-Putnam) ~ (304) 340-3141, pschoen@mail.wvnet.edu
Delegate Alex Shook (D-Monongalia) ~ (304) 340-3173, ashook@mail.wvnet.edu
Delegate Doug Skaff (D-Kanawha) ~ (304) 340-3362, doug.skaff@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Kelli Sobonya (R-Cabell) ~ (304) 340-3175, kelli.sobonya@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Sally Susman (D-Raleigh) ~ (304) 340-3183, ssusman@mail.wvnet.edu
Delegate Danny Wells (D-Kanawha) ~ (304) 340-3287, danny.wells@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Bill Wooton (D-Raleigh) ~ (304) 340-3164, wrwooton@mail.wvnet.edu
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