CHARLESTON — Senate President Jeffrey Kessler wants a special legislative session in December to deal with regulating the Marcellus shale gas industry, rather than put the matter off until next year.

If Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin delays action until the regular session, Kessler is concerned Marcellus shale might turn into the dominant issue, stealing valuable time from other pressing items — the OPEB debt and education reforms, for example.

“I say it’s time to get it on and get something out there,” Kessler, D-Marshall, said Thursday, a day after a select committee approved a measure concerning industry regulation and surface owner rights and forwarded it to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.

“This is something we’ve been tackling and dealing with the last year, if not 18 months. If it doesn’t work, we can tweak, amend and modify it down the road as it’s recommended. This is a completely novel industry and a novel concept, and new technologies are being brought to this state.”

An aide to Tomblin said the legislation will undergo further scrutiny before any decision is made to call lawmakers to the Capitol for a special session — a move he vowed to take provided they can reach a consensus on the issue.

“Just like any other interim committee legislation, we will now turn our attention to working with the legislative leadership to determine what aspects of the proposed legislation can be agreed upon and what changes are needed so that the governor and the Legislature can come together in the hopes of passing a piece of legislation that will provide clear rules of the game for the companies that power a significant portion of our economy, while at the same time protecting our environment,” the aide said.

Kessler and House Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne, who named the 10-member select panel six months ago, are in touch with Tomblin to see if the next big step will be taken.

“If we get a consensus, we could get it on the call, hopefully in the December interims,” Kessler said.

Lawmakers are due back Dec. 12, and that comes less than two weeks before Christmas, but Kessler sees no problem with holding a session on the brink of the holiday season, especially one that might be extended with consideration of Marcellus shale.

“That’s our job,” he said.

“Our job is to be there. I would prefer not to do it (near the holiday), but it goes with the territory, if need be.”

The select panel began studying Marcellus legislation in July and only Wednesday wrapped up its work by sending out a bill with its blessing, except for one panelist — Sen. Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson.

Facemyer objected to it on grounds it sends “an anti-business message” across the state, an opinion shared by an industry leader, while environmental forces felt it is insufficient to protect the air and water and doesn’t afford homeowners sufficient safeguards when rigs are set up on their property.

An old saw at the Capitol holds that a bill is considered a healthy compromise if both sides are somewhat disappointed.

“To expect this to be a perfect bill that makes everybody happy is unrealistically meeting a standard that has never been met,” Kessler said.

Kessler recalled the emotionally charged atmosphere in divorce hearings during the early part of his 30-year law career.

“If one side walked out grinning ear to ear, then somebody really got the shaft,” he said.

“If both came out grimacing, you know it was probably a pretty good resolution. If they both had to give and take, that usually is the sign of a good compromise that would be workable in a real-life application as life moves forward, and this industry moves forward.”

Overall, the Senate president said he sees the select panel’s bill as “a fair and reasonable” effort to provide certainty and predictability in the fledgling industry.

“It is a perfect bill?” he asked. “By no means.

“But I’ve been practicing law 30 years and have served in the Legislature 14 years. I’ve yet to see a perfect bill. I look at my code on the wall in my law office. Twenty volumes of code there. If you pulled any section of a bill in that thing and pointed to it — any page randomly — you will see amended, amended, amended. And that’s the beauty of the law. As laws are implemented, you see how they work or won’t work or have shortcomings in real-life applications. You can change them, tweak them and amend them.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com