The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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October 13, 2011

Legislative panel cuts buffer for Marcellus drilling

By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter

CHARLESTON — Marcellus shale drillers can’t set up shop within 625 feet of a home or building used to shelter farm animals under a key amendment adopted Wednesday by a select legislative panel.

Originally, a 1,000-foot buffer zone was proposed by some to succeed the existing one of 200 feet, but an amendment taken up trimmed that to 750 feet, before it was whittled down again to 625.

After much discussion, the House-Senate panel agreed to the compromise offered by Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson, on a split vote.

Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, one of a handful of panelists who opposed the 625-feet barrier, managed to alter Snyder’s amendment so that the zone could be expanded if evidence of “an unacceptable risk” to public health is uncovered.

Fleischauer said she didn’t view it as unreasonable to keep drillers 1,000 feet away to protect people “who have a baby in the house or work the night shift.”

Committee action followed an appeal by Casey Griffith, who built a “dream house” in Marion County, near Farmington, with his wife, Stacie, only to see his home turn into what he described as a nightmare — constant noise, dust plumes as high as 40 feet, and fears over possible pollutants.

Griffith told the committee the drilling proceeds 24/7 on a six-hole site, and only one of the wells is actually finished. The operation is 223 feet away from his house.

Out of his own pocket, Griffith said he has invested $10,000 to study the potential health drawbacks out of concern for his daughter.

“One thousand feet, I don’t believe, is unreasonable for any site,” he told the committee.

Attorney David McMahon of Charleston, head of the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization, was visibly displeased by the committee vote.

“We’re very disappointed they didn’t base their decision on science,” he said.

“They didn’t fund science to talk about noise levels. They passed a reduced distance of 625 feet and required legislative rule-making to change it, which means the Legislature has a veto. And the Legislature didn’t base the decision today on fact, and it won’t the next time.”

Snyder said he offered the compromise version to avoid an impasse.

“So we didn’t get deadlocked and end up with 200 feet,” he said.

If the current law holds sway with gridlock over the distance, Snyder cautioned, “We will have done a major injustice here.”

Delegate Woody Ireland, R-Ritchie, suggested that noise and pollution levels — not the actual feet from dwellings — should be considered as a more logical approach to the issue.

“Distance may not be the way to do it,” he said.

Ireland found no meaningful data on either noise or pollution when he questioned both an industry spokesman and DEP Secretary Randy Huffman.

“We’re trying to deal with an issue here we don’t know anything about,” he said.

The amendment also forbids Marcellus drilling within 250 feet of a well used for human consumption, 100 feet of an ordinary stream, 200 of a wetland, and 300 feet within a naturally reproducing trout stream.

A select committee was appointed by the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to work toward compromise legislation after a regulatory bill died in the regular session last March 13.

More committee action was planned for today.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has said he would call lawmakers into special session to act on a bill, provided there is consensus on one.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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