Copyright December, 2010 - WV SORO

Previous - Slide 22 - Next      

Our state is facing this new industrialization of rural West Virginia with regulatory statutes have not been modified in decades, and a staff that is already 6,000 wells behind in forcing drillers to plug played out wells (not counting 13,000 played out wells that have become orphaned with no one to plug them because we did not require them to be plugged before the operator went out of business).  There are only 17 inspectors for 55,000 active wells, the played out/orphaned wells mentioned above, plus the 900 to 3,000 new permit applications a year.  Not all of these will be drilled, but those that are drilled should have multiple visits by inspectors to prevent erosion and stream sedimentation, damage to groundwater and other pollution.  West Virginia needs to overhaul and modernize of its oversight of gas well drilling, and commit significantly more resources to address the impacts of this industrialization.

In addition to addressing issues of concern related to Marcellus Shale drilling, legislation is also needed to address problems with the drilling and plugging of conventional gas wells.