Committee advances House Bill 3336 to codify DEP's alternate well-plugging method; surface owners urge further study

A Senate committee voted to report House Bill 3336 to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass, subject to an original double committee reference to the Committee on Judiciary.

Committee counsel explained the bill amends the code section that governs methods of plugging wells to codify a plugging method tested through a DEP pilot program. The counsel said the new method is intended to increase efficiency and allow more abandoned wells to be plugged faster; "This is just a change in methodology," counsel said, and added that the bill does not relieve responsible parties of correcting environmental issues caused by a leaking well.

Jason, general counsel for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, testified that the amendment is the result of an experimental plan the Office of Oil and Gas ran with one producer, Diversified Energy. "We suddenly have had tens of millions of dollars that we didn't previously have for plugging," Jason said, referring to recent federal plugging funds. He told the committee the Diversified project involved 10 wells, nine of which were plugged successfully on the first attempt; one required additional work and was replugged.

Dave McMahon, co-founder of the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization and an attorney, urged the committee to lay the bill over for additional work. McMahon cited a 2018 study by Princeton University and McGill University that examined 113 plugged wells and found about 20% were leaking. "I would suggest that the DEP ought to do a study," McMahon said, and asked the committee to require documentation showing what went wrong with the one well that had to be replugged; he said the affidavit for the second plugging was not in the public records he reviewed.

Senators asked questions of the DEP witness and of McMahon during the discussion. No committee amendments were adopted. The vice chair moved that House Bill 3336 be reported to the full Senate with the recommendation that it do pass but first be referred to the Committee on Judiciary; the motion carried by voice vote.