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Committee narrows HB1385 to require notice for wastewater disposal-well permit applications in affected districts
Summary
Rep. Cameron Cooper amended HB1385 to limit notifications to lawmakers to permit applications for wastewater disposal wells in their districts and to allow email notices; committee approved the change.
Representative Cameron Cooper, R-District 507, told the Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee that he amended HB1385 to narrow the bill’s notification requirement to the issue he sought to address: wastewater disposal wells.
"So, in good faith, I made a change to this bill to limit it to the issue that I was trying to solve, and that was on the wastewater disposal wells," Cooper said. The amendment also allows the Oil and Gas Commission to notify legislators via email instead of only by written letter.
Cooper said the Oil and Gas Commission already notifies county judges when a permit application is filed in their county; the bill would ask the commission to also notify the representative for the district where a permit application for a wastewater disposal well is filed. He noted that increased drilling activity in the Fayetteville shale could increase demand for disposal wells.
"So this may become a slightly bigger issue in those counties that are in the Fayetteville shell," Cooper said.
Committee members asked no questions; Cooper closed and the committee approved the amendment and the bill by voice vote. The transcript does not show a roll-call tally.
