West Virginia Legislature to Consider Horizontal Well Rules and Several Energy Bills
The State Journal reports that West Virginia lawmakers introduced 60 energy-related bills in the first two days of the 2013 regular West Virginia legislative session. Twenty four of the bills concern natural gas, while 16 address a broad range of coal-related issues. In addition, The Dominion Post reports that West Virginia’s joint Legislative Rule Making Review Committee gave a “qualified blessing” to the rules proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to govern horizontal well development. WVDEP developed the proposed rules in 2012 in an effort to implement the Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act of 2011. In the next step of the rulemaking process, the proposed rules will be reviewed by House and Senate committees.