Drillers in Ohio face tighter regulations, relaxed taxes

Ohio has some fairly strict regulations, but very low taxes, when it comes to how it's handling the growing shale gas industry in comparison to other states, a recent report finds.
But all states are not the same in terms of their geology, the need to protect local populations and the way they approach and justify their tax environments, say the report's author and a representative of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. “Conditions are different in different states,” said Nathan Richardson, a lawyer and resident scholar at the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Resources for the Future, and one of the authors of the July report. “Let's say you are looking at how deep a well casing has to go to protect groundwater — what you might be looking at could just reflect how deep the groundwater is in different states.”

Mr. Richardson and his colleagues set out to compare taxes and regulations across the states, with an emphasis on those that are participating in the nation's so-called shale gas boom. They released their initial findings in July, updating them at the end of that month to include the provisions of Ohio's latest legislation on oil and gas drilling, Senate Bill 315, which took effect Aug. 1.

Geological variations aside, the report shows that Ohio has caught up with many other major gas-producing states, at least in terms of its regulations. For example, Ohio joined many other producing states by requiring that groundwater be tested for methane and other contaminants, the report finds.

In some areas, Ohio appears to have adopted even more stringent regulations than some other states. For instance, while nearly all states require that drillers encase their well bores in steel and cement near the surface and down through freshwater aquifers, Ohio also requires that drillers use casings on their well bores for 1,000 feet at the bottom of the well. That's twice as much as the 500 feet of casing required in Pennsylvania, Louisiana or California, the report finds.

Also, in the area of disclosure, Ohio is one of only five states that require drillers to disclose both the volume and the concentrations of chemicals they use in their fracking fluid — the mixture of water, sand and chemicals that drillers pump at high pressure into a well to fracture the shale and release its natural gas, oil and other valuable resources.

“If you think disclosure is a good idea, then Ohio is ahead of most other states,” Mr. Richardson said.

Ohio also has among the lowest number of wells per state inspector. Each Ohio inspector is responsible for overseeing between 31 and 140 wells. In some other producing states, such as Texas and Oklahoma, one inspector monitor more than 1,000 wells, the report stated.

That's not just because Ohio has yet to really begin drilling its new shale gas wells in earnest, either, Mr. Richardson said. The study counts all of Ohio's wells, even conventional wells that have been drilled in Ohio for about the last 100 years. Including those in the mix, Ohio already has nearly 35,000 wells to monitor, the report found.

By DAN SHINGLER
4:30 am, September 25, 2012

The question is; what have we done about zoning regulations.  Our current law required driller to hide well heads, storage tanks and related equipment to a distance of 500' from public roads.  Current laws also allow wells and starage tanks to be 200' and 150' respectively, from any dwelling.  THIS IS NOT SUFFICIENT!  Equipment should be 100' from a dwelling and we need to place people in positions that will fight for those changes.  IS ODNR REALLY ON OUR SIDE?

Debris left over from vertical drilling over the last 50 years is now littering our landscape and our farmers fields with machinery and storage tanks that still hold hazardous fluids left by irresponsible driller.  Abandoned wells should be PLUGGED!

Robin L Brower
Trumbull Township
Board of Zoning Appeals