From PennEnvironment comes a great resource for those who are trying to keep up with the ever-changing political environment in Pennsylvania: a list of PA gas legislation related to unconventional natural gas extraction. Many thanks to Kristen Tobin, Erika Staaf, and colleagues for making this information easily accessible to the public.

The listed will be updated periodically when new information becomes available. If you have any questions or comments regarding this information, please contact Erika. This list is organized alphabetically by the bill name/number. Last updated: June 3, 2013

Bill Number	Sponsor	Title/Description	Last Action
HB 33	Rep. Kula	An Act amending Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for subjects of local taxation and for valuation of property. Legislation Providing for a County Assessment on Oil and Gas.	Jan. 9, 2013 – Referred to House Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 66	Rep. Sturla	An Act amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for requirements for natural gas suppliers and for requirements for electric generation suppliers. Legislation to Prohibit Certain Fees by Electric Generation Suppliers and Natural Gas Suppliers.	Jan. 10, 2013 – Referred to House Committee of Consumer Affairs
HB 96	Rep. Godshall	An Act amending the act of July 11, 2006 (P.L.1134, No.115), known as the Dormant Oil and Gas Act, further providing for purpose, for definitions and for creation of trust for unknown owners.	Jan. 14, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 97 Former HB 375	Rep. Godshall	An Act amending the act of July 11, 2006 (P.L.1134, No.115), known as the Dormant Oil and Gas Act, providing for oil and gas estate abandonment and for preservation of interests in oil and gas.	Jan. 14, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 200	Rep. Vitali	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for distribution of fee and for Statewide initiatives; providing for the PA Sunshine Solar Program; and making a related repeal.	Feb. 13, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 268	Rep. White	An Act providing for disclosure of certain test results by the Department of Environmental Protection; and imposing a civil penalty.	Jan. 23, 2013 -Referred to House Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 301	Rep. Saylor	An Act amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known as the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for a natural gas fleet vehicle tax credit; and imposing penalties.	Apr. 24, 2013 – Referred to Senate Committee on Finance
HB 305 Marcellus Works Package	Rep. Denlinger	An Act amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known as the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for a natural gas corridor tax credit; and imposing penalties.	Feb. 5, 2013 – Referred to Finance
HB 307 Marcellus Works Package	Rep. Evankovich	An Act amending the act of January 8, 1960 (1959 P.L.2119, No.787), known as the Air Pollution Control Act, providing for the Clean Vehicles Program.	Feb. 5, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 309 Marcellus Works Package	Rep. Grove	An Act amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known as the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for a natural gas vehicle tax credit.	Feb. 5, 2013 – Referred to Finance
HB 351	Rep. Reed	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in general requirements, further providing for well permits.	Jan. 29, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 402 Former HB 2320	Rep. Pickett	An Act imposing duties on lessees of oil and natural gas leases; and providing for the recording of releases from oil and natural gas leases and of affidavits of termination or cancellation.	Jan. 29, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 444	Rep. Causer	An Act amending the act of May 17, 1929 (P.L.1798, No.591), referred to as the Forest Reserves Municipal Financial Relief Law, providing for distribution of timber, wood products and gas and oil ground rentals and royalties.	Jan. 30, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 495	Rep. Boback	An Act providing for the erosion and sedimentation program to be administered by delegation agreements between the Department of Environmental Protection and conservation districts. Co-sponsorship of Legislation – Provides for Erosion & Sedimentation Agreements Between DEP and County Conservation Districts.	Feb. 4, 2013 – Referred to House Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 661	Rep. Milne	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in development, in general requirements relating to development, further providing for use of safety devices. “Promoting the Natural Gas Sector by Enhancing Public Safety Communications” (Prior HB2312)	Feb. 11, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 800 Formerly HB 230	Rep. Mundy	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for well location restrictions. “Reintroduction of Legislation: Prohibiting hydraulic fracturing or horizontal drilling within 2,500 feet of a primary source of a community water system”	Feb. 25, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 801 Formerly HB 234	Rep. Mundy	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for definitions and for well location restrictions. “Reintroduction of Legislation: Providing for the tracking of Marcellus Shale wastewater”	Feb. 25, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 880	Rep. Conklin	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in development, further providing for well permits.	Mar. 11, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 881 Formerly HB 1631	Rep. Conklin	An Act amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, providing for toll-free response telephone number. Legislation Providing for a Telephone Number to Report Suspected Violations of Oil and Gas Laws	Mar. 11, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 888	Rep. Millard	An Act amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, in powers and duties of Department of General Services and its departmental administrative and advisory boards and commissions, further providing for State heating system to be fueled by coal or natural gas. State heating system to be fueled by coal or natural gas	Mar. 11, 2013 – Referred to House Committee on State Government
HB 904	Rep. Reese	An Act providing for certain disclosure statements in easement agreements for certain natural gas pipelines	Mar. 11, 2013 – Referred to House Committee on State Government
HB 950	Rep. Vitali	An Act providing for a moratorium on leasing lands owned and managed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for the purposes of oil and natural gas development.	Mar. 11, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 986	Rep. Everett	An Act requiring well operators to provide complete water analysis results to the Department of Environmental Protection under certain circumstances.	Mar. 13, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 994	Rep. Petri	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in development, further providing for well permits, for general gas storage reservoir operations and for regulations.	Mar. 14, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 1015	Rep. M.K Keller	An Act amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known as the Tax Reform Code of 1971, providing for a natural gas farm equipment conversion tax credit. Natural Gas Farm Equipment Conversion Tax Credit.	Mar. 18, 2013 – Referred to House Committee on Finance
HB 1188	Rep. Payne	An Act amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for sliding scale of rates and adjustments and for duties of natural gas distribution companies. Co-sponsorship – Representative Payne – amend Natural Gas Choice and Competition Act.	Feb. 25, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HB 1414	Rep. Everett	An Act amending the act of July 20, 1979 (P.L.183, No.60), entitled “An act regulating the terms and conditions of certain leases regarding natural gas and oil,” further providing for validity of leases and guaranteeing a royalty; adding definitions; providing for apportionment; further providing for commencement of guaranteed royalty; providing for payment information to interest owners and for accumulation of proceeds from production; and making editorial changes. Transparency of Deductions from Royalty Checks.	May 16, 2013 – Referred to House Committee on Environmental Resources and Energyy
HR 106	Rep. Mundy	A Resolution memorializing the Congress of the United States to repeal the provision in the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act that exempts oil and gas industries from restrictions on hydraulic fracturing operations located near drinking water sources, and to require oil and gas industries to disclose all hydraulic fracturing chemicals and chemical constituents in the event of a medical emergency.	Feb. 25, 2013 – Referred to Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
HR 249	Rep. Swanger	A Resolution supporting continued and increased development and delivery of oil derived from North American oil reserves to American refineries and urging the President and Congress of the United States to support the continued and increased production and use of American natural gas. Resolution re: Gas Prices and Domestic Oil Drilling.	Apr. 16, 2013 – Referred to House Committee on State Government
HB 683	Rep. Haluska	An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in arson, criminal mischief and other property destruction, providing for the offense of interfering with agricultural operations.	Feb. 12 – Referred to Judiciary
SB 154	Sen. Greenleaf	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in development, providing for gas mineral rights lease agreement disclosure and indemnification.	Jan. 15, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 213	Sen. Farnese	An Act transferring funds from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund to the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority Fund for investments in Pennsylvania-related companies that promote the development of next-generation infrastructure technologies or technology-related investments to support development of life science, information technology or green energy industries.	Feb. 1, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 218	Sen. Solobay	An Act amending the act of July 9, 2008 (1st Sp.Sess., P.L.1873, No.1), known as the Alternative Energy Investment Act, further providing for alternative and clean energy supply chain initiatives. Solar & Natural Gas Supply Chain Initiative.	Feb. 4, 2013 – Referred to Senate Committee on Community, Economic and Recreational Development
SB 258	Sen. Yaw	An Act amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in particular rights and immunities, providing for actions to quiet title involving subsurface rights. Abandonment of Mineral Rights	Jan. 17, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 259	Sen. Yaw	An Act amending the act of July 20, 1979 (P.L.183, No.60), entitled “An act regulating the terms and conditions of certain leases regarding natural gas and oil,” adding definitions; providing for payment information to interest owners for accumulation of proceeds from production; and making editorial changes. Division Order for Royalties	Feb. 5, 2013(50-0) [Senate] –Third consideration and final passage
SB 291	Sen. Erickson	An Act establishing a program for the purchase of certain types of environmental liability insurance and for subsidies for the costs of premiums; and providing for powers and duties of the Department of Environmental Protection.	Jan. 24, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 355	Sen. Yaw	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, consolidating the Oil and Gas Conservation Law with modifications relating to definitions, standard unit order, process, administration, standard of review, hearings and appeals, establishment of units, integration of various interests, lease extension and scope; providing for gas and hazardous liquids pipelines; and making a related repeal.	Jan. 31, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 356	Sen. Yaw	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for lease extended by production.	Jan. 31, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 411	Sen. Kasunic	An Act amending Title 27 (Environmental Resources) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for definitions, for eligibility and project inventory, for landowner liability limitation and exceptions, for project liability limitation and exceptions and for exceptions. Use of Acid Mine Water for Hydraulic Fracturing and Industrial Applications.	Feb. 12, 2013 – First consideration Mar. 13, 2013 -Laid on the table
SB 459	Sen. Costa	An Act relating to safe drinking water; establishing the Emergency Drinking Water Support Fund; and providing for testing, for purchase of clean drinking water and for surcharge. Well Water Testing Fund	Feb. 8, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 504	Sen. Dinniman	An Act amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, in powers and duties of Department of Environmental Protection, further providing for cooperation with municipalities. DEP Public Notification and Access to Information Act; Pipeline Acre-for-Acre; and Condemnation Approval	Feb. 26, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 506	Sen. Dinniman	An Act amending the act of December 22, 2011 (P.L.586, No.127), known as the Gas and Hazardous Liquids Pipelines Act, further providing for definitions; and providing for recreational use and for storm water runoff.  DEP Public Notification and Access to Information Act; Pipeline Acre-for-Acre; and Condemnation Approval	Feb. 26, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 507	Sen. Dinniman	An Act amending the act of June 30, 1981 (P.L.128, No.43), known as the Agricultural Area Security Law, further providing for limitation on certain governmental actions. DEP Public Notification and Access to Information Act; Pipeline Acre-for-Acre; and Condemnation Approval	Feb. 26, 2013 – Referred to Agriculture and Rural Affairs
SB 512	Sen. Kasunic	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in development, further providing for enforcement orders.	Feb. 20, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 540	Sen. Leach	An Act providing for a moratorium on leasing State forest lands for the purposes of natural gas exploration, drilling or production; imposing duties on the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; and providing for report contents and for Legislative Budget and Finance Committee study. Moratorium on Leasing State Forest Land for Natural Gas Drilling	Feb. 21, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 544	Sen. Leach	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in development, further providing for hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure requirements. Physician access to and disclosure of chemicals in Marcellus Shale hydro-fracking	Feb. 21, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 555	Sen. Scarnati	An Act establishing the Health Advisory Panel on Shale Gas Extraction and Natural Gas Use; and providing for its powers and duties. Marcellus Shale Health Advisory Panel. Physician access to and disclosure of chemicals in Marcellus Shale hydro-fracking	Mar. 20, 2013 – Referred to Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare
SB 592	Sen Fontana	An Act amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for protection of water supplies. Co Sponsorship: Water Testing Results by DEP	Mar. 1, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SB 738	Sen Yaw	An Act providing for distribution system extension and expansion plans to increase natural gas usage in this Commonwealth. Pennsylvania Natural Gas Expansion and Development Initiative. Co Sponsorship: Water Testing Results by DEP	May 7, 2013 – Referred to Senate Committee on Appropriations
SB 739	Sen Yaw	An Act amending the act of July 9, 2008 (1st Sp.Sess., P.L.1873, No.1), known as the Alternative Energy Investment Act, further providing for Commonwealth Financing Authority. Co Sponsorship: Water Testing Results by DEP	May 7, 2013 – Re-Referred to Senate Committee on Appropriations
SB 941	Sen Yudichak	An Act amending the act of June 28, 1995 (P.L.89, No.18), known as the Conservation and Natural Resources Act, further providing for forests. Legislation to Require A Public Hearing Before Leasing State Land. Co Sponsorship: Water Testing Results by DEP	May 15, 2013 – Referred to Senate Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy
TBA	Sen. Ferlo	An Act enacting a moratorium on unconventional well natural gas drilling in the Commonwealth. The moratorium would prohibit the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from issuing new unconventional well permits while a seven member commission studies the varied environmental impacts that the natural gas industry has on the Commonwealth. .	Memorandum posted on April 30, 2013
SR 29	Sen. Yaw	A Resolution directing the Center for Rural Pennsylvania to study the potential for increased residential, commercial and industrial natural gas distribution infrastructure by Pennsylvania’s public utilities to unserved and underserved areas of this Commonwealth.	Mar. 14, 2013 – Transmitted as directed
SR 38	Sen. Solobay	A Resolution directing the Department of General Services to conduct a study to determine the associated costs and feasibility of converting and retrofitting State-owned vehicles with compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas engines for the purpose of modernizing the State fleet. State Fleet Natural Gas Vehicle Study.	Mar. 1, 2013 – Referred to Senate Committee on State Government
SR 39	Sen. Alloway	A Resolution directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study of the establishment, implementation and administration of fees for the consumptive use and degradation of water. Consumptive Use of Water	Mar. 13, 2013 – Referred to Environmental Resources and Energy
SR 57	Sen. Cornman	A Resolution directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study on the feasibility and effectiveness of converting the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus system to natural gas fuel. LBFC Natural Gas Fuel Study for SEPTA Buses. Consumptive Use of Water	Apr. 4, 2013 – Referred to Senate Committee on Transportation

Last updated: June 3, 2013

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently published its biannual reports for production and waste from unconventional wells throughout the state for the last half of 2012. FracTracker has learned the hard way not to be too eager in analyzing this data.  In the previous cycle, this data was released without the contribution several operators, one of which happened to be the biggest player in the state, Chesapeake Appalachia.  That incident prompted the inclusion of a data disclaimer from DEP, which includes the following text:

The Oil and Gas Act reporting is a self-reporting system, meaning that data is reported from producers to DEP as required by law. All production data is posted as it was received from the unconventional well operators. DEP does not independently verify the data before it is posted.

While the Oil and Gas Act requires accurate and on-time data reporting by producers, and the producers and DEP endeavor to correct any errors discovered after the data is posted, DEP makes no claims, promises or guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the operators’ data that DEP is required to post.

While considering content regarding production and waste in Pennsylvania, it is worth noting that the DEP considers the data to belong to the various operators.  All data for this post was downloaded on February 25, 2013, and while it seems reasonably complete, it is important to note that there could be operators which have not posted their data to DEP in a timely fashion.

PA Production and Waste From Unconventional Wells: July 2012 to December 2012. Click on any map icon for more information, or click the “Fullscreen” button at the top right of the map to access more toolbars.  To access data for individual wells, viewers must zoom in to 1:750,000, or an area equivalent to several counties.

The default map frame includes most of the activity for unconventional oil and gas production and waste from Pennsylvania, but if you zoom out, you can find a landfill in southwestern Idaho that accepted 11 tons of flowback fracturing sand for disposal.  Unfortunately, the available data does not give any indication of why an operator might choose to ship waste over 2,000 miles away from its source.

Below are the six month statewide production and waste totals for Pennsylvania’s unconventional wells, including the number of wells that contributed to each total:

 

The total gas produced was over 1.1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) for the six month period, which was over 250 billion cubic feet (Bcf) higher than the previous total of 895 Bcf.

And here is a look at the disposal method for each type of waste, in terms of percentage:

Note that while road spreading rounds down to 0%, 425 barrels of produced fluid were used in this effort.

Ever since the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) first released violation data to FracTracker in October 2010, our viewers have wanted to know if there were any discernible patterns in the data.  Since that time, the format of the data has changed, the data categories have changed, and the analyses at FracTracker have continued to evolve.  The gold standard has always been some variation on the number of violations per well (VpW), which takes into account the reality that some operators have many more wells than others, so ranking by the total number of violations would show the largest operators in the worst light.

Even so, there are many ways to calculate the data.  The first effort was violations per offending well, which more than anything measures how badly things go when they do go wrong.  The difference between that and violations per drilled well is more than trivial semantics, because it’s designed to show how often things go wrong per attempt.  This same analysis also includes violations per amount of gas produced, which is more of a cost/benefit analysis, which allows for the possibility that some violations may be “worth it” more so than others, if the well is an especially large producer.

But even violations per drilled well is less straght-forward than one might think.  You could look at a given time frame, or the entire period of available data–either way you do it there will be some skew, whether because some activity is excluded, or because the data for drilled wells goes back three years further than violations data.

There is also the fact that some violation ID numbers appear more than one time on the compliance report, a fact that makes, “What is a violation?” something of an existential question.  Summaries by PADEP show that the agency counts violations by the number of violation IDs that have been issued, although a close look at the data really does make it seem like related issues are sometimes lumped together into a single violation ID, although usually not.

And finally, there is the whole issue of whether we should even bother to count administrative violations, or if we should limit it to the environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) category.  In February 2012, FracTracker argued to include administrative violations, as a closer look at those violations showed that it included real-world impacts, and not just a failure to dot i’s and cross t’s.  A few months later, the University of Buffalo’s Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI) argued, among other things, to exclude them.  FracTracker then created a Classify the Violation Quiz, which asks users to guess whether a given violation was classified as administrative or EH&S.  This anonymous quiz was set up so that participants who got half of the questions correct would pass, but despite the fact that each question only has two possible answers, a large majority of respondents have failed.  A few months later, the prime advocate for excluding administrative violations–the SRSI–was closed by the University of Buffalo amid a cloud of ethics concerns.

It is a shame that a simple metric like violations per well should require such a preamble, but at FracTracker, we strive to be completely open with what we have done with the data.  In this case, I have looked at both the number of violation IDs issued as well as the raw number of appearances on the report.  Administrative violations are rightfully included.  Wells are included if their spud date was in 2012, and violations are included if their violation issue date was in 2012.  This data has been summarized by drilling operator and by county.  So let’s get to it:

The following line chart shows the violations per well as tabulated by unique violation ID numbers issued:

In the chart above, Penn Virginia and Enerplus seem to be particularly egregious in terms of violations per the number of wells drilled, but it should be pointed out that both operators had only one well drilled in 2012, reminding us of the importance of sample size.  Here then is the same data, including only operators that drilled 10 or more wells in 2012:

The state-wide average in this category is 0.50 violations per well drilled.

Let’s take a look at the data in terms of geography:

Violations per well by county for unconventional wells in Pennsylvania

As with operators, there is considerable variation in terms of violations per well between the various counties: