American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017 - 114

IOGAWV Opposes TENORM Regulation
CHARLESTON, W.V.-The Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia is pushing back against regulations
proposed by the West Virginia Department
of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR) for the receipt, possession, use,
transfer and disposal of technologically
enhanced naturally occurring radioactive
material.
IOGAWV filed comments in conjunction with the West Virginia Oil & Natural
Gas Association in late July on regulations
released for comment by DHHR the previous month. The comments contend that,
among other things:
* The proposed rules exceed the scope
of WVDHHR's authority.
* Any regulation of TENORM from
oil and gas activities should be done by
the state Department of Environmental
Protection's Office of Oil & Gas.
* The rules are not justified by the
reports the WVDHHR cites as rationale.
* The fiscal note accompanying the
rules is inadequate.
The WVDHHR's proposed rules establish licensing and registration requirements that include a $500 registration
fee, an environmental compliance background review and a criminal history
check for "any person who receives, possesses, uses, processes, transfers, distributes
or disposes of TENORM."
The proposed rules indicate registration
is contingent on the applicant implementing and periodically reviewing a radiation
protection program that incorporates best
management practices.
The rules also specify the qualifications
and training requirements for a mandatory
radiation safety officer and training for
other affected employees. They include
storage tank specifications, container requirements for transporting TENORM
along with maximum radiation levels,
transportation manifests, record keeping
and reporting, and financial assurance.

Industry Comments
IOGAWV and WVONGA contend
the authorities the WVDHHR cites-Section 16-1-4(b)(2), (5) & (8), Section 161-6(m) and Section 16-1-11-address sanitary conditions, food and drug standards,
and occupational and industrial health
hazards, and are inappropriate for oil
field TENORM.
The associations argue that in passing
the West Virginia Solid Waste Management Act, which allows commercial solid
waste facilities to receive drill cuttings
and drilling waste, the West Virginia

Legislature "intended to give the WVDEP
exclusive authority to regulate the disposal
of such wastes, including any containing
TENORM."
The associations point out that the
WVDHHR references a report published
by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in January 2015
and revised in May 2016 that concludes
there "is a potential for radiological environmental impacts" from spills of hydraulic fracturing fluids, flowback fluid
and produced water. However, the associations counter, "The PaDEP report did
not evaluate the reasonable likelihood of
such spills."
Indeed, they delineate, the PaDEP report specifically concludes "there is little
potential for internal radiation exposure
to workers and members of the public"
from oil and gas activities ranging from
drilling operations; flowback; the handling,
hauling and temporary storage of both
vertical and horizontal drill cuttings; exposure to frac sand or drilling mud; and
the temporary storage of frac and flowback
fluid, and produced water.
"It is disingenuous to select out-ofcontext quotes from the PaDEP report,"
when "a fair reading reflects . . . 'little
potential for radiological exposure to
workers and members of the public'
related to oil and gas drilling and completion activities," IOGAWV and WVONGA insist.
The two associations also comment
that the WVDHHR does not mention a
more recent study of unconventional

wells in Monongalia County, W.V., conducted by West Virginia and Ohio State
universities in conjunction with industry
and the U.S. Department of Energy's
National Energy Technology Laboratory,
nor a July 2015 report by the WVDEP.
Both those studies, IOGAWV and
WVONGA say, "simply do not find a
significant threat (or radiation exposure
from) drill cuttings and landfill leachate."
IOGAWV and WVONGA point out
in their comments that the fiscal note
prepared by the WVDHHR does not address costs associated with inspecting or
labeling containers, expanding the state's
aboveground storage tank rule to cover
TENORM tanks, sampling and analyzing
TENORM waste, employee training, posting of financial assurance, and record
keeping and reporting.
Further, noting that additional regulatory compliance costs could discourage
investment in West Virginia resource
development, the associations say the
fiscal note also fails to account for the
loss of severance and income tax revenues, county ad valorem taxes, and
royalty payments.
The two associations also argue that
rules based on reports that focus on hydraulically fractured, horizontal shale
wells should not be applied to conventional
well or coalbed methane operations. And
they contend the WVDHHR's proposed
"one-size-fits-all" rules "unnecessarily
and unreasonably burden operators where
little or no risk is present."
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Mountain Valley Pipeline Moves Ahead At FERC
WASHINGTON-The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission has issued the
final environmental impact statement for
the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 304mile, 42-inch diameter project to move 2
Bcf a day of natural gas from West Virginia's Marcellus and Utica plays to an
interconnect in Virginia for transport to
markets in the Mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States. FERC made a similar determination for the related Equitrans
Expansion Project.
Aboveground facilities associated with
the proposed pipeline include three compression stations totaling 171,600 horsepower, four meter stations and an interconnection, three new taps, five pig
launchers and receivers, and 36 mainline
block valves, Mountain Valley says.
According to FERC documentation,

114 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

the pipeline will be constructed and owned
by Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, which
is a joint venture of EQT Midstream
Partners LP; NextEra US Gas Assets
LLC; Con Edison Transmission Inc.;
WGL Midstream; and RGC Midstream
LLC. EQT Midstream Partners will operate the pipeline.
The Equitrans project is designed to
move as much as 600,000 dekatherms a
day of gas to interconnects with Mountain
Valley and other pipelines, the company
says. Operated by a subsidiary of EQT
Midstream, it consists of seven miles of
pipeline and a compressor station in
Greene County, Pa.
Both projects are awaiting final FERC
certificate decision. Mountain Valley has
a scheduled in-service date of the fourth
quarter of 2018.
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017

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