American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2018 - 109

ConventionSection: Virginia Oil & Gas Association

VOGA Records Successes
In Anti-Industry Fight
By Dan Holder
ABINGDON, VA.-Because Virginia's
natural gas production comes from seven
western counties-about as far as a well
can be from the statehouse in Richmond,
Va., the industry's benefits are unclear to
most of the commonwealth's population,
assesses Virginia Oil & Gas Association
President Ian Landon.
Several years ago, potential gas deposits
in the Taylorville Basin, between Richmond and Washington, D.C., attracted
attention from operators. Landon, manager
of operations, EnerVest Operating LLC
in Abingdon, notes that merely an expressed interest in drilling was enough
to stir up Virginia's other 88 counties.
"People in eastern Virginia haven't
seen the positives that industry offers,
and they have been susceptible to misinformation," Landon says. "Virginia has
had a couple of counties impose pretty
restrictive ordinances. One county approved an outright ban on fracturing. It
is largely symbolic, because there is no
activity there, so the county doesn't feel
it is losing anything."
An update on Virginia's oil and gas
industry will be one of the topics covered
during VOGA's 41st annual convention,
to be held June 20-22 at the Hilton Garden
Inn Ocean Front, Virginia Beach, Va.
Other presentations will look at the commonwealth's pipeline situation and possible impacts of the Marcellus and Utica
shale in neighboring states.
Despite seeing public opposition to
drilling activities across most of the state,
he points out, gas producers recorded a
significant win in this legislative session,
as a proposal to prohibit hydraulic fracturing died in committee. SB 951, introduced by Senator Scott Surovell, DMount Vernon, would have barred any
fracturing operations in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area.
"If a fracturing ban started in eastern
Virginia, where does the anti-fossil-fuel
movement head next? To places with oil
and gas activity," he asserts. "VOGA was
able to work with legislators to stop SB
951, but I anticipate this will be a yearly

adventure for the industry. This issue is
easy for the eastern Virginia legislators
to support because they think it doesn't
cost them anything."
Media reports indicate local governments outside the commonwealth's producing area also have pursued anti-industry
measures, including a zoning ordinance
adopted in King George County in 2016
that imposed setback requirements that
effectively limited drilling to 9 percent
of the county; a 2017 bill in Augusta
County that completely prohibiting fracturing while allowing traditional drilling
methods; and a 2017 unanimous vote by
the Richmond County Board of Supervisors to prohibit drilling. A proposal to
restrict fracturing in Westmoreland County
was turned away after threats of legal action by the Virginia Petroleum Council.
"Most of the ordinances that passed
targeted practices such as 24-hour operations or heavy equipment, and were not
specifically targeting fracturing," Landon
points out. "Some of the setback restrictions really reduce the size of the county
were people can possibly work. VOGA
is monitoring that closely."
Because VOGA is a small association
with limited resources, it has to pick its
battles carefully, Landon suggests.
"None of VOGA's membership has
any desire to undertake any activities in
eastern Virginia. So, most VOGA members
don't want to fight over something in a
part of the state where they have no
interest in operating. But we have to be
aware of the snowball effect," he says.
"The southwestern counties don't have
the legislative power that the eastern
counties have, so the concern is eastern
Virginia may get some momentum building for bans, and then those county bans
will become statewide ones."
Pipeline Concerns
VOGA continues to assess the impacts
of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration's proposed rule
making concerning onshore gas gathering
lines, Landon says. "The concern is PHMSA's one-size-fits-all mentality," he assesses. "Some of the proposed regulations,

based strictly on pipe diameter as opposed
to pipeline pressure and the population
of surrounding areas, are irrational. VOGA
is watching this closely, and is trying to
have a voice on the exploration and production side."
PHMSA says it is proposing to revise
the safety standards for gas pipeline facilities in 49 CFR Part 192, including
gas gathering systems. The planned
changes could make additional highstress lines in densely populated areas
subject to rules, expand which previously
exempt lines in rural areas are covered
by federal regulation, and require all
pipeline operators, whether regulated or
not, to comply with certain federal reporting requirements.
Under the first provision, PHMSA
says it seeks to expand regulation of
Class 1 gas gathering lines at least eight
inches in outside diameter with a maximum allowable operating pressure that
produces a hoop stress of 20 percent or
more of specified minimum yield strength
for metallic lines or more than 125 psig
for nonmetallic lines.
Landon points out that 80 percent of
Virginia's gas production comes from
coalbed methane wells, and involves very
low pressure environments.
"Looking at the line sizes that PHMSA
is talking about, Virginia has a lot of
eight-inch pipe that has 5-15 psi pressure
on it. That is a lot different than shale
plays, where pressure could be 1,000
pounds or more," he says. "Virginia operators are getting caught up in regulations
aimed at shale plays, and that throws
the traditional production industry under
the bus."
An update on the two large pipelines
proposed for the commonwealth also
will be on the annual meeting's agenda,
Landon says.
According to the companies planning
to build them, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline
is a 600-mile project running from West
Virginia to eastern North Carolina, with
laterals to Chesapeake, Va., and two Dominion Energy electric-generating facilities
in North Carolina. The Mountain Valley
Pipeline will carry gas from northwest
JUNE 2018 109

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