In 2004, the Ohio legislature stripped cities of the power to regulate gas and oil drilling within their borders and gave it to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Little noticed at the time, the law has proven increasingly controversial, as drilling has spread from rural to exurban and even suburban communities (see Scene‘s “Drill Baby Drill,” September 30).
State Senator Tom Niehaus’s (R-14) senate bill 165 would update to the state’s gas- and oil-well regulations. A regular recipient of campaign contributions from the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, Niehaus has garnered stalwart ODNR support for the bill, which does not return power to municipalities but focuses on details like increasing the setback minimum for wellheads to property lines from 75 feet to 150.
Meanwhile, State Senator Tim Grendell (R-18) is pushing legislation that would push that setback to 1,000 feet and reinstate local jurisdiction, to no avail. He is vowing to fight to the bitter end for amendments to the Niehaus bill, saying, “We owe it to the people to keep trying.”
But if a recent meeting in North Royalton meeting is any indication, Grendell has an uphill battle, at least with ODNR, regardless of how popular these measures might be with worried homeowners.
On December 3, approximately 75 residents and area officials converged on North Royalton High School for a town-hall meeting. Ohio Representative Matt Patten (D-18) of Strongsville sponsored the meeting, which was run by ODNR officials, including director Sean Logan.
Logan called SB 165 “the most significant regulatory update for drilling rules since 1969.” The bill would add 16 field inspectors to the state’s pool of 19 and increase the current 21-day permit approval period to 30 days, which, said Logan, would allow more time to conduct onsite meetings with local representatives.
Nine whole days and 75 more feet between a gas well and your barbeque grill? Most audience members regarded this with set jaws and crossed arms.
“We would not permit something if it was not safe,” said Logan. That comment was met with a round of snorts and guffaws. He added, “Safety is paramount.”
“Right,” said one resident with disdain. “Just be honest,” said another.
Residents complained about poor landscaping, oil trucks racing down otherwise quiet streets and declining property values. Logan advised residents to be savvy negotiators with drilling companies and to hire lawyers. He said the ODNR had no traffic jurisdiction.
Scene asked Logan about a deadly hydrogen sulfide accident in Guernsey County last September. What had happened? What was the ODNR doing to prevent this sort of accident occurring in the future?
At first, Logan downplayed the accident, saying it happened all the way down in Guernsey County and that this audience probably wouldn’t be interested in hearing about it. “We’d like to hear,” said an audience member amid murmurs of agreement.
Logan claimed to have limited knowledge about the incident. He turned the floor over to ODNR deputy chief Scott Kell, who said that while adjusting an environmental liner at the site, Kenneth Hanson, a worker with Chipco Gas and Oil Services out of Zanesville, made a “bad decision” and subjected himself to a highly concentrated bubble of hydrogen sulfide.
“It appears one of the workers lapsed in judgment, thinking it was the right thing to do,” said Kell. “And it was a fatal decision.” He added that the “employee was not carrying a monitor,” although the well was in an area known to harbor hydrogen sulfide. Hanson did not survive. Another man was critically injured, but was expected to make a full recovery.
Antrim Fire Chief Don Warnock was the first responder on the scene. Contacted after the meeting, he reported that neither Hanson nor the other worker he pulled from the scene was wearing an air pack. He said there were no ODNR personnel onsite.
Corroborating that story is all but impossible. Chipco representatives won’t talk about the event. Chief Warnock was happy to answer questions but didn’t know what happened prior to his arrival when the men were already down.
LAPSED JUDGMENT? Negotiate? Hire an attorney? Consciously or not, ODNR reps respond to tough questions by blaming the victims.
They did say that SB 165 would require beefed-up concrete casings on all wells, regardless of whether or not they are within known hydrogen sulfide areas. Future procedures would be done with fluid to further suppress gas leaks. The well in Guernsey County, they said, was installed years ago before any safeguards were in place. When asked about hydrogen sulfide monitors, Logan said they are unnecessary if construction is done properly.
He called proposals in SB 165 preventative measures, like “putting a fence at the top of the cliff instead of a net at the bottom.”
SB 165, however, would not further limit the number of wellheads on a property, which — courtesy of a process called directional drilling — can turn a wooded lot in a residential neighborhood into an oil field. Current legislation also allows drillers to include any acreage in a well’s unit (usually 20 acres) as long as it abuts another property in the unit. Uncooperative residents are simply circumvented. Hence, homeowners 300 feet from a well may get no royalties, while others a half-mile away are in on the pool. Resulting plots of well units are clearly gerrymandered to include amenable owners. So how does a resident negotiate with a system that easily excludes them?
Logan said SB 165 will require more “compact” units but had no additional details. “We will define ‘compact’ in the rule-making process,” he said. “Is that a good answer?”
One man asked about mandatory pooling. Logan explained that mandating a property owner to be included in a well unit prevents a minority stakeholder from stopping the majority from drilling their well. Residents can protest the mandate in front of the Technical Advisory Council, which is composed of eight members — six of whom are oil and gas industry representatives.
Logan admitted that some drillers were abusing the mandatory pooling option and that SB 165 will put a $5,000 fee on mandatory pooling permits and allow only five such permits per driller annually — unless the Technical Advisory Council advises that more should be granted.
Some residents spoke in favor of the wells and said others should be proud to have them in their neighborhoods. One man got choked up when he described how his children will inherit his property, his well and the associated royalties. At the end of the night, however, doubt prevailed about how significant the local impact of SB 165 will be.
One disgusted resident summed it up. “We have zoning against clotheslines,” she said. “But not gas wells.”
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2009.
Maybe Ohio residents need to unite in a publicity campaign that aims at where it would hurt the State and its economic infrastructure: discourage people (taxpayers) and businesses to locate to OH because it is likely that someone could be drilling for gas in their proverbial backyard, ruin their water, their air and their property value without warning and without recourse. Obviously, some OH legislators think they can continue to abuse their power by ignoring their voting base and pleasing their lobbies.
If you look at the map titled “Natural gas shales: embedded in this link, part of Ohio’s troubles become clear:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/02/news/econo…
Half of our state has gas, the other does not. Hence, legislators in western part of the state couldn’t care less about complaints from residents in the eastern part. They have no absolutely incentive to defy the powerful industry lobbyists.
Actually the western half of the state has an interest in this legislation as they currently have close to 40,000 unplugged oil wells from the 1800s through current day. These are NOT covered by the ODNR orphan well program YET and so far the citizens out that way are struggling with a possible burden of increase in LOCAL TAXES to pay for 10k per well to plug! With no other improvements to SB 165, these parts of the state will continue to be ignored by the understaffed ODNR in favor of placing all their resource time and money on battling citizens and local authorities on numerous urban well permits as opposed to shifting some of the burden to local officials and focusing much needed time,energy on the hazardous situation in the western half. These wells are leaking oil into many water wells and hydrogen sulfide leaks are also common. The House Reps in the west better pay close attention and protect their constituents.
Being in the position of not knowing what goes on or in the property next door to me until it is to late makes my city look the other way due to the fact that my city can tell me what , where and if I can put something on my private property but the guy next door can put a gas well on his and my city can’t do a thing about it. So I am to be indepted to who for this genis act?
I have been educating myself since I was rudely informed that my neighbor signed a gas well lease. I have involved my neighbors in this process. I have pleaded with my city for help and support. I have put myself in contact with NEOGAP and I am pushing forward with them. I am disappointed in the education and awareness not available to us. I am sorry for those who do not see the problem of Mandatory Pooling or Local Control. If nothing else please give us a 1000 foot set back and see the needs of others rather than the needs of the almighty dollar, free gas and royalities that benefit a select few. The distruction of a neighborhood is on its way along with gas wells. The ability to saturate our cities with these health and safety problems should not be beyond our repair. Educate yourself and begin the repair. Start by requesting our Govenor to pay attention to us and the cities he was elected to protect. Catalano Drive Resident
One absolute fact that the ODNR has been able to hide, and deny, for a long time is that a lot of their inspectors DON’T ENFORCE MANY OF THE SAFTEY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RULES THAT ARE REQUIRED BY THE DRILLING PERMITS THAT THEY ISSUE!!!. The ODNR is constantly telling the public about all the great measures that they require the oil & gas companys to follow while drilling a well. This only SOUNDS good. They tell us that story even when they KNOW that many of their OWN rules are being ignored by the driller. One reason that they have been ABLE to hide this fact is because that the ODNR KNOWS that most of the public doesn’t have any idea about what the permit rules even mean. But I believe the most disturbing reason is because the ODNR knows that most of the public has TRUST in them and BELIEVE that they are enforcing their own rules, even when they are not. I am someone who was in the drilling business for many years and enjoyed my work. I have never been disgruntled toward the industry but I do have a conscience and when I see the public being decieved and put at risk because the driller and ODNR are not doing things safely, even in urban areas, I will do whatever I can to stop them. Jim
Ms. O’brien,
Senate Bill 165 (Mr. Niehaus) passed in the senate with bipartisan support.
Mr. Grendall’s amendments (every one of them) were voted DOWN by his
colleagues in the Senate.
S.B. 165 is a very good piece of legislation. It increases funding to ODNR, provides for more inspectors, addresses idle wells in a very meaningful way, tightens regulations in a substantial fashion.
Only people or organizations that want to ELIMINATE the oil and natural gas business in Ohio would not like S.B. 165.
Common sense prevailed in the Ohio Senate. I am confident that the Ohio House will handle this situation in the same fashion.
Everyone is for alternative supplemental) sources of energy.
But right now they only account for 7% of the energy supply to this nation.
So, until alternatives can substantially contribute to our overall energy mix,, this country needs a strong, vibrant oil and natural gas industry.
You cant run your car on “hate for the petroleum industry”
You cant heat your home this winter with “hate for the petroleum industry”.
You cant take a hot shower with “dreams of a carbon free society”.
SB 196 by Grendell also increases funding to ODNR, provides for more inspectors, addresses idle wells in a very meaningful way, tightens regulations in a substantial fashion. The only difference is it went a step further to protect the rights of citizens and property owners leasing their minerals. Amendments to SB 165 only failed by a handful of votes and also had bipartisian support. If the House passes 165 without a few amendments it will be devastating for the majority of people in Ohio to the benefit of a small special interest group who produces less than 10% of the gas used in Ohio and less than 5% of the gas contributed to the US market.
Any student of economics will tell you that the LAST unit of any commodity actually controls the price of that commodity..
Every molecule of natural gas that is produced in Ohio is consumed in Ohio.
Every molecule of natural gas that is produced in Ohio is a molecule of gas that doesnt have to be imported from another part of the United States…
Why do you think other states should bear the burden of heating your home this winter?????
Why do you think other states should bear the burden of producing the electricity that you are using to look at your computer right now????
Is neogap proposing some other form of energy that will replace natural gas or crude oil????
Is neogap going to retrofit every house in northeast Ohio that elects not to use natural gas to heat their home this winter with a wind mill or cover their roof with solar panels..
Is neogap going to set up a 800 number so that, when the wind doesnt blow or the sun doesnt shine,,,, they can field all the calls of complaints when peoples houses are cold and/or dark?????
Is neogap going to replace the 14,000 plus jobs in Ohio that they are currently trying to destroy???
S.B.165 is a very good peice of legislation.. It recieved bipartisan support in the Ohio Senate.