West Virginia House Bill 2021 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: Introduced on January 11 2023 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2023-01-11 - To House Energy and Manufacturing
Pending: House Energy and Manufacturing Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [HTML]

The purpose of this bill is to provide stable and adequate funding to the Office of Oil and Gas of the Department of Environmental Protection in order to oversee oil and gas wells' compliance with the law for the life of the wells. The Office of Oil and Gas currently only receives, and unlike other offices is only funded by, one-time fees generated by the applications for the permits for initial drilling of a well. It only has a reduced staff of 25 including only one inspector for every 5000 wells. The bill provides the funding by requiring an annual oversight fee of $100 for each well that is to be used for the functions of the Office of Oil and Gas with any excess to be used to plug orphaned wells.

Relating to funding for the DEP Office of Oil and Gas

Del. Evan Hansen [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2023-01-11	House	To House Energy and Manufacturing
2023-01-11	House	Introduced in House
2023-01-11	House	To Energy and Manufacturing then Finance
2023-01-11	House	Filed for introduction

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
22	6	2	Amended Code	Citation Text
22	6	29	Amended Code	Citation Text

Type	Source
Summary	http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=2021&year=2023&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill
Text	http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2021%20intr.htm&yr=2023&sesstype=RS&i=2021
Supplement	http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Fiscalnotes/FN(2)/fnsubmit_recordview1.cfm?RecordID=858940802