Lawyer: Be Ready for Hazards

Claims county could ban shale drilling

Morgantown Dominino Post
30 June 2011
By Tracy Eddy

A Morgantown lawyer said Monongalia County’s Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) should prepare a plan to respond to hazards that could result from Marcellus shale drilling in the area.

Lawyer Richard Cohen also said the county has the power to protect its residents’ health and safety, which could include passing a law to ban horizontal drilling and fracturing — or fracking.

Acting as a concerned resident, Cohen gave the Monongalia County Commission a letter Wednesday, outlining his ideas on how the county could address potential hazards.

Commissioners agreed to pass the letter on to assistant prosecutor Phil Magro to get his legal opinion on the information.

Mike Wolfe, chairman of the county’s Local Emergency Planning Committee, said the committee would not be responsible for any sort of emergency response to a spill at the well sites, if one occurred. Wolfe was not at Wednesday’s commission meeting.

A spill of fracking fluids into the area’s drinking water supply or a similar emergency would be handled by the county’s Office of Emergency Management and trained first responders, he said.

Wolfe said the office did not have a specific plan in place to address spills or other situations at Marcellus well pads — but it is covered under the county’s emergency operations plan.

“We don’t have a separate plan for each chemical spill on the interstate,” he said.

Wolfe said the LEPC does not have the authority to police or inspect sites such as the well pads in the Morgantown Industrial Park.

The committee discussed how to get information to the public about possible disasters, as well as how to better use the area’s emergency shelters or public transportation in emergency situations.

Wolfe said the committee also keeps all the Tier II reports from the county’s businesses who use chemicals. Tier II reports outline what chemicals are used and how much of the chemical is on site.

The reports must be submitted to the state, as well.

Wolfe said the committee hasn’t received any Tier II reports from the two Marcellus wells yet.

According to the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Tier II information must be submitted on or before March 1 each year.

The LEPC has 27 members, Wolfe said, including representatives from local police and fire departments, the hospitals, WVU, the county Board of Education and Mountain Line Transit Authority. Meetings are once every three months.

Last week, Morgantown City Council passed a law to ban horizontal drilling and fracking in Morgantown up to a mile beyond its borders. Northeast Natural Energy — the company drilling the Marcellus wells at the industrial park — has since filed a lawsuit against the city.

Cohen urged the county to support the city’s law.