Discover the Perfect Bill Letter Format for Operations

Bill letter format for Operations

good morning again this is Jack Sher deputy director Ohio environmental Council in just a moment you'll be hearing from Trent dhy our staff attorney and managing director of legal Affairs here at Ohio environmental Council as he outlines our proposal the so-called safer gas act the safer gas Act is stands for safeguarding appellation families with environmental regulation of gas and shell meantime a word quick word from our sponsor here at the Ohio environmental Council we are excuse me working daily at the Ohio state house uh to protect our air land water for all who call Ohio home we are a member-based nonprofit organization encourage everyone to join us and help with this effort to restore and strengthen quality of life for everyone here in Ohio I'm going to introduce Trent now who is going to detail or summarize our safer gas act for you the safer gas act comprises four major areas for filling in the gaps in Ohio law where the law unfortunately continues to leave Ohioans and property owners and our air and water resources vulnerable these four areas are stronger safeguards against air and water pollution from oil and gas drilling stepped up enforcement and transparency from the by the Ohio n r an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency number three greater industry and government accountability including permit appeal rights for affected citizens and number four stronger consumer protections for land owners who lease their land for drilling we will take questions at the end you can be typing those in the question box in the meantime we'll accept those questions and now here to describe the safer gas act our proposal is Trent dhy staff attorney Ohio environmental Council thank you Jack well before I get into the safer gas act um let me paint you a little picture about um the history of this so in March of 2011 uh full two months um before the first horizontal hydraulically fractured udale well was drilled here in Ohio the Ohio environmental Council called on the Ohio General Assembly the Ohio Department natural resources to issue a moratorium withholding approval of new well permits involving such high volume horizontal hydraulic drilling exploration or extraction until such time as the drilling practices demonstrated to be safe of the environment and human health and also to be properly regulated after two years and over 800 horizontal drilling permits approved by the Department of Natural Resources our call for moratorium is was was essentially denied or at least fell on deaf years still too many permits are being issued without Environmental Protections that are otherwise required for similar industrial activities too many impacted citizens are left unprotected because of a lack of transparency and accountability on the side of both the regulators and the regulated too many property owners are held at a disadvantage by the drilling companies who draw up heavy-handed leases and too many polluters elude enforcement because State and local enforcers lack the tools to keep Bad actors in compliance these gaps exist and legislation is needed to fill them before I get into what is actually in our proposal uh a couple of things that aren't in The Proposal um one um there while there is some discussion about what to do with the waste from these operations uh there is um no specific um recommendations concerning in uh injection Wells that's by Design uh there's currently a a prop a proposal uh in front of the general assembly for a ban on injection Wells there's been also some talk of a of an overhaul bill um presented by by a legislator on injection Wells so we've left that out uh We've also not um discussed or proposed um what is a hot button issue especially in Northeast Ohio and that is concerning local control um that's an important topic and something that needs to be discussed however uh it is being discussed in front of the Ohio um Supreme Court right now in fact there's um initial briefs being filed today in that in that case and the hope is that let the the Supreme Court make its decision on that um before the General General Assembly steps in and deals with local control but now to what's in the bill um like like I like Jack mentioned we're presenting this as a mega bill so to speak um covering 30 to 40 different uh areas of of concern for ours those gaps and regulation however that we've divided them up into four really important areas uh the first being Environmental Protection the bill requires first and I'll just talk about a couple of really the key points five key points in each of these but one is to require emissions um to be established in controls on All Phases of production when dealing with air pollution from these operations and to really require and direct Ohio EPA to finish the job um of establishing such air permission excuse me air emission controls uh to require monitoring of of that particulate matter the smog and ozone um in counties that have more than 10 wells in play also to capture that methane that um currently just escapes into the atmosphere methane a a um a super greenhouse gas so to speak even more potent than than carbon dioxide when it comes to impacting our um Ohio's um contribution to climate change and these two in particular dealing with air emissions um ideas that that doesn't just come up on the top of our head they're actually uh derived from um the voluntary standards that um the industry and EnV viral groups uh from the cssd in P in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania put together and our thought is that if this is okay for voluntary standards that were put together and and that the big players in the Shale game have um put their blessing on these voluntary standards why not for Ohio put them into into Ohio law going on to water uh oversight of these centralized water treatment facilities again as I said I'm not uh we did not go into injection Wells but we are talking waste uh from these uh from these operations our proposal is to prohibit odan from allowing uh the permitting of such facilities uh for example one being um uh the Patriot facility that takes in brine from uh instate out of state brine that's that is full of uh not only deep salty water but also fracking chemicals and um and possibly radioactive uh material in them to properly permit them before they are um then uh permitted to treat that Brine and then send them to be discharged into Waters of the state that is the plan that um has been proposed and and we believe it's currently going on at at the Patriot facility near Warren Ohio we believe there are others uh that are being um being allowed to to re excuse me to recycle to uh treat U these these brine materials um but with really out the proper oversight from Ohio EPA speaking of possible radioactive material the Kasich Administration uh to their credit attempted to address uh radioactive material um so-called naturally occurring radioactive material that comes from these deep Shale um these deep Shale sources um and their impacts uh when these these materials are sent to landfills uh however we we do feel that the budget Bill proposal for that for those those radioactive materials does not get to the protections that Ohio needs uh so our our proposal amends that definition for those techn technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials to actually be more in line with the definitions that the US EPA and the National Academy of Sciences definition uh of this torm uses uh really to make sure that we're really getting testing and proper disposal of all of the radioactive material uh and not letting some fit through the cracks and be sent to to uh landfills that then can leech uh into our water supplies finally on on this on the Environmental Protection side uh to take a note from the co-regulatory program here in Ohio uh the bill provides for a mechanism for local communities to petition uh the chief of the division of oil and gas resources management to designate certain sensitive ecological areas as unsuitable for drilling because of drilling's potential negative impact on human health environment and safety essentially what we're looking here is to follow as I said what happens in the co-regulatory program if there is a proposal for an operation in ecologically sensitive area in those um public drinking water supply areas where uh even the smallest amount of of of contamination or compromise can impact the drinking water supply of of an entire Village or an entire region it's important to to to find those and say you just can't drill here um I think this is this is one of the the most important but I think um one of the one of the most overlooked sides of this is it's not saying no to drilling it's saying not in a particular area that can impact a lot of people so that's again those are five uh just snapshots of what we have proposed uh in the Environmental Protection portion of our safer gas act however you know all new laws of course are hardly beneficial if not vigorously enforced that's why we have a big focus on enforcement and transparency um we see gaps that still exist um both the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio EPA need to step up their efforts to protect Ohio from the excesses of this industry a comprehensive review of oil and gas industry enforcement in Six States including Ohio was conducted just over a year ago by the Environmental Group Earthworks now this review found that each state failed to adequately enforce existing regulations the report was based on a detailed review of each State's laws and recent enforcement activity as supplied by each of the states Regulatory Agencies so this is just taking the state's own information and the report found that every year hundreds of thousands of oil and gas Wells go uninspected and in 2010 Ohio ing to this report failed to inspect 58,000 some 91% of the active Wells uh these both both vertical horizontal what have you when inspections do cover rule violations the violations often are not formally recorded uh violations uh had been on decline in Ohio but increased apparently in 2011 to od's credit when the number of inspections increased more violations were found the report continues with focusing on when violations are recorded they typically result in no penalty Ohio undertakes very few enforcement actions at least ing to this report each year um and when Penal are assessed they provide little incentive to companies to not offend again again this report shows that Ohio collected less than 20,000 in penalties in 2010 we feel that know there needs to be an incentive to make sure that uh that the players here in the Shale game um are complying with the law and feel that the need to comply with the law and to make sure that um that communities in eastern Ohio's gas lands are protected and the only incentive uh that's really out there is a strong disincentive to violate the law and that's what our our enforcement section here focuses on first of all it's to impose what we call a Scarlet Letter law on flagrant repeat and criminal offenders um we proposed to restrict operators who knowingly violate repeatedly violate Ohio oil and gas law to be stripped of their permit to operate further to prohibit such a violator from obtaining a permit in the state of Ohio in the future the disincentive of not being able to have um you your your operations continue or even to play ball in this state again uh we hope is is a disincentive um it's something that the uh few folks a bipartisan bill in the general assembly has has focused on for injection well in a b 46 um we support that and we say that needs to be across the board for these oil and gas operators this Scarlet Letter law to say if you're a knowing violator if you're a repeat violator get rid of your permit and you're not allowed to have another one in the future similarly again a strong disincentive is to provide uh an increase in penalties to exceed the economic value excuse me the economic benefit of violating that law um we propose that the chief uh have the option to seek penalties against the Violator for up to twice the economic benefit receiv received by The Violator for not abiding by the law there is an economic benefit to skirting the law that's um one of the reasons why a lot of um polluters and violators in any industry uh do so is because it's there is an economic benefit we need to find that economic benefit and get rid of that incentive to violate by saying you FL flagrant violator um you uh are not going to benefit in fact it's going to cost you even more uh if you want to continue to violate the law but again in order to do this you need to have increased inspectors and increased inspections uh we give a tip of the hat to uh the Kasich Administration they have um increased their staff uh over the past two years uh this current um budget that went into effect on July 1 doubles the uh the budget for the division of oil and gas Resources management um we are supportive of that um but we also feel that um we need to make sure that there are minimum inspector to well ratios and and annual inspections for each well uh going back to the report from Earthworks we want to make sure that these U these Wells all of these Wells are being inspected and inspected on a regular basis and we have the the cops on the ground to make sure that the um operations are are abiding by the law let me just go again it's not just enforcement but transparency that's important um there are a lot of um there are a lot of communities and individuals in Ohio's gas lands that feel out of um out of the permitting process for What U is happening in their backyards people feel that they have more uh say in in if there's a McDonald's operation that comes into their Community than if there's an industrial sized oil and gas operation that comes in uh we want to change that for oil and gas production operation permits we feel that we need to increase notification to these affected communities and provide more consultation with local jurisdictions uh the creation a good public policy which protects the health and safety and public needs um is not just providing this notification but also encouraging Community input therefore you know our proposal would impose a least a 30-day comment period as opposed to the current um current period which um is is half that for these permits and the ability to hold public meetings and public hearings where there's significant public interest we think that providing this public comment and public notification um hopefully can clear the air with um with the unknowns that are um increasing in this industry they're increasing with uh the the um influx of these operations uh that get permitted very quickly without any input without any notification uh changing that we think will will um at the very least give these local communities and these residents the uh the ability to be part of the permitting process uh a lot of these permits are are are focused on site specific terms and conditions and the only folks that really know um that these the the local impacts that these terms and conditions can have what these terms and conditions need to protect are those local governments are those local residents uh again as I said if there's a focus on these terms and conditions that change um and if a permit is is is is approved you should have the ability if you still feel that you're going to be impacted if your property is is being impacted if your water if your air is you should have the ability to appeal these permits this is something that's currently not in the law today to appeal such permits if you had a 100 acres of land in um in eastern Ohio and was set for um coal mining you would have the ability to to have that 30-day comment period to to speak your mind of how it's going to impact you and if you still Wen uh feel that you were going to be adversely affected you could appeal to the Reclamation Commission for that coal operation that same 100 acres if it's set for an oil and gas operation you do not get that you do not get that comment period you do not get that public excuse me that ability to appeal that permit and those terms and conditions that are so important to protecting the air land and water uh of of our communities so our proposal is to give those people that are adversely affected the right to appeal the right to um to hold the industry and the Regulators accountable speaking of accountability again it's not just DNR it's not but it's also the industry that needs to be held accountable here um to implement and enforce these existing laws um as well as to to put forward the uh the proposals we have in the safer gas act the oec is calling for a 5% increase on the state sance tax on oil and gas uh this is very uh very similar it's a little bit of an increase to what the uh casic administration had proposed in their um in their banial budget earlier this year that um that was stripped out uh in the final version however unlike uh the governor's proposal that that put it towards an income tax reduction we want to make sure it goes to those uh the boots on the ground those inspectors that they are there are enough inspectors and those inspectors are completely um trained and adequately resourced to make sure that these operations are being um these operations are complying with the law as well as uh to provide local communities with uh the ability to to deal with the impacts to fund local impact remediation there for those local communities and to identify and plug those orphan and um idle oil and gas Wells that pepper um much of Ohio especially in eastern Ohio that aren't being used that are just Pathways to um oil and gas um excuse me they are just um avenues for for underground contamination again it's our it's our proposal that this seven tax increase is not a 5% increase but a 5% tax rate on oil and gas production also when it comes to accountability um when there are um when there are Decisions by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources oil and gas division uh those decisions um are overseen by the oil and gas commission U we think that the oil and gas commission can be an important resource in here however we see one um one piece of that that really um is disturbing for us uh and that is the the public member of that oil and gas commission uh is um does not have any any um prohibition to having any uh conflict of interest or or financial interest in oil and gas operations uh we have seen this occur in the past that the public representative has been um financially connected with oil and gas operations we think that in order to to promote the Integrity of of those this commission and that commission's role in uh governing um unitization and and mandatory pooling orders uh that can that can you know take um take property owners who have said they don't want to lease and putting them into these uh into these pools and and sort of forcing them to be to be part of these operations uh that they that in order to keep the Integrity of that we need to make sure that that public representative is truly a public representative and doesn't have ties uh to the oil and gas uh industry so that's why we have we have proposed in here um to revise the composition to make sure there is a true public representative and to balance the industry Representatives that currently um are um are a majority in that commission and to amend the law to assure that the public representative has no allegiance to anyone other than the public just as with the the on the previous side talking about lands unsuitable for drilling we also have a proposal similar to again what is in the coal regulatory program uh and that is a citizen initiated rulemaking um we propose that a member or members of the public should have the opportunity to petition the chief of the oil and gas resources to commence rulemaking on a particular issue um there are a lot of moving Parts here with this oil and gas industry as it emerges here in Ohio um again we have 800 permits but it's still um as we're told it's in its infant stages and there will be more impacts that come there'll be new things that arise and we want to make sure that uh those folks uh that are experiencing this firsthand in our communities have the ability to tell DNR we need to have regulations put in place over this particular issue that is emerging so providing the opportunity for citizens to be part of the ru making process and initiate Ru making we feel is important uh and some of that's obviously missing here in Ohio and again as I mentioned it's not just Department of Natural Resources but it's also High EPA that has a role in this um the high epa's division emergency response uh currently 15 Statewide staff are the 247 environmental cops on the beat their responses to derailed trains carrying petroleum evacuations in neighborhoods due to chemical spills and explosions such as the recent ethanol tanker explosion in Columbus shows that their work has a direct Nexus with the petroleum industry also with increased drilling production pipelines and Export the epa's emergency response responsibilities and workload will only increase we provide for the so this bill would provide for the necessary financial and human resources for Ohio epa's um emergency response program as well as increase the public utilities commission's hazardous materials transportation enforcement inspections uh to inspect those Brian hollers and to give um puco hazardous materials enforcement and EPA emergency response Vehicles the authority to quickly and safely and effectively respond to fraction related emergencies again these are the these are the ones that these are the the state um cleanup group they are the ones that have the expertise to get out and to to respond to emergencies um that uh that face us uh not just from oil and gas but a really Direct access to to to oil and gas and they need to have again not only the financial resources to make sure that they can clean up these incidents when they occur but also to have the training um and the tools necessary to to get to these um to get to these um emergencies before they become before they become worse um also speaking of emergency response this bill also strikes the current statute that provides that oil and gas Drillers don't have to comply with u detailed chemical inventory to local governments uh and notification requirements otherwise um needed under the emergency planning Community right to no act local governments uh when you're dealing with chemical U inventories um are if it's any other industry they have um the write and they get those that information from any other industry that needs to occur with oil and gas operations especially industrial sized oil and gas operations that we're seeing today uh it's it's not too much to ask that uh the industry comply there with with what any other industry does when it comes to making sure that local governments and local communities know the chemicals that are on site in these operations our fourth and final uh area is property owner protection now it's not just the air land and water that are concerning um but also the rights of these Property Owners uh throughout Eastern Ohio so we focus on um as you see here there's four um areas of concern here one registration of landman um we're providing that there these land professionals that go out and get leases that that have the the the role of essentially as acting as a realtor sometimes acting as as a lawyer would um should be forced to be um registered and regulated uh just like folks in that in those professions do uh to make sure that they are abiding by certain principles and that they have um a requirement to disclose to these land owners everything that is pertinent to to these operations uh require the registered land professionals provide uh to perspective um uh seller of their mineral rights a copy um of either the oil and gas Le of of excuse me of an oil and gas lease disclosure form um and a mineral purchase disclosure form that explains thoroughly each item that is that is um that is in that lease that talk talks about um who is actually going to be uh drilling on their property provides um the background to that property um and mainly to hold those those landmen and those land professionals accountable and speaking of leases we also uh have seen the need to make sure that we have modern leases as I call them and the concern here is there are certain things that um are not being um divulged to Property Owners um once those operations occur now a land owner is free to to sell his um surface rights and mineral rights and and understand that for at least a time period that portion of their land is is going to be off limits to them uh however it's still on their property and and uh you know when there is a permit that has been issued the landowner needs to know about that currently in current law even if the permit has been issued the landowner isn't even notified of that happening a landowner isn't notified when Ohio Department of Natural Resources has to be sent to that uh to that property to that operation uh to look um and to inspect and to um enforce a violation um so it could be an situation where there's um fracking fluid released and the land owner doesn't know of it and the landowner could have his children out there in the back 40 and I think at the very least that landowner needs to know that these the DNR has been sent uh to to inspect and enforce so to make sure that they're uh that that landowner and his family are protected just um what otherwise would be common sense notifications that are currently in the law put those into the law to make sure that these leases are properly U put together to provide those notifications also the right for the the lessord the property owner uh to audit the production records of these operations um the you know the big incentive that the uh oil and gas operators present to land owners is um the promise of a boatload of cash uh coming their way in terms of royalties and that's uh based on the um the records that are being put forth the production records uh from particular from excuse me from these these operations uh that's where these royalties come from and at the very least the oil and gas excuse me those lessor for these oil and gas operators operations should um have the right to go to these oil and gas companies and demand an audit of their production records to make sure that they are getting the royalties they need and the royalties they deserve uh not saying that there's anything uh that's going on um uh illegal uh but there is there is always that that risk of um the the cooking of books of changing those um those records those production records to keep a little bit more money inhouse and not uh give what is um what is rightfully uh the land owners royalties uh to them so that's the um the basis of this is to make sure that those land owners who um who deserve those royalties get those and that they have the ability to audit those those production records again those are those are the highlights of our safer gas act and we've got about 30 uh or so um individual provisions uh you can check those out on our website um the press release is posted as well as the full legislative language for each of these Provisions um it's a bit of an unusual move for oec releasing its proposal even before uh we've asked the lawmaker to introduce it what's even more unusual is we're inviting suggestions from the public from land owners lawmakers Regulators even the oil and gas industry everyone has a stake in the adequate and responsible oversight of this industry we invite all persons of Goodwill to help us improve and pass this proposal into law by no means do these proposed legislative changes Encompass the exclusive universe of the necessary improvements to Ohio and Gas Ohio oil and gas law uh nor is the proposal meant to sort of stake our parameters uh to what will make Ohio safe or open for business um quite the contrary we believe that there is still a need for DNR to move forward on um on rules on those technical safety regulations um that they've been sitting on for quite some time and need to continue with this proposal is meant to address those gaps in Ohio regulation that were evident in Spring of 2011 and unfortunately after 800 permitted horizontal Wells continue to go unfilled as all legislative proposals O's proposal aims to spark honest and robust debate and deliberation based on sound science with the goal of passing a law that's in the public interest health and safety is job one and we have to get these protections right all right thank you Trent we will now go to questions let's see if we can pull up some questions here you can U submit those questions and in your question box we're going to start to pull up questions stand by just a moment I will say one thing Trent mentioned um uh several times called the our proposal a bill and indeed we have drafted Bill language there is as Trent said at the conclusion there is no bill yet we've not yet lined up a sponsor we haven't even asked for a sponsor our plan is to be very transparent and accountable and we're putting this out there publicly and we're asking for uh comment proposals we've done a gap analysis of Ohio law now we're inviting folks to do a gap analysis of our Gap analysis so we'll be eager to hear reactions as Trent said from the public from Property Owners from Community leaders from lawmakers even the oil and gas industry okay we have a question uh does the disclosure form include any provisions for for indemnification Trent I assume this relates to Property Owners is that what you yes the property owners protection yes there is uh excuse me to that to the question yes uh there is um an arise a need for um at least uh the um the oil and gas lease to contain uh indemnification to contain uh those uh those Provisions that protect those Property Owners uh when there is um problems that occur uh on site whether it's a violation of Ohio law um that that where penalties are are are um are enforced against the oil and gas operator those can't be be sent to the to the land owner in any way shape or form nor if there is any um environmental impact uh that um that causes um health or safety impact tax outside of that L that surface owner's land uh that property owner should not be um should not be penalized um or or at risk of uh of being liable for what the oil and gas operator has done so yes um another question uh can you clarify the tax proposal uh it is a tax break is there any other info you can give to clarify the portion in the presentation uh yes when it comes to the tax proposal uh the severance tax our proposal is to increase uh what is currently in Ohio law for the severance tax uh to um 5% of the um of the of the proceeds from drilling um and extracting oil and natural gas um from these operators um let me just uh quickly um here now uh currently um you know the purpose of the S tax in Ohio is to provide Revenue to administer uh the state's regulatory program and to meet the environmental and uh resource management needs and uh to reclaim affected land from these um extraction operations these protections to air land and water in local communities um we feel need to be preserved in ly applied uh especially when you're talking about the influx of horizontal drilling that's happening today uh so you know in furtherance of the goal of the severance tax it's in current law to meet the environmental resource management needs and reclaim affected land we're we're urging um the general assembly to uh increase that Severance tax to 5% and direct that um that increase uh to hiring and training and supporting uh State inspectors and state um emergency responders to identify and plug these orphan and idle Wells um as I mention that are that are all around Ohio and can cause um health and safety problems on their own especially if they're in proximity uh to um uh to current oil and gas operations and also to fund um local impact remediation to make sure these local communities uh that essentially right now have an unfunded mandate to um to secure their local communities from impacts from this industry uh that they have the ability to get funds to remediate when there are issues there where there are impacts let's see here another question uh do you have a time frame for getting comments uh on the draft Bill and uh when do you propose taking it to legislature uh for finding a sponsor um I think um you know to to that issue of time frame uh we're we're taking comments now U until uh until it's done until it's passed um it's in our eyes we think that um it's a it's a living document uh that can be uh added on as long as those uh as long as those um comments and suggestions and amendments are positive and have a focus on on really making sure that the public and our environmental resources our human resources are protected um we we want to make sure that those that those suggestions are in the bill um you know I guess um officially today um we're we're starting to take it to to find sponsors um and will be throughout the next few days and weeks um but again it's a it's a living document we're we're hoping that that folks um in all sectors uh can help add to this to make sure that um that that we're making sure that the public is properly protected and resources are properly protected CH we have another question uh from a reporter and that is uh We've outlined some 30 different I think there's 32 different uh changes to Ohio law that we are proposing or changes I should say Shoring up strengthening of gaps that we have identified in Ohio law we have a reporter asking what would we identify as the single most important law change that we are proposing today the single most important I think and it's the the the longest overdue uh is the right to appeal it's an issue of fairness no other industry in Ohio uh exhorts such an advantage uh under Ohio law uh to essentially make up the terms and conditions that aren't appealable by um by the people uh that are adversely affected uh that's something that's inherent in permits from Ohio paa dealing with all Industries uh however with ODNR uh oil and gas those um you do not have that opportunity as an an affected um um individual to appeal those terms and conditions um and it holds industry and The Regulators accountable it's that piece of transparency it's that piece of what makes public um true public policy good public policy is to make sure that people have the right to be part of the uh the um regulatory process that impacts their communities their homes their livelihoods uh and it's something that is unfortunately missing and has been missing for a long time here very good TR another question from a reporter that is part of our proposal is to try to assure that uh uh and deter violations by making the uh the penalty exceed the economic value that a operator may have enjoyed by violating the law How would how does our proposal address that uh and also how do we avoid getting Meer down in litigation uh and finally do we have upper cap upper range on capping that uh that penalty well currently that proposal is is general and it's just that it's actually um the the language that's used in in some other states that uh that deal with um with um violations of environmental law across the board um and it's worked in in in States like Maine and and in other places um where that deterrent is there now yes there are some details to that that that make it uh um that could make it mired in in in some in some litigation um we think right now the the penalty numbers are um are way too low um our proposal is to make them as um as as high as they need to be in order to to deter violations um we think that you know that there is an economic value I think that there are Actuarial ways of finding what that economic value is and to penalize that way and it's and it's not a required penalty it is the ability for the chief to um choose to to in to um put that penalty in place if they can find that economic value and to penalize them that economic value or even two times that economic value uh it is there in order to be a again a deterrent to to that uh continued violation of the law it's not um something that's that is that is going to be penalized every time someone does a um paperwork violation but it's there uh for the people excuse me for the Department of Natural Resources to use another you know um tool in their toolbox to make sure that enforcement is strong enough uh to create an even playing field uh for the industry as well as protect the people of of Ohio's gas lands Trent another question from a reporter about allowing communities to designate areas as off limits to drilling um it is isn't that a form of local control and therefore isn't that potentially up in the air as the Ohio Supreme Court is looking at a court case right now regarding local control although I would say I don't think that case is specific to The Authority or ability of local communities to establish areas off limits to drilling also Trent can you talk a little bit more about our proposed uh proposal for lands unsuitable for drilling I think that tracks and mirrors a portion existing Ohio law longstanding Ohio law that enables the State Department of Natural Resources if I'm not wrong to establish designate areas off limits that are not suitable to mining yes correct um you know to the to the question um isn't it a local control question in some way it is um again as Jack said uh this is this provision mirrors what is in the co- regulatory program uh that allows um anyone not just local governments to utilize a a petition uh to ask the Department of Natural Resources to put lands unsuitable uh for mining in that case and Drilling in the case that we are proposing um historically uh that um lands unsuitable forone mining provision has been um uh utilized by local governments uh to make sure that certain areas dealing with public um public drinking water for example is protected uh it doesn't necessarily have to be local governments but usually it is um but it is not exactly local control is that it doesn't just give the right to the local community to say no we're not going to have uh drilling here because uh it'll impact the uh e ecologically sensitive area uh it provides the local government to petition the state to make that finding and DNR makes the finding um and again it's it it provides just another tool we think an important tool for local governments to be part of the process and for local communities and and individuals and groups to be part of the process and say um state of Ohio Department of Natural Resources you have the technical and um and and and safety standards here and you have the knowledge base but you but it is the local governments and local communities that have the understanding what's happening in their local areas and they should have a part in this this is just one piece this lands unsuitable is one piece uh to providing uh we think uh more and and and better um uh adherence to what's going going on in the local communities and to really focus on those those local water uh impacts especially okay Trent another question uh is the Ohio Department natural resources or the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency are they currently deficient in imposing fines uh for significant violators and how would our soall Scarlet Letter law work and how would it be enforced would that be through the court system would that be through through the agencies um please comment on that yes so um our proposal with is what we we call Scarlet Letter law uh again it's it's it's adding a tool for um for the state's um enforcement of oil and gas law it's um you know currently um from from our read of of Ohio law uh the doesn't have an Express um provision that allows uh the Department of Natural Resources um to um see a continued um uh series of violations or knowing violations and um force that oil and gas operator to not only um hand over their permit so they cannot do that operation again but to really make sure that those that that violator is does not get another permit in Ohio again it is it is one of those strong deterrence that we think is missing here in Ohio um but uh it's not really anything that's new uh that's currently in the law for um um in in some way shape or form when you're dealing with confined animal feeding operations and in uh landfill in landfill wall that if there are U violations you should have the ability to say you can't get another um uh can't get another permit here in Ohio it's not saying that you know presently there's anything deficient uh it's just that we need to make sure that that tool is in place uh and it's a tool that I think DNR has um at least for revoking a permit has attempted to use um in dealing with the um the violations of um the injection well operator up in Northeast Ohio up in the Youngstown area they use that to revoke um we applaud that but we also think that that there needs to be the ability to to make sure that such a violator no longer gets permits in Ohio Trent before we go to our next question I just wanted to announce that uh to everybody that our press release is now posted online our press release uh briefly enumerates all 32 of the strengthening of Ohio law that we are requesting today uh proposing today also I want to point out that uh this webinar record is being recorded and it will be available later today or tomorrow morning and we will be emailing out I think tomorrow morning uh the recording to all who are listening in we have another question Trent and that is a question about our proposed uh proposal to for an across the board 5% Severance tax rate on all oil and gas extracted in Ohio and I want to I believe Trent that is with no tax break uh in the first 24 months as uh Governor kasich's proposal includes and no uh state income tax uh uh break whatsoever no tax relief it is I believe it is strictly a 5% across the board tax sance tax on o gas production but the questioner also is wondering how will what how do we propose that tax revenue be used well that tax revenue would be used excuse me to increase uh the inspection enforcement um uh of this industry uh at the state level uh that it's includes giving um proper um resources both Financial uh as well as um providing those tools for Department natural resources inspectors as well as of high epa's emergency response uh it also provides for um as I mentioned addressing local impacts um to provide a local impact fund that loc that local governments can uh can utilize uh to cover uh any costs uh that they incur in um responding to emergencies in our local communities uh to um to uh covering impacts to uh infrastructure um again providing a little bit more resources there to those local local governments that that are uh that are really those those First Responders when there is an impact as well as capping those old oil and and gas orphan Wells and idle Wells that are around Ohio TR another question and we're approaching High Noon here so we this might be the last or go 12:30 excuse me so we'll take some more questions here and that is uh speaking of that tax proposal we have do we propose that only for the horizontal uh shell gas Wells or to all Wells be they horizontal or the traditional vertical Wells and this is another um way that we have also deviated from uh the Governor's proposal um we have put this uh in our initial proposal as across the uh across the board 5% again if there is a um a suggestion that it should be just focused on the horizontal Wells um we you know we agree that there is a um there is more of a uh concern when it comes to these horizontal Wells these high volume hydraul braur horizontal Wells uh that really is the focus those of this of this proposal and and have been uh those 800 permits that we've seen come over the uh come over the wire here in the past two years um currently as I said it's it's 5% across the board um but that's one of the um we hope is is the uh the beauty of of of our proposal here is that it's at Living do uh we will take suggestions and take them to heart and uh make those amendments uh any of those amendments that make sure that these uh these operations are properly regulated and that our our um Regulators are properly funded to make sure that um that local communities and residents are protected Trent we have a question you may have addressed this already that court case pending at the W Supreme Court briefly what is that case and is there we have any idea of the timeline that case is the city of Monroe Falls versus Beck energy um and that case focuses on the ability of Monroe Falls specifically but really all uh local communities to utilize their zoning Authority uh just like they would utilize zoning Authority for any other industry um to protect residential areas protect small commercial areas um you know it's a it's a it's a long it's a long set of facts um which you can you can check out if you if you just uh check with the Supreme Court's website I think as I mentioned there are initial briefs that were filed um the due date for the initial briefs filed by the city of Monroe Falls uh due today I think they actually filed them on Friday um and in fact as soon as I get off of this phone call uh excuse me this this webinar uh I am uh going to file um an amikas Cai brief a friend of the court brief um drafted by um by the oh high environmental Council on behalf of what I believe is 27 uh local um small independent businesses uh throughout Eastern Ohio uh that have concerns and that have um um themselves been been um um regulated by uh so to speak by by the zoning Authority and have lived and and prospered under the zoning Authority uh and see how the zoning Authority protects not only local businesses excuse me not only local residents but also local businesses uh and that their concerns with oil and gas operations just like concerns with any other industrial operation need to be uh looked at U by local governments so the time frame of that is the first part of the initial briefs are being being filed now and there will be more to come on replies and replies to replies uh over the next couple months uh with the thought of oral arguments occurring sometime in 2014 and TR what does that case turn on this Monroe Falls Ohio why why is it so important that it's made its way all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court and it is a it is a um it is an open question when it comes to the home rule Authority for municipalities and their ability uh to to regulate for the the protection of their local um their local communities health safety Economic Development by utilizing zoning Authority Monroe Falls utilized its zoning Authority not to to say no oil and gas drilling but to say uh you need to abide by this zoning that any other industrial activity uses and it's something that for for some reason uh oil and gas operations have uh have been able to um uh get around um this Supreme Court decision hopefully will uh will clear up uh any questions when it comes to the ability of local governments to use zoning um but again it's uh it's it's a a new Twist on really what is an old Ohio constitutional um uh right for local governments to uh to Zone um to protect their residents and businesses TR we have another question that is uh as we have as you have drafted the safer gas act proposal did you look at other states as model States or are you breaking new ground here with the safer gas act uh yes and yes and yes uh we have uh where where we could uh we looked at other states uh some of the new um proposals that that came from uh Illinois uh that you know I I think has has done at least a good job in um trying to get a set of regulations put in law before they start the influx that was what we had asked two years ago um it's not you know perhaps uh letter by letter uh the best example um but again that's that's one area we've looked at Colorado Pennsylvania New York um Wyoming uh everywhere where there there is um active or potential Shale play uh We've looked at um but we've also you know looked at looked at Ohio law um we've looked at how other Industries in Ohio are being uh regulated and are abil and are able to thrive under regulation in Ohio and why and ask the question why oil and gas the oil and gas industry gets the sweetheart deal that it does to not have to um abide by the same rules uh or The Same Spirit of the rules that other Industries do uh so it's uh it's it's the uh issue of of creating a playing field in Ohio that we think is a bit out of whack um when it comes to Ohio oil and gas versus every other industry in Ohio okay we have uh I guess it's just a comment coming in from somebody and that is that the Oberlin City Council has just passed uh some kind of home rule uh regarding oil gas drilling I see also that the city of Bowling Green City Council is poised to uh pass a legislation I think to actually prohibit uh fracking within the city limits of of Bowling Green I do see we also have a a a question you could call it a comment uh from someone who's asking uh do you think there's any chance of actually stopping fracking from occurring in Ohio that is the the new horizontal drilling and I would guess Trent that that's partly what the safeer gas Act is in response to as this coming seemingly Unstoppable uh tracking yeah it's uh as I mentioned when we when we started the webinar that um what the safe safer gas Act is um is part of is is really an effort by oec and a lot of other organizations back in early 2011 to make sure that the state was ahead of the game when it came to this um um there were you know of of there are there are a lot of viewpoints on oil and gas development shell development uh from completely stopping to to um you know Let it go completely without any regulations to what we think in the middle at the very least what we need is is to have the proper regulations put in place before we start the influx before we we wish hopefully before we got to 800 permits uh to make sure that that um the public is and excuse me public is is protected that the environmental human health is uh is is properly protected through regulations regulations are not uh the only thing that's needed uh but it is an integral part and that's why we've we've moveed forward on this we think that you know what we've presented is is reasonable um to at the very least make sure that we are ahead of the game when when we get to the 2000 and permits that the department natural resources says that we'll have in the next year or so or the 7,000 permits that are in Pennsylvania um you know we feel that we're on a what I like to call a hindsight moment in Ohio that we didn't have with um other Industries like um you know if we knew in 100 years ago that coal mining would cause um rivers to run Orange in eastern Ohio uh perhaps we would have uh moved quicker on uh the the regulation of of of uh coal mining that's uh that was put in place in the 70s and and we're still trying to work through if we knew 50 60 years ago that we would be shutting down coal plants because of carbon dioxide emissions and sulfur emissions and um um and other air pollutants and having to shut them down because they don't have the right scrubbers in place and right Protections in place uh perhaps we would have um we would have saved a lot of uh environmental human health impacts in those 60 years we're in that hindsight moment with and gas development with Shale development in Ohio and that's what this is focused on is to make sure that we properly protect those people before it's too late I see two more questions and one is back to our tax proposal and that is uh clearly we're proposing that uh you're proposing a 5% across the board tax rate sance tax rate on oil and gas production does our proposal extend as well to the injection of waste Brine and waste uh material millions of gallons coming into Ohio from out of state uh as I mentioned in the um the beginning of the webinar um we didn't uh have Provisions explicitly for injection Wells there's a whole section of the Ohio RIS code 50922 and a few other subsections that deal with injection Wells and um and actually have its own permitting um fee structure in that section um our tax proposal just focuses as the current Severance tax does on the extraction of oil and gas um we believe that um you know the current structure for injection well fees is way too low uh we feel that there are um inappropriate caps on the amount that injectional operators have to pay um there's a there's a provision in Ohio law that says that that if you go above a certain uh number of of barrels um per per year you don't have to pay anymore uh on a fee um we think that's inappropriate we haven't put that in here yet um for the reasons I I mentioned earlier uh when it comes to injection Wells but again as as I said we we um will entertain any positive amendments and suggestions I see one more question that's been submitted before we get to that I'll repeat that again the press release that describes our proposal and that includes a link to actual our draft statuto language the actual draft Bill language although it's not yet been introduced uh is available at our website CH I see I think one more question I'll scan through to see if there are any others but does our proposal apply to drilling only on private property drilling on public property both can you help us out with that I um yes so the proposal um is meant to be across the board when it comes to O and gas drilling in Ohio whether it's private property public property held by local governments public property held by state government um but again a lot of it is is is because a lot of the the development that we're aware of is occurring on private property we need to make sure that that that that's taken care of um there are also Provisions there's a provision in our proposal that um really requ Ires that there is a public hearing when there is a oil and gas development on public property in a local uh in a local jurisdiction of local government again giving those people uh and residents of those local governments the ability to be notified ability to comment uh on those um on those operations that occur in their local communities and especially that occur on public property in their local communities um there is a again a lot that's uh that's occurring on public and private property uh and there a lot of developments that are going to occur and again um we we feel this is a a living document if there's more that needs to be done to to U protect public property uh we haven't addressed um in this um we we would definitely entertain that all right I think that is the extent of our questions again we'll be entertaining more questions and suggestions you can contact us for sure also again uh oh maybe one more has come in here we'll take a look also again take a look at our press release which describes the proposal and and also um has a link to our actual draft language I'm looking for any last questions I don't think we have any so again this webinar a recording of This webinar will be provided uh will be emailed tomorrow morning I think to all participants will also be posting it our at our website you can find all of this webinar and of our previous webinars posted at our website and again on our homepage is our press release statement and summary of all 32 proposals in the safer gas act so we will now sign off thank you again on behalf of Trent dhy this is Jack Sher appreciate your participation today