State Rep. James Wansacz (D- Old Forge) recently introduced legislation that would amend the 1984 Oil and Gas Act to give property owners greater access to information about the amount of gas produced from wells on their land.
House Bill 2620 mandates that gas operators install a secured meter at each well head to display the volume of gas produced. It allows property owners to access the meters once every six months for a reading. It also includes protections so that competing operators can't sneak a peak at the meters ("the meter shall include an overlaying locked box or other mechanism to prevent the meter's being read without an access device").
The bill also amends the section on well reporting requirements to allow property owners to review the annual production reports operators submit to the Department of Environmental Protection. Owners are allowed to review the part of the report that relates to their properties once every six months.
What the bill does not change is the fact that gas operators are allowed to keep their production data confidential for five years- a rarity among gas-producing states, which tend to have more frequent- often monthly- public reporting requirements.
The bill, and another by Rep. Sandra Major (see below), may be part of a larger effort by lawmakers to overhaul oil and gas laws in the state. As reported by R.B. Swift, the Times-Tribune's Harrisburg bureau chief, last week, Mr. Wansacz said that lawmakers are planning a comprehensive review of the Oil and Gas Act now that a drilling boom is under way in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
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