ODNR sets new rules for horizontal well-pad sites

By NOLLY DAKROURY

The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday it is implementing new rules for the construction of horizontal well-pad sites.

Horizontal well pads are used for fracking, when a well is drilled vertically but then goes horizontally underground, allowing for more than one well.

Shawn Bennett, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said horizontal pads can include eight to 18 wells at the same time.

The regulations come out of a long legislative process dating back to June 2012, when the Ohio Legislature passed stricter regulations on new drilling technologies, including fracking.

Eric Heis, ODNR public-information officer, said the legislation tasked ODNR with developing the rules and going more into detail with them. The regulations, he said, are necessary because the number of wells in Ohio has been growing at a fast clip.

One of the regulations will require drilling companies to submit a detailed plan of the horizontal well-pad site before starting construction.

But Bennett said regulations already are being followed by most drilling companies as part of the best-practices guidelines.

“Some of them are necessary, others will put an unnecessary burden on the industry,” Bennett said.

He mentioned that some regulations, such as needing ODNR permission before making any kind of modification to the pad construction, is costly and not time-efficient.

Heis, however, said some of the rules will ensure a safer environment, such as requiring a wall around storage tanks on the site and having a storage-containment unit underneath trucks that transport oil and gas, to avoid spills.

The state law passed in 2012 also required drilling companies to disclose the chemical components they were using during drilling and fracking, as well as their source of water during the drilling process, among other regulations.