The Senate has unanimously approved Senate Bill 1346 (Kasunic-D-Somerset) would encourage the use of mine water for Marcellus shale well development.

“The Commonwealth must begin to take an innovative approach to the treatment and use of acid mine water,” said Richard Kasunic. “Senate Bill 1346 affords this incentive for private investment, by providing essential liability protections for the development of treatment systems for acid mine water utilized for oil and gas well development.”

Sen. Kasunic said acid mine drainage is Pennsylvania’s “single greatest source of water pollution, responsible for approximately 2,500 miles of degraded waterways.”  He said these waterways are acidic and laden with dissolved metals that make them “uninhabitable for fish and other aquatic life and unsuitable for human consumption.”

Citing the prohibitive costs of treating and cleaning up acid mine water, Sen. Kasunic said it is imperative that policy makers seek additional uses for this tainted water – while keeping it out of waterways.

He added that the state’s oil and gas industry, which uses millions of gallons of water for hydraulic fracturing, offers a new and innovative way to use treated mine water – while keeping it from flowing into important waterways.

This measure is aimed at encouraging the use of mine water in drilling rather than the continued heavy use of municipal and fresh water sources,” Sen. Kasunic said.

The Dunbar lawmaker added that the provisions in Senate Bill 1346 were policy recommendations acknowledged in a 2011 report issued by the Governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission.

10/22/2012