The Environmental Quality Board is scheduled to meet November 16 to consider a proposed regulation setting a drinking water MCL for PFOA and PFOS  “forever” chemicals and two rulemaking petitions to increase bonding on both conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells.

Oil & Gas Well Bonding

DEP will recommend the Board accept two  rulemaking petitions for study asking the EQB to adopt regulation changes requiring full-cost bonding to cover the costs of plugging conventional and unconventional (shale) oil and gas wells.  Read more here.

The petitions were submitted by the Sierra Club, Clean Air Council, Earthworks, Mountain Watershed Association, PennFuture, and Protect Penn-Trafford.

The current bond amount for conventional wells is $2,500 per conventional well, with the option to post a $25,000 blanket bond, which does not come close to full-cost bonding.  [These are the same amounts enacted in the 1984 Oil and Gas Act.]

The petition asks for conventional well bonds to be increased to $38,000 per well.

DEP’s average conventional well plugging costs for an abandoned well are $33,000, but can be as low as $15,000 if the well is intact.  Read more here.

The current bond amount for unconventional wells is $10,000 adopted in 2012, with a blanket bonding system that greatly lowers the actual per-well amount, which also does not come close to full-cost bonding.

The petition asks for unconventional well bonds to be increased to $83,000 per well.

Both the 1984 Act and Act 13 of 2012 have language authorizing the EQB to change the bonding amount, “The amount of the bond required shall be in the following amounts and may be adjusted by the Environmental Quality Board every two years to reflect the projected costs to the Commonwealth of plugging the well.”

If the Board accepts the petition for study, DEP is required to report back to the Board within 60 days with its further recommendations for action on the issues raised by the petition.  Read more here on the process.

Click Here for available handouts.

PFOA/PFOS MCL

The proposed rulemaking would establish maximum contaminant levels goals (MCLGs) and maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) for community, nontransient noncommunity, and bottled, vended, retail, and bulk water systems.

DEP is not recommending an MCL for other PFAS chemicals at this time due to lack of occurrence data, incomplete cost/benefit data, the lack of a reference dose and the lack of treatability data.

The proposed MCL for PFOA is proposed at 14 ppt and the MCLG (MCL Goal) at 8 ppt.

The proposed MCL for PFOS is proposed at 18 ppt and the MCLG (MCL Goal) at 14 ppt.

The current EPA recommended health protection level is 70 ppt, although EPA recently announced a new strategy for dealing with PFAS “forever” chemicals.  Read more here.

The proposed regulation also sets proposed monitoring and sampling requirements.

The regulation would affect about 2,898 water systems in Pennsylvania.

DEP is estimating the regulation will cost water systems an estimated $115.3 million in annual treatment capital and operation and maintenance costs per million gallons per day.

Annual performance monitoring costs would be an estimated $6.2 million.

DEP’s Public Water System Technical Assistance Center Board recommended moving forward with the proposed rulemaking for public comment in July.

DEP is proposing a 60-day public comment period with three public hearings.

The proposed regulation is a result of a rulemaking petition submitted by the Delaware RiverKeeper and accepted by the Environmental Quality Board in August of 2017.  Read more here.

Visit the EQB webpage for available background documents on the proposed regulation.

Visit DEP’s PFAS in Pennsylvania webpage for more information on this issue.

Other Agenda Items

Also on the agenda is a final regulation significantly revising Stage I and II volatile organic compound emission controls at service stations and a proposed regulation establishing a Municipal Waste Rural Transfer Facility Permit-By-Rule.

The meeting will be held in-person and remotely starting at 9:00 a.m.   Click Here to register to join the meeting remotely.

For more information and available handouts, visit the Environmental Quality Board webpage.  Questions should be directed to Laura Griffin, laurgriffi@pa.gov, 717-772-3277.

(Photo: Abandoned leaking conventional well.)

Related Articles:

-- Environmental Groups Submit Rulemaking Petitions To Environmental Quality Board Asking For Full-Cost Bonding For Oil & Gas Well Plugging

-- The Science Says: Spreading Conventional Drilling Wastewater On Dirt & Gravel Roads Can Harm Aquatic Life, Poses Health Risks To Humans - And It Damages The Roads

-- EPA Announces Comprehensive National Strategy On PFAS Pollution

[Posted: November 3, 2021]

11/8/2021