Under legislation passed in December 2011, which established a comprehensive program for the regulation of oil and gas operations utilizing horizontal drilling methods and related activities, the West Virginia Legislature directed the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct certain studies to inform future decisions regarding the need, or lack thereof, for further legislation or regulations in this area. To comply with this legislative directive the DEP has elected to outsource the performance of these studies. Based upon the proposal adopted by DEP, the studies may not fully reflect the intent of the Legislature.

The West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act (HB 401) specified three areas where DEP was to perform technical investigations and report back to the Legislature on its findings. The three areas designated for further study are set out in Table 1 along with the deadlines established by the Legislature for DEP to submit a report providing the results of each study.