Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article I - Land Resources › Chapter 78a - UNCONVENTIONAL WELLS › Subchapter C - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION PERFORMANCE STANDARDS › Section 78a.55 - Control and disposal planning; emergency response for unconventional wells

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a)
Preparation and implementation of plan for oil and gas
						operations.
Persons conducting oil and gas operations shall prepare
						and implement site-specific PPC plans according to §§
												91.34 and
						102.5(l)
						(relating to activities utilizing pollutants; and permit
						requirements).
(b)
Preparation and implementation of plan for well sites.
In
						addition to the requirements in subsection (a), the well operator shall prepare
						and develop a site-specific PPC plan prior to storing, using, or generating
						regulated substances on a well site from the drilling, alteration, production,
						plugging or other activity associated with a gas well or transporting those
						regulated substances to, on or from a well site.
(c)
Containment practices.
The well operator's PPC plan must describe the containment practices to be
						utilized and the area of the well site where primary and secondary containment
						will be employed as required under §
												78a.64a (relating to secondary
						containment). The PPC plan must include a description of the equipment to be
						kept onsite during drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations that can be
						utilized to prevent a spill from leaving the well site.
(d)
Requirements.
The well
						operator's PPC plan must also identify the control and disposal methods and
						practices utilized by the well operator and be consistent with the act, The
						Clean Streams Law (35 P.S. §§
													691.1-691.1001), the Solid Waste Management
						Act (35 P.S. §§
													6018.101-6018.1003) and §§
												78a.54,
						78a.56-78a.58 and
						78a.60-78a.61. The PPC plan must also
						include a pressure barrier policy developed by the operator that identifies
						barriers to be used during identified operations.
(e)
Revisions.
The well
						operator shall revise the PPC plan prior to implementing a change to the
						practices identified in the PPC plan.
(f)
Copies.
A copy of the
						well operator's PPC plan shall be provided to the Department, the Fish and Boat
						Commission or the landowner upon request and shall be available at the site
						during drilling and completion activities for review.
(g)
Guidelines.
With the
						exception of the pressure barrier policy required under subsection (d), a PPC
						plan developed in conformance with the
Guidelines for the Development
						and Implementation of Environmental Emergency Response Plans
,
						Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection, No.
						400-2200-001, as amended and updated, will be deemed to meet the requirements
						of this section.
(h)
Emergency contacts.
A list of emergency contact phone numbers
						for the area in which the well site is located must be included in the PPC plan
						and be prominently displayed at the well site during drilling, completion or
						alteration activities.
(i)
Emergency response for unconventional well sites
.
(1)
Applicability.
This
						subsection applies to unconventional wells.
(2)
Definitions.
For the purposes of this
						subsection, the following definitions apply:
Access road
-A road connecting a well
						  site to the nearest public road, private named road, administrative road with a
						  name and address range, or private unnamed road with an address range.
Address
-A location, by reference to a
						  road or a landmark, made by a county or municipality responsible for assigning
						  addresses within its jurisdiction.
Administrative road
-A road owned and
						  maintained by the Commonwealth open to the public at the discretion of the
						  Commonwealth that may or may not have a name and address range.
Emergency responder
-Police,
						  firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency management
						  personnel, public health personnel, State certified hazardous materials
						  response teams, Department emergency personnel and other personnel authorized
						  in the course of their occupations or duties, or as an authorized volunteer, to
						  respond to an emergency.
Entrance
-The point where the access
						  road to a well site connects to the nearest public road, private named road,
						  administrative road with a name and address range, or a private unnamed road
						  with an address range.
GPS coordinates
-The coordinates in
						  latitude and longitude as expressed in degrees decimal to at least six digits
						  after the decimal point based upon the World Geodetic System 1984 Datum or any
						  other datum approved by the Department.
PEMA
-The Pennsylvania Emergency
						  Management Agency.
Private named road
-A private road
						  with a name and address range.
Private road
-A road that is not a
						  public road.
Private unnamed road
-A private road
						  that is not a private named road.
Public road
-A road owned and
						  maintained by the Commonwealth, a county within this Commonwealth, a
						  municipality within the Commonwealth or any combination thereof that is open to
						  the public.
Public safety answering point
-An
						  entity operating in cooperation with local municipalities and counties to
						  receive 9-1-1 calls for a defined geographic area and process calls according
						  to a specific operational policy
Well site name
-The name used to
						  designate the well site by the operator on the well permit application
						  submitted to the Department.
(3)
Registration of
						addresses
.
(i) Prior to construction
						of an access road to a well site, the operator of an unconventional well shall
						request a street address for the well site from the county or municipality
						responsible for assigning street addresses.
(ii) The operator shall determine the GPS
						coordinates for both the well site and the entrance to the well site. The GPS
						coordinates must have a horizontal accuracy of plus or minus 6.67 feet or
						better. If there is more than one well on a well site, one set of GPS
						coordinates must be used for the well site.
(iii) The operator shall register the
						following with PEMA, the Department, the Public Safety Answering Point and the
						county emergency management organization within the county where the well site
						is located:
(A) The well site name.
(B) The well site address.
(C) The GPS coordinates for the entrance and
						the well site.
(iv) When
						there is a change of well site address, the operator shall register the new
						address as provided in subparagraph (iii).
(v) When there is a change of the entrance
						due to a change in the well site address or otherwise, the operator shall
						register the GPS coordinates for the entrance as provided in subparagraph
						(iii).
(vi) The following shall be
						retained at the well site for reference when contacting emergency responders:
(A) The well site name.
(B) The well site address.
(C) The GPS coordinates for the entrance and
						the well site.
(4)
Signage.
(i) Prior to construction of the access road,
						the operator of an unconventional well shall display a reflective sign at the
						entrance.
(ii) The sign must meet
						the following requirements:
(A) The sign must
						be fabricated with approved retroreflective sheeting material meeting ASTM 4956
						Type III.
(B) The sign must have a
						white background with a 2-inch red border and black numbers and letters. Signs
						for entrances on administrative roads may use other colors provided that the
						signs use contrasting colors between the background, border, numbers and
						letters.
(C) The sign must be of
						sufficient size to accommodate the required information described in this
						section. The minimum size of a sign must be 36 inches in height and 48 inches
						in width.
(D) The sign must follow
						the format of Figure 1 and contain:
(I) The
						address number for the well site displayed horizontally on the first line of
						the sign in text no smaller than 4 inches in height.
(II) The full address of the entrance,
						including the county and municipality in which the entrance is
						located.
(III) The well operator's
						company name.
(IV) The 24-hour
						contact telephone information for the operator of the well site.
(V) The GPS coordinates for the
						entrance.
(VI) The well site
						name.
(VII) The wording "In Case of
						Emergency Call 9-1-1."
(iii) The sign must be mounted independently
						from other signage.
(iv) The bottom
						of the sign must be positioned a minimum of 3 feet above ground
						level.
(v) The sign may not contain
						other markings.
(vi) A sign, as
						viewed from the applicable road, may not be obstructed from view by vegetation,
						equipment, vehicles or other obstruction.
(vii) During drilling operations, the
						American Petroleum Institute (API) permit numbers of the wells at the site may
						be posted on a nonreflective sign below the principal sign. The API sign may be
						removed after the well is completed, provided that it is not otherwise required
						to be posted.
Figure 1. Sample Site Entrance
						  Signage
Click to view
						  image
(5)
Emergency response
						planning.
(i) The operator of an
						unconventional well shall develop and implement an emergency response plan that
						provides for equipment, procedures, training and documentation to properly
						respond to emergencies that threaten human health and safety for each well
						site. The plan must incorporate National Incident Management System planning
						standards, including the use of the Incident Command System, Incident Action
						Planning and Common Communications Plans. The plan must include:
(A) The emergency contact information,
						including phone numbers, for the well operator's local representative for the
						well site and the well operator's 24-hour emergency phone number.
(B) The emergency notification procedures
						that the operator shall utilize to contact emergency responders during an
						emergency.
(C) A description of the
						well site personnel's response to the following well site emergencies:
(I) Fire.
(II) Medical emergency.
(III) Explosion or similar event.
(IV) Spill.
(V) Security breach or other security
						event.
(VI) Any other incident that
						necessitates the presence of emergency responders.
(D) A description of the procedure to be used
						to provide the most current information to emergency responders in the event of
						an emergency, including the following:
(I) The
						current Safety Data Sheet (SDS) required under law to be present at the well
						site.
(II) The location of the SDSs
						at the well site.
(III) The name of
						the position in the operator's organization responsible for providing the
						information in subclauses (I) and (II).
(E) A list containing the location of any
						fire suppression and spill control equipment maintained by the well operator at
						the well site.
(F) A description of
						any emergency equipment available to the operator that is located off of the
						well site.
(G) A summary of the
						risks and hazards to the public within 1/2 mile of the well site and the
						associated planning assumptions.
(H) An outline of the emergency response
						training plan that the operator has established.
(I) The location of and monitoring plan for
						any emergency shutoff valves located along well development pipelines in
						accordance with §
															78a.68b (relating to well
						development pipelines for oil and gas operations).
(ii) The emergency response plan in
						subparagraph (i) may consist of two parts:
(A) A base plan common to all of the
						operator's well sites containing some of the elements described in subparagraph
						(i).
(B) A site-specific plan
						containing the remaining elements described in subparagraph
						(i).
(iii) The operator
						shall submit a copy of the current emergency response plan for that well site
						unless the permit provides otherwise. For plans using the approach in
						subparagraph (ii), the operator may submit one base plan provided that the
						site-specific plans are submitted for each well site.
(iv) The operator shall review the plan and
						submit an update annually on or before March 1 each year. In the event that
						updates are not made to the plan for that review period, the operator shall
						submit a statement indicating the review was completed and updates to the plan
						were not necessary.
(v) The plan
						and subsequent updates shall be submitted to:
(A) PEMA.
(B) The Department.
(C) The county emergency management
						agency.
(D) The Public Safety
						Answering Point with jurisdiction over the well site.
(vi) A copy of the plan shall be available at
						the well site during all phases of operation.
(vii) The emergency response plan must
						address response actions for the following stages of operation at the well
						site:
(A) Preparation of the access road and
						well site.
(B) Drilling of the
						well.
(C) Hydraulic fracturing and
						stimulation of the well.
(D)
						Production.
(E) Well site
						restoration.
(F) Plugging of the
						well.
(viii) The
						requirements in subparagraphs (i)-(vii) may be met by implementing guidance
						issued by the Department in coordination with PEMA.
(6)
Transition.
(i) This subsection is effective January 26,
						2013, except as provided in subparagraph (ii).
(ii) For a well site containing a well that
						is being drilled or has been drilled as of January 26, 2013, or a well site for
						which a well permit has been issued but wells have not started drilling as of
						January 26, 2013, or a well site for which an administratively complete
						application is pending as of January 26, 2013, as provided in subparagraph (i),
						the following applies:
(A) Paragraph (3) is
						effective on February 25, 2013.
(B)
						Paragraph (4) is effective on July 25, 2013.
(C) Paragraph (5) is effective on April 26,
						2013.