Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 15 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 20 - GUIDELINES FOR THE PREPARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS FOR OIL OR GAS WELL DRILLING OPERATIONS IN TIDEWATER VIRGINIA › Part II - Information Requirements › Section 9VAC15-20-70 - Description of the environment and natural resource features potentially affected by the gas or oil operation

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. The discussion under this part shall
				  include a description of the existing environment and natural resource features
				  that will be or may be affected by the gas or oil operation and how they will
				  be or may be affected. The analysis of the environment and natural resource
				  features shall encompass, at the minimum, any area located within 1320 feet of
				  a proposed well and within 100 feet of proposed pipeline systems or associated
				  facilities unless the applicant for the permit to drill can demonstrate that a
				  smaller impact analysis area is appropriate given the nature and location of
				  the proposed gas or oil operation and the potential impact of such an operation
				  on the environment and natural resources. The 1320-foot distance is half of the
				  statewide well spacing requirement set out for gas wells in § 45.2-1616 of
				  the Code of Virginia and will ensure that the impact analysis for wells
				  established in Tidewater Virginia at the statewide spacing will be tangential.
				  The 100-foot distance from pipelines and associated facilities will ensure that
				  Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas or other environmentally sensitive resources
				  that may be affected by the oil or gas operation will be detected. The
				  potential for impacts by the proposed oil or gas operation on natural resource
				  features and the environment that are located outside of the 1320-foot impact
				  analysis area for wells and the 100-foot impact analysis area for pipeline
				  systems and associated facilities shall also be considered and discussed. The
				  discussion shall be supported with graphic information in the form of a plat at
				  a scale between 1:1000 and 1:4000 showing the location of natural resources
				  that will be or may be affected by the proposed operation. The discussion shall
				  include:
1. Physical site conditions such as:
a. Topographical features including relief,
				  slope, project area elevation, and landscape features such as beaches, sand
				  dunes, shorelines, etc.;
b. Surface
				  water hydrology and drainage patterns including locations of embayments, rivers
				  or streams and related subaqueous beds, tidal or nontidal wetlands, and the
				  100-year floodplain in the watershed potentially affected by the proposed
				  operation;
c. Existing surface
				  water quality characteristics and how water quality may be affected by
				  emissions from the proposed operation;
d. Existing air quality and how air quality
				  may be affected by emissions from the proposed operation;
e. Geological conditions such as groundwater
				  hydrogeology, including the depths to the top and bottom of groundwater
				  aquifers; general characteristics of the geologic strata to be penetrated by
				  drilling activities; and a discussion of the possibility for land subsidence
				  and any potential impacts associated with land subsidence which may result from
				  the operation;
f. A description of
				  the existing water quality of groundwater aquifers that will be or may be
				  affected by drilling activities or liquid waste disposal activities focusing
				  particularly on the potability of water in potentially affected aquifers and
				  the extent to which identified aquifers are currently used as domestic or
				  community water supplies;
g. A
				  discussion of the soil types on which an operation will be located, including
				  an identification of prime agricultural lands, highly permeable soils, highly
				  erodible soils, and soil profile descriptions of each representative soil
				  series on the well site to a depth of 72 inches;
h. The identification and location of any
				  public water supply intakes within the watershed where an operation will occur
				  and located within 10 miles downstream of the proposed well site or any public
				  or private water supply wells located within a one-mile radius of the proposed
				  oil or gas well drilling operation; and
i. Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, both
				  Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) and Resource Management Areas (RMAs), located
				  within 1320 feet of the proposed operations area.