(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.