Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Update: New Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements
This post was written by Ariel Nieland.
On March 22, 2010, Governor Rendell signed Senate Bill 297 into law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This bill, originally proposed by Senator Yaw in February of 2009, provides for increased record-keeping and reporting requirements including requiring Marcellus Shale well operators to submit annual and semi-annual reports specifying, among other things, "the amount of production on the most well-specific basis available" and the status of each well. The bill also requires the DEP to post Marcellus Shale well data online. This new requirement will significantly impact the availability of natural gas producers' production information, which was previously kept confidential for five years.
