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The West Virginia Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee approved a bill that would target nonpayment of gas and oil royalties, but not before changing the terms of damages collection under the measure, House Bill 4292. HB 4292 is designed to address nonpayment of relatively small royalty payments from conventional vertical wells.
West Virginia lawmakers, from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to the state House Energy and Manufacturing Committee, are siding with and pushing pro-gas and oil industry measures despite heavy costs to consumers and taxpayers. Manchin has opposed a White House liquefied natural gas, or LNG, pause while state lawmakers have advanced bills aimed at protecting the industry.
A measure that would prevent the cleanup of oil and gas wells from falling onto state regulators sits idle in the Legislature as lawmakers take up another bill that exempts
This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight. Get coverage of the legislative session delivered to your email inbox Monday through Thursday; sign up for the free newsletter at
The West Virginia House of Delegates approved a bill, House Bill 5045, designed to help the state Department of Environmental Protection gain primary enforcement authority, or primacy, over wells to inject carbon dioxide into deep rock formations for long-term underground storage. The bill now goes before the Senate, in which another version of the bill has advanced.