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Home My WebLink AboutOil_and_Gas_Commission_DRAFT_Meeting_Minutes_for_the_11_Aug_2020_MeetingN.C. Oil and Gas Commission Minutes of the Tuesday, 11 August 2020 Meeting* The meeting of the Oil and Gas Commission took place at 10:00 A.M. on 11 August 2020 via Webex tele-conference, hosted by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). 00:0:25 – Commission Vice-Chairman James K. Womack opened the meeting with a moment of silence and leads the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:01:15 – Womack read the Ethics Enforcement Act, then asked for concerns for conflicts of interest. No concerns were voiced. 00:01:45 – Womack took attendance of Commissioners. In attendance: Commissioner John Lucey, Commissioner Rebecca W. Salmon, Commissioner Stanford Baird, Commissioner John Droz, Commissioner Dr. Jim Zhang, and Vice-Chairman James K. Womack. A quorum is declared. The absence of Commission Chairman James C. Lister is noted, therefore, as Commission Vice-Chairman, James K. Womack continued presiding. 00:04:05 – The approval of minutes from the 16 June 2020 meeting minutes were discussed by the Commission. Commissioner Droz made a motion to approve the minutes and Commissioner Salmon seconded the motion. DEQ Senior Policy Advisor Jennifer Mundt administered a roll-call of the Commissioners for the virtual venue. All Commissioners present unanimously voted to approve the 16 June 2020 meeting minutes. 00:06:26 – The election of Commission officers was conducted. DOJ Special Deputy Attorney General Phillip Reynolds described the process of the Commission elections. In an effort to avoid potential perceptions of conflict, Womack asked Reynolds to conduct the election process. Womack nominated Lister for Chairman. There were no other nominations for the Chairman seat. Mundt conducted a roll-call vote. James C. Lister was unanimously elected for a second term as Commission Chairman. Reynolds opened the floor for nominations for Commission Vice-Chairman. Droz nominated Womack for Vice-Chairman. There were no other nominations for the Vice-Chairman seat. Mundt conducted a roll-call vote. James K. Womack was unanimously elected for a second term as Commission Vice-Chairman. 00:11:32 – Geological Survey Senior Geologist Jim Chapman provided a summary of inquiries made to the Geological Survey (over the period since the last Commission meeting) pertaining to oil/gas. The summary was, as follows: (1) Melody Nice (from Texas) requested information about North Carolina’s oil/gas current well locations, as well as the State’s potential for other locations - Ms. Nice indicated that she had a client in Rowan County; (2) Dana Rosa (environmental consultant from Guilford County) was interested in North Carolina’s oil/gas well locations for site-planning purposes; (3) Donna Stringfellow (realtor from Guilford County) requested oil/gas well locations for property listings; and (4) Bob Bickel (from Burlington) was interested in North Carolina’s oil/gas potential – Mr. Bickel indicated that he was, in part, interested for potential future investment purposes. 00:13:50 – Womack started a discussion pertaining to the oil and gas rules pertaining to drilling units (DUs). Womack outlined the key points of his concerns: (1) that there is not a naming convention for DUs; (2) that there is no defined entity to maintain the master-list of DUs, where the list will be published, where the list will be offered, and the maintenance/upkeep of the hosting site; and (3) that there is a general lack of a description of how the DEQ and the Commission should interact regarding a DU plan request – Womack highlights rules 05H .1202(e)(4-9). Womack stated that these concerns are a few, but not necessarily all, pertaining to DUs in the rules. 00:23:04 - Reynolds provided comment on further rule-making operating procedures. Reynolds states that if the Commission is in the process of deliberating about how the Commission’s internal business is conducted then rules are not needed. However, if the Commission’s concern is about how a Commission decision affects an entity outside the agency then that must be backed by a rule. 00:29:16 – Baird offered his recollection from the original Commission rule-making process. Baird recalled believing that there were areas that needed improvement and that his working assumption was that current operating procedures could be developed, short of rule-making. Reynolds agreed with Baird’s take. Reynolds stated that without actual text to deliberate it would be difficult to access further. 00:33:45 – Womack stated that a specific area of confusion he has pertains to sufficiency (to illustrate the target geological formation). State Geologist/Geological Survey Chief Dr. Kenneth Taylor offered that the DU application will first come to the department (via the Geological Survey) to ascertain if the DU meets the minimal technical qualifications. Taylor went on to explain that the staff would work with the applicant to achieve a standard that could be presented to the Commission which, Taylor stated, is the precedent that has been set by DEMLR (Division of Energy, Minerals and Land Resources) staff for other Commissions. Taylor further offered that part of the staff duties to the Commission is to not let the Commission’s time be wasted by presenting DU applications that do not meet the minimal technical qualifications, as outlined in the rules. 00:39:40 – Reynolds offered that rule section 05H .0700 provides for hearing for DUs. Womack states that his concern is that the rules do not specify what exactly the department’s role is in the process. Reynolds stated that the .0700 rules should be read together with the .1200 rules. Womack agreed but reiterated that the rules still do not outline precisely what the department’s role is in the DU application process. Womack stated that his underlying concern is that interested applicants could get frustrated with the bureaucratic process and therefore subsequently lose interest. Womack offered that a set of internal operating procedures which would articulate the level of responsibility of the department could be a productive move forward. Womack suggested that he would be willing to work with Taylor/staff to define the specific role for the department for the Commission’s internal procedures regarding DU applications. 00:46:50 – Womack asked if any of the other Commissioners had comments to make on the matter of DU applications. Droz shared his agreement for the further refinement of the DU application process. Droz further explained that he was concerned that the process does not become over-complicated. 00:51:58 – Womack asked for any other concerns from the other Commissioners. No other comments were offered. 00:52:15 – Womack opened the floor to public comments. Public Comments: 00:52:25 – Mundt asks attendees from the public individually if they have comments. 00:53:04 – Therese Vick (Lee County) commented about her concern for protection for owners of split-estates, air quality, and forced-pooling. Ms. Vick is further concerned that the process is being rushed. 00:56:05 – Jeannie Ambrose (from Pittsboro) agreed with Ms. Vick that the communities have not been adequately protected in the rules concerning split-estates, etc. 00:58:30 – Sharon Garbet asked if forced-pooling rules have been finalized. Womack offered that the committee from the original Commission stopped short of defining specific procedures concerning forced-pooling. Womack further stated that the General Assembly did not give guidelines to the Committee for what that body desired. 01:03:40 – No other public comments were offered. Womack opened the floor for Commissioner comments. Commissioners Comments: 01:04:25 – Droz mentioned that the federal government has approved an off-shore seismic survey. 01:06:10 – Womack suggested that the other Commissioners might want to peruse Commissioner Droz’s newsletter. Womack further expressed his desire for the department to present the information from the previous Commission on its web-site. 01:09:40 – Reynolds reminded the Commissioners that they need to use their State email accounts so the accounts will not elapse. Mundt reiterates the need for the Commissioners to utilize their State email accounts in order to avoid the Commissioners’ personal email accounts getting tied-up in an information request. Reynolds reminded the Commissioners that the relevance of an email does not lie in where the email is stored but in what the email contains – if the subject of the email pertains to Commission duties the email is open to information requests, even from a personal email account. Reynolds further reminded the Commissioners that the State email accounts were, in part, created for them to help protect them. 01:15:02 – Droz mentioned that people might like to subscribe to his newsletter, which is focused on all matters concerning energy. 01:16:47 – No other Commissioner comments are offered. Womack declares the meeting adjourned.