Sep. 25--Two meetings have been scheduled to allow the public to learn more about issues related to urban oil and gas wells.

State Rep. Mike Moran, D-Hudson, will hold a town hall session from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Hudson Library and Historical Society, 96 Library St.

Moran said he has heard from a number of people from Munroe Falls, Stow and Hudson who want to see oil and gas laws changed.

"I am having the town hall meeting to give people a chance to hear about the legislation that has been introduced so far, and to give people an opportunity to offer me advice on what further changes they would like to see to improve the law," Moran said.

Moran was referring to Senate Bill 165, introduced by Sen. Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond. As a state representative in 2004, Niehaus sponsored the legislation that changed oil and gas laws.

Niehaus said his proposed legislation is aimed at making revisions to the 5-year-old law. Since it took effect, he said, "more than 1,000 wells have been drilled in the state."

Under the new bill, an oil producer would be able to apply for "mandatory pooling" only five times during a calendar year and would have to pay a $5,000 fee per application, he said.

In mandatory pooling, people who do not sign oil and gas well leases are brought into the "pool" of those who have signed leases with an oil-producing company, if the chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mineral Resources Management approves.

While there have been some problems since the 2004 bill passed, "overall, Bill 278 has worked," Niehaus said.

Sen. Timothy Grendell, R-Chesterland; Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard; Rep. Tom Letson, D-Warren; and others will hold a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Warren Municipal Justice Building, 141 South St. SE, to talk about urban drilling and related legislation.

NEOGAP, the Northeast Ohio Gas Accountability Project, has been working with Grendell to draft legislation to reform Ohio's oil and gas drilling laws.

Kari Matsko, director of NEOGAP, said the coming Grendell legislation, which is expected to be introduced soon and which NEOGAP helped write with others concerned about the issue, would, among other things:

-- Eliminate mandatory pooling.

-- Require wells be at least 1,000 feet from structures, as opposed to the current 100-foot requirement.

-- Require a well be set back 3,000 feet from any source of drinking water.

-- Require notification to property owners living within 3,000 feet of a proposed well.

-- Restore local control of zoning over oil and gas issues.

-- Increase financial responsibility when problems develop.

"We are not anti-oil and gas," said Matsko, of Mentor.

She said the organization wants oil and gas drilling "done responsibly."

For more about NEOGAP, go to http://www.neogap.org.

Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.

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