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Governor’s Oil and Gas Commission emphasizes well-pad safety

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s Oil and Gas Commission highlighted issues of workplace safety during a meeting Thursday, a precursor to potential legislation during next year’s regular session.

Much of the meeting of the 19-member commission was spent outlining dangers of drilling for oil and natural gas, and reviewing accidents that have occurred in the past.

“Safety’s a priority,” Patsy Trecost (D – Harrison), a member of the Oil and Gas Commission, said Wednesday during the MetroNews-affiliated “The Mike Queen Show” on the AJR News Network. “Our ultimate goal is–even though it means an incredible amount of dollars to our economy–we want men and women going home safely to their family. This Commission will make sure the proper training is in place.”

Trecost said that safety on these rigs is an extremely important issue to Governor Tomblin.

“This is industry, as fast as it’s growing, is affecting all of us,” Trecost said. “We see what’s happening to our roads, and at the same time at a work site we want to make sure that people are properly trained. And if an accident does happen, that an emergency response plan is in place.”

Tomblin said that he formed the commission through an executive order.

“This Commission will help us determine how to best protect workers at natural gas operations while ensuring our workers have the proper training and skills to do their jobs in the safest, most effective way possible,” the governor said as part of a news release.

The Commission may be using the history of another of West Virginia’s natural resource industries to look at safety: the coal mining industry.

“You know one of the things that’s been said is that maybe we waited too long in the mining industry to make safety a top priority some 25 or 50 years ago,” Trecost said. “We all remember the tragedies in mining. We just don’t want that to happen in the oil and gas industry.”

Output in West Virginia is about 6.5 times higher than it was 15 years ago.





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