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Allegheny County, PA
 
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Code
New Laws (6) Index
[Added 12-17-2013 by Ord. No. 31-13]
A. 
Applicability. This section applies to any natural gas drilling site characterized as an unconventional well, as defined in this chapter, which utilizes hydraulic fracturing.
B. 
Unconventional well activity notification.
(1) 
No person shall conduct, or allow to be conducted, the construction, installation, or operation of any unconventional well without first submitting to the Department written advance notice. Written notice, with the intended start date, shall be submitted prior to each of the following activities:
(a) 
Initial well site construction, including but not limited to the creation of roads, the construction of impoundment ponds, the building of structures, and the installation of drilling and production equipment.
(b) 
Drilling, where a well bore of any depth is drilled into, through, or below the surface of the earth.
(c) 
Hydraulic fracturing, as defined in this chapter.
(d) 
Flaring or venting during well completion, except in emergency situations where immediate flaring is necessary for the safety of the site.
(2) 
The Department shall be notified of the intended start date for any of the activities listed in Subsection B(1) no less than 24 hours prior. Should a change in date for any covered activity be necessary, the owner or operator shall notify ACHD of the revised date no less than 24 hours prior to the actual date.
C. 
Reporting of breakdowns. In the event that any air pollution control equipment, process equipment, or other source of air contaminants breaks down in such manner as to have a substantial likelihood of causing the emission of air contaminants in violation of this chapter, or of causing the emission into the open air of potentially toxic or hazardous materials, the person responsible for such equipment or source shall immediately, but in no event later than two hours after the commencement of the breakdown, notify the Department of such breakdown. Oral reporting of such breakdown shall follow requirements in § 505-74C(2).
D. 
Violations. Conducting any of the activities described in Subsection B(1) above without first submitting notification to the Department, as required, before the actual start date of the intended activity, or the failure to report breakdowns as required in Subsection C, shall be a violation of this chapter, giving rise to the remedies provided by § 505-79 of this chapter.