Turner, at that meeting, pushed back against Cutter Oil and ODNR, and insisted that the state fire code had not been preempted with regard to requirements for new access drives to drilling sites in residential neighborhoods.
His concern was to ensure that Highland Heights fire trucks and emergency rescue vehicles will be able to safely and quickly access and egress the site, should something go wrong with a gas well placed in the middle of a residential neighborhood---no doubt he was thinking about the explosion in Bainbridge caused by Ohio Valley Energy's frac drilling in a residential neighborhood.
Unfortunately, Turner was almost immediately beaten back and told, apparently by the ODNR inspectors, that the state fire code requirements "were preempted in 3406.3."
That is not entirely correct.
3406.3 is actually a provision in one specific state fire code regulation. It is found in OAC Ann. 1301:7-7-34(f)(3).
That regulation applies to (and only to) the prevention, control and mitigation of dangerous conditions related to storage, use, dispensing, mixing and handling of flammable and combustible liquids. This is what it says:
(F) Section 3406 Special operations (1) 3406.1 General. This paragraph shall cover the provisions for special operations which include, but are not limited to, storage, use, dispensing, mixing or handling of flammable and combustible liquids.
(3) 3406.3. Well drilling and operating. Facilities and activities that are engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas and that are regulated under Chapter 1509. of the Revised Code and Chapter 1501. of the Administrative Code are hereby excluded from regulation under the provisions of this code.
The state fire code with regard to access drives if found in an entirely different regulation: OAC Ann 1301:7-7-05. Fire service features.
There is no similar preemption provision in 1301:7-7-05.
1301:7-7-05 is quite specific, as to what the requirements are for constructing access roads that are wide enough and durable enough to accommodate fire trucks and allow sufficient turn-around round room, so that fire trucks and rescue vehicles can safely and quickly access and egress a site.
So, were the ODNR inspectors shooting us all through the grease when they claimed that drilling companies--who want to drill gas wells near sand boxes and swing sets and homes in residential neighborhoods--do not have to build access drives that comply with the state fire codes?
It surely looks like that to me.
ODNR = Oh Do Not Regulate
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