At the direction of the Washington County Virginia Board of Supervisors, a committee has worked over the past year or more to develop a zoning regulation to govern siting of natural gas wells in the County.  This committee activity was inspired by a company that, several years ago, purchased mineral rights leases to drill for natural gas in the County and applied for a DMME permit to drill.  Current zoning does not allow the use, so the effort was initiated to develop, for consideration of the Board, a zoning ordinance that would allow drilling.  The process of working on the ordinance has included two panel presentations that were open to the public and monthly committee meetings, which have also been open to public and at which public comments were received.  The County greatly appreciated the participation of DMME representative Rick Cooper, who provided comments at both panel presentations and has attended some committee meetings in the early stages of this process.  Over the past several years, public comments have been made at regular meetings of the Board and of the Planning Commission regarding zoning regulation and natural gas drilling.  Many comments have favored allowing natural gas drilling.  Many comments have expressed concerns with the environmental risks, particularly to groundwater and air quality.  The draft ordinance, which has been passed from the committee to the Commission for initial consideration, includes a requirement that the applicant provide certain baseline environmental data, which the committee considered potentially useful for comparison at a later point to determine whether environmental impact may have resulted from drilling and well stimulation activity.  Neither the Board nor the Commission have taken a position at this time on the draft ordinance; however, this matter is of great interest in Washington County.