Senate Bill No. 682
(By Senator Sypolt)
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[Introduced February 22, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Energy, Industry and Mining; and then to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §22-6-12 and §22-6-14 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to surveyors and
registered professional engineers; and plat preparation for
drilling or fracturing wells or introducing liquids or wastes
into wells.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-6-12 and §22-6-14 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. OFFICE OF OIL AND GAS; OIL AND GAS WELLS;
ADMINISTRATION; ENFORCEMENT.
§22-6-12. Plats prerequisite to drilling or fracturing wells;
preparation and contents; notice and information
furnished to coal operators, owners or lessees;
issuance of permits; performance bonds or securities in lieu thereof; bond forfeiture.
(a) Before drilling for oil or gas, or before fracturing or
stimulating a well on any tract of land, the well operator shall
have a plat prepared by a
licensed land professional surveyor
or
registered engineer showing the district and county in which the
tract of land is located, the name and acreage of the same, the
names of the owners of adjacent tracts, the proposed or actual
location of the well determined by survey, the courses and
distances of such location from two permanent points or landmarks
on said tract and the number to be given the well. In the event
the tract of land on which the said well proposed to be drilled or
fractured is located is known to be underlain by one or more coal
seams, copies of the plat shall be forwarded by registered or
certified mail to each and every coal operator operating said coal
seams beneath said tract of land, who has mapped the same and filed
such maps with the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training in
accordance with chapter twenty-two-a of this code and the coal seam
owner of record and lessee of record, if any, if said owner or
lessee has recorded the declaration provided in section thirty-six
of this article, and if said owner or lessee is not yet operating
said coal seams beneath said tract of land. With each of
such the
plats there shall be enclosed a notice (form for which shall be
furnished on request by the secretary) addressed to the secretary
and to each
such coal operator, owner and lessee, if any, at their
respective addresses, informing them that
such the plat and notice are being mailed to them respectively by registered or certified
mail, pursuant to the requirements of this article.
(b) If no objections are made, or are found by the secretary,
to
such the proposed location or proposed fracturing within fifteen
days from receipt of such plat and notice by the secretary, the
same shall be filed and become a permanent record of
such the
location or fracturing subject to inspection at any time by any
interested person, and the secretary may
forthwith immediately
issue to the well operator a permit reciting the filing of
such the
plat, that no objections have been made by the coal operators,
owners and lessees, if any, or found thereto by the secretary, and
authorizing the well operator to drill at
such the location, or to
fracture the well. Unless the secretary has objections to
such the
proposed location or proposed fracturing or stimulating,
such the
permit may be issued
prior to before the expiration of
such the
fifteen-day period upon the obtaining by the well operator of the
consent in writing of the coal operator or operators, owners and
lessees, if any, to whom copies of the plat and notice
shall have
been mailed as herein required, and upon presentation of
such the
written consent to the secretary. The notice above provided
for
may be given to the coal operator by delivering or mailing it by
registered or certified mail as above to any agent or
superintendent in actual charge of mines.
(c) A permit to drill, or to fracture or stimulate an oil or
gas well,
shall may not be issued unless the application therefor is accompanied by a bond as provided in section twenty-six of this
article.
§22-6-14. Plats prerequisite to introducing liquids or waste into
wells; preparation and contents; notice and
information furnished to coal operators, owners or
lessees and director; issuance of permits; performance
bonds or security in lieu thereof.
(a) Before drilling a well for the introduction of liquids for
the purposes provided for in section twenty-five of this article or
for the introduction of liquids for the disposal of pollutants or
the effluent therefrom on any tract of land, or before converting
an existing well for such purposes, the well operator shall have a
plat prepared by a
registered engineer or licensed land
professional surveyor showing the district and county in which the
tract of land is located, the name and acreage of the same, the
names of the owners of all adjacent tracts, the proposed or actual
location of the well or wells determined by a survey, the courses
and distances of
such the location from two permanent points of
land marked on said tract and the number to be given to the well,
and shall forward by registered or certified mail the original and
one copy of the plat to the director. In addition, the well
operator shall provide the following information on the plat or by
way of attachment thereto to the director in the manner and form
prescribed by the director's rules: (1) The location of all wells, abandoned or otherwise located within the area to be affected; (2)
where available, the casing records of all
such those wells; (3)
where available, the drilling log of all
such those wells; (4) the
maximum pressure to be introduced; (5) the geological formation
into which
such that liquid or pressure is to be introduced; (6) a
general description of the liquids to be introduced; (7) the
location of all water-bearing horizons above and below the
geological formation into which
such that pressure, liquid or waste
is to be introduced; and (8)
such other information as the director
requires by rule.
may require
(b)
In the event If the tract of land on which
said the well
proposed to be drilled or converted for the purposes provided
for
in this section is located is known to be underlaid with coal
seams, copies of the plat and all information required by this
section shall be forwarded by the operator by registered or
certified mail to each and every coal operator operating coal seams
beneath
said the tract of land, who has mapped the same and filed
such maps with the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training in
accordance with chapter twenty-two-a of this code, and the coal
seam owner of record and lessee of record, if any, if
said the
owner or lessee has recorded the declaration provided in section
thirty-six of this article, and if
said the owner or lessee is not
yet operating
said those seams beneath
said the tract of land.
With each of
such the plats, there shall be enclosed a notice (form
for which shall be furnished on request by the director) addressed to the director and to each
such coal operator, owner or lessee, if
any, at their respective addresses, informing them that
such the
plat and notice are being mailed to them, respectively, by
registered or certified mail, pursuant to the requirements of this
section.
(c) If no objections are made by any such coal operator, owner
or lessee, or the director,
such the proposed drilling or
converting of the well or wells for the purposes provided
for in
this section within thirty days from the receipt of
such the plat
and notice by the director, the same shall be filed and become a
permanent record of
such the location or well, subject to
inspection at any time by any interested person, and the director
may after public notice and opportunity to comment, issue
such a
permit authorizing the well operator to drill at
such the location
or convert
such the existing well or wells for the purposes
provided
for in this section. The notice above provided
for may be
given to the coal operator by delivering or mailing it by
registered or certified mail as above to any agent or
superintendent in actual charge of the mines.
(d) A permit to drill a well or wells or convert an existing
well or wells for the purposes provided
for in this section
shall
may not be issued until all of the bonding provisions required by
the provisions of section twelve of this article have been fully
complied with and all
such those bonding provisions
shall apply to
all wells drilled or converted for the purposes provided
for in this section as if
such those wells had been drilled for the
purposes provided
for in section twelve of this article, except
that
such the bonds shall be conditioned upon full compliance with
all laws and rules relating to the drilling of a well or the
converting of an existing well for the purposes provided
for in
said section twenty-five
of this article, or introducing of liquids
for the disposal of pollutants including the redrilling, deepening,
casing, plugging or abandonment of all such wells.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to replace archaic
terminology for surveyors and to eliminate the need for engineers
to prepare certain plats.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.