Introduced Version
House Bill 3041 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 3041
(By Delegates Hamilton, Mahan, Tansill, Shook,
Miley, Blair, Ellem, Klempa, Shaver,
M. Poling and Tabb)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then the
Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §22-6-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §22-7-3 of said
code, all relating to prohibiting oil and gas operators from
daylighting; defining daylighting; promulgation of rules;
exceptions; and providing increased compensation for surface
owners under certain circumstances.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-6-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §22-7-3 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. OFFICE OF OIL AND GAS; OIL AND GAS WELLS;
ADMINISTRATION; ENFORCEMENT.
§22-6-6. Permit required for well work; permit fee; application;
daylighting prohibited; exceptions
; promulgation
of rules; soil erosion control plan.
(a) It is unlawful for any person to commence any well work, including site preparation work which involves any disturbance of
land, without first securing from the director a well work permit.
An application may propose and a permit may approve two or more
activities defined as well work.
(b) The application for a well work permit shall be
accompanied by applicable bond as prescribed by section twelve,
fourteen or twenty-three of this article, and the applicable plat
required by section twelve or fourteen of this article.
(c) Every permit application filed under this section shall be
verified and shall contain the following:
(1) The names and addresses of: (i) The well operator; (ii)
the agent required to be designated under subsection (e) of this
section; and (iii) every person whom the applicant must notify
under any section of this article together with a certification and
evidence that a copy of the application and all other required
documentation has been delivered to all such persons;
(2) The name and address of every coal operator operating coal
seams under the tract of land on which the well is or may be
located, and the coal seam owner of record and lessee of record
required to be given notice by section twelve, if any, if said the
owner or lessee is not yet operating said the coal seams;
(3) The number of the well or such other identification as the
director may require;
(4) The type of well;
(5) The well work for which a permit is requested;
(6) The approximate depth to which the well is to be drilled
or deepened, or the actual depth if the well has been drilled;
(7) Any permit application fee required by law;
(8) If the proposed well work will require casing or tubing to
be set, the entire casing program for the well, including the size
of each string of pipe, the starting point and depth to which each
string is to be set, and the extent to which each such string is to
be cemented;
(9) If the proposed well work is to convert an oil well or a
combination well or to drill a new well for the purpose of
introducing pressure for the recovery of oil as provided in section
twenty-five of this article, specifications in accordance with the
data requirements of section fourteen of this article;
(10) If the proposed well work is to plug or replug the well:
(i) Specifications in accordance with the data requirements of
section twenty-three of this article; (ii) a copy of all logs in
the operator's possession as the director may require; and (iii) a
work order showing in detail the proposed manner of plugging or
unplugging the well, in order that a representative of the director
and any interested persons may be present when the work is done.
In the event of an application to drill, redrill or deepen a well,
if the well work is unsuccessful so that the well must be plugged
and abandoned, and if the well is one on which the well work has been continuously progressing pursuant to a permit, the operator
may proceed to plug the well as soon as the operator has obtained
the verbal permission of the director or the director's designated
representative to plug and abandon the well, except that the
operator shall make reasonable effort to notify as soon as
practicable the surface owner and the coal owner, if any, of the
land at the well location, and shall also timely file the plugging
affidavit required by section twenty-three of this article;
(11) If the proposed well work is to stimulate an oil or gas
well, specifications in accordance with the data requirements of
section thirteen of this article;
(12) The erosion and sediment control plan required under
subsection (d) of this section for applications for permits to
drill; and
(13) Any other relevant information which the director may
require by rule.
(d) An erosion and sediment control plan shall accompany each
application for a well work permit except for a well work permit to
plug or replug any well. Such This plan shall contain methods of
stabilization and drainage, including a map of the project area
indicating the amount of acreage disturbed. The erosion and
sediment control plan shall meet the minimum requirements of the
West Virginia erosion and sediment control manual as adopted and
from time to time amended by the division, in consultation with the several soil conservation districts pursuant to the control program
established in this state through section 208 of the federal Water
Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (33 U.S.C.1288). The
erosion and sediment control plan shall become part of the terms
and conditions of a well work permit, except for a well work permit
to plug or replug any well, which is issued and the provisions of
the plan shall be carried out where applicable in the operation.
The erosion and sediment control plan shall set out the proposed
method of reclamation which shall comply with the requirements of
section thirty of this article. The practice of daylighting roads
or well work sites is prohibited: Provided, That the Office of Oil
and Gas may promulgate rules permitting daylighting in specifically
described conditions if, based upon scientific studies of
hydrogeology, botancial succession and any other relevant fields,
which rules may permit daylighting in specifically described
conditions with the separately signed consent of the surface owner.
For the purposes of this subsection, "daylighting" means the
practice of clearing timber and other woody materials back from the
roadway or site to allow entrance of sunlight and wind in an
attempt to accelerate drying of the road or site surface. In the
event a rule is promulgated, the Office of Oil and Gas shall
promulgate a form describing the practice of daylighting, the
surface owner's rights under this section and the rule, and
containing consent language, which form shall be served on surface owners upon whose land daylighting is proposed at the same time the
well permit application is served as required by section nine of
this article.
(e) The well operator named in such the application shall
designate the name and address of an agent for such the operator
who shall be is the attorney-in-fact for the operator and who shall
be is a resident of the State of West Virginia upon whom notices,
orders or other communications issued pursuant to this article or
article eleven, chapter twenty-two, may be served, and upon whom
process may be served. Every well operator required to designate
an agent under this section shall within five days after the
termination of such this designation notify the director of such
this termination and designate a new agent.
(f) The well owner or operator shall install the permit number
as issued by the director in a legible and permanent manner to the
well upon completion of any permitted work. The dimensions,
specifications and manner of installation shall be in accordance
with the rules of the director.
(g) The director may waive the requirements of this section
and sections nine, ten and eleven of this article in any emergency
situation, if the director deems such action considers necessary.
In such case the director may issue an emergency permit which would
be effective for not more than thirty days, but which would be
subject to reissuance by the director.
(h) The director shall deny the issuance of a permit if the
director determines that the applicant has committed a substantial
violation of a previously issued permit, including the erosion and
sediment control plan, or a substantial violation of one or more of
the rules promulgated hereunder, and has failed to abate or seek
review of the violation within the time prescribed by the director
pursuant to the provisions of sections three and four of this
article and the rules promulgated hereunder, which time may not be
unreasonable: Provided,
That in the event that the director does
find that a substantial violation has occurred and that the
operator has failed to abate or seek review of the violation in the
time prescribed, the director may suspend the permit on which said
the violation exists, after which suspension the operator shall
forthwith cease all well work being conducted under the permit:
Provided, however,
That the director may reinstate the permit
without further notice, at which time the well work may be
continued. The director shall make written findings of any such
determination and may enforce the same in the circuit courts of
this state and the operator may appeal such the suspension pursuant
to the provisions of section forty of this article. The director
shall make a written finding of any such determination.
(i) Any person who violates any provision of this section
shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned confined in the county jail not more than twelve months,
or both fined and imprisoned.
ARTICLE 7. OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION DAMAGE COMPENSATION.
§22-7-3. Compensation of surface owners for drilling operations.
(a) The oil and gas developer shall be is obligated to pay the
surface owner compensation for:
(1) (A) Lost income or expenses incurred as a result of being
unable to dedicate land actually occupied by the driller's
operation or to which access is prevented by such the drilling
operation to the uses to which it was dedicated prior to
commencement of the activity for which a permit was obtained
measured from the date the operator enters upon the land until the
date reclamation is completed;
(2) (B) The market value of crops destroyed, damaged or
prevented from reaching market;
(3) (C) Any damage to a water supply in use prior to the
commencement of the permitted activity;
(4) (D) The cost of repair of personal property up to the
value of replacement by personal property of like age, wear and
quality; and
(5) (E) The diminution in value, if any, of the surface lands
and other property after completion of the surface disturbance done
pursuant to the activity for which the permit was issued determined
according to the actual use made thereof by the surface owner immediately prior to the commencement of the permitted activity:
Provided, That if the oil and gas developer uses a road or site
location to which the surface owner does not agree, and if it was
not necessary to use a road or site location other than the
locations to which the surface owner would agree, then the measure
of damages is the diminution of value of the entire tract of land
of the surface owner according to its highest and best use at the
time the road and site construction began.
(2) The amount of damages may be determined by any formula
mutually agreeable between the surface owner and the oil and gas
developer.
(b) Any reservation or assignment of the compensation provided
in this section apart from the surface estate except to a tenant of
the surface estate is prohibited.
(c) In the case of surface lands owned by more than one person
as tenants in common, joint tenants or other coownership, any claim
for compensation under this article shall be is for the benefit of
all such coowners. The resolution of a claim for compensation
provided in this article shall operate as a bar to the assertion of
additional claims under this section arising out of the same
drilling operations.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit oil and gas
drillers from "daylighting" the roads and sites they build by
cutting down timber in wide swaths of both sides of the road or
site. An exception can be made by rule by the Office of Oil and
Gas if the exception is based on scientific studies. Also the bill increases the compensation that a surface owner receives from the
driller for using the surface owner's land for well road and well
sites if the driller places the road or site in places the surface
owner did not want unless it was necessary for the driller to place
the road and site where it was placed.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.