H. B. 2083
(By Delegate Frederick)
[Introduced January 12, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §22-6-1, §22-6-6 and §22-6-15 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact
§22C-8-2 and §22C-8-7 of said code; to amend and reenact
§24B-1-2 of said code; and to amend said code by adding
thereto a new section, designated §24B-3-5, all relating to
drilling gas wells near active coal mines; definitions;
establishing when a permit for a proposed well near a
permitted mine shall be refused; and requiring every pipeline
company to file facility maps of its various pipelines.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-6-1, §22-6-6 and §22-6-15 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that §22C-8-2
and §22C-8-7 of said code be amended and reenacted; that §24B-1-2
of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §24B-3-5, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 22. ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES.
ARTICLE 6. OFFICE OF OIL AND GAS; OIL AND GAS WELLS;
ADMINISTRATION; ENFORCEMENT.
§22-6-1. Definitions.
Unless the context in which used clearly requires a different
meaning, as used in this article:
(a) "Casing" means a string or strings of pipe commonly placed
in wells drilled for natural gas or petroleum or both;
(b) "Cement" means hydraulic cement properly mixed with water;
(c) "Chair" means the chair of the West Virginia Shallow Gas
Well Review Board as provided for in section four, article eight,
chapter twenty-two-c of this code;
(d) "Coal operator" means any person or persons, firm,
partnership, partnership association or corporation that proposes
to or does operate a coal mine;
(e) "Coal seam" and "workable coal bed" are interchangeable
terms and mean any seam of coal twenty inches or more in thickness,
unless a seam of less thickness is being commercially worked, or
can in the judgment of the department foreseeably be commercially
worked and will require protection if wells are drilled through it;
(f) "Director" means the Director of the Division of
Environmental Protection as established in article one of this
chapter or such other person to whom the director has delegated authority or duties pursuant to sections section six or eight,
article one of this chapter.
(g) "Deep well" means any well other than a shallow well,
drilled and completed in a formation at or below the top of the
uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group";
(h) "Expanding cement" means any cement approved by the office
of oil and gas which expands during the hardening process,
including, but not limited to, regular oil field cements with the
proper additives;
(i) "Facility" means any facility utilized in the oil and gas
industry in this state and specifically named or referred to in
this article or in article eight or nine of this chapter, other
than a well or well site;
(j) "Gas" means all natural gas and all other fluid
hydrocarbons not defined as oil in this section;
(k) "Gathering pipeline" means all pipelines and related
facilities used to collect the gas production of one or more wells
for the purpose of moving such production from the well(s) into the
facilities of an interstate pipeline, a utility or an intrastate
pipeline;
(k) (l) "Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other
hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well
in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the
result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoirs;
(l) (m) "Owner" when used with reference to any well, shall
include any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership
association or corporation that owns, manages, operates, controls
or possesses such well as principal, or as lessee or contractor,
employee or agent of such principal;
(m) (n) "Owner" when used with reference to any coal seam,
shall include any person or persons who own, lease or operate such
coal seam;
(n) (o) "Person" means any natural person, corporation, firm,
partnership, partnership association, venture, receiver, trustee,
executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary or other
representative of any kind, and includes any government or any
political subdivision or any agency thereof;
(o) (p) "Plat" means a map, drawing or print showing the
location of a well or wells as herein defined;
(p) (q) "Review board" means the West Virginia Shallow Gas
Well Review Board as provided for in section four, article eight,
chapter twenty-two-c of this code;
(q) (r) "Safe mining through of a well" means the mining of
coal in a workable coal bed up to a well which penetrates such
workable coal bed and through such well so that the casing or plug
in the well bore where the well penetrates the workable coal bed is
severed;
(r) (s) "Shallow well" means any gas well drilled and
completed in a formation above the top of the uppermost member of
the "Onondaga Group": Provided, That in drilling a shallow well
the operator may penetrate into the "Onondaga Group" to a
reasonable depth, not in excess of twenty feet, in order to allow
for logging and completion operations, but in no event may the
"Onondaga Group" formation be otherwise produced, perforated or
stimulated in any manner;
(s) (t) "Stimulate" means any action taken by a well operator
to increase the inherent productivity of an oil or gas well,
including, but not limited to, fracturing, shooting or acidizing,
but excluding cleaning out, bailing or workover operations;
(t) (u) "Waste" means: (i) Physical waste, as the term is
generally understood in the oil and gas industry; (ii) the
locating, drilling, equipping, operating or producing of any oil or
gas well in a manner that causes, or tends to cause a substantial
reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from
a pool under prudent and proper operations, or that causes or tends
to cause a substantial or unnecessary or excessive surface loss of
oil or gas; (iii) the drilling of more deep wells than are
reasonably required to recover efficiently and economically the
maximum amount of oil and gas from a pool; (iv) substantially
inefficient, excessive or improper use, or the substantially
unnecessary dissipation of, reservoir energy, it being understood that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize any
agency of the state to impose mandatory spacing of shallow wells
except for the provisions of section eight, article nine, chapter
twenty-two-c of this code and the provisions of article eight,
chapter twenty-two-c of this code; (v) inefficient storing of oil
or gas: Provided, That storage in accordance with a certificate of
public convenience issued by the federal Energy Regulatory
Commission shall be conclusively presumed to be efficient; and (vi)
other underground or surface waste in the production or storage of
oil, gas or condensate, however caused. Waste does not include gas
vented or released from any mine areas as defined in section two,
article one, chapter twenty-two-a of this code or from adjacent
coal seams which are the subject of a current permit issued under
article two of chapter twenty-two-a of this code: Provided,
however, That nothing in this exclusion is intended to address
ownership of the gas;
(u) (v) "Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or
dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction or
injection or placement of any liquid or gas, or any shaft or hole
sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction or injection or
placement. The term "well" does not include any shaft or hole
sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of
core drilling or pumping or extracting therefrom potable, fresh or
usable water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural or public use;
(v) (w) "Well work" means the drilling, redrilling, deepening,
stimulating, pressuring by injection of any fluid, converting from
one type of well to another, combining or physically changing to
allow the migration of fluid from one formation to another or
plugging or replugging of any well;
(w) (x) "Well operator" or "operator" means any person or
persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation
that proposes to or does locate, drill, operate or abandon any well
as herein defined;
(x) (y) "Pollutant" shall have the same meaning as provided in
subsection (17), section three, article eleven, chapter twenty-two
of this code; and
(y) (z) "Waters of this state" shall have the same meaning as
the term "waters" as provided in subsection (23), section three,
article eleven, chapter twenty-two of this code.
§22-6-6. Permit required for well work; permit fee; application;
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
owner or lessee is not yet operating said 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 proposed route of the gathering pipeline from the
well location to its connection with an existing gathering pipeline
or transmission line;
(13) The proposed route of access to the well location from
the public roadway;
(12) (14) The erosion and sediment control plan required under
subsection (d) of this section for applications for permits to
drill; and
(13) (15) 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 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.
(e) The well operator named in such application shall
designate the name and address of an agent for such operator who
shall be the attorney-in-fact for the operator and who shall be 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 designation notify the director of such 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 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
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 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 guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or be
imprisoned in the county jail not more than twelve months, or both
fined and imprisoned.
§22-6-15. Objections to proposed drilling of deep wells and oil
wells; objections to fracturing; notices and
hearings; agreed locations or conditions; indication
of changes on plats, etc.; issuance of permits.
(a) When a proposed deep well drilling site or oil well
drilling site or any site is above a seam or seams of coal, then
the coal operator operating said the coal seams beneath the tract
of land, or the coal seam owner or lessee, if any, if said the
owner or lessee is not yet operating said the coal seams, may
within fifteen days from the receipt by the director of the plat
and notice required by section twelve of this article, or within
fifteen days from the receipt by the director of notice required by
section thirteen of this article, file objections in writing (forms
for which will be furnished by the director on request) to such
proposed drilling or fracturing with the director, setting out therein as definitely as is reasonably possible the ground or
grounds on which such objections are based.
If any objection is filed, or if any objection is made by the
director, the director shall notify the well operator of the
character of the objections and by whom made and fix a time and
place, not less than fifteen days from the end of said the
fifteen-day period, at which such when the objections will be
considered. of which time and place The well operator and all
objecting coal operators, owners or lessees, if any, shall be given
at least ten days' written notice by the director, by registered or
certified mail, and summoned to appear. At the time and place so
fixed the well operator and the objecting coal operators, owners or
lessees, if any, or such of them as are those parties present or
represented, shall proceed to consider the objections. In the case
of proposed drilling, such the parties present or represented may
agree upon either the location as made or so moved as to satisfy
all objections and meet the approval of the director, and any
change in the original location so agreed upon and approved by the
director shall be indicated on said plat on file with the director,
and the distance and direction of the new location from the
original location shall be shown, and as so altered, the plat shall
be filed and become a permanent record, and in the case of proposed
fracturing, such the parties present or represented may agree upon
conditions under which the well is to be fractured which will protect life and property and which will satisfy all objections and
meet the approval of the director, at which time the plat and
notice required by section twelve or the notice required by section
thirteen, as the case may be, shall be filed and become a permanent
record. Whereupon The director shall forthwith issue to the well
operator a drilling or fracturing permit, as the case may be,
reciting the filing of the plat and notice required by said section
twelve, or the notice required by said section thirteen, as the
case may be, that at a hearing duly held a location as shown on the
plat or the conditions under which the fracturing is to take place
for the protection of life and property were agreed upon and
approved, and that the well operator is authorized to drill at such
that location or to fracture at the site shown on such plat, or to
fracture the well identified in the notice required by section
thirteen, as the case may be.
(b) In the event the well operator and the objecting coal
operators, owners or lessees, if any, or such as are any party
present or represented at such the hearing are unable to agree upon
a drilling location, or upon a drilling location that meets the
approval of the director, then the director shall proceed to hear
the evidence and testimony in accordance with sections one and two,
article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, except where such
those provisions are inconsistent with the article. The director
shall take into consideration in arriving at his or her decision:
(1) Whether the drilling location is above or in close
proximity to any mine opening or shaft, entry, travelway, airway,
haulageway, drainageway or passageway, or to any proposed extension
thereof in any operated or abandoned or operating coal mine or coal
mines already surveyed and platted, but not yet being operated;
(2) Whether the proposed drilling can reasonably be done
through an existing or planned pillar of coal, or in close
proximity to an existing well or such pillar of coal, taking into
consideration the surface topography;
(3) Whether a well can be drilled safely, taking into
consideration the dangers from creeps, squeezes or other
disturbances due to the extraction of coal; and
(4) The extent to which the proposed drilling location
unreasonably interferes with the safe recovery of coal, oil and
gas;
At the close of the hearing or within ten days thereafter the
director shall issue an order:
(1) Refusing to issue a permit;
(2) Issuing a permit for the proposed drilling location; or
(3) Issuing a permit for a drilling location different from
that requested by the well operator.
The order shall state with particularity the reasons for the
director's order and shall be mailed by registered or certified
mail to the parties present or represented at such hearing. If the director has ruled that a permit will be issued, the director shall
issue a permit effective ten days after such the order is mailed,
except that for good cause shown, the director may stay the
issuance of a permit for a period not to exceed thirty days.
If a permit is issued, the director shall indicate the new
drilling location on the plat on file and shall number and keep an
index of and docket each plat and notice received by mail as
provided in section twelve of this article, and each notice mailed
as provided in section thirteen of this article, entering in such
the docket the name of the well operator, and the names and
addresses of all persons notified, the dates of hearings and all
actions taken by the director. The director shall also prepare a
record of the proceedings, which record shall include all
applications, plats and other documents filed with the director,
all notices given and proof of service thereof, all orders issued,
all permits issued and a transcript of the hearing. The record
prepared by the director shall be open to inspection by the public.
(c) In the event the well operator and the objecting coal
operators, owners or lessees, if any, or such as are any party
present or represented at such hearing, are unable to agree upon
the conditions under which the well is to be fractured as to
protect life and property, or upon conditions of fracturing that
meet with the approval of the director, then the director shall
proceed to hear the evidence and testimony in accordance with sections one and two, article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, except where such those provisions are inconsistent with this
article.
The director shall take into consideration whether the well
can be fractured safely, taking into consideration the dangers from
creeps, squeezes or other disturbances.
At the close of the hearing, or within ten days thereafter,
the director shall issue an order stating the conditions under
which the well is to be fractured, provided the well can be
fractured safely, taking into consideration the dangers from
creeps, squeezes or other disturbances. If such the fracturing
cannot be done safely, the director shall issue an order stating
with particularity the reasons for refusing to issue a permit.
The order shall state with particularity the reasons for the
director's order and shall be mailed by registered or certified
mail to the parties present or represented at such hearing. If the
director has ruled that a permit will be issued, the director shall
issue a permit effective ten days after such order is mailed,
except that for good cause shown, the director may stay the
issuance of a permit for a period not to exceed thirty days.
If a permit is issued, the director shall indicate the well to
be fractured on the plat on file and shall number and keep an index
of and docket each plat and notice received by mail as provided in
section twelve of this article, and each notice received by mail as provided in section thirteen of this article, entering in such
docket the name of the well operator, the names and addresses of
all persons notified, the dates of hearings and all actions taken
by the director. The director shall also prepare a record of the
proceedings, which record shall include all applications, plats and
other documents filed with the director, all notices given and
proof of service thereof, all orders issued, all permits issued and
a transcript of the hearing. The record prepared by the director
shall be open to inspection by the public.
(d) If a coal seam owner objects to a proposed drilling
location on the basis that the proposed drilling location is
located within a permitted mine, and the well operator and the coal
seam owner present or represented at the hearing to consider the
objection to the proposed drilling location are unable to agree
upon a location for an alternate well location, then the permit for
the proposed well shall be refused.
(e) The factors in subsection (b) of this section are not
intended to and may not be constructed to authorize the chair, or
the board, to supersede, impair, abridge or affect any contractual
right or obligation now or hereinafter existing between the
respective gas, coal or surface owners or any interest therein.
CHAPTER 22C. ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES; BOARDS,
AUTHORITIES, COMMISSIONS AND COMPACTS.
ARTICLE 8. SHALLOW GAS WELL REVIEW BOARD.
§22C-8-2. Definitions.
Unless the context in which used clearly requires a different
meaning, as used in this article:
(1) "Board" means the shallow gas well review board provided
for in section four of this article;
(2) "Chair" means the chair of the shallow gas well review
board provided
for in section four of this article;
(3) "Coal operator" means any person who proposes to or does
operate a coal mine;
(4) "Coal seam" and "workable coal bed" are interchangeable
terms and mean any seam of coal twenty inches or more in thickness,
unless a seam of less thickness is being commercially worked, or
can in the judgment of the division foreseeably be commercially
worked and will require protection if wells are drilled through it;
(5) "Commission" means the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
provided
for in section four, article nine of this chapter;
(6) "Commissioner" means the oil and gas conservation
commissioner provided
for in section four, article nine of this
chapter;
(7) "Correlative rights" means the reasonable opportunity of
each person entitled thereto to recover and receive without waste
the gas in and under a tract or tracts, or the equivalent thereof;
(8) "Deep well" means any well other than a shallow well,
drilled and completed in a formation at or below the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group";
(9) "Division" means the State Division of Environmental
Protection provided
for in chapter twenty-two of this code;
(10) "Director" means the Director of the Division of
Environmental Protection as established in article one, chapter
twenty-two of this code or such other person to whom the director
delegates authority or duties pursuant to sections six or eight,
article one, chapter twenty-two of this code;
(11) "Drilling unit" means the acreage on which the board
decides one well may be drilled under section ten of this article;
(12) "Gas" means all natural gas and all other fluid
hydrocarbons not defined as oil in subdivision (15) of this
section;
(13) "Gas operator" means any person who owns or has the right
to develop, operate and produce gas from a pool and to appropriate
the gas produced therefrom either for such person or for such
person and others. In the event that there is no gas lease in
existence with respect to the tract in question, the person who
owns or has the gas rights therein shall be considered a "gas
operator" to the extent of seven eighths of the gas in that portion
of the pool underlying the tract owned by such person, and a
"royalty owner" to the extent of one eighth of such gas;
(14) "Just and equitable share of production" means, as to
each person, an amount of gas in the same proportion to the total gas production from a well as that person's acreage bears to the
total acreage in the drilling unit;
(15) "Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other
hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well
in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the
result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground
reservoir;
(16) "Owner" when used with reference to any coal seam, shall
include any person or persons who own, lease or operate such coal
seam;
(17) "Permitted mine" means the area of land indicated on the
approved proposal map submitted by the coal operator to the West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection as part of the coal
operator's permit application showing the location of perimeter
markers and monuments;
(17) (18) "Person" means any natural person, corporation,
firm, partnership, partnership association, venture, receiver,
trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary or other
representative of any kind, and includes any government or any
political subdivision or any agency thereof;
(18) (19) "Plat" means a map, drawing or print showing the
location of one or more wells or a drilling unit;
(19) (20) "Pool" means an underground accumulation of gas in
a single and separate natural reservoir (ordinarily a porous sandstone or limestone). It is characterized by a single natural-
pressure system so that production of gas from one part of the pool
tends to or does affect the reservoir pressure throughout its
extent. A pool is bounded by geologic barriers in all directions,
such as geologic structural conditions, impermeable strata, and
water in the formation, so that it is effectively separated from
any other pools which may be present in the same district or in the
same geologic structure;
(20) (21) "Royalty owner" means any owner of gas in place, or
gas rights, to the extent that such owner is not a gas operator as
defined in subdivision (13) of this section;
(21) (22) "Shallow well" means any gas well drilled and
completed in a formation above the top of the uppermost member of
the "Onondaga Group":
Provided, That in drilling a shallow well
the well operator may penetrate into the "Onondaga Group" to a
reasonable depth, not in excess of twenty feet, in order to allow
for logging and completion operations, but in no event may the
"Onondaga Group" formation be otherwise produced, perforated or
stimulated in any manner;
(22) (23) "Tracts comprising a drilling unit" means that all
separately owned tracts or portions thereof which are included
within the boundary of a drilling unit;
(23) (24) "Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored
or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction, injection or placement of any liquid or gas, or any
shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction,
injection or placement. The term "well" does not include any shaft
or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole
purpose of core drilling or pumping or extracting therefrom
potable, fresh or usable water for household, domestic, industrial,
agricultural or public use; and
(24) (25) "Well operator" means any person who proposes to or
does locate, drill, operate or abandon any well.
§22C-8-7. Objections to proposed drilling; conferences; agreed
locations and changes on plats; hearings; orders.
(a) At the time and place fixed by the chair for the meeting
of the board and for consideration of the objections to proposed
drilling filed by coal seam owners pursuant to section seventeen,
article six, chapter twenty-two of this code, the well operator and
the objecting coal seam owners present or represented shall hold a
conference with the board to consider the objections. Such persons
present or represented at the conference may agree upon either the
drilling location as proposed by the well operator or an alternate
location. Any change in the drilling location from the drilling
location proposed by the well operator shall be indicated on the
plat enclosed with the notice of objection filed with the chair by
the director in accordance with the provisions of section
seventeen, article six, chapter twenty-two of this code, and the distance and direction to the new drilling location from the
proposed drilling location shall also be shown on such the plat.
If agreement is reached at the conference by the well operator and
such objecting coal seam owners present or represented at the
conference, the board shall issue a written order stating that an
agreement has been reached, stating the nature of such agreement,
and directing the director to grant the well operator a drilling
permit for the location agreed upon. The original of such the
order shall be filed with the division within five days after the
conference of the board at which the drilling location was agreed
upon and copies thereof shall be mailed by registered or certified
mail to the well operator and the objecting coal seam owners
present or represented at such conference.
(b) If the well operator and the objecting coal seam owners
present or represented at the conference with the board are unable
to agree upon a drilling location, then, unless they otherwise
agree, the board shall, without recess for more than one business
day, hold a hearing to consider the application for a drilling
permit. All of the pertinent provisions of article five, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code shall apply to and govern such the
hearing. Within twenty days after the close of a hearing, the
board shall issue and file with the director a written order
directing him or her, subject to other matters requiring approval
of the director, to:
(1) Refuse a drilling permit;
(2) Issue a drilling permit for the proposed drilling
location;
(3) Issue a drilling permit for an alternate drilling location
different from that requested by the well operator; or
(4) Issue a drilling permit either for the proposed drilling
location or for an alternate drilling location different from that
requested by the well operator, but not allow the drilling of the
well for a period of not more than one year from the date of
issuance of such the permit.
(c) The written order of the board shall contain findings of
fact and conclusions based thereon concerning the following safety
aspects, and no drilling permit shall be issued for any drilling
location where the board finds from the evidence that such the
drilling location will be unsafe:
(1) Whether the drilling location is above or in close
proximity to any mine opening or shaft, entry, travelway, airway,
haulageway, drainageway or passageway, or to any proposed extension
thereof, in any operated or abandoned or operating coal mine, or
any coal mine already surveyed and platted but not yet being
operated;
(2) Whether the proposed drilling can reasonably be done
through an existing or planned pillar of coal, or in close
proximity to an existing well or such pillar of coal, taking into consideration the surface topography;
(3) Whether the proposed well can be drilled safely, taking
into consideration the dangers from creeps, squeezes or other
disturbances due to the extraction of coal; and
(4) The extent to which the proposed drilling location
unreasonably interferes with the safe recovery of coal and gas; and
(5) Whether the gas operator will follow federal and state
coal mine safety laws while conducting well work on a permitted
mine
.
The written order of the board shall also contain findings of
fact and conclusions based thereon concerning the following:
(5) (6) The extent to which the proposed drilling location
will unreasonably interfere with present or future coal mining
operations on the surface including, but not limited to, operations
subject to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-two of
this code;
(6) (7) The feasibility of moving the proposed drilling
location to a mined-out area, below the coal outcrop, or to some
other location;
(7) (8) The feasibility of a drilling moratorium for not more
than one year in order to permit the completion of imminent coal
mining operations;
(8) (9) The methods proposed for the recovery of coal and gas;
(9) (10) The distance limitations established in section eight of this article;
(10) (11) The practicality of locating the well on a uniform
pattern with other wells;
(11) (12) The surface topography and use; and
(12) (13) Whether the order of the board will substantially
affect the right of the gas operator to explore for and produce
gas; and
(14) Whether the well work is an unreasonable or arbitrary
exercise of the well operator's right to explore for, market or
produce oil and gas.
(d) Any member of the board may file a separate opinion.
Copies of all orders and opinions shall be mailed by the board, by
registered or certified mail, to the parties present or represented
at the hearing.
(e) If a coal seam owner objects to a proposed drilling
location on the basis that the proposed drilling location is
located within a permitted mine, and the well operator and the coal
seam owner present or represented at the hearing to consider the
objection to the proposed drilling location are unable to agree
upon a location for an alternate well location, then the permit for
the proposed well shall be refused.
(f) The factors in subsection (c) of this section are not
intended to and may not be constructed to authorize the chair, or
the board, to supersede, impair, abridge or affect any contractual right or obligation now or hereinafter existing between the
respective gas, coal or surface owners or any interest therein.
CHAPTER 24B. GAS PIPELINE SAFETY.
ARTICLE 1. PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONS.
§24B-1-2. Definitions.
When used in this chapter:
(1) "Person" means any individual, firm, joint venture,
partnership, corporation, association, state, municipality,
cooperative association or joint-stock association, and includes
any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative thereof;
(2) "Gas" means natural gas, flammable gas or gas which is
toxic or corrosive;
(3) "Transportation of gas" means the gathering, transmission
or distribution of gas by pipeline or its storage;
(4) "Hazardous liquid" means:
(a) Petroleum or any petroleum product; and
(b) Any substance or material which is in liquid state
(excluding liquified natural gas) when transported by pipeline
facilities and which, as determined by the commission, may pose an
unreasonable risk to life or property when transported by pipeline
facilities:
Provided, That a hazardous liquid as herein defined
shall not be construed so as to include or permit the regulation of
any substance transported through pipeline or otherwise when used
in the operation of coal mines, coal processing plants or coal slurry pipelines:
Provided, however, That the commission shall not
determine that any substance or material is a hazardous liquid
under this section if the secretary has not determined that the
substance or material is a hazardous liquid under regulations
promulgated in accordance with Section 202(2) of the Hazardous
Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979;
(5) "Transportation of hazardous liquids" means the movement
of hazardous liquids by pipeline, or their storage incidental to
such movements; except that it shall not include any such movement
through gathering lines in rural locations or on shore production,
refining or manufacturing facilities or storage or in-plant piping
systems associated with any of such facilities;
(6) "Pipeline facilities" means, without limitation, new and
existing pipe,
including gathering pipelines, pipe rights-of-way
and any equipment, facility, or building used in the transportation
of gas or the treatment of gas during the course of transportation,
or used in the transportation of hazardous liquid or the treatment
of hazardous liquid during the course of transportation; but
"rights-of-way" as used in this chapter does not authorize the
commission to prescribe the location or routing of any pipeline
facility;
(7) "Municipality" means a city, county or any other political
subdivision of the state;
(8) "Interstate transmission facilities" means facilities used in the transportation of gas which are subject to the jurisdiction
of the Federal Power Commission under the Act of Congress known as
the Natural Gas Act;
(9) "Interstate pipeline facilities" means the pipeline
facilities used in the transportation of hazardous liquids in
interstate or foreign commerce;
(10) "Director" means the Director of the Gas Pipeline Safety
section of the commission;
(11) "Commission" means the Public Service Commission of West
Virginia;
(12) "Secretary" means the United States Secretary of
Transportation;
(13) "Pipeline company" means a person engaged in the
operation of pipeline facilities or the transportation of gas or
hazardous liquids subject to the provisions of this chapter;
(14) "Act of 1968" means the Act of Congress known as the
Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968;
and
(15) "Act of 1979" means the Act of Congress known as the
"Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979;"
and
(16) "Gathering pipeline" means all pipelines and related
facilities used to collect the gas production of one or more wells
for the purpose of moving such production from the well(s) into the
facilities of an interstate pipeline, a utility or an interstate
pipeline.
§24B-3-5. Filing of facility maps.
Every pipeline company shall annually file with the commission
a map showing all of its: (1) Existing well locations; (2)
existing pipeline facilities, including but not limited to,
interstate pipeline facilities, intrastate pipeline facilities and
gathering pipelines; and (3) existing pipeline rights-of-ways.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish when a permit
for a proposed well near a permitted mine shall be refused; to add
definitions; and to require every pipeline company to file facility
maps of its various pipelines.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§24B-3-5 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.