Title 15 — Natural Resources and Economic Development

(a) The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission shall issue rules that adopt appropriate procedures for identifying and designating land in this state as unsuitable for all or certain types of surface mining, which rules shall:(1) Prevent surface coal mining operations …

(a) Any person in expectation of conducting surface coal mining and reclamation operations in this state must apply for a permit. (b) No person shall engage in or carry out on lands within the state any surface coal mining operations unless that person has first obtained a permit…

(a) (1) The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission shall issue rules as are required pursuant to the state program requirements of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-87, designating the required information, the criteria, and the pro…

(a) Coal exploration operations which substantially disturb the natural land surface shall be conducted in accordance with coal exploration rules issued by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission. (b) Coal exploration rules shall provide, at a minimum, that prior to…

Any person having an interest which is or may be adversely affected, or the officer or head of any federal, state, or local affected governmental agency may, in accordance with §§ 15-58-207 and 15-58-208 and the rules promulgated by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Comm…

(a) Any valid permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall carry with it the right to successive renewal upon expiration with respect to areas within the boundaries of the existing permit. The holders of the permit may apply for renewal, and renewal shall be issued unless the opp…

(a) A permit shall terminate if the permittee has not commenced the surface coal mining operations covered by the permit within three (3) years of the issuance of the permit. (b) (1) The director may grant reasonable extensions of time upon a showing that extensions are necessary…

(a) Each application for a surface coal mining permit or renewal of that permit shall be accompanied by an initial application fee as determined by the Director of the Division of Environmental Quality in accordance with a fee schedule which the Arkansas Pollution Control and Eco…

(a) After a surface coal mining and reclamation permit application has been approved but before the permit is issued, the applicant shall file a bond with the Division of Environmental Quality. This bond shall be on a form furnished by the division in accordance with the rules is…

(a) Any permit issued pursuant to this chapter to conduct surface coal mining operations and any authorization to conduct coal exploration operations shall require that operations will meet all applicable performance standards of this chapter and the rules issued pursuant to this…

This chapter is not intended to repeal any law now in force in this state except insofar as it is in direct conflict with the provisions hereof, but shall be cumulative thereto.

Any violation of this chapter, or any part thereof, is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than thirty (30) days nor more than six (6) mon…

It shall be unlawful for any person, association, partnership, copartnership, firm, joint-stock company, corporation, or trust to engage in the business of milling, sampling, concentrating, reducing, refining, purchasing, or receiving for sale ores, concentrates, or amalgams bear…

(a) The application for a license authorizing the carrying on of the businesses defined in § 15-60-106(a) and (b) shall be made to the county clerk of the county in which the business is to be conducted. (b) The application shall be in writing and shall contain the full names and…

(1) Every license issued by the county clerk shall:(1) Contain the full name and address of the licensee. In the case of a group of persons participating together, associations, partnerships, copartnerships, and firms, it shall contain the full names and addresses of the members …

(a) Every person, group of persons, association, partnership, copartnership, firm, joint-stock company, corporation, or trust engaged in the business of milling, sampling, concentrating, reducing, refining, purchasing, or receiving for sale ores, concentrates, or amalgams bearing…

Before any county clerk shall issue a license to any applicant therefor, there shall be exhibited to the county clerk a receipt from the sheriff of the county as evidence that the license tax has been paid.

Every license granted shall date from the first day of the month in which it is issued and expire on the following December 31.

It shall be the duty of the county clerk to record each application and each license issued in the mining records of the county.

(a) The county clerk shall be entitled to and receive from the county a fee of two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) for his or her services in receiving each application, issuing the license based thereon, and recording the application and license. (b) The sheriff shall be entitle…

(1) It shall be the duty of every person, group of persons, association, partnership, copartnership, firm, joint-stock company, corporation, or trust engaged in the business of milling, sampling, concentrating, reducing, refining, purchasing, or receiving for sale ores, concentra…

(1) It shall be the duty of every person, group of persons, association, partnership, copartnership, firm, joint-stock company, corporation, or trust engaged in the business of purchasing for resale distilled or refined quicksilver or mercury to keep a record containing the follo…

The records required to be kept by §§ 15-60-111 and 15-60-112 shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times by the sheriff, Department of Arkansas State Police, and prosecuting attorney. The records of each transaction must be kept for a period of at least three (3) years.

(1) Any licensee under this chapter shall forfeit his, her, or its licenses and be guilty of a misdemeanor if he, she, or it:(1) Fails, neglects, or refuses to keep and preserve the records provided for in this chapter;(2) Knowingly makes any false entries upon and within the rec…

All license taxes collected, forfeited bail received, and fines collected under the provisions of this chapter shall be paid into the county general fund.

There is created the Oil and Gas Commission, hereinafter in this act called the “commission”, to be appointed by the Governor.

(a) The Oil and Gas Commission shall consist of nine (9) members, each to be appointed for a term of six (6) years, and, in event of a vacancy, the Governor shall by appointment fill the unexpired term. (b) All of the members of the commission shall be residents and citizens of t…

(a) The Oil and Gas Commission shall elect from its number a chair. (b) The commission shall establish an office at the county seat of some county in Arkansas in which oil or gas is produced, which place shall be designated by resolution of the commission and at which the records…

(a) (1) The Oil and Gas Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Energy and Environment, may employ an attorney to provide specialized professional services in matters requiring legal representation.(2) However, any contract for legal representation sha…

(a) (1) The Oil and Gas Commission may appoint one (1) Director of Production and Conservation.(2) The appointment under subdivision (a)(1) of this section is with the approval of the Governor.(3) The director serves at the pleasure of the Governor at the salary set by law.(4) Th…

(a) The Oil and Gas Commission may appoint one (1) hearing officer to preside at all public hearings of the commission. (b) The hearing officer may administer oaths and conduct hearings in conformity with the laws of this state applicable to hearings and proceedings before the co…

(a) (1) All common sources of supply of crude oil discovered after January 1, 1937, if so found necessary by the Oil and Gas Commission, shall have the production of oil therefrom controlled or regulated in accordance with the provisions of this act.(2) (A) (i) The commission is …

(a) A person purchasing oil in this state at the well or a person selling gas at the first point of sale under a contract or agreement requiring payments for production to the respective owners thereof, in respect of which production any sums assessed under the provisions of § 15…

(a) All moneys collected under this act, except the first four and one-half (4½) mills on gas assessments levied each fiscal year until July 1, 2023, under § 15-71-107(b)(2)(A)(i), when paid to the Treasurer of State, shall be deposited to the credit of the Oil and Gas Commission…

(a) (1) The Oil and Gas Commission shall have jurisdiction of and authority over all persons and property necessary to administer and enforce effectively the provisions of this act and all other statutory authority of the commission relating to the exploration, production, and co…

(a) (1) The Oil and Gas Commission shall prescribe its rules of order or procedure in hearings or other proceedings before the commission.(2) The commission's rules of order and procedure shall be adopted in accordance with the law of this state.(3) The commission shall comply wi…

(a) The Oil and Gas Commission, or any member thereof, is lawfully empowered to issue subpoenas for witnesses, to require their attendance and the giving of testimony before it, and to require the production of books, papers, and records in any proceeding before the commission as…

(a) In order to enable the Oil and Gas Commission to carry out its duties in the most effective and efficient manner, the commission is authorized, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Energy and Environment, to acquire and maintain for use by field personnel f…

(a) (1) Any person or entity desiring to perform field seismic operations in the state shall make application to the Oil and Gas Commission for a permit to do so.(2) (A) The application for a permit shall be made on forms prescribed by the commission.(B) The application shall inc…

(a) There is created on the books of the Treasurer of State, the Auditor of State, and the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State a special revenue fund to be known as the “Abandoned and Orphaned Well Plugging Fund”. (b) (1) The fund shall receive funds from:(A) Fees assessed by the O…

(a) (1) The Oil and Gas Commission shall establish by rule a fee structure to be paid annually by well operators of only those wells producing liquid hydrocarbons.(2) The date for payment of the first annual fee assessment shall be determined by rule.(3) All annual fees collected…

(a) Each application submitted by an operator of an exploration and production fluid transportation system equipped for carrying or pulling a transportation tank as defined by 15 CAR § 275-503 shall be accompanied by an application fee for each transportation tank as determined b…

(a) All funds that are held in any trust or special revenue fund administered by the Oil and Gas Commission may be invested and reinvested subject to the written approval of the Treasurer of State. (b) All investments as authorized for use by the Treasurer of State may be availab…

(a) The Oil and Gas Commission shall provide written notice of a public hearing required by law on any permit to drill, deepen, re-enter, recomplete, or operate any Class II underground injection control disposal well to each member of the General Assembly who represents the dist…

An oil producer who initiates a program for the enhanced recovery of crude oil pursuant to a plan first approved by the Oil and Gas Commission for purposes of recovering the incremental oil from a well or group of wells which results in the production of a volume of crude oil in …

(a) Any oil well which has been inactive and has failed to produce any volume of crude oil for a period of at least twelve (12) consecutive calendar months which is restored and reestablished as a producer of crude oil shall be exempt from the payment of severance taxes on the vo…

If the utilization of new research technology results in the increased production of crude oil by an active field, as established by the Oil and Gas Commission, then the total quantity of the incremental increase in crude oil produced as a result of the new technology shall be ex…

In recognition of past, present, and imminent evils occurring in the production and use of oil and gas as a result of waste in the production and use thereof in the absence of coequal or correlative rights of owners of crude oil or natural gas in a common source of supply to prod…

(1) As used in this act:(1) “Commission” means the Oil and Gas Commission;(2) (A) “Field” means the general area which is underlaid or appears to be underlaid by at least one (1) pool. “Field” includes the underground reservoir or reservoirs containing crude petroleum oil or natu…

(a) (1) (A) A person who violates this subchapter or a rule or order of the Oil and Gas Commission made under this subchapter, in the event a penalty for the violation is not otherwise provided for in this subchapter, is subject to a penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundre…