Chapter 22, Chapter 22

(a) In addition to a permit for well work, the director, after public notice and an opportunity for public hearings, may either issue a separate permit, general permit or a permit consolidated with the well work permit for the discharge or disposition of any pollutant or combinat…

(a) It is unlawful for any person to commence any well work, including site preparation work which involves any disturbance of land, for a horizontal well without first securing from the secretary a well work permit pursuant to this article. (b) Every permit application filed und…

(a)(1) Unless the oil and gas developer has paid the surface owner a negotiated settlement of compensation within seventy-five days after the date the notification of claim was mailed under section five of this article, the surface owner may, within eighty days after the notifica…

A permit issued pursuant to this article may be modified to address changes to the permit if the secretary determines that the modification fully meets all applicable requirements and is consistent with the issuance of the original permit. The secretary may deny the application f…

(a) The secretary shall review each application for a well work permit and shall determine whether or not a permit is issued. (b) No permit may be issued less than thirty days after the filing date of the application for any well work except plugging or replugging; and no permit …

The remedies provided by this article do not preclude any person from seeking other remedies allowed by law.

(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares: (1) That a significant portion of the oil and gas underlying this state is subject to development pursuant to leases or other continuing contractual agreements wherein the owners of such oil and gas are paid upon a royalty or rental …

(a) No later than the filing date of the application, the applicant for a permit for any well work shall deliver by personal service or by certified mail, return receipt requested, copies of the application, well plat and erosion and sediment control plan required by section six …

(a) The Legislature finds that large impoundments and pits (i.e. impoundments or pits with a capacity of two hundred ten thousand gallons or more) not associated with a specific well work permit must be properly regulated and controlled. It is the intent of the Legislature by thi…

(a) The Legislature finds the following: (1) Exploration for and development of oil and gas reserves in this state must coexist with the use, agricultural or otherwise, of the surface of certain land and that each constitutes a right equal to the other. (2) Modern methods of extr…

(a) In this article, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: (1) “Agricultural production” means the production of any growing grass or crop attached to the surface of the land, whether or not the grass or crop is to be sold commercially, and the production of an…

(a) The oil and gas developer shall be obligated to pay the surface owner compensation for: (1) 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 drilling operation to…

(a) Nothing in section three or elsewhere in this article shall be construed to diminish in any way the common law remedies, including damages, of a surface owner or any other person against the oil and gas developer for the unreasonable, negligent or otherwise wrongful exercise …

Any surface owner, to receive compensation under section three of this article, shall notify the oil and gas developer of the damages sustained by the person within two years after the date that the oil and gas developer files notice that reclamation is commencing under section t…

Unless the parties provide otherwise by written agreement, within sixty days after the oil and gas developer received the notification of claim specified in section five of this article, the oil and gas developer shall either make an offer of settlement to the surface owner seeki…

(a) Unless the oil and gas developer has paid the surface owner a negotiated settlement of compensation within sixty days after the date the notification of claim was mailed under section five of this article, the surface owner may, within eighty days after the notification mail …

The remedies provided by this article shall not preclude any person from seeking other remedies allowed by law.

Every person, corporation or company now engaged, or which shall hereafter engage, in the business of transporting or storing petroleum, by means of pipeline or lines or storage by tanks, shall be subject to the provisions of this article and shall conduct such business in confor…

All amounts in the statements required by this article, when the petroleum is handled in bulk, shall be given in barrels and hundredths of barrels, reckoning forty-two gallons to each barrel, and when such petroleum is handled in barrels or packages, the number of such barrels or…

Any company, or its officers or agents, who shall make or cause to be made, sign or cause to be signed, issue or cause to be issued, put in circulation or cause to be put in circulation, any receipt, accepted order, certificate, voucher or evidence of liability, or shall sell, tr…

Any company, its officers or agents, who shall sell, encumber, transfer or remove, or cause or procure to be sold, transferred or removed from the tanks or pipes of such company, any petroleum, crude or refined, without the written consent of the owner or a majority of the owners…

Any company engaged in the business of transporting by pipelines or storing petroleum, crude or refined, and each and every officer or agent of such company, who shall neglect or refuse to make the report and statement required by section nine of this article, within the time and…

Any company heretofore or hereafter organized for the purpose of transporting petroleum or other oils or liquids by means of pipeline or lines shall be required to accept all petroleum offered to it in merchantable order in quantities of not less than two thousand gallons at the …

All petroleum of a gravity of thirty-five degrees Baume or under, at a temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit, offered for transportation by means of pipeline or lines, shall, before the same is transported, as provided by section two of this article, be inspected, graded and me…

All petroleum of a gravity exceeding thirty-five degrees Baume, at a temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit, offered for transportation by means of pipeline or lines, shall be inspected and measured at the expense of the company transporting the same, before the same is transpor…

Any company engaged in transporting or storing petroleum shall have a lien upon such petroleum until all charges for transporting and storing the same are paid.

Accepted orders and certificates for petroleum, issued by any company engaged in the business of transporting and storing petroleum in this state by means of pipeline or lines and tanks, shall be negotiable, and may be transferred by indorsement either in blank or to the order of…

No receipt, certificate, accepted order or other voucher shall be issued or put in circulation, nor shall any order be accepted or liability incurred for the delivery of any petroleum, crude or refined, unless the amount of such petroleum represented in or by such receipt, certif…

No company, its officers or agents, or any person or persons engaged in the transportation or storage of petroleum, crude or refined, shall sell or encumber, ship, transfer, or in any manner remove or procure, or permit to be sold, encumbered, shipped, transferred, or in any mann…

Every company now or hereafter engaged in the business of transporting by pipelines or storing crude or refined petroleum in this state shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, make or cause to be made and posted in its principal business office in this state, in an acces…

In this article unless the context otherwise requires: (1) The term "coal mine" means those operations in a coal seam which include the excavated and abandoned portions as well as the places actually being worked; also all underground workings and shafts, slopes, tunnels, and oth…

(a) The director or any person having a direct interest in the subject matter of this article may at any time request that a conference be held for the purpose of discussing and endeavoring to resolve by mutual agreement any matter arising under the provisions of this article. Pr…

(a) The director or any person having a direct interest in the subject matter of this article may complain in writing setting forth that any person is violating or is about to violate, any provisions of this article, or has done, or is about to do, any act, matter or thing therei…

Any person who shall willfully violate any order of the director issued pursuant to the provisions of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or imprisoned in jail for not exceeding twelve months…

All orders in effect upon the effective date of this article pursuant to the provisions of former article four, chapter twenty-two-b of this code, shall remain in full force and effect as if such orders were adopted by the division established in this chapter but all such orders …

(a) Any person who, on June 8, 1955, is injecting gas into or storing gas in a storage reservoir which underlies or is within three thousand linear feet of an operating coal mine which is operating in a coal seam that extends over the storage reservoir or the reservoir protective…

(a) Any person owning or operating a coal mine, who has not already done so pursuant to the former provisions of article four, chapter twenty-two-b of this code, shall, within thirty days from the effective date of this article, file with the director a map, prepared by a compete…

(a) Any person owning or operating a coal mine on June 8, 1955, and having knowledge that it overlies or is within two thousand linear feet of a gas storage reservoir, shall within thirty days notify the director and the storage operator of such fact unless such notification has …

(a) Any person who, on or after June 8, 1955, is operating a storage reservoir which underlies or is within two thousand linear feet of an operating coal mine which is operating in a coal seam that extends over the storage reservoir or the reservoir protective area, shall: (1) Us…

(a) In determining whether a particular coal mine or operating coal mine is or will be within any distance material under this article from any storage reservoir, the owner or operator of such coal mine and the storage operator may rely on the most recent map of the storage reser…

(a) The provisions of this article shall not apply to strip mines and auger mines operating from the surface. (b) Injection of gas for storage purposes in any workable coal seam, whether or not such seam is being or has been mined, shall be prohibited. Nothing in this article sha…

(a) Whenever provision is made in this article by reference to this section for using an alternative method or material in carrying out any obligation imposed by the article, the person seeking the authority to use such alternative method or material shall file an application wit…

(a) The director may review the maps and data filed under sections two and three hereof for the purpose of determining the accuracy thereof. Where any material question is raised by any interested storage operator or coal operator or owner as to the accuracy of any such map or da…

This article may be cited as Abandoned Well Act.

(a) The director shall have the power and authority to promulgate legislative rules, procedural rules and interpretive rules in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code in order to carry out and implement the provisions of this article. (b) Any hearing…

(a) It is the purpose of this article to provide additional and cumulative remedies to address abandoned wells in this state and nothing herein contained shall abridge or alter rights of action or remedies now or hereafter existing, nor shall any provisions in this article, or an…

The provisions of this article shall be in addition to and supplement all other provisions of article eight of this chapter and rights with respect to plugging or replugging wells. Nothing in this article shall be construed to eliminate the permit requirement for plugging and rep…

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that: (1) Oil and gas have been continuously produced in West Virginia for over one hundred years, during which time operators of wells have been required by the laws of this state to plug wells upon cessation of use; (2) The plugging requir…

Unless the context in which it is used clearly requires a different meaning, as used in this article: (a) "Abandoned well" means any well which is required to be plugged under the provisions of section nineteen, article six of this chapter and rules promulgated pursuant thereto. …

(a) Operators of all wells, not otherwise required to demonstrate financial responsibility through bonding or otherwise in accordance with the provisions of article six of this chapter, shall, no later than July 1, 1993, demonstrate financial responsibility in accordance with the…