Chapter 22C, Chapter 22C

(a) It is hereby declared to be the public policy of this state and in the public interest to: (1) Ensure the safe recovery of coal and gas; (2) Foster, encourage and promote the fullest practical exploration, development, production, recovery and utilization of this state's coal…

(a) At the time and place fixed by the chair for the meeting of the board and for consideration of an application to establish a drilling unit, the applicant shall present proof that the drilling location on the proposed drilling unit has been agreed to by all of the owners of th…

(a) Whenever the board establishes a drilling unit pursuant to the provisions of sections nine and ten of this article, the order establishing such drilling unit shall include an order pooling the separately owned interests in the gas to be produced from such drilling unit. (b) I…

(a) An order issued by the board establishing a drilling unit and ordering the pooling of interests therein shall not entitle the gas operator designated in such order to drill a well on such drilling unit until such gas operator shall have received a drilling permit in accordanc…

(a) Any person adversely affected by an order of the board shall be entitled to judicial review thereof. All of the pertinent provisions of section four, article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code shall apply to and govern such judicial review with like effect as if the pro…

All operations including, but not limited to, the commencement, drilling or operation of a well upon a drilling unit for which a pooling order has been entered, shall be deemed for all purposes the conduct of such operations upon each separately owned tract in the drilling unit b…

No agreement between or among gas operators, lessees or other owners of gas rights in gas properties, entered into pursuant to the provisions of this article or with a view to or for the purpose of bringing about the unitized development or operation of such properties, shall be …

(a) Whenever it appears to the board that any person has been or is violating or is about to violate any provision of this article, any rule promulgated by the board hereunder or any order or final decision of the board, the board may apply in the name of the state to the circuit…

(a) Any person who violates any provision of this article, any of the rules promulgated by the board hereunder or any order of the board other than a violation governed by the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction the…

This article shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate the declaration of public policy set forth in section one of this article.

The rules promulgated and all orders and permits in effect upon the effective date of this article pursuant to the provisions of article seven, of former chapter twenty-two of this code shall remain in full force and effect as if such rules, orders and permits were adopted by the…

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 propo…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the provisions of this article shall apply to all lands located in this state, under which a coal seam as defined in section two of this article and section one, article six, chapter twenty-two of this code, is located, ho…

(a) There is hereby continued the "Shallow Gas Well Review Board" which shall be composed of three members, two of whom shall be the commissioner and the chief of the office of oil and gas. The remaining member of the board shall be a registered professional who has been successf…

(a) The board shall meet and hold conferences and hearings at such times and places as shall be designated by the chair. The chair may call a meeting of the board at any time. The chair shall call a meeting of the board (1) upon receipt of a notice from the director that an objec…

(a) The board may promulgate, pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, such reasonable rules as are deemed necessary or desirable to implement and make effective the provisions of this article. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section two, article se…

(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 s…

(a) If the well operator and the objecting coal seam owners present or represented at the time and place fixed by the chair for consideration of the objections to the proposed drilling location are unable to agree upon a drilling location, then the written order of the board shal…

(a) Whenever the board has issued an order directing the director to refuse a drilling permit, the gas operator may apply to the board for the establishment of a drilling unit encompassing a contiguous tract or tracts if such gas operator believes that such a drilling unit will a…

(a) It is hereby declared to be the public policy of this state and in the public interest to: (1) Foster, encourage, and promote exploration for and development, production, utilization, and conservation of oil and gas resources; (2) Prohibit waste of oil and gas resources and u…

(a) Upon receipt of a request for hearing, the commission shall set a time and place for such hearing not less than twenty and not more than forty-five days thereafter. Any scheduled hearing may be continued by the commission upon the commission's own motion or for good cause sho…

(a) Any party adversely affected by an order of the commission shall be entitled to judicial review thereof. All of the pertinent provisions of section four, article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, shall apply to and govern such judicial review with like effect as if th…

(a) Whenever it appears to the commission that any person has been or is violating or is about to violate any provision of this article, any reasonable rule promulgated by the commission hereunder or any order or final decision of the commission, the commission may apply in the n…

Owners of leases on oil and gas for the exploration, development or production of oil or natural gas shall pay to the commission a special oil and gas conservation tax of 3¢ for each acre under lease, excluding from the tax the first twenty-five thousand acres. The commission sha…

(a) Any person who violates any provision of this article, any of the reasonable rules promulgated by the commission hereunder or any order or any final decision of the commission, other than a violation covered by the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, shall be guilty…

Except as provided in subsection (c), section three of this article, this article shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate the declaration of public policy set forth in section one of this article.

(a) All orders, determinations, rules, permits, grants, contracts, certificates, licenses, waivers, bonds, authorizations and privileges which have been issued, made, granted or allowed to become effective pursuant to any prior enactment of this article and which are in effect on…

(a) As used in this article: (1) “Commission” means the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and “commissioner” means the Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner as provided for in §22C-9-4 of this code; (2) “Correlative rights” means the reasonable opportunity of each person entitl…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the provisions of this article shall apply to all lands located in this state, however owned, including any lands owned or administered by any government or any agency or subdivision thereof, over which the state has juris…

(a) The “oil and gas conservation commission” is composed of seven members. The director of the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Chief of the Office of Oil and Gas are members of the commission ex officio. The remaining five members of the commission shall be appoi…

(a) The commission may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code, to implement and make effective the provisions of this article and the powers and authority conferred and the duties imposed upon the commission under…

Waste of oil or gas is hereby prohibited.

(a) Drilling units. (1) After one discovery deep well has been drilled establishing a pool, an application to establish drilling units may be filed with the commission by the operator of such discovery deep well or by the operator of any lands directly and immediately affected by…

(a) Declaration of public policy; legislative findings regarding unitization for all horizontal wells. — The Legislature finds that horizontal drilling is a technique that effectively and efficiently recovers natural resources and should be encouraged as a means of production of …

(a) Upon the application of any operator in a pool productive of oil the commission shall set a hearing and provide notice to all interested parties. Each notice shall describe the area for which an order is to be entered in recognizable, narrative terms; contain such other infor…

No agreement between or among operators, lessees or other owners of oil or gas rights in oil and gas properties, entered into pursuant to the provisions of this article or with a view to or for the purpose of bringing about the unitized development or operation of such properties…

The "Interstate Mining Compact" is hereby continued in law and continued in effect with all other jurisdictions legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows: INTERSTATE MINING COMPACT Article I. Findings and Purposes. (a) The party states find that: (1) Mining and…

In accordance with Article V (i) of the interstate mining compact, the commission shall file copies of its bylaws and any amendments thereto in the office of the Secretary of State of West Virginia.

This article is effective as of July 1, 1972.

There is hereby created a commission consisting of three members, to act jointly with commissioners appointed for like purposes by the commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, the state of Maryland, and the District of Columbia, and an additional three members to be appointed …

The Governor, by and with the consent of the Senate, shall appoint an alternate member for the two members of the commission who are not ex officio, and each alternate shall have power to act in the absence of the person for whom he is alternate. The Governor shall appoint the fi…

The commissioners shall be reimbursed, out of moneys appropriated for such purposes, all sums which they necessarily shall expend in the discharge of their duties as members of such commission. There shall be appropriated to the commission out of any moneys in the State Treasury …

This article shall become effective upon the adoption of substantially similar amendments to the interstate compact by each of the signatory states to the compact, and upon the approval of the amendments to the compact by the Congress of the United States.

Neither the Governor of the State of West Virginia nor any member of the commission aforesaid, representing the State of West Virginia, shall consent to the construction of any dam, whether in the State of West Virginia, or without this state, which shall flood lands in this stat…

The following Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Compact, which has been negotiated by representatives of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia, is hereby approved, ratified, adopted, enacted into law, and entered int…

In pursuance of article four of said compact, there shall be three members of the "Ohio River valley water sanitation commission" from the State of West Virginia. The Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint two persons as two of such commissioner…

There is hereby granted to the commission and commissioners thereof all the powers provided for in the said compact and all the powers necessary or incidental to the carrying out of said compact in every particular. All officers of this state are hereby authorized and directed to…

Any powers herein granted to the commission shall be regarded as in aid of and supplemental to and in no case a limitation upon any of the powers vested in said commission by other laws of this state or by the laws of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pen…

The commissioners shall be reimbursed out of moneys appropriated for such purposes, all sums which they necessarily shall expend in the discharge of their duties as members of such commission. There shall be appropriated to the commission out of any moneys in the State Treasury u…

This article shall take effect and become operative and the compact be executed for and on behalf of this state only from and after the approval, ratification, adoption and entering into thereof by the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.