reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
WV Code § 22-6-19 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-19. Same -- Continuance During Life of Well; Dry or Abandoned Wells

In the event that a well becomes productive of natural gas or petroleum, or is drilled for or converted for the introduction of pressure, whether liquid or gas, or for the introduction of liquid for the purposes provided for in section twenty-five of this article or for the disposal of pollutants or the effluent therefrom, all coal-protecting strings of casing and all water-protecting strings of casing shall remain in place until the well is plugged or abandoned. During the life of the well the annular spaces between the various strings of casing adjacent to workable beds of coal shall be kept open, and the top ends of all such strings shall be provided with casing heads, or such other suitable devices as will permit the free passage of gas and prevent filling of such annular spaces with dirt or debris.Any well which is completed as a dry hole or which is not in use for a period of twelve consecutive months shall be presumed to have been abandoned and shall promptly be plugged by the operator in accordance with the provisions of this article, unless the operator furnishes satisfactory proof to the director that there is a bona fide future use for such well.
WV Code § 22-6-20 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-20. Same -- When Well Is Drilled Through Horizon of Coalbed From Which Coal Has Been Removed

When a well is drilled through the horizon of a coalbed from which the coal has been removed, the hole shall be drilled at least thirty feet below the coalbed, of a size sufficient to permit the placing of a liner which shall start not less than twenty feet beneath the horizon of the coalbed and extend not less than twenty feet above it. Within this liner, which may be welded to the casing to be used, shall be centrally placed the largest-sized casing to be used in the well and the space between the liner and casing shall be filled with cement as they are lowered into the hole. Cement shall be placed in the bottom of the hole to a depth of twenty feet to form a sealed seat for both liner and casing: Provided, That the liner may extend back to the surface and serve as the freshwater or coal protection casing, if done in accordance with sections eighteen and twenty-one of this article, as applicable. If the liner is constructed in this manner, the next string of casing to be run into the well shall extend at least twenty feet below the coalbed. Cement shall be placed between that string of casing and the liner from the bottom of the casing to a point at least twenty feet above the coalbed. Following the setting of the liner, drilling shall proceed in the manner provided above. Should it be found necessary to drill through the horizon of two or more workable coalbeds from which the coal has been removed, the liner shall be started not less than twenty feet below the lowest horizon penetrated and shall extend to a point not less than twenty feet above the highest horizon.
WV Code § 22-6-21 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-21. Same -- Installation of Fresh Water Casings

When a permit has been issued for the drilling of an oil or gas well or both, each well operator shall run and permanently cement a string of casing in the hole through the fresh water bearing strata in such a manner and to the extent provided for in rules promulgated by the director in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.No oil or gas well shall be drilled nearer than two hundred feet from an existing water well or dwelling without first obtaining the written consent of the owner of such water well or dwelling.
WV Code § 22-6-25 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-25. Introducing Liquid Pressure Into Producing Strata to Recover Oil Contained Therein

The owner or operator of any well or wells which produce oil or gas may allow such well or wells to remain open for the purpose of introducing water or other liquid pressure into and upon the producing strata for the purpose of recovering the oil contained therein, and may drill additional wells for like purposes, provided that the introduction of such water or other liquid pressure shall be controlled as to volume and pressure and shall be through casing or tubing which shall be so anchored and packed that no water-bearing strata or other oil, or gas-bearing sand or producing stratum, above or below the producing strata into and upon which such pressure is introduced, shall be affected thereby, fulfilling requirements as set forth under section fourteen.
WV Code § 22-6-27 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-27. Cause of Action for Damages Caused by Explosions

Any person suffering personal injury or property damage due to any explosion caused by any permittee, shall have a cause of action against such permittee for three years after the explosion regardless of when the explosion occurred.
WV Code § 22-6-28 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-28. Supervision by Director Over Drilling and Reclamation Operations; Complaints; Hearings; Appeals

(a) The director shall exercise supervision over the drilling, casing, plugging, filling and reclamation of all wells and shall have such access to the plans, maps and other records and to the properties of the well operators as may be necessary or proper for this purpose, and, either as the result of its own investigations or pursuant to charges made by any well operator or coal operator, the director may enter, or shall permit any aggrieved person to file before the director, a formal complaint charging any well operator with not drilling or casing, or not plugging or filling, or reclaiming any well in accordance with the provisions of this article, or to the order of the director. True copies of any such complaints shall be served upon or mailed by registered mail to any person so charged, with notice of the time and place of hearing, of which the operator or operators so charged shall be given at least five days' notice. At the time and place fixed for hearing, full opportunity shall be given any person so charged or complaining to be heard and to offer such evidence as desired, and after a full hearing, at which the director may offer in evidence the results of such investigations as the director may have made, the director shall make findings of fact and enter such order as in the director's judgment is just and right and necessary to secure the proper administration of this article, and if the director deems necessary, restraining the well operator from continuing to drill or case any well or from further plugging, filling or reclaiming the same, except under such conditions as the director may impose in order to ensure a strict compliance with the provisions of this article relating to such matters.(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, any well operator or coal operator adversely affected by a final decision or order of the director, may appeal in the manner prescribed in section four, article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.(c) Any person having an interest which is or may be adversely affected, or who is aggrieved by an order of the director, or by the issuance or denial of a permit, or by the permit's terms and conditions, where the subject to such order, permits or terms and conditions is solid waste, may appeal to the environmental quality board in the same manner as appeals are taken under the solid waste management act, section sixteen, article fifteen of this chapter. For the purpose of this subsection the term solid waste has the same meaning as would be given that term pursuant to section two, article fifteen of this chapter but for the exemption related to waste or material regulated by this chapter, chapter twenty-two-b or chapter twenty-two-c of this code.
WV Code § 22-6-29a (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-29a. Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund

(a)(1) This section may be referred to as the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund Act. There is established within the Treasury of the State of West Virginia the special use fund known as the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund. (2) The Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund shall be administered by the secretary solely for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this section.(3) Any balance remaining in the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund at the end of any state fiscal year does not revert to the General Revenue Fund but shall remain in the special revenue account and may be used only as provided in this section. The revenues deposited in the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund may not be designated as nonaligned state special revenue funds under 11B-2-32 of this code.(b)(1) Using funds from the Oil and Gas Reclamation Fund and the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund, the secretary shall plug and reclaim abandoned oil and gas wells without a responsible operator in accordance with plans and specifications developed pursuant to the provisions of this article relating to the plugging and reclamation of wells, and the rules establishing well plugging standards adopted thereunder.(2) Funds from the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund may only be used to plug abandoned oil and gas wells without a responsible operator and to reclaim the property disturbed from the plugging.(3) On or before July 1 of each year, the secretary shall make an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature as to the use of the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund and the Oil and Gas Reclamation Fund. The report shall include the balance in both funds on June 1 of each year. The secretarys annual report shall set forth the number of wells reclaimed or plugged through the use of the Oil and Gas Reclamation Fund and the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund in the previous year. The report shall identify each reclamation and plugging project, state the number of wells plugged thereby, show the county in which the wells are located, and make a detailed accounting of all expenditures from the Oil and Gas Reclamation Fund and from the Oil and Gas Abandoned Well Plugging Fund. The annual report shall also include a five-year plan detailing current and future projects and activities to plug and reclaim wells.(4) Wells shall be plugged, and plugged wells reclaimed by contract entered into by the secretary on a competitive bid basis as provided for under the provisions of 5A-3-1 et seq. of this code and the rules promulgated thereunder.
WV Code § 22-6-30 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-30. Reclamation Requirements

The operator of a well shall reclaim the land surface within the area disturbed in siting, drilling, completing or producing the well in accordance with the following requirements:(a) Within six months after the completion of the drilling process, the operator shall fill all the pits for containing muds, cuttings, salt water and oil that are not needed for production purposes, or are not required or allowed by state or federal law or rule and remove all concrete bases, drilling supplies and drilling equipment. Within such period, the operator shall grade or terrace and plant, seed or sod the area disturbed that is not required in production of the well where necessary to bind the soil and prevent substantial erosion and sedimentation. No pit may be used for the ultimate disposal of salt water. Salt water and oil shall be periodically drained or removed, and properly disposed of, from any pit that is retained so the pit is kept reasonably free of salt water and oil.(b) Within six months after a well that has produced oil or gas is plugged, or after the plugging of a dry hole, the operator shall remove all production and storage structures, supplies and equipment, and any oil, salt water and debris, and fill any remaining excavations. Within such period, the operator shall grade or terrace and plant, seed or sod the area disturbed where necessary to bind the soil and prevent substantial erosion and sedimentation.The director may, upon written application by an operator showing reasonable cause, extend the period within which reclamation shall be completed, but not to exceed a further six-month period.If the director refuses to approve a request for extension, the refusal shall be by order.(c) It shall be the duty of an operator to commence the reclamation of the area of land disturbed in siting, drilling, completing or producing the well in accordance with soil erosion and sediment control plans approved by the director or the director's designate.(d) The director shall promulgate rules setting forth requirements for the safe and efficient installation and burying of all production and gathering pipelines where practical and reasonable except that such rules shall not apply to those pipelines regulated by the Public Service Commission.
WV Code § 22-6-31 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-31. Preventing Waste of Gas; Plan of Operation Required for Wasting Gas in Process of Producing Oil; Rejection Thereof

Natural gas shall not be permitted to waste or escape from any well or pipeline, when it is reasonably possible to prevent such waste, after the owner or operator of such gas, or well, or pipeline, has had a reasonable length of time to shut in such gas in the well, or make the necessary repairs to such well or pipeline to prevent such waste: Provided, That (a) if, in the process of drilling a well for oil or gas, or both, gas is found in such well, and the owner or operator thereof desires to continue to search for oil or gas, or both, by drilling deeper in search of lower oil or gas-bearing strata, or (b) if it becomes necessary to make repairs to any well producing gas, commonly known as "cleaning out," and if in either event it is necessary for the gas in such well to escape therefrom during the process of drilling or making repairs, as the case may be, then the owner or operator of such well shall prosecute such drilling or repairs with reasonable diligence, so that the waste of gas from the well shall not continue longer than reasonably necessary, and if, during the progress of such deeper drilling or repairs, any temporary suspension thereof becomes necessary, the owner or operator of such well shall use all reasonable means to shut in the gas and prevent its waste during such temporary suspension: Provided, however, That in all cases where both oil and gas are found and produced from the same oil and gas-bearing stratum, and where it is necessary for the gas therefrom to waste in the process of producing the oil, the owner or operator shall use all reasonable diligence to conserve and save from waste so much of such gas as it is reasonably possible to save, but in no case shall such gas from any well be wasted in the process of producing oil therefrom until the owner or operator of such well shall have filed with the director a plan of operation for said well showing, among other things, the gas-oil production ratio involved in such operation, which plan shall govern the operation of said well unless the director shall, within ten days from the date on which such plan is submitted to the director, make a finding that such plan fails, under all the facts and circumstances, to propose the exercise of all reasonable diligence to conserve and save from waste so much of such gas as it is reasonably possible to save, in which event production of oil at such well by the wasting of gas shall cease and desist until a plan of operation is approved by the director. Successive plans of operation may be filed by the owner or operator of any such well with the director.
WV Code § 22-6-32 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-32. Right of Adjacent Owner or Operator to Prevent Waste of Gas; Recovery of Cost

If the owner or operator of any such well shall neglect or refuse to drill, case and equip, or plug and abandon, or shut in and conserve from waste the gas produced therefrom, as required to be done and performed by the preceding sections of this article, for a period of twenty days after a written notice so to do, which notice may be served personally upon the owner or operator, or may be posted in a conspicuous place at or near the well, it shall be lawful for the owner or operator of any adjacent or neighboring lands or the director to enter upon the premises where such well is situated and properly case and equip such well, or, in case the well is to be abandoned, to properly plug and abandon it, or in case the well is wasting gas, to properly shut it in and make such needed repairs to the well to prevent the waste of gas, in the manner required to be done by the preceding sections of this article; and the reasonable cost and expense incurred by an owner or operator or the director in so doing shall be paid by the owner or operator of such well and may be recovered as debts of like amount are by law recoverable.The director may utilize funds and procedures established pursuant to section twenty-nine of this article for the purposes set out in the section. Amounts recovered by the director pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the oil and gas reclamation fund established pursuant to section twenty-nine of this article.
WV Code § 22-6-33 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-33. Restraining Waste

Aside from and in addition to the imposition of any penalties under this article, it shall be the duty of any circuit court in the exercise of its equity jurisdiction to hear and determine any action which may be filed to restrain the waste of natural gas in violation of this article, and to grant relief by injunction or by other decrees or orders, in accordance with the principles and practice in equity. The plaintiff in such action shall have sufficient standing to maintain the same if the plaintiff shall aver and prove that the plaintiff is interested in the lands situated within the distance of one mile from such well, either as an owner of such land, or of the oil or gas, or both, thereunder, in fee simple, or as an owner of leases thereof or of rights therein for the production of oil and gas or either of them or as the director.
WV Code § 22-6-34 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-34. Offenses; Penalties

(a) Any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation who willfully violates any provision of this article or any rule or order promulgated hereunder shall be subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500. Each day a violation continues after notice by the division constitutes a separate offense. The penalty shall be recovered by a civil action brought by the division, in the name of the state, before the circuit court of the county in which the subject well or facility is located. All such civil penalties collected shall be credited to the General Fund of the state.(b) Any person or persons, firm, partnership, partnership association or corporation willfully violating any of the provisions of this article which prescribe the manner of drilling and casing or plugging and filling any well, or which prescribe the methods of conserving gas from waste, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment in jail for not exceeding twelve months, or both, in the discretion of the court, and prosecutions under this section may be brought in the name of the State of West Virginia in the court exercising criminal jurisdiction in the county in which the violation of such provisions of the article or terms of such order was committed, and at the instance and upon the relation of any citizens of this state.
WV Code § 22-6-35 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-35. Civil Action for Contamination or Deprivation of Fresh Water Source or Supply; Presumption

In any action for contamination or deprivation of a fresh water source or supply within one thousand feet of the site of drilling for an oil or gas well, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that such drilling, and such oil or gas well, or either, was the proximate cause of the contamination or deprivation of such fresh water source or supply.
WV Code § 22-6-36 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 22. Environmental Resources|Article 6. Office of Oil and Gas; Oil and Gas Wells; Administration; Enforcement|§22-6-36. Declaration of Oil and Gas Notice by Owners and Lessees of Coal Seams

For purposes of notification under this article, any owner or lessee of coal seams shall file a declaration of the owner's or lessee's interest in such coal seams with the clerk of the county commission in the county where such coal seams are located. Said clerk shall file and index such declaration in accordance with section two, article one, chapter thirty-nine of this code, and shall index the name of the owner or lessee of such coal seams in the grantor index of the record maintained for the indexing of leases.The declaration shall entitle such owner or lessee to the notices provided in sections twelve, thirteen, fourteen and twenty-three of this article: Provided, That the declaring owner shall be the record owner of the coal seam, and the declaring lessee shall be the record lessee with the owner's or lessee's source or sources of title recorded prior to recording such lessee's declaration.The declaration shall be acknowledged by such owner or lessee, and in the case of a lessee, may be a part of the coal lease under which the lessee claims. Such declaration may be in the following language:"DECLARATION OF OIL AND GAS NOTICE""The undersigned hereby declares:(1) The undersigned is the ('owner' or 'lessee') of one or more coal seams or workable coal beds as those terms are defined in section one of this article.(2) The coal seam(s) or workable coal bed(s) owned or leased partly or wholly by the undersigned lie(s) under the surface of lands described as follows:(Here insert a description legally adequate for a deed, whether by metes and bounds or other locational description, or by title references such as a book and page legally sufficient to stand in lieu of a locational description.)(3) The undersigned desires to be given all notices of oil and gas operations provided by sections twelve, thirteen, fourteen and twenty-three of this article, addressed as follows:(Here insert the name and mailing address of the undersigned owner or lessee.)_______________________________ (Signature)(Here insert an acknowledgment legally adequate for a deed)."The benefits of the foregoing declaration shall be personal to the declaring owner or lessee, and not transferable or assignable in any way.