South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 121 - DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Section 121-8.26 - Environmental Protection and Safety

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
A. All water shall be confined to its
		  respective strata and shall be adequately protected in any exploration or
		  production operations.
B. All
		  drillers, owners, operators, and individuals having control of the operation of
		  any oil or gas well, or well used for the disposal of saltwater and/or oil or
		  gas field waste products, or pipeline through which oil, gas, saltwater, or oil
		  or gas field waste products are piped or transported, or receiving tank,
		  storage tank, or receiving tank, storage tank or receiving and storage
		  receptacle into which crude oil, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products
		  are produced, received or stored, or through which oil, saltwater, or oil or
		  gas field waste products are transported, shall immediately notify the
		  Commission giving full details concerning any fires that occur at oil or gas
		  wells or tanks or receptacles owned, operated, or controlled by them or on
		  property controlled or leased by them, and all such persons shall immediately
		  report to the Commission any and all tanks or receptacles struck by lighting
		  and any fire that destroys oil or gas, and shall immediately report any breaks
		  or leaks in or from tanks, pits, or other receptacles and pipelines from which
		  oil, gas, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products are escaping or have
		  escaped. In all such reports of fire, breaks, leaks, blow-outs, escapes, or
		  other accidents of such nature, the location of the well, tanks, pits,
		  receptacles, and line breaks shall be given. Such reports shall specify what
		  steps have been taken or are in progress to remedy the situation reported and
		  shall detail the quantity (estimated, if no accurate measurement can be
		  obtained, in which the report shall show the same is an estimate) of oil, gas,
		  saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products lost, destroyed, or allowed to
		  escape. In case any tank, pit or receptacle is allowed to run over, the escape
		  thus occurring shall be reported as in the case of a leak. Following the
		  initial notice required herein, a written report must be filed with the
		  Commission within fifteen (15) days documenting the circumstances of all fires,
		  breaks, leaks, or blow-outs. Such report hereby required as to oil, saltwater,
		  or oil or gas field waste products losses shall be necessary only in the case
		  such losses exceed two (2) barrels in the aggregate. Furthermore, if other
		  agencies, federal or state, require notification of spills in accordance with
		  standards other than those set forth herein, then duplicates of notification
		  given to such other agencies shall immediately be given to the Commission, to
		  be followed within fifteen (15) days by a written report documenting the
		  initial report.
C. Before
		  commencing to drill, the operator shall inform the Commission of the intended
		  construction for pits and tanks for drilling mud or deleterious substances used
		  in the drilling, completion, and recompletion of wells. Said pits and tanks
		  shall be constructed and maintained so as to prevent pollution of surface and
		  subsurface freshwater and shall be in accordance with applicable South Carolina
		  Department of Health and Environmental Control Regulations. Under no
		  circumstances shall said pits be used for the disposal, dumping or storage of
		  fluids, wastes and other debris not used in drilling operations.
After a well is completed or plugged and abandoned, all drilling
			 mud remaining in such pits shall be safely returned to the well on location or
			 an acceptable adjacent well, or removed to a lawfully approved landfill, or
			 disposed of as directed by the Commission, within ninety (90) days of
			 completion of the well, except as otherwise approved by the Commission. Pits
			 shall be backfilled with earth and leveled in such a manner as to be returned
			 to a near natural state. The construction and operation of such tanks and pits
			 shall be in complete compliance with all relevant rules, regulations, and
			 requirements of other local, state, and federal agencies.
D. Within ninety (90) days, except as
		  otherwise approved by the Commission, after a well is completed or plugged and
		  abandoned, all pits and sumps shall be properly filled, compacted, and leveled,
		  in such a manner so as to be returned to a near natural state.